Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 147

Thanks for all the advice guys. And an FYI, the 3D glasses are down to $51 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EHI1DK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Just purchase a 65GT50, and am awaiting delivery. I've gone through the first 20ish pages of this thread, but its going to take me awhile to get through the whole thing.

Any tips for new owners? Any settings that work particularly well, or are the THX modes all you need? Any other essential tips are most welcome.

The two THX settings will suffice for most people. You could also set up the Custom mode to the CNET settings, as many people in this forum have and as I have. Then select between those three modes. You'll probably spend a lot of time during the first month switching between those three till the novelty wears off and end up primarily using one of the modes.

THX modes disable the pixel orbiter (as they should) so it may best to set up a custom mode you like (as mentioned the CNET settings are a good start) for watching TV and other material with a logo, etc. constantly displayed.

Can anyone help me figure out how to disable HDMI-CEC on this TV? Is it possible?

Tried searching around for some info but couldn't find any.

Anyone know what the new update addresses?

Firmware History:
Version 1.17
 Improvement of browser.
Version 1.15
 Countermeasure for connection with specific Ethernet router.

Did you use the optical out of the TV to your sound system, or the TV's system?

^^^

I have my TV speakers shut off, and using the optical out from the TV to my sound system.

are there any good 3d settings for this tv

THX 3D Cinema

Finally got the display mounted yesterday, but I've had no time yet to do more than input the CNET settings. It looks good so far, but the sharpness set at 0 seems strange. We'll see...

My first little problem is that the installers had the display mounted on the wall before I thought to jot down the serial number. I hoped to find the serial number in the menu system, but so far, no luck,

There's a serial number on the box, and it is PROBABLY the correct s/n for my display, but I'd hate to register the unit under the wrong number and later be unable to get warranty coverage.

Does anyone know where to find the serial number in the menu system?

Thanks!

Kevin

Does anyone know what webcams are compatible with the tv?

I'm not gonna be able to go home for the holidays so we're gonna try doing it via skype. Doing it through the tv would be easiest and I was looking at getting the logitech c920 but I'm not sure if it would work.

Initial impression after 24 hrs. I am coming from a Sony 46" LED HX800. Was going to get the 50ST50, but the bezel is a bit too wide to fit the TV alcove. I hate TV alcoves as it limits me to TVs width of 46.5". The 50GT50 is the only 50" TV that I know of that will fit in the alcove.

Firmware is 1.170.

PQ is fantastic on Netflix and PC. OTA channels are soft kind of like the signal is running through a low grade vintage vacuum tube pre - processor.

The web browser is crap. It crashes almost immediately after I get on any page. Probably only good for viewing text-centric sites like wikipedia.

I have no problem with panel reflection as I don't have any windows facing the TV. Lights actually have more affect on the panel at night.

Plasma hum is present more so with PC as source. Anyone try this fix?

Really dislike the connections layout. It's a wire management disaster. I suppose it's designed with wall mount in mind. Currently, there's wires galore on the left side of the TV. Going to have to get some velcro strips. I would much rather have rear mount rather than side mount connections.

For Netflix and PC, definitely a PQ upgrade over the Sony LED. I prefer the Sony when viewing OTA channels. But, I use the PC 98% of the time.

The Netflix app gives marginally better PQ compared to streaming Netflix on PC.

Love the instant start up when turning the TV on. The Sony takes forever to boot up and change channels. My older Sony Z4100 took MUCH less time to boot up and change channels than the HX800.

Would much rather have a lower profile remote. Sony made some cool remotes back in the 90's. Current ones are plasticky. Someone is accurate in describing the Panny remote as geriatric.

Can't believe I am upgrading/updating my TV every two years... victim of consumerism. But, wanted a TV for the bedroom. Tired of using the laptop on the bedside table.

Go to Monoprice and buy two of #3850 HDMI Port Savers, $1.98 each, for each HDMI inputs you are using. By using two for each port you can orient the cable so that they are flush to the rear and point to the right, Somewhere on this forum you can find a photo of what it looks like.

Thanks. I'm exploring - not sure I can figure it out! - how to use the HDMI 2 connection with the ARC (audio return channel) function.

If I understand it correctly, connecting the ARC HDMI connector to my Pioneer AVR would allow the audio to stream to the AVR while the Netflix from the web streams via the TV.

George D

Yes, these Monoprice 3850 are the ones to use. Monoprice defines them as 270 degree adapters.

Thanks for the suggestion. Found them on Amazon for $.99 a piece. Much cheaper than buying them on monoprice.com. Just ordered 4 of them.

Also, forgot to comment about the shipping. Amazon's "enhanced" shipping includes only taking the TV out of the box and ensuring the remote and panel works. They don't install the stand for you or move the TV on to your stand.

This is my third TV I've purchased on Amazon, and this is the first time they didn't install the TV stand for me. Not a big deal to me. Just thought to report this.

My P60GT50 was delivered from Amazon in early October, they arrived within the 3 hour window on the promised delivery date, brought it in, unboxed it, installed the stand, put the batteries in the remote, placed it on my stand where I wanted it, plugged it in and turned it on to make sure it worked, then took all of the packing material with them. I was quite pleased.

Did you choose the free shipping option? If so, you got a good deal.

One thing, although it's nice to have someone else get rid of the box and packing material, I wouldn't advise it until your thirty day return window has expired. Amazon wants you to repack it before pick up if it's defective.

Yes, it was free shipping.
I thought briefly about possible return issues but figured they could take the defective set (if indeed that turned out to be the case) back in the same packing material that the replacement was being delivered in.

Been noticing ads pop up when you change the volume. The ad pops up and disappears really quickly. Too quick for me to read it and too slow for me to not think it's intrusive.

No one has a comment regarding the panel hum fix? Here's a youtube link.

I'll second that, and I'd go even further and say if there's a way to keep the box (if you have space to save it) then you should keep it as most moving companies I've dealt with now require the original box for large TVs for transportation otherwise what they do is make you pay extra for a specialized packaging service that they offer to transport large flat panel TVs and the service is not cheap.

As unwieldily as it is, I've found space in my garage to store the huge box of our 65GT50 for that purpose alone, as I work for a company that moves me around every few years.

I don't have buzz. There is an option to turn the ads off in Settings.

Excited to say I brought my own 65" GT50 panel home this Wed. I picked it up direct from Panasonic Canada in Mississauga. The set had been received there the week before. Back panel says manufactured October 2012. Would I be correct to assume it has all up to date firmware already or would I need to update something?

I installed the set onto its table top base while I figure out a wall mounting issue and its been sitting on the floor for past 2 days. I'll probably fire it up for the first time this weekend. So I've been trying to gloss through the 150 pages of posts here, as well as look up some info/settings online. Anybody else read this review?

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1337671783

In it they use calibration equipment to test the picture quality. Article says out of the box the THX Cinema mode is near perfect but they end up using the following settings for optimal performance:

Viewing mode: Professional1
Contrast 36
Brightness +1
Colour: 30
Sharpness: 2
Color Remaster: Off
Eco Off
P-NR Off
Gamma 2.2
Intelligent Frame Creation On/Off
16:9 Overscan Off
R-Gain 3
G-Gain -5
B-Gain 6
R-Cutoff 0
G-Cutoff -2
B-Cutoff +2

They also say "after calibration" they compared the following differences in contrast:

Black level 0.00 cd/m2 0.00 cd/m2
Brightness 54 cd/m2 (factory) 106 cd/m2 (after calibration)

My question is: when they say they "calibrated" the set, did they achieve that by simply adjusting the variables and settings listed above in the menu, or would they have accessed tools or menus beyond what the ordinary users has access to?
Is changing the settings above all that is involved in "calibrating" this set?

Haven't even begun to get into the 3D aspect yet. That will be fun!

PS - hope my unit doesn't buzzzz. Will find out tonight.

I'm about to pull the trigger on Amazon for the TC-P60GT50. However, after going through about 45 pages of this great and helpful forum, I have a couple of questions:

1] I watch mostly political talk shows, sometimes all day long. All of them have a strip of news or other information passing along the bottom of the screen which is constant. For that matter, I sometimes watch shopping channels for several hours which have a constant price panel in the upper left side of the screen. With those viewing habits, will I find that I've made a mistake to go with plasma, this plasma, vis a vis, burn in or even Image Retention (IR?)

and, 2] The THX presets: I read that they don't have pixel orbiting turned on and in fact, it would be best to ascertain what the calibration setting are for them and set them as custom settings with pixel orbiting "on" (to help with IR and burn-in if question 1] turns out to be a problem for people who watch what I watch?)

Oh, and 3] What is the remedy if problems occur for people with my viewing habits.

My name is Scott.

Doesn't sound like plasma is for you.

Please, can the forum expand on what he said.

I need help, i purchased a GT50 60'' TV this week and i need your expertise.


I am not familiar with cables and i purchased these two cables (To test)

Monster Hyper Speed 1000
Monster ISF 1250HD

Once again i am not an expert on this, i would appreciate any good info.


Currently using a sony HDMI. (The flat cable)

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666241163

Thanks in advance