Official Panasonic ST50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 101

Sounds promising. Can you point me to where I can setup according to D-Nice none-prep settings?

I would jump on that price. I bought a 60" over a 65" because of the big price difference and with the amazon price, it's a no brainer.

Think of it this way. The money you'll save will probably be enough to buy half a 65ST50 in about a year, so if you change your mind, you could probably sell the 60" and buy the 65" and have a few hundred left over.

Think I'm going to have to remove all 4:3 shows from my server, my gf just won't use the "zoom", "just" or even the grey background.

Every day when I get home from work, Friends is playing with the big black bars.

I give a
she goes "whaaaat??",

I grab the remote, change the aspect ratio,

she says "I don't like that".

I say, "can I buy a new TV when this one gets ruined?"

She says, "That won't happen".

I say "Are you going to argue with me on techy stuff?"

She says "you're not getting a new TV."

End of subject.

Does anyone happen to know the exact mesaurement for the width of the 50ST50. The specs say 46.5" which is also the same size for the hutch it would need to go in. If it actually measures a little shorter (like by an 1/8") I would feel better about the fit.

Thanks.

It's really not that much better!?

I know that the black levels are better in 65" compared to 55". I was wondering if this applies to 60" as well.

If you don't mind could you tell me how/what settings you used to get that number?

I didn't personally perform any tests myself. 16ms has been reported here for the ST50 on numerous threads. You may want to search for more info.

Nevermind, I went back and remeasured in multiple spots and the hutch narrows quickly down to just over 64" as you move away from the front. That pretty much rules out the ST for me.

Strange question but I must ask. I own two 50ST50s and as you know the 50 inch model has a swivel stand. Well, one of them swivels with a bit of resistance and has a nice stiffness to it and the other one feels like someone used a lot of WD40 on it and swivels quite easily and very smoothly. So my question is...which is the defective one and which one is as intended by Panasonic engineers?

I am really bugged by this because they feel so so differently. The "stiff" one needs for me to exert some (small) amount of strength when moving it, and the "smooth" one can be moved back and forth with just two fingers. Not really sure if this is normal behavior since all the plasmas I owned with a swivel stand felt stiff...I think...

And in case this question arises, I am 1000% sure that both stands were assembled correctly.

Most logos/static images are larger than a few pixels, which is the extent of how much the pixel orbiter moves, so most people find it to be not very useful.

I'm not trying to start a war or anything here, just a comment. In my opinion, there is no way people should be reasonably expected to play all their non 16:9 material in a stretched or squished aspect ratio. For the last 15 years we've been used to black bars being a good thing, thanks to laserdisc, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. The proper way to view any content is to watch it the way it was filmed. Thanks to letterboxing and pillarboxing, we realize how films should look, compared to the days of VHS when everything was cropped. Now we're expected to go back and distort everything we watch? Seems like a huge step in the wrong direction to me. I'm with your girlfriend all the way on this one - there's no way I'm gonna spend this much money on a tv of such high quality just so all my favorite tv shows will be distorted from here on. That's absolutely unacceptable.

What's the point in owning a tv with such great picture quality if it means you have to delete half your video library to use it? Lol - I have a ton of 4:3 tv shows on DVD that I've been buying ever since tv shows on DVD first started getting popular - I'm sure not going to trash them all because I now own a plasma. I can't stand watching anything that's stretched or squished, so I can't blame your girlfriend for that at all.

In my opinion, let her enjoy her shows, and just mix it up with 16:9 stuff in-between when she's not watching anything.

^^^It's just not a good idea during the break in period. After that, it's all gravy.

Agreed. Right on. As far as the grey bars go, I guess that can help if you're that worried. But I do feel it detracts somewhat as it just looks better with the black bars. Since I upscale all my 4:3 stuff through my receiver, I can't use the grey bars anyways since my receiver sends the processed upscaled image out with the black bars as part of the upscaled image, therefore I can't use the tv's built-in grey bars.

I think you'll be fine once the set has been broken in a bit.

I just did some searching around and I think the 16 ms figure is from the hdtvtest.co.uk website which means it is for the UK model. The input lag for the US model might be different, so if any of the owners here can do the input lag test on their sets it would be greatly appreciated.

Here again is the link on how to do the test: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1166196

I can't speak to the ST50 but I have always felt my 42PX60U has a better picture (not clearer, jut pop) than my calibrated 50S1. The 60U is a great set.

I was given a 42PX60U as a loaner from the shop that has my ST30, and I agree that it's a great looking set. I was very surprised.

Unless there is some fundamental difference between US sets and those available in Poland ( - correct - ?), you should be able to safely Ignore FBr, banding, & Pink/Green Tints with a ST50.

Excessive Buzzing is a characteristic of An Individual Panel. Either most panels do NOT buzz "Excessively" AND/OR Most PEOPLE cannot hear the buzzing. Of course, YMMV - but, again, wouldn't worry about it.

The AR filter on the ST50 is very good - but if you are seriously worried about Bright Room Reflections, your best bet would be a panel with a MATTE finish: but even most LCD (or "LED LCD") panels sport Glossy screens these days.

No idea how (or even IF) the ST50 handles MKV files: but it works GREAT as a HDTV....

Thanks Eagle...I sorta wanted confirmation this would be the case. I'm with you and her on the 4:3 ratio....I hate stretched/zoomed/grey bars etc.

But given the choice between ruining a new tv and watching the proper aspect ratio..

I'm strongly considering picking up a 50" ST50. It will be replacing my 2 year old 42" Panasonic S20, which'll be passed down to my girlfriend. The two tv's will remain in the same room however, and I'm a bit concerned that the remotes will affect both sets. Can anyone confirm if this is the case or not?

It most likely will. I had a 7 year old Panny which got replaced with 55ST50 and my harmony one and cable remote picked up new Panny right out of the box. remote codes are the same. You'll probably have to position them in a way that remotes do not fire at both sets, thou with bounced IR reflections it might be tough... maybe add a huds to IR sensor on TVs but that will force you to be center in front of TV.

Hi Lance_M, was the free glasses offer recent? and only for ST? I just bought a 60GT50 Sunday which arrived today and 3 sets of glasses. Just want to make sure I didn't make a mistake processing my order to qualify for the offer. Thanks.

Just went from an old 32" Sony XBR LCD to a 60" GT50. I'm at 11 feet and THX recommends I can go quite a bit larger, so I was planning on a 65" but couldn't justify the cost. I must say the 60 looks enormous from my distance. Of course, it's all relative, but I am very pleased. That's another way to save a bunch of moolah is to drop 5" instead of going to the 65" ST. I love the styling and menus are zippy and THX modes are good.

i have to agree with her that any kind of stretch, zoom, just look like hell. just get an HD feed already. It'll be cheaper than a new TV

I agree with her as well. I hate stretch anything. We have an HD feed. Just older DVDs ripped to mkv stored on the server, and played back through the Boxee Box.

They ran a promotion on the line up for one week about a month ago. It included 2 glasses with purchase.

On the 4:3 thing, we watched the first 8 seasons of 2.5 Men with black bars all around(like a windowed picture) on every episode on my ST30 and no IR to speak of when looking hard for it with maybe two hundred or more hrs on the tv now. There was very little after episodes that went away quickly. I run custom mode at 78 contrast. The white logo thing will be another story. YMMV.

edit of course the 'ST50 is a newer panel so not sure how it applies.

Oh ok, thanks a lot. I see their 60GT50 is now up $200 from where I purchased it on Sunday. That's surprising to me. I figured it was a one-way street down.

Amazon's prices can fluctuate wildly sometimes.

Also, the deal for the glasses came through the glasses not the TV. So, keep your eye on them as well.

Is this your gf or wife? You wouldn't know the diff the way she orders you around.. Grow a pair!