LG 50PA6500 and LG 60PA6500 Plasmas - Page 37

Its as cool as a 60" plasma could be. Compared to the older baseline panasonic series - WHICH YOU CAN FRY EGGS JUST PLACED IN FRONT - It is an ice cube...! The picture is awsome and fully adjustible with the pro setting calibration without have to pull some BS to access. I think the set is DLNA but have not got into that yet. No network connection, but you dont get that on any at this range. You can use a blue ray or something through the usb I am pretty sure.

On a final note, I too, went from 50" to 60". The LG 60 blew my mind in the master bedroom at first. I though I would have to return of sheer size as I was thinking I was having trouble focusing on the screen and stuff. But It was just a weird show or something. I held on to it for about a week and could not bear to part with it after that. I am totally sinc'd with the screen size now and would not have any other. THE POINT. 60" is a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE from 50". But even in 14x14 (approx bedroom) it is fine...!

Finally, dont even consider LCD/LED is you are used to plasma. I got a Vizio 3d 55" about the same time. Its a turd in comparison... We are talking apples and oranges. The only thing I like about the LED is that I can leave it on all the time and basically like running a 100 watt light... You are looking more like 250-300 watts really on the LG 60" plasma (at decent brightness - all you need), but thats still a far cry from the fraggin 6 or 700 watts my old panasonic 50" plasma burned...

Edited by bbc3 - 12/16/12 at 9:37pm

Correction, I dont think there is any DLNA or anything like that. Simplink perhaps, but not the same. You will have to do it through USB on Blue RAy or something - To network it..

I thought I'd add that I've put over 20 hours into Far Cry 3 on this set, which at first had me a little uptight given the static health meter and mini map. I've been pretty much running the game at full brightness, but I do switch from "Just Scan" to "16:9" roughly every half hour to keep the static images moving. I checked tonight again, and there is only the faintest image retention of those images and it's only noticeable on a dark grey slide. One shade lighter or darker and I can't even see it. Some color wash time or normal viewing will deteriorate it. Not even remotely viewable while watching content. This set really is much better at resisting image retention than my experience with my Panasonic.

I dont know. I never gave two thoughts about image retention with the panasonic 50" I had from 2008. The new LG was CLEARLY a high risk set in the first hours. After about 1000 hours now nothing will stick to it.. But I DO think this LG is high risk for IR in the first 300 hours. At least, I suspect.

Again, On the panasonic, while I have stated over again that those sets would scald the side of your face if you walked within 1.5 feet of it - I SUSPECT the positive side to that is that all that energy at the screen keeps the IR risk low via a constant POWERwash kinda sorta.. I also think that high energy deal was a fucntion of some more provocative materials they used in the manufacture of those screens, which I am guessing are probably second generation to the first main stream plasmas. I further guess the current LG on the market is probably the "third wave" of slight variation in plasma screen components hopefully finding some even keel. I'll take my low heat LG now any day...

The difference in heat dissipation between the Panasonics and the LG has a lot to do with their power consumption. I've tested both sets thoroughly (see earlier post for results), and long story short, the Panasonic tops out at about 560 watts for the 50" 2009 S and this 60PA6550 at 440 watts despite its 40% greater real estate. My thoughts are that the componentry between them isn't too different; the distinguishing factor here is the simple fact that the LG does not get as bright as the Panasonic and the brightness of the phosphors dictates the overall power consumption at any given point.

My experience from gaming on both is far better on the LG in terms of IR. After playing a few hours of anything with static images, I had to run the Slideshow in some cases for several hours to eliminate the IR before the next session. The LG has never required more than 15 minutes or so. Again, I attribute this increased resistance to the lower overall brightness of the set. On APS power saving mode, you could literally play for hours with static images without any IR. Also, this assessment is apples to apples, as I ran the 120 pic slide show on both sets for the first 100+ hours.

Recently acquired the 60PA6550 which is my first plasma and so far we are pleased with it. I bought the Calman4 software with a i1 Display2 Colorimeter a couple years ago but haven't put it to use as yet. Went ahead and installed in my laptop as I got the bug to go ahead and work with it on this set.

For now my question is since I am using the lower brightness and contrast settings until the set has reached it's first 100 hours, should I forgo any attempt to calibrate until after 100 hours or just do it again afterwards?

I would say calibrate now and then calibrate again, you will need multiple attempts to account for the learning curve anyway Hope your meter hasn't drifted I have the same one and they do tend to drift. Might also want to look into Calman 5 it is out and a big improvement over 4. How long ago did you buy the package ?

Got the set back in Oct. 2010 from Spectracal, if I remember they do their own calibration on the meters before shipping. This one has been sealed and stored in a cool environment. I'll take screen shots of settings before any changes to have a backup point. I forgot to mention I also have a Spyder 3 as well. Guess I like collecting stuff I don't use but will put it to use on this project.

CalMAN Enhanced Spyder 3 with CalMAN Home Edition.

Had a problem running Calman 4.40 as it hung saying it was loading some Windows components. Removed that, used version 4.11 and everything looks fine, it detected the i1; only need to plug in the Spyder 3 to see if it is detected. For now watching tutorials and doing some reads before beginning. Will also need to find I guess the appropriate access code to whatever service menu there is. Haven't got that far yet.

If things go well I may upgrade to version 5 as I have 2 projectors and a Sammy DLP to work as well.

Thanks for the input!

Let me know how it turns out, also check out the display calibration forum, lots of good knowledgeable people over there.

You should contact SpectraCal - they've been really generous about upgrading existing users to CalMAN5 - I think if you're current on software maintenance, its free. If not, you just need to pay the "back maintenence", which in your case would be one year, somewhere around 50 bucks. Lots of good changes/additions in 5.

Yep I contacted them several times today, also updated my current to V4.65. It would be safe to say that the Spyder and i1 have passed beyond their calibration but the tech support indicated I more than likely would still achieve decent performance using them. I am not current on maintenance as this stuff was packed away and never installed until I got the whim this week to install it. Anyway, will work with it on this set and after learning from it if I find it worthwhile will probably update to Calman5. The main discouraging thing about this is the Colorimeters in this price categroy do not have much of a service life.

Spectracal recommends for a step up to go to the C6 model which is about $700, whether that is cost effective for a home enthusiasts over time as opposed to hiring a professional I guess is very debatable. From my own standpoint, I have always been a hands-on person, overcoming that can be difficult for some of us.

Thanks, yes I will check in over there as well, trying to find any service access codes in case they may be needed but so far at this point that has not been accomplished. I have them for the Samsung DLP but not for this 6550 set.

I played for a few hours and whenever a loading screen comes I'll wait until I start to see the map burning in then I'll wipe the screen for a few minutes until it goes away. Game settings working for me as far as picture goes.

Wow! up 10 inches and up $800- 1000 bucks with LED. How is the Vizio holding up? Do you think you could've gotten a bad PA6500 or do you feel that they're just cheaply made pieces of junk? Thinking about going with the PA5500 ($550) for my bedroom which has 1 window and dark walls so reflection should be minimal if not non existent. I found some guys talking about your tv here: http://www.highdefforum.com/flat-panel-tvs/139011-vizio-e601i-a3-issue-receiver-issue.html and it isn't flattering as u can see so i'm thinking it could have been just bad luck. Out of thousands of sets made there'll always be a bunch that slip through the cracks and make it into your home with a fault in the panel, dead pixels, auto power loss, excessive juddering, etc. etc. Every manufacturer gets their fair share of bad reviews.... even your Vizio.
Edited by Eragon - 12/20/12 at 3:09pm

So i currently have an LG 60PA6500, been a great tv for the last 3-4 months that i have owned it and was bought from BestBuy. I didnt take the extended warranty coverage and just noticed last night that I have a pixle that keeps going out up towards the top right area of the screen. its a blue dot that is generally only visible from 2' away unless the picture on the screen is just right.

What are my options? should i contact LG regarding this? Any chance i can still get a bestbuy warranty or heck ive heard of folks going to costco and buying into their warranty program well after the tv purchase even being from a different store.

Bestbuy techs had been out after the burn in to calibrate the tv, course this was months back.


Thanks again for your suggestions
Travis

This is me.....I figured it ALL out.

KAB 53.

What would your most supreme settings be for my LG60PA6500.
Love what you advise.

Just bought 60PA6500 at HH Greg with the store credit they gave me on my old Samsung Plasma (long story). I got them down to 846.62 (which they claim is cost) but couldn't get them to match best buys $799 current pricing b/c they were out of stock at the local store. Going back tomorrow to pick it up and haggle with a real manager (think I was dealing with an assistant) and try to get the price match.

I picked up the 60PA6500 from Fry's less than a week ago for around $860 out the door with their 3-year replacement warranty plan. Not sure if it matters but if I recall correctly, they billed me around $680 for the TV and then another $120 or so for the warranty plan. I just asked them to match Best Buy's $799 price for the TV and that is what the sales guy came back with. So I said I'll take it.

If I didn't already have the store credit for the old TV, I would have already told HH Greg to keep their TV but, they are saying I can't get my store credit in any other form. So I'm stuck buying from them without jumping through a bunch of hoops and pressing a bunch of 1's for english. Really wish I had a FRYs local. They are always having sweet deals and the price matching hoops are getting tough to jump through.

How do I edit the 'Black Level' on the LG 50PA6500 ?

When watching broadcast HDTV it shows up as grayed out in the Menu under 'Expert Control' ?

Cheers

I was just letting you know so you could maybe call their bluff on what their cost really is.

I purchased the LG 50PA5500 last Sunday from Sears (closeout for $549.95) and have been trying various calibrations I've found online. The best color I've achieved thus far has come from a calibration published by Ty Pendlebury at CNET.

I'm confused by the following Color management System submenu from Pendlebury's calibration, which both begins and ends with the color red (the last color in the onscreen TV menu sequence is yellow and not a repeat of red).

Please excuse my ignorance, but can anyone tell me if this is a typo, or does one skip yellow and return to red and make the new entries for Red?

Thanks for any info which can be provided.


Red: [Saturation -5. Tint -29, Luminance 0]
Green: [Saturation -5. Tint 0, Luminance 0]
Blue: [Saturation -2. Tint -2, Luminance -9]
Cyan: [Saturation -3. Tint 2, Luminance 0]
Magenta: [Saturation 0. Tint 0, Luminance -2]
Red: [Saturation -10. Tint -27, Luminance 3]

Yeah I figured they were blowing smoke....I went in today and spoke to the store manager and got my price matched to BB without much of a hassle so I'm happy. The price wasn't as cheap as what you got but, I think it's still a good deal on the TV. And with the store credit I'm only out about $350 ($200 of which is the warranty) for the new TV and I still have the old one.

Got it set-up in the living room now and I must say I like it! Got a little IR from the on screen menu, but in the time it has taken to type this it's gone. The picture wizard thing is pretty neat. I didn't see any kind of screen wiping program like my Sammy had, but I guess I can do without or get a disc somewhere. Now just got to find a new TV stand, my old one is no where near big enough for this behemoth.

Hi all,

Just wanted to come back and say that I went ahead and purchased the 50PA4500. I've had it about a week now and I have to say that I am very happy with the picture quality. I am up to about 90ish hours so far and have been running the break-in slides in between using the set. I'll post some more details about my settings a little later but I wanted to get some feedback on something I noticed last night. I was watch Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon and hit the info button on the remote and to my surprise the display was showing as 1080p 24Hz. As far as I know this set is supposed to be 720p and that is what I get from my Apple TV. I am using a LG BD630 player and have the resolution set on Auto. Any suggestions on how that could be?

Thanks again.

This model has a built in scaler. It will take any input up to 1080p and scale it to the sets native resolution of 720p. So your blue ray is outputting at 1080p so that's what the on screen display tells you but the set is scaling it to its native resolution of 720p.

Typo.

Hello all. I purchases the 50pa5500-UA a few months ago and i am pretty happy with it so far (i can overlook the glare issue). I also purchased a marantz sr1603 but having trouble getting the sound to output to my speakers.

I tried using the pcm and auto audio settings, turning off the built in speakers, updating and resetting my receiver. The optical cable is new and has the faint red light after bring plugged in.

The LG Cust serv told me my receiver is not compatible with this set and i need a receiver that supports pcm or ac3. Did i make a noob mistake and how do i get my system working? Thanks for your input!

Hello, Does anybody knows how can i activate film mode when it's connected through HDMI via PC?
Thanks.

Just picked up the PA 5500 because it was a great deal and I wanted an upgrade from a Panasonic 42" 720p (th42pxu I think) that I bought in 2006 for $700. The Panasonic is good but I've had the "purple crawlies" in greyish areas for years.

Have to say it's not much of an upgrade at all and in many respects is a step back. I set both tvs up side by side and had a monoprice hdmi switcher sending the same signal to each. Haven't done EyeOne calibration on the LG yet, but I did use the AVS test patterns to adjust brightness, contrast, and color. All "enhancements" are off, black level set to "low".

Viewing bluray content from only 6-7 feet away, I see no difference whatsoever in sharpness or detail despite the resolution difference. The blacks are slightly darker on the LG, but the brightness is significantly less -- on a 100% white screen, it's just quite a bit dimmer than on the Panasonic, even with Contrast maxed out (and power saving off) -- and this is even though my Panny is calibrated, so should be dimmer still. Pretty shocked at that and can't think of a reason why this should be. Side by side, the difference in size between the 42" and the 50" is insignificant as far as I'm concerned.

Another odd thing is that the picture and audio on the LG are slightly delayed compared to the Panasonic. I even switched the plugs on the switcher and the LG was still the one lagging.

Overscan is worse on the LG and I don't see anywhere to adjust it (edit: fixed it with Just Scan aspect). Curiously, the manual has literally no mention, much less explanation, of ANY of the menu settings, which are quite in depth (all greyscale and CMS options are right there, as opposed to having to go through a bunch of hiden service menus on the Panny). The only difference I can tell between ISF Expert picture modes and "Cinema" is the ISF modes split Sharpness into Horizontal and Vertical. Oddly, with all settings identical, the ISF mode is a bit brighter than the Cinema mode for some reason.

Glare is noticeably worse on the LG as well and this gives the picture overall a glossy feel while the Panny is more matte. I prefer the latter as it makes the picture seem sharper and crisper -- the "wet" glossy look kind of obscures details imo, as of course does the glare.

Sound is nothing great on either but the Panny's is okay while the LG's is really bad.

Honestly I expected a noticeable improvement from the 6-years newer tech, jump to 1080p, and increased size, but I just don't see it, and in fact in most respects, to my eyes the Panny is superior. Even at $350 it might not be worth it. Might end up returning this one. My only hesitation is the aforementioned purple banding on the Panny and some other issues I've been noticing lately.
Edited by curttard - 12/27/12 at 8:40pm