Official Panasonic ST50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 85

i was wondering how close is ST50 calibrated to a GT50 THX mode. is it better?

I see no SOE, and I'm extremely sensitive to that effect. I'd be more suspect of the user's TV settings honestly, as I've seen motion smoothing set different on different sources such as Internet vs. HDMI, and I noticed the last firmware update set my motion smooting back on.

Or just load D-Nice's settings and have good settings on your ST for free.

I have just taken delivery of a 55ST50 here in the UK. I've been running it for two days now. I have the feint vertical line on the right hand side as described by numerous others. If I run the scroll, it doesn't show up - clean as a whistle. If I run any uniformity test pattern off a blu-ray, ditto the above.

It seems to show up on some grays mostly (I even did the american spelling for you), specifically around what I'd call 'medium' gray. It's only occasionally noticeable in normal viewing, and only really because I know it's there, and I find myself being compelled to watch for it. Annoying. Especially since I upgraded from my 12 yr old Panasonic 42" commercial SD panel that was flawless.

I may try and tune it out of my head in the next few days. We'll see. But if I send it back, there's a strong likelyhood I may get one even worse judging by some of the comments I've read.

Just wanted to pass along some st50 impressions. First off I have upgraded to the 55st50 from a LG 47LH90, which was an awesome TV. However I have always wanted a plasma, and I finally after passing up the last 2 years pany models I pullled the trigger.

I followed D-Nice's 100 hour panel prep perfectly and used his exact settings, which was completed 8 days ago. The St50 rocks my LH90 in almost every area. I did not have the LH90 professional calibrated, but I did always use the THX mode for blu's. The ST50's black levels on blu's are extremely good and very inky, especially when the scene is not completely dark. The first blu I watched was "The Island" and let me tell you it looked amazing, best I have even seen it. the black bars were almost 100% blended with the bezel in a dark room setting. The shadows and other black objects looked a perfect inky black when the is lit areas on screen. Even in dark scenes it looked fantastic. It absolutely crushed the LH90's black levels in a dark environment running the same movie form the same source.

I currently have the LH90 and ST50 side by side to make sure the ST50 is a good upgrade, and it definitely is. I will be selling my LH90 asap. Also my screen has had no IR problems, uniformity issues or that line people are talking about, and the buzzing cannot be heard during normal viewing. It an amazing looking set, I am very happy.

As I've stated several times, all my settings have been double and triple checked, and they are identical to CNET's except that the color is dialed down a tad. That applies to all of my viewing modes. You will only see SOA when the set receives 24Hz content and displays it at 60Hz, or when it uses it's internal media player to play 24Hz content at 60Hz. Everything else looks just fine with no SOE.

I'm also extremely sensitive to SOE, and I hate it with a passion. And it's very obvious that the tv applies SOE when handling direct 24Hz content in 60Hz mode. There will always be doubters, but I know what I'm seeing - I have a plasma partly because I couldn't stand the SOE on LEDs. And that's what happens to this tv when it receives 24Hz. It seems equivalent to setting the motion smoothing to mild - but once again - it is set to off.

On my set it's extremely mild, like a shadow almost. I have not yet noticed it during viewing, but knowing it is there is bugging me, because I can't help but wonder what the cause is, and I certainly want another unit if this one has a screen flaw of some sort.

Ok, I've been running my TCP50ST50 since Monday, using the slides to prep (ok, and I admit to sneaking a few peeks at programming during that time too).

I think the faint line on the right side is probably a result of the design or manufacturing process, because I believe I have it too and it seems too common to be a defect. It is so faint, though, that I wasn't really sure I was even seeing it until coming here and seeing the other posts about it. It could be that some sets have it worse than others. I think probably all of these sets have it but on some, it's just so faint that the owner doesn't see it. I don't see it at all during programming, and only so slightly on some of the slides that I sometimes think it's the result of an afterimage of my eyes shifting slightly as I'm looking at the TV. I am super-critical of stuff like this too - in fact, I bought this TV partly because my old 42" LCD has a really noticeable (to me) line right through the middle!

Here's my thought on that, though. Like it or not, there's no such thing as a perfect TV. Every year TV's get better, but that doesn't mean *all* the annoyances will get worked out completely or that a few new ones won't crop up, especially in a mid-range TV! (Otherwise, why would anybody spend more?) Instead, we get incremental overall improvements, with each TV still having positives and a few negatives. Hopefully, the positives (vastly) outweigh the negatives, but I think they do with this set.

Frankly I think we're all a little bit spoiled these days. Even just a few years ago, I felt like I got a steal with my 1080p 42" LCD for $1,500. Nowadays, that would be a low end set that would sell for more like $500, and today's model would have better black levels and contrast. A similar thing is true for PDP's - the ST50 series has amazing picture quality for not much money relatively speaking, it has some clear improvements over the ST30's, and the panels are insanely thin and light compared to what PDP's were like even just in 2010. But still we complain about a faint vertical line way on the side that some of us can't even see.

If this is the one criticism of this TV that I end up having, I will be extremely happy with my purchase. Like I said, my old LCD - which cost more money and has a smaller screen with less contrast and a much worse black level - actually has *three* distinct lines where the individual panels that make up the screen line up. So in any case, the ST50 is still a vast improvement, and *plus* I have all the other advantages in picture quality that the ST50 has, some of which are unique to the ST line and above, and to Panasonic (hard to find better black level at this price, for example).

One thing I have noticed as I've snuck a peak at some programming, though, is that I do notice a yellow cast on the normal custom settings (I've dialed contrast back to 50 and turned off all the picture enhancements on the HDMI input, but have otherwise left the colors alone). I'm hoping that once the panel prep is done and I'm able to apply D-Nice's settings, that goes away. Otherwise I'll try a calibration disc.

This is exactly the post I have been waiting for. I also have the LG LH90 and what a great TV. I just have not been able to convince myself that the ST50 is really much better. A few months ago one of the name calibrators said that the ST30 was NOT better at all. But I think now the ST50 seems to be much improved this year. The LG is off to the bedroom!

badasscat, I'm tending to think like you that it's just part of the manufacturing process. I just talked to Panasonic a few moments ago about the issue as a follow-up to yesterday's call, and the rep today told me that if I can still return it for another unit I should, since the screen should be perfectly uniform throughout.

But then I told him what a chore that would be to get Best Buy to pick up and re-deliver a new set, and then have to use my slides again for days, all when there might not be anything "wrong" with the set, and he said they would escalate the issue and I would be hearing back from them within a couple days.

My feeling is it is on all the units, due to however they make the screens maybe, at Panasonic. But according to the rep, there should be no issues with the screen. Maybe they wouldn't confirm the line because they hope it's so faint to see that they don't want to mention it? It does seem odd how there should be a line there. Something causes it - either it's a regular occurrence due to how they make the sets, or a machine error that affected some units. I wish we could get an answer.

Comparing this line oddity to the Samsung's fluctuating brightness issue, I'm very happy to have this set. Heck, even my local Showcase cinema has lines and patches all over the screen. My screen looks better than theirs.

Regarding the black flickers during hockey and basketball games - I see the same thing, and my girlfriend sees it as well. I asked Panasonic about that too, and the rep first told me to reset my tv. I told him I didn't want to do that because it took me 45 minutes to set it up the way I like, and then he told me their information about that is to have the tv in cinema or custom mode when I watch basketball or hockey. I told him it is in cinema mode. He also said to disable CATS. I told him it is already disabled.

He then explained that this is the way the tv is handling the bright flashes in the indoor stadiums. His only advice is to try the set in custom or cinema, and there's nothing wrong with the unit. I asked if Panasonic had any intention of improving how the set handles those situations in a firmware update, and he said they are aware of the issue, and if it is possible to improve how it reacts to those conditions, they will address it.

I can definitely see sports fans as being very upset over how the tv handles indoor stadium games. I would have a real hard time watching basketball or hockey on this set with the constant black flickers. So I feel bad for owners of this set that watch those games. I wonder if all plasmas act like that, or is it something only Panasonic is struggling with? How do the Samsungs handle these games? How did the Kuro? I have no idea, I'm curious myself if it's the plasma technology itself to blame.

The flickering on indoor stadiums and the lines on the screen are some of the reasons that it is often best to not buy into the new models fresh off the assembly line. Seems with a lot of TV's that there are issues that get fixed with later build dates and sometimes firmware updates, once the manufacturers become aware(by consumers) that there may be problems present on initial production units.

Well many people seem to see it, so even if some don't actually see it (whether they don't have it or just don't notice it), there is obviously something there causing it for those who do see it. And given plasma technology, I would be surprised if it was not something physically behind the screen. Or I guess it could also be in *front* of the screen, maybe an imperfection in the filter or something. I don't get that sense when I look at mine, though; I think it's behind the screen. These TV's are so thin now that I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff pressed basically right up against the back of the screen.

Screens are always "supposed" to be 100% uniform but in my experience, they rarely are. I have looked at countless sets in the store and while the default settings they use are terrible to judge TV's by in most ways, the torch mode on most TV's does more easily reveal uniformity imperfections in my experience. I actually ruled out about 90% of the TV's I looked at before buying the ST50 (including other plasmas) strictly based on seeing lines, blobs, discolorations, clouds or other things at the store. Even if the ST50 does have this faint line way on the right side that only some people can even see when displaying certain solid colors, that's still an improvement over most other sets that often have noticeable uniformity issues even on regular content. Total uniformity is obviously the ideal and it's not surprising that Panasonic would say that and even honor a repair under warranty, but in practice my experience is that 100% uniformity is elusive. I still feel like the ST50's screen is about the most uniform I've seen, even with this faint line that's barely there.

I *am* a little worried that the line could get worse over time, as my LCD most definitely has. But, well, the picture on any TV is going to degrade over time, in various ways. So it's probably best to just not think about that.

I think this falls under the category of "don't look for imperfections in your TV set unless you want to find some".

That definitely sounds plausible - that it's something we're seeing behind the screen, perhaps a shadow of a bar pressed very close behind the screen? Anyways, I doubt Panasonic will ever really tell us anyways. If we knew it was something like a shadow and not a physical defect, I'm pretty sure most of us here, including me, would just ignore it going forward since it's nothing to worry about. Panasonic playing dumb is not going to help, but that's usually what happens with these companies. I'm pretty sure if it is a normal shadow of something behind the screen, they should certainly know it since they build them. Panasonic acting ignorant of the cause just makes us worry that it's something worse that might degrade over time. Honesty is the best policy with customers. Unfortunately, most companies don't adopt that policy.

I was eyeing to buy ST50 in the next few weeks. I looks like I should wait to see if these problems settle with the first batch of sets having issues..

I almost got a LG 6500 but saw it side by side tonight with an Panny ST50 and couldn't turn back. Came home and found a good deal on the 55 so I ordered it.

Stoked!

What issues?

I have a new 60" ST50. ZERO issues, and couldn't be happier with it.

+1, beautiful, was hard to transition my eyes from DLP to this, but wow.

- mysterious line on the right of the screen (very difficult to see)

- rapid black flashes during indoor stadium games (I've observed it during hockey and basketball - impossible not to see)

- forced SOE (soap opera effect) on all incoming 24Hz content (likely won't be addressed) - very annoying for those that dislike it

Don't get me wrong here - I love this set. But let's not pretend that some of us haven't encountered these 3 issues. I have noticed all 3. They have all been mentioned enough times by different people that a new user can certainly get the idea that maybe, just maybe, these early models are suffering growing pains. Earlier somebody mentioned last year Panasonic issued fixes for their sets later into the production run. I'm pretty sure this is what the poster meant when he wondered if he should wait a bit.

I have a looked for the line and can't see it on my 60 inch st 50, nor did I see it on the 55 inch I just returned for the 60 .

I think if one looks hard enough one will find flaws with any tv technology or brand.

I have owned and a demoed a lot of plasmas over the last 5 years and this 1 has the least of any of the ones that i looked at .

if you wait for the perfect tv I'm afraid you won't have a tv for a very long time, if ever.

Our ST50 is just 2 weeks old: first time I looked at slides, thought I noticed a bit of Yellowish Tint in the center of the screen on one - or perhaps two - of the medium gray slides. A bit distressing, as we returned 4 (four) 2011 Pan plasmas for Green Blobs and/or Pink Tint! (The PINK turned out to be the greater problem for us, although it seems to have been a Less Frequent problem than Green...)

However, the yellowish cast seems to have disappeared - and we are probably still under 200 hours. Hopefully yours will do likewise!

On the two 2011 panels that we kept the longest - 650 hours or more - the Green Blob was Mostly Faded by around the 500 hour mark, so a "fading yellow" does not seem unprecedented. (In fact, Panasonic Tech support said that it took "around 500 hours" for the 2011 panels to "fully settle in.")

Will keep an eye on the "vertical shadow" - shows up about 1" in from the right edge of the screen (a 60"): But thus far I simply CANNOT see it during any normal programming, and can only FAINTLY spot it on ONE of the gray slides.

Suppose I could dig out some of my Pink Tint Test Scenes - lots of grays & off-whites - but, frankly, am not certain that I WANT to see it in normal programs!

For now, we are Extremely Impressed with the ST50: the ST30 was pretty darn good (green & pink excluded, of course), but the 50 takes PQ up a notch...

Well, in our "digital world" there are two components: hardware and software. Good software can bring out the inherent abilities of the hardware and/or mask their shortcomings. Bad software will just get everybody's pot boiling. I am guessing, purely conjecture on my part, the new panel (Hardware) on the VT, GT, ST and the UT were designed to be very software friendly; leading to less shortcomings than we have seen in the past (Floating Blacks, Fluctuating Brightness, Rising Blacks, and of course Blobs). The differences you are seeing is in all likelihood the manifestations of the inherent abilities of two different hardware driven by two different software. An exact duplication would be almost impossible. There are many 120 Hz LCDs out there and they handle motion differently, at least to me, from one another given the aforementioned differences in hardware and software combinations. Hopefully, the VT's 96 Hz mode will be what you are looking for but I wouldn't part with the Kuro. I have never seen two TVs from two different manufactures "look" or behave the same way. There is always something different.

It's not really something that's open to debate. A Panasonic insider confirmed there's motion smoothing going on all the time (even when set to off) when it's fed 24fps directly.

Whether or not it bothers you is personal preference.

You could just have your BD player do the 24>60hz conversion and send the ST50 1080p60.

I agree. It is their secret sauce. 60 Hz and 24p are akin to a round hole and a square peg. Without some sort of "manipulation" it just won't fit. The fact that they are able to make a 60 Hz output look like 24p is the real accomplishment.

Hi,

I recently bought the 50st50 and returned it for the larger 55st50.

When I set up the 55 the speakers sounded bad? I mean there was zero bass and a tin sound was all it could produce from the far left and right speakers.

Anyone else encounter this issue?

It sounds like a blown speaker or just a major defect.

I'll let you know what they find.

Yup (though in my case I'm having my AVR do it.)

The only time it gets annoying that you can't disable it is when the video source is one of the TV's internal players.

funny you mentioned that. I have the same issue with my ST50 but I thought it was just because I moved into a new place and my living room where the tv resides is completely empty with no furniture whatsoever to swallow the sound. What do you guys think?