Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 87

Agreed. Comcast's guide sucks, but I think the amount it sucks is irrespective of the TV it's on. It likely will continue to suck for the foreseeable future.

I have the 60" GT. I have run the break in slides and have about 150 hours on the TV. I game with Call of Duty MW3 for a couple hours a time and have not had an IR yet...hopefully stays that way. I was playing MW3 on a Samsung E7000 plasma and could not get comfortable with the input lag. The GT is much much better imho.
Edited by jmamhd - 7/2/12 at 1:11pm

IMO the grainyness you are refering to is not dithering. Many people including some professional reviewers/calibrators have noted the grainy background artifacts on these new Panasonics. I too have noticed it. The Samsung plasma's seems to be a bit "smoother" in this regard.

I agree with the comment that the Panasonic displays the images the exact way they are sent. Although they don't seem to do as good of a job as the Samsung's at cleaning up a lower quality signal, in a way the Panasonic is more "true".

Having said all that i still believe that the GT provides better overall PQ than the Samsung plasma's. I watch mostly HD Cable as well. Some content does not look all that great but most of the time i don't think its the TV's fault. At the end of the day I am really just not willing to give up the amazing black's of the GT just to have a slightly cleaner image on some content with the Samsung.

Pop in a bluray on the GT50 and you will be amazed!

BTW- I have owned and returned a 51'' E8000.

here's something that really surprised me

picture mode STANDARD actually looks very good without any adjustment when on antenna mode. i was dissing it when used on fios because of contrast in faces

i added a mohu amplified antenna and it does for me what a large yagi outside couldn't do with trees around my house. unbelievable for what looks like a laminated piece of paper

get the recommended panasonic glasses in your manual on amazon

Question - I have noticed a lot of crosstalk in xbox360/Ps3 games on my new GT50 ... is there any way to minimize this? Its not all games but most.

3D when viewing non-game content is perfect.

I am using the panasonic 3D glasses for the 2012 model.

A friend saw my picture and ask how come my cable was so much clearer than his was. I told him it was because it wasn't cable it was an antenna He refused to believe that anyone would use an antenna in the21'st century. So I had to take him up into the attic (must have been 120 degrees up there) and show him my little fan-dipole unit. With the pre-amp I can pull in my local stations that are all clustered together about 8 miles away, the next closest city 45 miles away, and a few of the stations from another city 75 miles away.

I have noticed the tuner on the Panasonic is much more sensitive than an LG I returned. It even had trouble with the local stations

Something that many people don't realize is that when we went "digital" most of the broadcast frequencies were changed from the old channel 2-13 low and high VHF band to channels 14-51 UHF band. These frequencies are much easier to tune with small antennas. Since they are also digital, they just encode a "channel logo number" and the TV shows "Channel 7" even though the actual broadcast frequency can be anything between 14 - 51.

Anyway, ..... Yes, its impressive how well a simple antena can perform. I think the "standard" mode could certaily be calibrated to give a great PQ. With simple tweaking I just can't get there. I can get a bright, contrasty, colorful image but skin tones are way off. A calibrator could dial it in but its just to hard to wing it.

I guess I don't have a clue. Why is the GT singles out as having a flaw that everyone knows about?

What are you talking about? There's one, maybe two people, posting trash because the GT50 presented them with a true image of a b&w rpg with lots of fog and graininess. He/they are unhappy with all the grain they see. Now, I don't even know if he/they have updated their game or not, nor even if it is possible with the format he/they have. The disk pc versions have updates. In addition, as far as I know he/they don't even own the ST50 either. That is the jist of the "GT50 is flawed" claim. It's trash talk- period.

Hi, I've a Panasonic plasma p42vt20 (2010 model) and I need another one plasma to put in another room . I'm very satisfacting with the vt20 quality images with all sorces (SD, HD) . I think to buy a 42" with the same quality of vt20 or better . p42gt50 can be a good purchase ? or better p42vt30? thanks

So i sent back my LG 65lm6200 LED from amazon and just received my 65GT50 I am blown away by the picture quality and Black levels on this thing AMAZING! The LED has so much flashlight and clouding I am done with LCDs now that they seem to not use any sorta of backlighting or local dimming. The GT50 has to be the best PQ i have seen personally with my eyes and the slim design is a nice touch. I am using the CNET review settings and the picture just gets better day by day it seems.


Shot at 2012-07-03

Shot at 2012-07-03
Edited by kjplaysguitar - 7/3/12 at 8:44am

Much better. No floating blacks or fluctuating brightness, better shadow detail and darker blacks.

Just pulled the trigger yesterday on a 60gt50!!!! my first plasma ( flat screen for that matter ) . I did help buy/study and set up my parents pioneer kuro 5020 a few years back and the pic was soooo good , it swayed me away from my awesome front projection system I had. Last year I got married and moved into a small but awesome flat/condo , and put my projector in storage( for sale now)... no room for it at all here.. We have been watching tv on my wife's 32 inch tube tv from the 90's .. ugh this time next week I should be halfway done with slides

2 questions ...

#1 . I know it's a matter of taste but seating distance.. 8.5 to 9 ft back going to be ok? trying to get a balance for movies ( cinema feel ) and regular tv watching ... not being too close for crappy comcast HD imperfections.. I was going to get the 55.. but the deal I was offered for the 60 was amazing.. just 190$ more .. great 4th of july deals out there this week !!!!!!!!

#2 I plan on gaming on this set as well as movies.. should I stick to "game mode"? any tips or settings to look out for.. The "salesperson" at the store I purchased from said he just uses thx cinema mode for everything...

Thanks for all of the hints and tips in previous posts Tim

1. You should be fine with the 60 at that distance. Some of our seating is 8-9 ft away and I would not get anything less than 60". It might seem big at first (especially coming from 32") but in no time you'll truly appreciate the size.

2. I tried Game Mode for my PS3 on the GT50 and it didn't look good IMO. Too contrasty/bright for my taste. I also use THX Cinema for everything and it's been great. Occasionally, when viewing some content that's really dark I do change to THX Bright Room and that works really well too, especially in day time.

Panasonic suggests 6.89 feet or more for the 55GT50 for 3D watching so your distance should OK.

The smallest model in this year's ST, GT, VT classes is 50 inch. You can check out the 42UT50 and 42ST30 but they probably will not match your 42VT20 in picture quality.
Edited by coolcoyote - 7/3/12 at 9:58am

He's talking about euro tv's I believe. There's a 42gt50 on the german site.

I wish Panasonic had included a 42" in the ST series for NA like last year. Now they've even stopped producing the 42" UT. I need something in this size for a bedroom, and I'm underwhelmed by limited choices for a plasma. I really didn't want to go with an LCD.

got it. Thanks.

PLEASE RESPOND:

I am naturally an extremely picky person. Last year, I didnt pull the trigger on the samsung d8000 series tv until it was too late. I am now finally trying to replace my 6 year old LCD samsung again in the living room. Based on being on AVS the past hour, I have decided the GT50 is the way to go. I have extremely sensitive hearing so I'm not gonna even bother with samsung buzzing issue. a reoccurring issue seems to be IR wit the panny's. Some people do slides, some dont, many many who arent on avs dont and are probably ok but I need this set to last. 4-5 years at least. so can someone please school me on how to prevent IR. like, post your exact schedule of running slides and which ones to run. and how to? I leave the tv on or can i turn it off? how long do it to for each time i do it?

Thank you very much for any response. I want to order the set maybe tonight. so i'd be greatful for any help and mini reviews FROM BIG SPORTS WATCHERS if possible

(please respond)

If you are going to use D-nice settings and calibrate it than use the slides. If your not, don't bother it won't do you any good but waste your time. People will tell you here not to watch movies with black bars, game, or watch channels with logos in it for the first 200hrs or you will get IR. It's all blown out way out of proportion, I did all of that out of the box and nothing happened. Virtually every damn channel has a logo in it (HBO doesn't) and I never had problems. Remember IR is only temporary and if you do get it, it goes away. BI is permanent. The only time I saw something was when using the menu for quite some time than it was gone like in 10 seconds. Precautions are for the first 100-200hrs is to not use vivid mode and don't leave it paused for hours and hours (who does that) If you want to use the slides there are tons of info on here and yes the tv must be left on, otherwise what would be the point. I love watching sports on this thing, Soccer,Hockey,Basketball,Wrestling,Tennis even golf just because how good it looks. And the blacks well everyone knows it blows everything else out of the water! = KURO

oh yea i tweaked standard for ota to be the same as my custom which is pretty close to thx bright

this gt50 needs little as the defaults are pretty much right on to me

Received my 65GT50 today at 4 p.m. Wow! I was not expecting an upgrade from the PDP-150FD. I don't have the KURO set up side by side but I would swear the black levels are a bit better on the Panny and have not observed any black crush or loss of shadow detail. Speaking of detail I believe I am seeing a very noticeable improvement in resolution, i.e. I am seeing details I don't recall seeing on the 150FD.

First impressions are that even the THX Cinema mode appears to be brighter ( with same or better black levels ) than the Cinema mode on my 8th gen KURO ( though I had about 8,0000 or so hours on the KURO ).. I have been watching Cox HD cable and BD toggling between THX Cinema and THX Bright room ( only change has been to turn sharpness down to 0 in both modes ) - the room was not that bright today so I preferred the THX Cinema mode.

Larger Screen, Brighter, Same or Better Black level, Higher resolution - I was not expecting this much of an improvement but I am not complaining... The color seems different - not sure which is more accurate ( my KURO or the Panny ) but I prefer the colors on the Panasonic as they definitely seem to pop more.

I bought 3 pairs of the new Panasonic 3D glasses and plan to demo some 3D action this evening. Now off to enjoy my new 65GT50!

Latinoheat said it all but aparently many folks still don't understand that slides have NOTHING TO DO WITH PREVENTING IR so I'm repeating it. If you want to use D-Nice's calibration settings then you pre-age your set with his slides. This will give you something CLOSE to what he would adjust your set to if he came to your house. CLOSE but not exact because none of these sets are exactly the same. If you want slide instructions just read D-Nice's post in the HidefJunkies site.

Personally, I think its a wate of time. Just watch a normal assortment of video content and your set will age normally and will look fine from day 1 to year 20. If you want someone to guarantee your set for 4-5 years then buy an extended warantee and keep your fingers crossed. No one guarantees against IR or perma-burn, If this is a big concern then I suggest going with a high end LCD and living with the LCD PQ issues.

I have no idea about anyone having a "natural" tendency for extreme pickyness. This is probably a chemical imbalance in your brain. But, whatever the cause you BETTER BE AWARE that a significant percentage of Pany owners are reporting a power supply buzzzzz. Mine is dead silent but there have been enough reports about buzzz to suggest that it is real in some sets.

I love my GT50, but if you feel you missed something with the Samy D8000, its NOT too late. They are still available, just order one.

Outstanding, its nice to hear from Kuro owners with comments like this.

As far as the color being accurate, well who cares. As long as it looks natural and visually pleasing I don't think it matters. If you plan on using your set as a colorimetric standard or studio reference, then accuracy is important. If you plan on watching TV, it doesn't matter because 99% of video content isn't accurate to start with.

Enjoy the new set

These are the reasons I returned to the 60GT50 after having the 55VT50 for 2 weeks. IMO, these elements are better on the GT50.

BTW, just wait... it gets better after a few days when it starts settling in.

I didn't run slides and I don't feel like I need to either. I believe that D-Nice will provide non-panel prep settings for the GT50, just as he did for the ST50. I don't know if he has said as much but if he doesn't I don't think I'd be disappointed using his settings without prep either. I am using CNet's settings right now and tweeked them to my satisfaction.

I have had no noticeable IR but then I don't stare at slides or solid color screens to try to find it either and I don't play video games or surf the internet for hours. Hubby watches sports but he is a very active surfer too.

I have had 3 GT50s and none of them have buzzed beyond the edge of the credenza it sits on and I had to actually listen for it w/no volume on the tv or stereo.

So I got a couple of questions regarding my 55GT50...

1. When watching cable from Comcast does the 3:2 pulldown affect anything? I turned it on and off and didn't directly notice anything different.

2. Does anyone intend on calibrating the 3D picture settings or is this not possible. While I def enjoy a 3D movie from time to time and usually use THX3D settting I can't help but notice how the blacks aren't as deep. I know this is part of the technology but was wondering if calibrating would help as I've used Cnet's settings for 2D, but the reviewer mentioned he does not calibrate for 3D.

Thanks in advance

For those interested in buying a GT50 and become scared off from some of the post here,I want to just mention my personal experience so far with my 50" GT50.(March build) I have owned it for 9 weeks now. When I bought it I decided I could not wait for a 100 hours to do the slides, so I watched the TV during the day and ran the slides through the night when I went to bed.
I did this for a week.
I used the THX cinema mode until recently. I now use the CNET settings in Custom mode. In the time I have owned this TV I have not noticed any IR of any kind and I have to go around to the back of TV and stick my ear against the TV to hear a faint buzz.
I know this may not be everyones experience with this set. There will always be defective sets, but I just wanted to let anyone interested in this TV that there are plenty of us with good experiences. With the right content, I find the picture quality amazing.

Just my 2 cents