pcgeek543, thanks for your input. It's very much appreciated.
I cannot for the life of me understand why Panasonic would sabotage their 48Hz mode. Is it just to make the 96Hz mode in their VT50 series look more attractive and tempting? Maybe there's a technical limitation we don't know about that Panasonic couldn't work out with the flicker?
Something else I stumbled across tonight testing 3D files - and it was troubling:
The tv is supposed to be able to automatically detect when you're inputting a 3D side-by-side signal, and automatically switch to 3D mode, which it usually does. But I ran into 2 issues with how that works:
1) When I start playing a 3D sbs file (or under/over), say from my media player via HDMI, it seems to take the tv quite a while to figure out that it's 3D. It takes anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or more before it figures out it should switch to 3D - by then, the movie is playing. Not cool. If I hit the 3D button on the remote to try and tell it to go to 3D, it doesn't - it gives me a pop-up window giving me 2 options:
2D
or
2D>3D
No option exists for me to tell it to go to true 3D mode, until it detects by itself that it's getting fed 3D content. Not good. By contrast, the Samsung D7000 had a 3D button also, and when I hit it, it would automatically go into 3D mode instantly. So I could start a 3D sbs file, hit the 3D button, and immediately be watching 3D. With the ST50, I have no choice but to wait until it decides to go into 3D mode. Meanwhile, the sbs file is playing both images side-by-side, while the tv "thinks".
2) Which leads to the second issue - on 1 sbs file, it couldn't figure out it was 3D - even though it was! It played for minutes, and had no intention of going into 3D mode! Again, I hit the 3D button on the remote, and all I got were "2D" or "2D>3D" for choices. I tried fast-forwarding the video to like 10 minutes in, and then let it play from there, and then it decided finally that it's supposed to be in 3D mode.
This is a problem from what I can see - when I hit the 3D button, there should be 3 options, not 2 - "2D", "2D>3D", and "3D". There's no way (unless I'm completely wrong on this) to force the tv into 3D mode in case it can't figure it out for itself.
Also, once it's in 3D mode, it seems to take a few tries to get the glasses to actually work - I have to switch the button on the glasses back and forth several times for it to start working. Sometimes it kicks in when the tv does, sometimes I have to fuss with the button on the glasses.
Does anybody else have these troubles? Is there something I'm missing here when trying to switch to 3D mode?
I cannot for the life of me understand why Panasonic would sabotage their 48Hz mode. Is it just to make the 96Hz mode in their VT50 series look more attractive and tempting? Maybe there's a technical limitation we don't know about that Panasonic couldn't work out with the flicker?
Something else I stumbled across tonight testing 3D files - and it was troubling:
The tv is supposed to be able to automatically detect when you're inputting a 3D side-by-side signal, and automatically switch to 3D mode, which it usually does. But I ran into 2 issues with how that works:
1) When I start playing a 3D sbs file (or under/over), say from my media player via HDMI, it seems to take the tv quite a while to figure out that it's 3D. It takes anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute or more before it figures out it should switch to 3D - by then, the movie is playing. Not cool. If I hit the 3D button on the remote to try and tell it to go to 3D, it doesn't - it gives me a pop-up window giving me 2 options:
2D
or
2D>3D
No option exists for me to tell it to go to true 3D mode, until it detects by itself that it's getting fed 3D content. Not good. By contrast, the Samsung D7000 had a 3D button also, and when I hit it, it would automatically go into 3D mode instantly. So I could start a 3D sbs file, hit the 3D button, and immediately be watching 3D. With the ST50, I have no choice but to wait until it decides to go into 3D mode. Meanwhile, the sbs file is playing both images side-by-side, while the tv "thinks".
2) Which leads to the second issue - on 1 sbs file, it couldn't figure out it was 3D - even though it was! It played for minutes, and had no intention of going into 3D mode! Again, I hit the 3D button on the remote, and all I got were "2D" or "2D>3D" for choices. I tried fast-forwarding the video to like 10 minutes in, and then let it play from there, and then it decided finally that it's supposed to be in 3D mode.
This is a problem from what I can see - when I hit the 3D button, there should be 3 options, not 2 - "2D", "2D>3D", and "3D". There's no way (unless I'm completely wrong on this) to force the tv into 3D mode in case it can't figure it out for itself.
Also, once it's in 3D mode, it seems to take a few tries to get the glasses to actually work - I have to switch the button on the glasses back and forth several times for it to start working. Sometimes it kicks in when the tv does, sometimes I have to fuss with the button on the glasses.
Does anybody else have these troubles? Is there something I'm missing here when trying to switch to 3D mode?
- but when fed a "real" HD program, the PQ is Outstanding.
