Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 165

Originally Posted by 350f 

I think Netflix is down for a lot of devices. My friend's blu ray player won't connect and I've seen someone complaining about it on Facebook about their Roku not connecting.

Originally Posted by 2tvsonecup 

Yep, I couldn't connect to Netflix this evening, either from my bluray player or TV directly.

Originally Posted by RandyWalters 

Is your password Case Sensitive?
Why can't you change the password on your TV?

Originally Posted by Looneyhouston 

I say play up to two hours at a time at first. The worst case scenario you take it back if anything burns in. I pay black ops constantly with more a hint of ir. You might want to return anyways for that banding your talking about anyways.

Originally Posted by ASiani 

Thanks for the help.
Yeah the band isn't that bad. If I wasn't running the slides, it may have been a while before I ever noticed it. During the diplay of some of the colored slides, like gray for example, I can see it but during normal viewing it doesn't seem to be a bother. I just really don't want to go back to the store for a third time and I'm sure there is no perfect TV out there anyway.

Originally Posted by Looneyhouston 

I would consider mine mine damn near perfect. Just saying. If I could reconfigure my wifi connection I would be a more than pleased individual.

Originally Posted by ASiani 


Sounds like you got lucky. I just did a little reading and it appears this gray vertical shadow line an inch from the right of the bezel is fairly common in this set and I'm not going to torture myself by going through 5 sets like I see some doing to get one without it. It's more visible with the green or gray slides but during normal viewing I don't notice it unless I'm really staring at that spot now that I know where it is.

Originally Posted by RandyWalters 

And i've seen reports of such bands diminishing or even disappearing after 100-200 hours of use.

Originally Posted by Looneyhouston 

I would consider mine mine damn near perfect. Just saying. If I could reconfigure my wifi connection I would be a more than pleased individual.

Originally Posted by HD-Master 

It is not a common problem. Not at all. Consider his many are sold compared to his many reports of this problem you have read. If it were a common problem you would see widespread reports and comments from professional calibrators in the field.

Originally Posted by ASiani 


well when I read the posts of people reporting this and it's EXACTLY at the same spot as I have mine, I'd have to say this is a manufacturer flaw and perhaps most people including professional calibrators aren't staring at a gray slide on the screen to see it. Like I said it's hard to even notice under normal viewing conditions. But whatever, I'm not trying to argue and I'm done going back and forth to the store lugging a large TV to get one that MAY be without some flaw or another.

Originally Posted by HD-Master 

Calibrators are staring at a lot of gray slides. They would see it. The number of people reporting this is minuscule. Every display on the market has some flawed units that pop up. Every single year, every single model line, from every manufacturer. Gauging the frequency of these issues off of Internet forum posts is always problematic since we represent a fraction of a single percentage point of all total sales. It's an incredibly skewed demographic.

Originally Posted by ASiani 


There's a thread with 116 post of people talking about this "problem" including people that went through mulitple sets and still got it again. I wouldn't have even found the thread if I didn't have this issue and I googled it. Are these people really that unlucky or is it perhaps common? Now I think that most reviewers of this TV are probably not bothering to read up on forums to see good calibration settings and looking at slides and would probably never notice this even if they got one with it but to say that this issue is uncommon just seems like someone that really wants to defend this TV because you are one of the lucky ones to get a TV without a flaw and that's really great for you.

Here is a direct quote from another thread about this:

"I got my 3rd 55vt50 here in Greece, same fault vertical line on the right side! I dont know what to do anymore! I want a proper 55vt50!!! Should i go for my 4th change or stay with the one thick vertical line?"

If it was more common to get one without it, than that guy must have really made the TV gods angry somewhere along the way lol

Originally Posted by RandyWalters 

You actually counted the number of people talking about this problem? How many of them actually own a TV with this problem?
And where is this thread? Please provide the link to that thread, i'd like to see it.
People who have defective TVs tend to search the internet for others with the same problem and usually end up finding AVS and post their own negative experience, just as you have, and other people read it and assume that it must be some widespread problem that affects all of these TVs, when in fact it is just a very small percent. They sell millions of these TVs every year - if they were all plagued with this problem you'd see tens of thousands of posts about it, not just 116. Forums such as this are a gathering point for people with problems or issues.
I'd go with unlucky. You haven't seen any reports from the other several million owners, because they are not having this problem so they're not posting about it.
It's not that we're lucky because we got a good one, the ones who got a bad one are unlucky. Big difference. 98% of us are in the lucky category. The factory turns out millions of panels - if the robotic machine that applies the black filter to the face of the panel or applies the anti-reflective coating to the outer glass suffers a problem then hundreds of panels might make it onto the production lines before the problem is discovered and the robot is fixed, and the affected panels could have been shipped to several assembly plants and the final TVs could end up on the same pallet, or spread across several distribution centers.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of us got issue-free TVs. Are we lucky? No. This is how it's supposed to be - getting a properly functioning TV.
I've been reading this forum for about 13 years and i've seen lots of people in threads for various brands over the years who have gotten 2, 3, and even 4 bad sets in a row until finally getting one good enough to keep so it's not like it's unfathomable or anything. Remember, there are millions of people with zero problems, and only a very small percentage of owners suffering a defect.

Originally Posted by ASiani 

I actually think this is a really nice TV and I'm really not complaining and I'm keeping the set. However, since you guys are hell bent on proving your point that the GT50 is the holy grail of tvs and I just got a bad one I will respond to your very defensive posts. Keep in mind, I was only sharing my experience, and not bad mouthing this TV at all.
So to answer some of your questions/comments, no I have not counted the number of people with this problem, nor do I have a fact sheet in front of me to confirm your claim of millions of people owning this set. I can only count the number of reviews from the various sources around the net selling this TV and forums of people talking about this TV and really the number is not that high.. Of THAT number available, I'd say problems with these TVs are common enough that I can say something like "common issue" since I found a nice group acknowledging what I experienced. Of all the "millions" of GT50 owners out there, how many of them would visit a forum if they did notice an imperfection and how many just accept it and live with it? I'm guessing most people wouldn't care enough to post minor flaws. I did because I wanted to post my honest expericence with my set so far.
Of the people that do own this TV, how many of them looked at gray slides on the screen? I don't know. I do know that if I wasn't running the "break-in" slides, I probably would have thought I did have a perfect panel and I may have never seen that gray vertical shadow as I said it's really not noticable during regular viewing. Well now that I know where to look I can see it though. I know that when I saw it I googled it and since I did find other people with VT, ST, and GT 50's posting the same concerns, so I know that I'm not the only one. I tried to copy in the link for you but it didn't work. I searched specifically for band on right side of my TV and I found a thread titled "Vertical lines on Panny Plasmas on the right side??" you could google that and you will see the thread I read. I probably could have found more threads if I really wanted too.
More often than not, I see people talking about this panel lottery so I do belive TVs are just imperfect these days and we settle on the best we can. My last set, the LG55LM9600 was totally unacceptable and I returned it for this one. This TV, even with it's imperfection, is still great and it's not bad enough that I'd return it. Perhaps some people are just more sensitive to visual and audio imperfections than others. Does this TV buzz like some people state? Absolutely it does. However, between refrigerator noises, computrer noises/fans and my fish tank, what's one more hum in the background from a piece of equipment.
Honestly though, If people are getting three bad sets in a row for any brand TV or any product, then there is a definite problem with manufacturing. I rarely see this happen as much as I do with the current TV market for all brands. In defense of this TV myself, it's so nice and the gray line is so subtle that it really isn't taking away from my enjoyment and don't watch gray/green slides on a regular basis so even if it doen't "go away on it's own", I won't be regretting the switch I made yesterday in the slightest. That uneven backlighting I just came from was horrendous.

Originally Posted by adb 

You might consider having it professionally calibrated. I had mine done by Chad B ( there are many very good ones out there) and in addition to having a fine set look even better, which to me was certainly worth the cost, these folks as they go along with their calibration will tell you if they come across something that doesn't look right to them and they could help set your mind at ease one way or the other. I think personally you would be impressed with the quality of the picture. In my case I thought I had tuned my new set up very well but as I watched the calibration I realized that without the very expensive equipment and knowledge of how to use it there really wasn't any way for me to get the quality picture that I now have.

Originally Posted by ASiani 

Thanks, I was thinking that I would really like to do that this time around. I'm in the suburbs of Northeast Philadelphia and I don't know who is good. I bought the set from Best Buy but I'm not sure they are the best choice. Anyway I'm heading there now to see if they will price match the Sears price of 3D glasses that someone posted on the previous page.

Originally Posted by RandyWalters 

The designer of the TV said the -2 suffix was an internal designation only and has nothing to do with picture quality or functionality. My GT50 as well as most other people here don't have a -2 unit and we don't have defective buzzing TVs. Mine is virtually silent from one foot away, as they all should be.

Originally Posted by chunon 

Chad B does calibration tours to Pennsylvania I highly recommend him

Originally Posted by bengtssjan 

Bluetooth headsets compatible with GT50?
I tried to connect a Sony MW1, but was asked to enter a pin code by the TV "wizard". I entered 0000 and 1234, but it didn't work. Where can I find this pin?
Has anyone succesfully connected the Sony MW1 or a similar bluetooth headset to the TV?