LG 50PA6500 and LG 60PA6500 Plasmas - Page 3

And what are you going to do if you regularly use the fireplace in the fall and winter? I expect some plastic to melt from the heat.

fireplace is routed out the back of the house well below where the TV is mounted; doesn't go out a chimney above the roof. That said, this is our 3rd place with a fireplace and we've never used one of them.


With that, pretty sure i'm not the first person mounting a TV above a fireplace

also, on calibration, after spending some more time with it, skin tones seem to be off. I think I need to double check my settings

My 6500 delivered today from Costco warehouse or wherever. Lone driver hauled box into front hall. At 80 years and counting I am wondering how to get box to wheelchair elevator and down to family room. Take box off and try to get remainder onto small elevator, get downstairs and find myself boxed in. Ended up cutting/breaking/chopping off foam supports and cardboard end pieces off bottom. Hope I don't have to return tv because ain't no way, no how it's going back the way it came.

Brother in law came over and rescued me from my dilema. I had googled about plasma laying flat, putting on edge etc. General consensus was to never place plasma sets in any angle except vertical on penalty of death.

LG manual indicates and shows pictures of set on face down but only way to install swivel base is to lift it up to about a 15 or 20 degree angle and insert support piece. Also had to loosen nut on bottom of swivel portion or else the support was not going to swivel. There are lies, big lies and damned lies as the saying goes. Bottom line is do what you have to do within intelligent reason. Forget the henny penny "the sky is falling" yahoos. Could be a day or two before my 50 incher gets a jolt of electricity. Stay tuned.

As a new member I thought I joined within the last week or less. It says I joined in November 2006 and just posted my first message. Where the hell have I been?

Yeh, I've decided those settings are not good for skin tones...too yellow. Still playing.

The 60" made Dealnews.com Best HDTV Deals
http://dealnews.com/features/best-tv-deals.html

After not liking the Amazon settings, I came up with some SIMPLE settings that I'm pretty happy with so far:

Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Energy Saving: Off
Picture Mode: Expert 1 or 2
Contrast: 83
Brightness:60
H. Sharp: 10
V. Sharp: 10
Color: 48
Tint: 0

Expert control

Dynamic Contrast: Off
Noise Reduction: Off
Gamma: Medium
Black Level: Low
Color Gamut: Standard
Edge Enhancement: Off
Color Temp: Medium
Method: 2 Point
Pattern: Outer
Points: High
Red: 14
Green: -12
Blue: -10

NO COLOR MANAGEMENT
Everything should be "0"

Agreed. The Amazon settings didnt work for me. I ran Picture Wizard and was able to get a pretty nice picture that way, but I want to double check the store's settings, because their image looked alot deeper and more realistic than I've been able to get it. it could be because I'm streaming Netflix from a computer, but I know I can get some more sharpness and depth on people on the TV

If anyone is wonder, the 50PA5500 is going to $599 + tax next week at BJ's.

http://www.bjs.com/lg-50-full-hd-108...?dimId=2000158

Members only, Coupon is an instant rebate so nothing is needed for cutout or anything.

They are new models, so I dont see them going out of stock anytime soon

Sunday May 6 2012

Took delivery of LG 50PA6500 last Thursday and had as many as 4 people getting in the way and helping at one time. 36" Panasonic CRT finally gone to recycle people. Never had a problem in close to 13 years but time to move up. Bedroom Sharp LED also looks good but I had decided on an LG plasma for the family room.

I will be contacting provider tomorrow to get DVR set top box and channel packages but have been playing around for a few days plugged directly into cable outlet. The remote is less than impressive. Needs to be pointed directly at set, I mean directly. Button "feel" leaves much to be desired also. Set top box will likely be a Pace 777D (yeuch) so it's remote will push the LG remote out the door.

I have tried two different setups as outlined in previous posts here but still need to tweak them when proper HDTV is up and running.

Ah, the good ol' days. Plug the CRT in, turn it on, adjust the horizontal hold, vertical hold, brightness, contrast and maybe turn the rotor on the roof top antenna and you're good to go. Uh, no. Later.

Thanks for sharing. I'm digging these settings more so than those from Amazon. I did up the sharpness (both horizontal and vertical) to 22 - the default of 10 was just a little too soft for me.

Noticeable difference when doing some quick A/B comparisons with these settings on Exp 1 and Amazon's on Exp 2; skin tones esp. look more natural.

- Jim

I just received a LG 60PA5500 today as a warranty replacement for my Sony KDS-60A3000 that I paid $1599.00 for back in 2007 which fell prey to the infamous optical block light engine defect which has plagued Sony SXRD RPTVs. I thankfully had a 5 year extended warranty from Frys Electronics where I brought it. Fry's declined to replace the optical block because it cost too much so they gave me a brand new LG 60PA5500 in the box which was on sale for $899 from it's regular price of $1099. I'm not sure whether I want to keep this plasma as I had my mind set on a Panasonic TC-P60ST50. I'm still thinking about it. After doing some research about the 60PA5500, it looks like essentially the same plasma as the 60PA6500 in just about every detail. I was used to the KDS-60A3000 picture quality which was pretty good for an RPTV and I'm not sure whether the 60PA5500 will measure up. I haven't even taken the 60PA5500 out of the box yet but it was free so I guess I shouldn't complain but I do want good picture quality. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I would not even give that a moments thought. I stepped up from a Sammy DLP...LG blows it out of the water.

As to the difference between the 5500s and 6500s...the 5500s being 2-3 hundred dollars cheaper would lead me to believe they are NOT truly the same. I had read blacks are better on the 6500s.

Anyone else care to chime in if a viewing distance of 8' is too close for these 60" LG plasmas? I primarity watch HD cable programming with the occasional BR.

Do you notice dithering at 8' with HD cable on these LG's?

Thanks,

-Guru

Personally, 8' would too close for me. My usual distance is about 13-14'.

I've seen no dithering because I don't use torch mode.

I sit at about 9 feet and that distance is fine. I think 8 feet would be OK, but everyone is different. I'd personally prefer to sit a bit "too close" to a larger screen than too far away from a smaller (50") one.

What is torch mode? What is dithering? Excuse my ignorance



I went to the settings posted in this thread, much better skin tones then the amazon settings.


I sit about 9' away and am completely happy with it. That said, I had a 56" DLP that I sat about 6' from before

IMO, too close is when your eyes are having to constantly be moving around the screen, as opposed to being back far enough to see screen with eyes fixed. Of course, that distance will vary slightly per individual.

Here's a chart showing recommended distances/variables:
http://s3.carltonbale.com/distance_chart.html

Hey guys, recently ordered my 50PA6500 and getting it delivered next week.
Seems like everyone is pretty satisfied with this model.

I recently had a PZ250, but it had dead pixels so i got this one instead.
Can i expect some improvements on this model compared to the PZ250 ?

Heard the blacks are better on the 2012 models.

Edit : CLpower > "torch mode" is the mode they use in the stores to make it look nice and flashy. High contrast levels (often 100) and brightness levels too most of the time, to attract your eyes.
You don't wanna do this at home, at max around 70-80, but also, don't go too low or the "break in" period will last longer. Peoples going under 50 in contrast during break in are wrong, because they'll need not 200 hours to burn properly the phosphors but 400 hours. Just avoid logos and static images/bars the first 200 hours, and you'll be fine.

Torch mode is usually Vivid or Dynamic, and is often way to bright with too high contrast. But you can turn the bright and contrast down if you want to tweak the picture more satisfactorily.

I'm highly considering the 60" version. No desire for 3D and don't need the apps. I'm not a black level maniac so this sounds like it fits the bill. The hundreds I'll save vs Panasonic's ST50 will go to a raid server and maybe some cheap in-wall speakers.

Nice.

I think it's better to get a good installation rather than an excellent TV alone.

The blacks were pretty decent on the 2011 sets (and great with the pot tweaks) and they announced better blacks for the new models, so there's no need to worry in my opinion.

Edit :

"The PA6500 series are the top tier of non-3D plasmas from LG for 2012. It has a 1080p plasma panel and a new black filter but custs cost by eliminating features such as 3D and online connectivity.
The 50PA6500 has a new black filter that increases both black levels and contrast for a greatly improved picture over previous models. Along with the improved black levels and contrast comes improved color and improved detail in dark scenes and shadows. LG has stepped it up with their 2012 plasmas showing a marked improvement over previous models."

The PA6500 ranked 5th in the best selling plasma TV at Plasma TV Buying guide.

1 Panasonic TC-P50ST50
2 Samsung PN51E550
3 Samsung PN51E7000
4 Panasonic TC-P50GT50
5 LG 50PA6500
6 Samsung PN60E8000
7 Panasonic TC-P50UT50
8 Samsung PN51E6500
9 LG 42PA4500
10 Samsung PN51D490

^^^
I thought only the PM9700 has the black filter (but more expensive). im planning to buy 50PA6500 soon. (don't really need the apps or 3D) and u got me excited.

From reading various posts about a variety of LG TVs, I know that many folks dislike the LG "Intelligent Sensor" feature. I've tried it out recently on my 60PA6500 and kind of like it for late night viewing in a totally dark room. It reduces the light output, as it is supposed to do, but I'm not really noticing anything else that it does that degrades the picture.

@goodoldman5, yep, LG's are getting more and more competitive on the market.
Few years ago they were known for cheap and so so products, their high end TV's and overall quality has risen.

They have their own role on the market, producing affordable panels.

In order I'd say :

1.Panasonic : Great Tv's, but somehow expensive
2.Samsung : Not so expensive and really competitive
3.LG : Affordable and getting more and more competitive

Usually the high end LG's are not that expensive and compete pretty well against the mid range Panasonic and high end Samsung.

They try to compete with other brands while keeping a lower price. This is harder to do than building great Tv's with a huge prices (and also pretty smart, they must be selling a lot more).


@LDBetaGuy, some people like to have their brightness the way they like, and don't wanna see it moving around all the time i guess. Meticulous and optimum settings i suppose.

But you're right, it's a smart feature. Can save you some money too.

They are obviously selling well. Two days after I bought mine from Amazon (almost three weeks ago) they were out...and redirected to another seller. Yesterday, I was at Frys and for grins, asked how many they had...none. Said two weeks for more. Still very happy with mine. I would have bought Panasonic if it would have fit into my entertainment closet...yet I have no regrets.

Then screens in most cinemas would be too big.

A TV should be at the very least big enogh from ones seating position to take full advantage of Full HD definition.

On top of that, watching BDs should feel like you were at the movies.


EDIT: The problem with LG plasmas in the past though-Y Theri pwm noise in the shades near black is far too gross, to sit really close to the panel! I hope, that this behaviour has changed this year.

Agreed, on my PZ250 it was obvious. A lot of noise.
Can anyone who has the set confirm that its gotten better this year ?

Would be really grateful.
Getting mine in few days, but still wondering.

First impression out of the box.

Definitively some improvements compared to 2011 models, much deeper blacks (better than my tweaked pz250), brighter image, richer colors.

Tweaked the settings with the ones on this topic, looks nice and i'm pretty satisfied. Didn't run the wizard yet.

Sounds promising! How's the dithering near black?