Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 119

Instead of 2-way (arc) think of it as 3-way. If you don't have an stb in the mix, it wouldn't be a problem. So to get the tv audio you need a side street - optical cable out. Then in your avr indicate where the tv audio is hooked up at and then to watch you'd change the avr to the appropriate source for the sound. It's in your book for the avr.

Congrats man! I have this same setup. I see the Avatar Blu-ray 3D movie. So glad it will finally be officially released next month. Just pre-ordered mine on Amazon. Ebay is taking way too much advantage.

Thanks HLdan...i'm not running slides...i just watch tv with zoom 2 (Avoid chanel logo's) & watch blu rays 1.85...one week with the set and the pq compare to sammy d550 is way better...black levels are great!!! The blu ray player is fast to run the disc but when i change scenes is too slow...but i have another: phillips 5200 it's faster to change the scenes...The tv has pro mode like european an assian...but cinema & pro 1 and pro 2 have a little issue...black level is higher...i hope with firmware update they clean the issue

A few more shots:

Day time in THX Bright mode




Night time (not the best quality, used my iPhone)

My third...that's right third TC-P50GT30.
Just died just like the other 2.
All the 7 blinking lights.
Warranty company is sending me a check for the set.

I am now paranoid to get another Panasonic!!


Has anyone had this problem with the GT50 OR ST50?

I took a long time to research the set and love the picture and took long time to talk my Wife into Plasma over LED then 3 up 3 down.

So.... anyone?

Thanks!

How long did you own the tvs before the blink lights of doom started?

I've been following Panasonic tvs since last year and I have owned my GT50 since June. No problems on my end (knock wood) and I haven't read any posts where this occurred either ( I follow two forums), that's not to say that no one has reported the problem though.

I considered buying last year but they were just too problem riddled to take the plunge. I'm so glad I waited.
Edited by sheshechic - 9/4/12 at 12:42pm

Just bumping this. Does anyone know what settings to change to eliminate this color contouring artifact? Note this is not a fast-motion contouring artifact noticed by some reviewers, as this issue is visible in non-moving screen elements, principally light gradients tapering to dark backgrounds. Not a content artifact, as 46HX929 shows fine gradient. PS3 source settings are cnet recommended.

Are you running the signals through and avr? If so perhaps try turning that off to see if it improves. I occasionally see banding, but it is the fault of the signal, not the tv.

Have you thought that the problem might be on your end? Three power supply failures sure would me make begin to suspect your electrical source. Are you using the same outlet? Do you have any line conditioner involved or have you checked the voltages coming from that outlet?

Hi. I just got my TC-P60GT50, and absolutely love the TV. I do have one question. There is a very thin, about 1/4" strip of black around all pictures, and you can even see it when you pull up the menu. I know this isn't a setting with my cable box, Bluray, receiver or the like, because you even see it when you pull up TV menus and play slides from the SD card. The picture doesn't go all the way to the black bezel. Is this normal?

the active pixels (actually, all of them) do not go all the way to the bezel. There is a black area all around the edge of the screen.

Yes it's normal. It's just the gap between the area of the screen where there are pixels, and the bezel. Think of it as a margin for error so that the bezel doesn't cover actual pixels.

Totally agree. If you have a meter you should make sure you have 120 volts at the outlet, and at the surge suppressor outlet if you are (and you should be) using one. You should also make sure your outlet is grounded correctly, that you have 120 volts from both power to neutral and to ground, with 0 volts between n and g.
You should test the voltage while cycling on/off large power users like a/c.
Three sets, 3 power supplies when no one else is reporting power supply problems doesn't make sense.

sheshechic, thank you for responding.

Signal goes straight from PS3 to P50GT50 or 46HX929. Swapped out HDMI cables to make sure no difference. If we assume that a signal problem is occurring then it must be at the PS3. But if we then assume that GT50 is faithfully displaying the defective signal or even poor quality source material, then it seems unlikely (to this untutored one) that the Sony is reconstructing a smooth gradient where there was none received? (The Sony's CineMotion and other picture processing features are all set to Off, so there should be no frame interpolation or smoothing going on.) Or am I oversimplifying?

Also, note that the margin will sometimes be a little larger on the left or right, depending on the signal. In other words, it's not always even.

Thank you all!

Still loving my 2.5 week old 65GT50. I have an audio question though. I was reading the Bluray players section and happened to see this quote from someone using an ST30 model: "I cannot use the netflix app on the TV because it does not output 5.1 from the optical out. Only for antenna in."

My plan is to hook up an optical cable out to my AVR as soon as the TV is mounted on a new stand/mount this weekend. The goal is to be able to watch Netflix, Amazon, or DLNA sources with 5.1 audio. Is that not going to work? I hope the 2012 models have been upgraded? I can't find any reference in the manual about it.

I can tell you I am not thrilled at all with the Netflix app on my 65gt50. The menu is tough and the streaming wasnt very good. It was better out of my samsung blu ray. I have now switched to an Oppo 93 blu ray player and it is even way better.

I don't own a gaming console but others have posted about their experiences with the ps3. If you do a search in the ST50 thread you'll find the discussions. The problem most discussed there concerns older lower resolution games.

One way to check the problem you're having is to play the same material through a blu-ray player.

Thanks for sharing that... I'll keep it in mind when I upgrade my bluray player -- but it doesn't really answer my audio question. Do you get 5.1 audio thru the optical out on the GT50?

I've had my tv about a week now. Sometimes I notice I am just getting stereo coming out of the AVR(denon 2312ci). But if I power off the AVR and power it back on, then the other audio such as DD kicks in. Tivo is connected through receiver to HDMI2.

I guess this would be an AVR issue?

I've had my GT50 55 inch for a week and half. Blu Ray looks awesome, better than my Sony XBR2 but the I'm still trying to deal with the sharpness issue when watching a channel in 720P (espically when it is a wide shot) and I'm trying to maintain a good picture but still get some of that "pop" or "wow" picture you get from and LCD/LED. I'm currently using Custom mode with my sharpness tunred way up (78), warm 1 color, pro stuff left alone, motion sensor weak and I've actually adjusted the size to 1 instead of 2. I'm new to a plasma and would appreciate any recommended settings for what I am looking for. I want to keep the TV so please don't tell me to return it and buy and LED:-)

There is a thread on this site like 60 pages documenting blinking light failures for Panasonics.
Plus all you have to do for example is google 7 blinking lights of death etc...
But I will have the elec. on my side checked.

Thanks

I had thought about this, and last night I dragged my Sony BDP-S790 in and got the same result: GT50 showed color contours on radiant or glowing light areas against dark backgrounds. Noticed it in a scene from Wall-E on the WOW disc, as well as in the previously mentioned Mater short film from Pixar. HX929 showed smooth gradients of color in these areas. Of course the HX929 has issues of its own, but that's a story for another thread . . . .

If there's no setting on the GT50 to fix this, then I will just have to consider it a "feature" that I either live with or without. After all, it's not an issue that will occur too frequently, although we do favor animated films.

Thanks again for your input.

I have seen these steppy-gradients on quite a few things from OTA broadcast TV but I see exactly the same on my older Samsung LCD. The TV produces smooth gradients most of the time. I don't remember seeing anything ugly from any other sources. I had always assumed these gradient steps were a result of an over-compressed signal or a signal that simply had choppy gradients from the beginning.

I don't know what these settings do but the HDMI set-up gives options for Auto, Standard, and Non-standard RGB color range. There is a second set of options for Normal and Wide color space. There is a third set of options for Auto, Photos, Graphics, and Off for content type.

Depending on how your box sends its signal to the TV some combination of these settings may help (or it may make it worse ) Or maybe these settings do nothing and were only included for the benefit of people who just enjoy changing settings and thinking it makes a better picture

I certainly won't tell you to get an LED

There have been several credible complaints about 720p sources looking sub-par on these sets. I have seen some loss in resolution from 720p OTA broadcast but I have to move in way closer than my normal viewing distance to see it. All my external sources are output at 1080p so its not an issue for me. If your TV is from cable, fiber, dish, whatever ... check to see if you change your output signal to 1080p or possibly upgrade your box to one that supports 1080p. If its an external box that only does 720p, then you can add an HDMI scaler that will up-convert the signal to 1080p before it gets to the TV.

If the problem is with OTA and using the internal tuner, then I think the problem is partially your local broadcast. My ABC and FOX channels are 720p and they look really nice. I don't see issues until I get within about 4-5 feet from a 60 incher.

Hope this helps.

I certainly have not seen any quality issues with OTA 720p. For me, I can't even tell a difference between OTA 720p and 1080i. Both look stunning.

I'm using an antenna, not cable, which is usually better quality since cable processes/compresses their signals.

Yes, No, and Maybe

Yes for ATSC OTA broadcast, yes for AC3 encoded video from an SD card, Yes for AC3 encoded files from USB attached stuff

No for anything with DTS (in fact you will get no audio at all because the GT50 has no support)
No for anything from a DVD or Blu-Ray player because of digital copy protection (DCP)

Probably No from any external box due to DCP and the availability of ARC on HDMI2

Netflix (and the other apps): I would be shocked to find that Netflix isn't AC3 capable. There may be a setting in the app to change the audio format. It may default to 2 channel stereo to save bandwidth. I'm guessing because I don't subscribe.

Today i Recieved my 65gt50 from amazon. Was delivered by pilot this morning before I left for work. Roommate got it set up and fired her up at 9am. I came home at 1pm for lunch and to check it out, she worked flawlessly!! On my way to work,I was making plans to have some friends come by to watch the NFL kickoff on my awesome new panny!!!

Upon returning to work I get an ominous text to call my roommate. He said tv just suddenly powered down, he tried to unplug and restart. Tv made a click the red light on the front blinked 8 times with no picture. I came home at 6 and had the same issue occur.

Called Panasonic customer service to see if there was an easy fix. Their answer was for me to send a tech to diagnose. (no replacement tv on board)

Obviously that helps me none so I called amazon and they put in another order which should be here between 11th and 13th of sept.

After googling the issue I found out that the SSU Board(going off memory) was bad

Could I have gotten any kind of discount or expedited shipping from amazon?

The next person that walks into my home and asks me why the new tv is sitting in the corner, will be backhanded!!

Tpollagi,

If it were a question of broadcast material, I'd say big whoop, but we're talking bluray here, and the two displays produce two very different results. Because I get the same result from two fine bluray players, I've got to think that it's down to processing differences in the displays.

I hadn't previously looked at the settings you mentioned, but I'll give them a fiddle or two to see what falls out. Who knows, maybe thinking I have a better picture will be just as good as the real thing. But seriously, thanks for the suggestions.