Official Panasonic ST50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 82

Yes, the 60"+ models have slightly better blacks than the smaller versions. The 60" and 65" should be the same.

I'm having a problem getting the tv to output Dolby Digital 5.1 through optical to my receiver from my Fios cable box.

I have the HDMI for the Fios going directly to my tv HDMI input (I've tried both input 1 and 2). I have the optical cable going out from the tv to my "optical a/v input 4" of my receiver. I have speakers turned off in the tv settings. When I play a cable channel that I know has 5.1 DD audio, my receiver only receives 2.0 PCM when I select a/v input 4 for optical.

When I have the HDMI going into my receiver from the Fios box, I get 5.1 DD no problem. Also, when I connect a small antenna to the antenna input of the tv, the ST50 passes through DD 5.1 over optical. But when I connect it as described above, the tv seems to downmix the audio to PCM 2.0. I thought the tv was supposed to pass through DD 5.1 through optical? It works from the antenna but not from Fios. Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?

Is it not working because it's from a cable box and it won't passthrough DD when coming from cable for some silly legal reason? The Samsung D7000 did pass through my DD audio from Fios over optical because that's how I had it connected for close to a year. If anybody is wondering why I don't just run the Fios directly into the receiver, it's because I need all the HDMI ports available on my receiver for other things, so I need to connect the Fios to the tv and then output the DD 5.1 through optical.

Does anybody have a solution?

Any audio from an EXTERNAL source (set-top box, DVD player, etc) is downmixed to stereo. Any "internal" source (DLNA/usb, OTA, and Viera stuff) can be sent native up to 5.1.

What is the purpose of connecting the optical out to an avr if using hdmi 2 arc?

Because HDMI Arc will not help me in this case.

The purpose is that the tv should be passing through the DD 5.1 audio from Fios over the optical which I can then set my receiver to receive, without needing to take up an HDMI input on the receiver.

If I have my Fios going into HDMI 1 or 3, and my other HDMI from my receiver out to HDMI 2, how will ARC help me? It won't. Because I can watch Fios on HDMI 1 or 3, but it still won't pass through the 5.1 audio over ARC HDMI 2.

The point being that I do not want to use any of my HDMI inputs on my receiver for the Fios cable. The Fios cable need to be directly plugged into the tv for my purposes because I need all the HDMI receiver inputs for my other devices.

And again, I did exactly this with my D7000 and it worked like a charm. Fios to receiver, receiver to HDMI of the D7000 (No ARC), passthrough of DD 5.1 from Fios over optical to my receiver. I should be able to do the same thing with this tv, but sadly I cannot see any way to do this, which cause a problem for me.

Why on Earth would Panasonic not allow DD 5.1 passthrough over optical from HDMI input when the Samsung D7000 did? Obviously it's not a legal reason because the D7000 did it fine.

This is a major setback for me. I need all my HDMI inputs on my receiver. Now it seems my only choice is to not have DD 5.1 for my Fios. Thanks, Panasonic.

Does your fios box have an optical out? If it does, just connect the box directly to the receiver's optical in

You shouldn't be able to do what you're describing with any TV made in the last 10 years--this is something that is supposed to be built into every TV.

That is the way I have done it for years. Why would someone run it through the TV?

This is how the cable guy hooked up my box in the living room when we switched to cable a few weeks ago.

Yes! A thousand thanks for this. What a simple solution, yet that is exactly what I needed. I didn't even realize that my Fios box had an optical out until I just looked. Problem solved. I'm actually embarrassed that it didn't occur to me to check out the available outputs on the Fios box.

I was thinking when I had my D7000 it was passing through DD 5.1/DTS, but I believe that was only when playing media files from it's internal USB media player. I guess it never did pass through Fios DD 5.1 like I thought I remembered it.

Thanks again.

I've now got my 55ST50 set up in my den. I finished the 100 hours pre-calibration slides and used the D-Nice settings. The tv looks great to my eyes. The only issue I've come across is the way the tv handles 24p. I originally had my PS3's 24p output disabled because my previous tv did not support it. I watched about half of the newest Mission Impossible when I realized I needed to enable 24p output in the PS3 settings. I made sure I had the ST50 set to dispay 60Hz.

When I turned the movie back on, I noticed an immediate soap opera effect. I made sure the motion smoothing setting was indeed turned off. Another member here reported this same thing on his ST50. I guess I am pretty sensitive to SOE, so I quickly disabled the 24p output on the PS3 and things looked again as they should.

I'm surprised none of the official reviews by the experts mention this at all. Maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others, but I definitely prefer to disable 24p output from my blu-ray player.

If anyone wants to see some horrible line bleed on their ST50 check out Fox Business News channel in HD. they have a vertical scrolling ticker on the right side of the screen, on the same horizontal plane as people's faces, you can see black lines moving on people's faces constantly.

interesting, i'll give it a try. up till now i've been watching blu rays with the blu ray player set to 24p enable

So excited, Just finished D-Nices 100 hours of slides and instructions on panel prep last night at 3:00am. I set my alarm woke up and backed out of the slides and turned off the TV. When I get home tonight after work and the gym I will input his settings and let you guys know how it looks!

I agree that it's disappointing that this was never mentioned in any professional review. Shame on CNET and others for not at least giving us the heads up that this tv forces a mild soap-opera effect in some situations, even when motion smoothing is turned off. Watching anything from its built-in USB media player causes that soap effect, even in 60Hz mode with motion smoothing disabled.

In general, Fox seems to have the worst HDPQ available.

no, its the TV's fault, not fox broadcast quality.

I have to agree here. I really cant stand Fox News. Because it isnt,-- but on Cox cable it sure does look purty.

This is my third Plasma and this set has less line bleed than I have ever seen on a Plasma. My Samsung that it replaces has horrible line bleed. Fox Business is a worse case scenario, in typical movie watching I find this set very impressive when it comes to line bleed, it's there but not near as obstructive as my old sets. I think Fox Business has decent PQ on Dish, it is not a PQ issue the line bleed is there. I compared my old set to the ST50 by using the scene in Terminator 2 when Arnold first comes to the present day. There is a grill on a tractor trailer that he is in front of. On my old set the lines went across the screen in both directions. With the ST50 it looks perfect, I see none of that at all.

Another trick for stubborn smudges that resist the microfiber cloth is to use the moisture in your breath with the cloth...works very well for me.

I agree, fox business channel in HD is a worst case scenario for line bleed, because of the ticker on the right side. In normal movie or tv watching , line bleed is very seldom noticeable.

You seem to be unanimous in your judgment.

What I'd like to know is if the 65" loses the punch of the 55"? By comparison in previous models like VT25 and ST30 I noticed that the 60+ sizes are not only slightly dimmer but just don't have the same punch to the picture as the smaller sizes, ie not as brilliant. Does the 65ST50 holds up well in this regard? I'm sure it's phenomenal in either case but I'm still curious side by side with a 55ST50 if the picture seems any 'weaker'?

Wait...there is an non removable soap-opera effect on this set ??

I cannot stand that effect....soo close to hitting the order button as well.

Got my set last night. I hooked it up to my BDP320 playing Toy Story 3 and it looked incredible out of the box. I haven't adjusted anything yet in the picture menu. I plan on letting it run as is for a week before optimizing.

I did set the 320 to output 24hz though. I immediately noticed the SOE despite never having seen it before, it was that obvious. I then set the motion smoother to off and made sure 60hz was selected. It went away completely to my eyes. I wasn't able to select 3/2 pulldown as it was greyed out, am I missing something there? I don't think anyone but the persnicketiest of the picky should have a problem with the 24hz motion when the smoother is set to off. I'm not saying that isn't a large chunk of our posters though!

It's only when you feed it 24p material directly. So, for blu-ray it's a complete non-issue since you can just set the player to send 60hz. It only really becomes an issue if you are playing native 24fps files directly using the USB or SD card inputs.

I believe 3/2 pull down is only for 1080i source material.

Ok, good to know. I have the BDP set to upconvert everything to 1080p and my Netflix and MLB.tv play from there as well. As a side note the MLB.tv and Netflix both look worlds better playing from my 320 than they do from my HTPC. Also the samsung ssg4100 glasses work with no setup. Just turn on 3d and turn on the glasses. They synced from 12 feet away on the couch no problem.

This is correct - keep in mind it's not limited just to the USB/card inputs. It is an issue any time you are playing 23.976 content with the tv in 60Hz mode, regardless of input source. Like you said, it's a non-issue as long as you just set the player to send 60hz.

I've tried playing 23.976 mkv files directly through the ST50's built-in USB media player, and also using a media player connected via HDMI outputting 24Hz, and either way, if the tv is set to 60Hz, it automatically applies motion smoothing (soap opera effect). This is with motion smoothing disabled in both cases.

The only way to get this tv to not display motion smoothing for 23.976 content is by having the tv in 48Hz mode, but of course that is not really an option because of the horrible flicker. Any time the tv encounters 24Hz material, whether USB/SD or HDMI, it will always apply motion smoothing when in 60Hz mode.

So bottom line, if true 23.976 playback is important to you, this is the wrong set. The only Panasonic plasma that can play 23.976 content correctly without any motion smoothing is the VT50, unless you are ok with the 48Hz flicker of the ST/GT series. The only other option is to go with a Samsung, since their E7000 and E8000 both have a proper 23.976/96Hz mode. But I can't recommend Samsung due to their fluctuating brightness issue.

Best thing to do is keep the ST50 set to 60Hz and always feed it 60Hz content, which means if you plan to play 23.976 video files, use an external media player and set it to output 60Hz. The motion of the ST50 looks great as long as you do that. Always feed it 60Hz and you're fine.