Official Panasonic ST50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 98

I also have another question for anyone who will answer.I'm breaking in this set before I do some gaming on it.I always bought Lcd TV's because I was afraid of Ir/burn in.So my question is,is this the right way to do it,run full screen content 150 to 200 hrs in standard mode 50 Brightness 50 Picture?I'm a newbie to the plasma world,so bear with me...

I also want to add I returned my first set due to buzzing and sometimes when the set went pitch black on some movies the screen flashed,I did download the firmware update the day I got it and maybe that's why it flashed.The new one I got so far doesn't flash,and I did not download the update.I also got to experiment with this before I took it back and found some stuff I would like to share.1 When you have a static image on screen for some time video games sports and put the TV in 3D mode I noticed image retention pretty bad on the blacks,it went away but only noticed it when the TV went in 3D.I guess when 3D kicks in the TV kinda goes a little white washed so maybe that's why it's so noticeable.I also like an idiot watched baseball on vivid the fist day I got the set and did notice burn in on whites red and purple screens.So that's why I'm following the break in process,and I assume that will not happen again.I did play a lot of PS3 and 360 on it the first day for 3 hrs plus and noticed a little IR when I kicked the TV over to 3D mode and put up a black screen,but like I said before it went away in 2 min with full screen content.

I took home an Australian P50ST50A on Friday and had a bit of a play with it over the weekend. Very happy with it overall however I did notice the following issues:

1. When fed a 24p signal the TV does not report the refresh rate it uses but I am pretty sure it is defaulting to 48hz as I do notice a small amount of flicker in bright scenes. There doesn't seem to be a 3:2 pulldown option available like the US version, is this correct or am I missing something?

2. I was able to see line bleed on the green MPAA screen quite clearly however I didn't notice it in regular content at all.

Aside from those two items I didn't notice any other issues. Watched Apocalypto and The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray as well as a variety of SD content and was really impressed with the PQ.

Does anyone know if there is a hidden option to enable the 60hz 3:2 pulldown for 24p sources on the UK/AU versions?

Cheers

2.I also noticed the menu burned in the screen also.Like I said I ran the TV in vivid day 1..and pixel orbiter was on.

Its not 48Hz, its 96Hz.

60Hz (3:2 pulldown) is the mode that the TV uses when 24p handling is disabled. That is why it is not a selectable mode. You are simply toggling between the two by disabling or enabling 24p handling.

Fair enough, I only ask as I know the US ST50 has an option to display a 24p signal at 60hz using it's own 3:2 pulldown which is apparently very good. I can't see that option (described on page 145 of the E-Help Manual for US models) so I'm assuming it's not available on the Australian models.

Also, I hope you don't mind me asking but how are you so sure it runs at 96hz? There is definitely a slight flicker in bright scenes with 24p content which is why I think it is running at 48hz. I also noted that when you set 24p smooth film to max it appears to revert to 60hz and the flicker dissapears.

The US sets handle it differently and there is some undefeatable motion smoothing that is occuring with their sets. We don't have that problem.

The last time 48Hz featured on a Panasonic pdp in our region was the G10.

Interesting. Are there any reports of the VT50 flickering in it's 24p playback mode as well? I can definitely see it although I wouldn't call it "unwatchable" as I've heard 48hz described - it's pretty subtle.

Yes, its a common trait with the Panasonics. Although I believe its vastly improved this year. Nothing is perfect though.

Random question, so I'm sorry - I also posted this in the GT50 thread for help there.

Could someone post a photo of animated blu ray movie from their ST50?

The reason I ask is this - I was in BB over the weekend and mine only carries the ST and the UT. The UT was playing Megamind and looked great - the ST has hooked up to their 3d demo stuff and so I couldn't evaluate it as well as I would have liked.

I know a photo of someone's screen won't do it the right justice, but I was wondering how clear an image the ST will show. For now, it is the best that I will be able to see! I've read so many good things about it, but I haven't seen a properly set up one anywhere. Thanks!

ST will look as good or better.. I should be getting my 60" ST50 this week. Everybody that is new to plasma's will probably notice certain things due to not being familiar with them. Quit trying to look for problems and just enjoy the tv.. Quit using slide to find flaws that is just plain stupid! Watch it in full HD for 100-200 hrs to break it in and enjoy..

Looking for issues with slides before your return period ends is smart, not stupid?!? Thanks for the kind words though.

If you don't notice an issue without the slides,what's the point?

finally pulled the trigger on a GT with 3D glasses, but I'll have the same frequency options as ST. Getting a couple 3D titles too to check it out. Can you tell me what setting(s) you use for 3D? Did you go with 48Hz since I've read that some have mentioned (sorry, i forget if it was ST or GT forum) that it works better for 3D, or are you just taking input at 60Hz and liking the result? Thanks.

Sorry for the repeat post, but I would really value your help too sheshechic! What freq do you run your GT at for 3D? Do you switch to 48 or leave it at 60 for both 2D & 3D? Thanks!

(Finally pulled the trigger yesterday on the 60GT! Couldn't justify the size/cost of the 65 in the end. At 11 feet, I think I'll be very pleased, and if the movie is exciting to the point I'm on the edge of my seat then even better as I'll be at 9 feet!)

Thanks. It's just hard to compare when the store has one set up one way and another not at all. Hate to just pull the trigger without having some sort of picture quality base for each. The ST50 looked good in HD, not great, but I am sure it wasn't set up properly. Likewise, the UT was showing a blu-ray in a darkened enviornment and looked great. Since these were the only comparable options I had, I was just looking for some more help.
Thanks again.

Sorry to lose you! I just pulled the trigger last night on the 60GT50. I'm like you in that I do plan to enjoy a decent amount of 3D, esp with my kids on animated films. I hope I'll be able to work around the crosstalk and get it reasonable, plus I'm a noob who is trying to stay unjaded by all this minutia! Just wanted to say it's been nice reading your arguments and appreciate your honest opinions and insights. Best of luck!

Very kind, rgh71. Thank you.

Just got the E8000 delivered today. I'll be breaking it in this week. This time I decided against the slides. I'll only be using them to check the screen for uniformity. To break it in I'll be using 100% 16:9 content with no logos, day and night with some rest periods in-between (Cinemax is included with my Fios package and works great for this purpose).

Perhaps Panasonic may improve their crosstalk issue in a firmware update if at all possible? Best of luck with your new set and I hope you enjoy it.

I have a favor to ask, can anyone tell me where in the packaging the Component video converter cable was hidden? I'm starting to think I didn't get one at all... Anyone know a good site where I could get a replacement?

I know what you mean,just know panasonic is the plasma king now. Samsung is really good too. When I was at bestbuy,they had Tron legacy playing on a new panny and a new samsung side by side.. Neither were set up . The panny was way too black and the samsung had way too much blue going on.. My gf has a new 50" panny I had her buy and it looks freaking stellar! Pretty much made my mind up right there.. Of course I dialed in the settings,no calibration or anything tho. Still looks sick!

I did a search for "hours" and may have missed it in the numerous posts that came up:

How do I find the number of hours on the set so far? Thank you.

This is how it was done on the VT20:

Press and hold the {VOL -} button ON THE PLASMA TV.
Then press the {INFO} button on the remote control 3 times.

"Start Adjustment Menu" message will be displayed followed
by the Service Menu after few seconds.

ADJUST {Picture Adjustment}
WB-ADJUST {White Balance Adjustment}
OPTION {Option Setting}
V-SUS {V-SUS Adjustment}
AGING
SRV-TOOL {Service Tool}

{1} & {2} buttons move through options


Press the {2} button once to select "SRV-TOOL".

Then press the {OK} button to access it.

Using the cursor keys, highlight the right side
of the last item "PTCT :00.00.00.00.00" :





Then press and hold the {MUTE} button for 3 seconds.

Time and Count will be displayed in red color:



__TIME = Hours : Minutes of operation.
COUNT = Times the Plasma was powered on.


To exit, unplug the power cable.


The {VOL+} & {VOL-} buttons are used to change values
while in the Service Menu. Make sure not to touch those
buttons anytime while checking the hours used.

It was readily visible for me.

I wish I could be of real help here but I haven't even read the book yet nor tinkered with the 2D-3D conversion. All I did was but the disk in, sync the glasses and play. So it must have been 60hz. I've seen several posts addressing the subject on tweaking 3D but until I can have the set to myself, I just won't be able to explore/tweak etc.

I'd be interested in hearing your opinions after you've had some time with your set.

I'm likely about to get a 65in ST50 as a replacement for my ST30 that went bad. Do these have IR problems?

Cox cable. Maybe because the boxes only put out 1080i?

It's starting to look better. However, while watching basketball tonight it looks like the contrast between the green and the hardwood in Boston looked like there were some motion issues. Almost like dithering

Do you mean image retention? If so, there is no "IR problem" other than what you might see on any modern plasma if you don't mix the type of material that you watch. A constant diet of ESPN or Fox Business News can cause temporary IR -- all IR is temporary by definition.

I wouldn't spend a lot of time in the setup menus with a new set or you might panic. Just watch a lot of material that doesn't have high contrast fixed images or black bars to go along with the material that does have those features, and you'll be fine.

My Fios outputs at 1080i also but Fios has been known to have less compression on their programming due to being fiber straight to the home. I will test my new ST50 tonight on the Laker/OKC game as I have 1 and a half hours left on my slides.

The laker okc game looked fine last night, but the celtic game didn't look so good. Same channel same provider. I wonder what is causing this. Color and lighting of the arena? Different cameras at the arena? Oh well

60" price just dropped on Amazon...