2011 LG XXPV450 and 400 Owner's Thread - Page 17

Hi
I am planning on buying the 60PV250 which you mentioned is the European model. I am planning to use it here before I move this to India when I return. Would it work here in the US. I use a DISH VIP211K receiver (not sure if this is the set top box or not). Please help.

I just bought the 50PV450 and within 10 minutes of setup, I noticed this right away and it seems that these LG tv just do this. This varying brightness flickers on games with soccer or golf and does it even on bluray movies but much less even though it's still distracting. Well mine is going back as this is very distracting and unacceptable. I don't usually consider Korean companies because of defects in their products and this is a good example.

The bad part was that I got a really good price and the Samsung 530 series doesn't offer enough inputs. So I'm starting to look at a Sony 46" standard LCD. Money is tight and I can't go over $700. The LG 50" was really a good price but now I'm seeing why. The Panasonic S30 was $100 more. If I'm not satisfied with the Sony, I'll just go back to my 36" tube JVC that has been working reliably without defects since 2000. Really disappointed in the LG and the fact I have to repackage it and carry it back.

I just wanted to comment that last year with the PK540/550's when I bought my first one it had horrible dimming. It was so bad I hated the display and couldn't live with it (the dimming also made the colors look washed out/murky when it dimmed). I've only owned Plasmas over the years for my big screens and knew this couldn't be normal Plasma ABL. I almost chalked it up to it being a 1080p screen with many more pixels to power/charge over my previous 720p so that's why the ABL was so immense (and also it was half the price of my old display so I thought it was just a cheap piece of junk).

I was ready to return it and get a Panny VT25 which was pretty much flagship for last year but I decided for the hell of it I would try another LG since so many people had praise for it (some where professional calibrators on here). If I wasn't happy with the second one, I could still take it back and get the VT25. I got it at Sam's Club and I made them break out the fork lift, close an isle down, and break open a brand new pallet with TV's with a much newer build date. I was shocked at the difference when I got the display home! Bright white remained bright white when I would maximize a window in Windows desktop. It dimmed a little, but nothing like the previous display! Nothing that was distracting! The old one would dim so bad with a maximized window that it would make text impossible to read because when it dimmed, the text would blend in with the background! (contrast went to shit!)

I fired up a movie and no more major fluctuations in brightness and also the colors wouldn't wash out (from the dimming). By eye during movie playback, there's absolutely nothing distracting and the screen stays nice and bright and consistent throughout dark to bright scenes. I am very happy with this model now. So happy that I'm hesitating on upgrading from the 50" to the 60" as from my experience it's a crap shoot to get a good display. Now it looks like it might even be worse for this years models since it looks to me that there's more complaining about it? Didn't they learn anything from last years models? Well maybe, last year it was the dirty screen effect that was the most complained about! Sheesh! Thank god for stores with good return policy's!

Now I'm going to avoid this years LG's and try to find last years PK540/550 in 60", but since last years was a crap shoot, I'm just very hesitant to take the gamble know I might end up with a display that dims like my first one did. And the dimming of my first one was horrendous! The one I have now is a pretty rock solid set that has absolutely gorgeous picture quality and I'd rather have a rock solid smaller screen than a crappy larger screen!

It's a little disheartening because I'm ready today to pull the plug on a 60" LG. I've made up my mind that I want to upgrade from the 50". There's only one in stock in my entire area (Sears) and they have a crappy return policy (14day / 15% restocking) compared to where I bought mine last year (Sams Club - 90 days no questions). I'm really not up to spending more than the 60PV450. Wish I could even find a 60PK550 still in stock in my area. Is this dimming/flickering/color fluctuation on every single set or is it like last year where some actually worked normal, lol.

i had 2 two 60pv450's and they both had the fluctuating brightness- color issue... i think they all do it... one was a july build the other a october build.

So the previous year models where better if this is true. I wish I could find a 60PK550 still in stock locally as I really like my 50" version but want bigger. Heck, I'm amazed at the problems with even the Panasonics with the FBr issue! Don't these manufacturers test for these problems in development!? What's it take to get a good display without some major quirk these days? Sheesh...

Mark, have you received your new st30 yet? I am pretty sure you sent your pv450 back for the Panasonic? If you haven't received it yet, I just wanted to let you know that you will be impressed. I opted for the st30 because of the picture being so washed out on my pv450 when I had moderate lighting in the room.........and the st30 solved that issue I am happy to say. However, I also want to point out, and not to discourage any fellow LG owners here, but I had performed the pots tweak on my pv450 and was pretty happy with the black levels.........but, this st30 is amazing in comparison, even right out of the box with no break-in.

The 450 is still an awesome set for the price though and I am not upset that I bought it, plus I love the fact that it can be tweaked!

What about the FBr problem as dissused in the 2011 Panasonic thread also demonstrated in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3mdFwnJqcg

thanks, lifesun....no i haven't got it yet, hopefully next tues. i am very excited. now i got the ST for only 150 more than the 450, so i dont feel the 450 is a great bargain, not to say that if people dont see the flicker that is not a good set, but for me it was a deal breaker.

also i tried the black pot tweak and it didnt work for me, it made the panel have bad uniformity issues..

happy turkey day everyone...

oh lifesun what settings are you using for the ST, are you using the low panel brightness?

Yes, all the plasma threads talk about this fluctuating brightness issue, LG, Panasonic, and Samsung, PLUS the Panasonics and Samsungs seem to have other problems as well. I'm exchanging mine for an LCD TV. While the performance isn't the greatest, it doesn't have anomalies that drive you crazy when trying to watch a show. I love the PQ of the plasmas but they need to make them work correctly, this is just unacceptable.

I honestly may just go back to my 36" tube TV and scrap flat panels until they learn how to build them.

We just bought my buddy the 50ST30 last month and he really likes it but is no videophile either. I've kept asking him how he like it in case we needed to exchange but he really like it. The price difference for me on this model between the LG 50PV450 was $250.

There are 2 LED 46/47" TV for the same price as my PV450 and one LCD that I'm considering.

I am just using cinema at stock settings and its plenty bright enough, as bright as the LG as far as I can tell. And mid and high brightness on custom is insane..........LCD bright..........so cinema is perfect for me.

i was concerned it would be too dim, i do have a good light controlled room for the day just indirect light coming in, so im happy to hear your report... there are some that for whatever reason think low panel brightness is too dim, but im used to lower brightness....

thanks for the report... the wait is killing me!

where did you get the 60 ST, and if from amazon, what warehouse.... and when...?

From Amazon, Indiana warehouse, July build..........unfortunately, however no FBR yet.......

have you checked the PDP EEP in the SM yet? they may have flashed it for the FBr fix already.... for the 60 it should be 72.53

How to get into service menu (Note that you can damage your TV if you don't know what you are doing; so stop now if you are nervous)
1. Turn TV On.
2. With TV on, hold down the volume down (-) button on the right side of the TV (not the controller).
3. While holding the volume (-) button down, point the remote at the TV IR sensor and press the "info" button on the controller three times.
4. The service menu will pop up after a few seconds.

The default screen that pops up is where it has all the software info will be; don't push any other buttons. When you are done turn the TV off or unplug it.


boy this is off topic, oops....

I just wanted to say to other people in the market researching these sets that I picked up a 60PV450 today and have not experience none of the problems with dimming, flickering, and color fluctuations mentioned the past few posts. The display is a perfect clone of my properly running 50PK540. My build is a August 2011 build. Maximizing a solid white window in Windows desktop also maintains a nice bright white. So there's some duds out of the box out there (like I experienced last year with the PK series) and/or some settings are being overlooked like Dynamic Contrast which is hidden a little deeper in the advanced menu. I copied over my same exact settings from my 50PK540 and it looks identical, just bigger. Very happy with the set. Don't let a few complaining about dimming/flickering put you totally off, not all are bad. Mine works perfect - nice and bright, no dimming, no flickering, and no dead pixels. Some slight line bleeding remains just like the PK series but it's nearly eliminated with good settings and definitely not a showstopper in this price range. Very happy with the set.

I'm buying a 60PV450 tomorrow. Would someone mind posting the settings they used for breakin? This will be my third plasma (both 50" panasonics) and I broke both of them in with the angelo DVD and will do the same with the 60".

After breakin it looks lik black noir's settings are the way to go. I got to page 6 of this thread and couldn't find any break in settings.

Everyone happy with the 60" LG PV 450??? Thanks!!

With the glare you'll think you're looking at a mirror...it maybe due to my room configuration but the fact is, the glare is still there.

try watching some football, i had all that stuff turned off on my 2 450's....

I just picked up a LG 50PV450 50". Can anyone recommend me what settings I should use? I'm having a hard time finding it.

Also, I bought mine from hhgreg. I turned down there "Premium Service Plan". Do I really need it? Doesn't LG provide me with 2 years or something. I have 30 days to go back to hhgreg and tell them if I want it or not.

Also, I was watching TNT for about 45 minutes tonight and after I switched channels I noticed that the TNT logo was burned in the screen, is this normal, its only 2 days old, my TV. I used that color wash setting or whatever and it seem to clear it. Will I have to do this constantly. My TV is on a pretty good amount of time during the day, more than most people.

Has anyone tried the pots tweak with the 60pv250?

Wow, it's really hard to get answers anywhere. Are there any other forums where people actually help each other out? Thanks.

Look on page two (post # 53) of this thread and try Blacknoir's settings. As far as the burn in logo according to post here the logo will fade in due time. I have just ordered mine and will get it soon. Sorry for the slow response but this site is awesome just give people time. It is the Holiday Season after all.

50PV450 owner here. I didn't watch regular TV AT ALL for a week and got most of my early hours on a USB slide show. There was still obvious IR for about 3-4 weeks when I did and I wouldn't let anyone watch black bars or network icons. It gets better over time but you need to be patient. My PQ got better, then calibration even better, then pot tuning and more improvement. But first things first, no games and no bars (sounds like my wife) for awhile!

For those with image retention or uneven aging worries. I've lived with this TV for about 6 months. The last two days I had a friend watch 18 hours worth of letterboxed streamed TV series that didn't fill the entire screen. It was 16x9 in a 4:3 space. So it had black borders all around. No zooming was available. It was video RGB off a netbook. For the 1st continuous 8 hours, the TV's power saving was off, contrast at 90, but the IR orbiter was on. Yes, it had obvious signs of uneven aging and slight image retention near the movie border.

We turned the TV off, it rested for 6 hours. Then again for the next 10 hours of the same series, but this time the power saving was on moderate and contrast was at 75. This time, there were no signs whatsoever of uneven wear.

I'm impressed... do keep in mind I had this TV for 6 months already. I'm sure that uneven aging with 16:9 content in 4:3 space is inevitable, but you can keep it under control if you keep the contrast down or use moderate power savings. However at the low price I got this TV, I'm not complaining.

My 50PK540 never got better with image retention from day one. It's all in your settings and use. With that said, after being an avid plasma owner for years I don't believe in break-in and image retention getting better with time although it gets better with different settings. For example, people are reporting far less image retention with using the POTs tweak for darker blacks. I can confirm this - it's night and day better with the POTs tweak! And although I don't really believe in break-in on plasma and set the settings exactly how I like it directly out of the box and run the content I want to run, I will run the break in color slides in-between using the display. Say if I watch a movie, I'll run the break-in slides for a little afterwards. But like I said, my 50PK540 never got better over the year I had it from day one to the day I sold it to my friend. I do however see it get better with different settings. The POTs black level tweak helped with image retention better than anything! But coming from someone who has owned nothing but plasmas for big screens, just run it like you will right out of the box and maybe run the break-in slides in-between until whatever how many hours is considered the break-in period for piece of mind just in case... Personally, I'll do the slides a little bit in-between uses (say 15 to 30min after a movie) for a week and then that's it.


Short course:

Set it up to preference right out of the box.

Use it normally after setting it up.

Use break-in color slides in-between normal usage for piece of mind if you're worried about static logos and letterboxing black bars during the 'so-called' break-in period.

Is there a way to force the top and side bars in letter/pillar boxing to all black? When I set by Sony BD player screen format to "Fixed," then no aspect ratio setting on the LG gets rid of the black bars which frame all four sides of a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD. If I set the Sony BD player screen format to "Original," then "Zoom" setting on the LG does eliminate all balck bars top and bottom, but then when displaying a 4:3 DVD, I have to change the LG aspect ratio to 4:3 and the sidebars are then grey instead of black. Basically, if I find settings which keep the letter/pillarboxing all black, the LG won't let me zoom to eliminate them. If I find settings which allow the LG to zoom and crop the borders on non-anamorphic WS DVD's, then when watching 4:3 the bars are grey. My Panasonic had settings which allowed user to select black or various shades of grey, but it never mixed grey sides with black top and bottom! Am I missing something? Can the user select to force black borders at all times? Thanks for any input.

This is almost exactly what I did. Watched normal TV during the day and ran the color slides overnight and any other time I wasnt there. Have had ZERO issues.

I tried it on the 50PV250, works like a charm!