Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 174

I have a question: When you guys turn on your GT50s and the Viera start up logo appears for a few seconds, do you notice IR? Because I do. It quickly goes away but I'm just wondering if I got a lemon. If a 3 second logo causes IR, maybe my set is more susceptible to IR than the typical set.

I have a blank screen for 2-3 seconds after that start up logo appears before whatever I will be watching appears. I see very faint IR from that during those 2-3 seconds, but never again. I'm not watching slides, I'm watching content. However, if I bring up the slides I see no IR or burn-in at all. I have more than 1500 hours on mine and watch whatever I want, whenever I want.

All of the D'nice support is located at the HDJ site. He does not want his settings mentioned here.

Slides are used to prep your set for a pro calibration. If you don't plan on having a pro calibration then prep slides don't prep your set for anything other than possibly premature failure. Obviously, I'm not a fan of slides. I would simply substitute normal viewing of full screen content using the thx cinema mode.

Some people have noted a "-2" in the model or serial number for newer sets. It means nothing to the end user. Firmware version is irrelevant sine the tv can update this automatically if you connect it to your network.

Two possible issues are 1) buzzing and 2) IR. My advice is purchase your set from a retailer that will replace / refund in the event that you get a set that makes an audible buzz or has a problem with IR. My set has neither problem and I believe that most sets are like mine but there some units out there that have issues.

Enjoy the new set.

My set initially fires up with the Viera splash screen in some ultra torch mode where the black background is kind'a mucky greyish black with a somewhat regular array of lighter grey "circles" all over the screen. Less than a second later, the output level drops to normal and the Viera splash is just bright white and blue on a deep black background. After that it goes to the program content with no IR.

I second everything said above. I bought mine in June from Amazon so that I could easily return it if I had a problem with buzzing or IR. I have had neither. I can only hear a buzz if I have my ear within a couple of inches from the rear of the TV at the upper right-hand corner (as viewed from the back). I do have one problem: HDMI4 does not work. The repair technician wanted to take the TV to the shop to fix it. I declined since I can live without HDMI4 and was worried they would cause some other problem. We are very happy with our 50GT50 and think the picture quality is very good. Nevertheless after reading about such great experiences after having a professional calibrate the TV I am thinking of having it done at some point. I think it is a guy thing, like looking for an excuse to buy another tool, even if you have no current need for it.

I would go GT. The filter on the VT is darker and the set just isn't as bright. Yes the black level is also a tad better but this is one case where I think the gain in brightness from the gt's filter is better than the gain in black level from the VT's.

The GT has more than enough tweakable settings to frighten most users and satisfy most people that spend more time re-adjusting than viewing. I used to be one of the perpetual adjusters. Since I got the GT, that has stopped. The PQ is so good it doesn't need to be readjusted continuously.

I don't think there is much of a decision. A great set with a larger screen that you will see every day or a great set with a few extra tweaks that you may only use once

I concur. I have the 55gt50 but did consider the 55vt50 and ultimately liked the impressions of a brighter display. My viewing environment and content is far from reference and the vt50 would have been overkill. At current sale prices with the 60gt50 = 55vt50 it's a no brainer to me go with the bigger size.

+1.... Thats pretty much my impression with my set.

Thanks a lot.
I went through this whole process with the Kuro (still have the pages bookmarked) as well as with a Samsung 4671 (the one they swore had no triple-ball-effect, but 80% of the buyers noticed it). Anyway, I started at the beginning of the thread where I found all the related links. But my recollection is that the burn in slides (25-30?) were designed to play for 72 hours or so before you implemented D-Nice's settings that were listed with it.

Apparently you didn't use the burn-in slides but which settings did you wind up with: his, CNET's, your own or did you calibrate with what looks like a proliferation of consumer-related discs now in the market?

I started by telling the salesman at Magnolia that I was interested in the ST, the GT and the VT. They were out of STs (discontinued?) and all three recommended the GT over the VT. I'm not a tweak so I didnt really understand exactly why but what it boiled down to was that all of them preferred the Pro panel from the ST /GT over the Ultra panel of the VTs.

I live in SoCal so 60 miles to check something out is normal out here.

Good Luck.

Thanks for the tip! I had a feeling it was something to do with that. Now I set my onkyo to the 1080/24p setting within the player itself. Do you recommend I leave that setting on even when I watch regular 2D blu-rays? (I know when it comes to the THX setting when I watch regular 2D discs that 60hz setting is automatically locked in)

Your Onkyo should be set to 1080/24p. Your GT50 should be set to 60Hz for 2D and 48Hz for 3D. If you set it to 48Hz for 2D content you'll get unbearable flicker.

Yep, I've got the exact same behavior with my TC-P65GT50 and RX-V673. I have not been able to figure it out yet. I've already ordered my optical cable as I know this works on my other GT50 with Sony Home Theater.

Thanks, tpollagi: Your input is appreciated.


The 60GT50 is the one which will end up in my shopping cart. I am now sure of it. I love my present 60GT30, even though, from what I have heard, it does not compare too favorably with the GT50. Can't wait to fire up the GT50 so that I can find out just how much it beats the pants off the GT30. Thanks a bunch.



It is good to hear the account of someone who has seen the two units side by side at Magnolia and received this kind of recommendation from their salesmen. Not that salesmen can always be relied on, but in this, there seems to be a convincing consensus of opinion, FWIW, I wouldn't mind driving the 60 miles each way to Magnolia if I intended to purchase the unit from Bestbuy/Magnolia. It is just that I'm currently seeing the prices I like online, so I shall probably end up buying from an authorized online retailer, and that is why I am inclined to saving myself the trip to Magnolia. I appreciate the experience you have shared.. Thanks.

I have a 65VT50 in the family room and am considering a 50GT50 for the bedroom. How close do you think the pic will be to the VT if I make the move?

I have the same TV in my Family Room and a 60ST50 in my basement. Out of the box with THX Cinema the VT was outstanding. The ST for me took a lot more work, but the end result is nothing short of the VT. I watched football on both yesterday and they both look amazing. I plan on getting both calibrated in the next few months, so maybe there will be more separation then. If I did it all over knowing what I know now, I would buy the 65ST50 for the family room and save the money for calibration.

I know you are looking at the GT, but I would guess there are even fewer degrees of separation with that TV as it has the THX modes as well.

I started with THX Cinema out of the box. Over the next couple of weeks as I became more familiar with the set I dialed in the C-Net settings. At first I didn't see much difference between the two but as I switched back and forth I started to like the cnet settings better. I have probably made some changes to the cnet settings but I don't remember what

More recently I tried Black-Ops settings that had been listed here but did not like them. They were overly harsh for my taste so I went back to the CNet settings.

I have the old original VE disk and I downloaded the AVS disk when I was trying to squeeze a passable PQ out of an LG LM 7600 led/LCD that I tried prior to the GT50. I began to realize the shortcomings of these set up disks and never got much out of them. I must have at least viewed some of the test patterns on the GT50 but I don't think I made any changes based on the disks. Without a meter it's just not possible to manually dial in the color. It's too easy to degrade the PQ using your eyes alone.

I think there is enough similarity in the product line to get you to 90 - 95% of an accurately calibrated set just by plugging in settings like those from Cnet. This is closer than any of the set-up disks will get you without a meter.

The THX modes are one of the selling points of the GT and VT over the ST for exactly the reason you just mentioned; they look very good out of the box. The average / uninformed ST user will either have to pay for a calibration or never get all the ST has to offer in PQ. There are some other reasons I chose the GT over the ST but PQ can be made comparable on these sets.

Thanks for this tip. Been watching lots of HBO HD, love the lack of logos. Also I blazed through season 2 of Homeland on Showtime OnDemand, no logos there either (and what a show!) I think I'm around 150 hours and have no problems with IR.

I've played Madden 13, NCAA 13, COD Black Ops II, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Battlefield 3,etc. with minimal IR. Some networks have clear logos. Remember, that white is what causes the worse IR issues. The worse IR problems are with ESPN Sportscenter and NFL AM. Those columns can be killer. I just zoom in though after reading the content since it all repeats.

I Concur regarding white logos like espn. On my g25 which I've had for 2 years now you can still see the remnants of a ghost image of espn when you play the IR scrolling bar which I am sure is permanent. Can't see it in normal content and its more a lifelesson for me and i definitely am babying my new gt50 as a result.

The worse IR I had was during some big news event about a month after getting the TV and it was CNN Live, which is a large logo, after watching for about an hour. I do think it only takes about 15 minutes for IR to start. But, its long gone. I just zoom in either the TV or satellite box for large white logos or 1:33 aspect content. Its a shame though that the TV's apps can't be zoomed. So for some material, like the most excellent remastered HD original aspect Star Trek TV episodes on NetFlix, I have to use my Roku 2, XBox or PS3 to watch vs the Viera app.


EDIT I just watched a basketball game on ESPN3, full screen, and in HD. No IR, not even around the time box which is white with the time letters in black. As the TV gets older, IR is less of an issue, especially for smaller white logos and objects.

EDIT 2 I have the Pixel orbiter enabled. Don't know if that does anything, but there you have it.

Hello all.. I'm on the fence on buying a 60gt50. I have a 50vt25 and I'm not sure if the difference between a gt50 and the vt25 worth the money in terms of picture quality, black level, contrast, etc. I haven't been able to properly see the gt50..the store is not the ideal environment, that's why I'm asking. I hope you guys can help me to decide

will turning the pixel orbiter on prevent burn in?I am sick of looking at mickey mouse's ears on the bottom left of the screen.

I have it on but I've read someone's opinion that its worthless. I check periodically when playing games or watching channels with white static logos for IR. If I see IR, I run the wipe for a few minutes while I go get a drink, etc..

Thanks for the input friend. I'm getting delivery this afternoon/evening and I know if I start tinkering at 7, I'll be up at 2!
May just leave it in the box until tomorrow afternoon.e way, is the proliferation of IR on this thing as bad as all the entries on here make it seem to be?

They can go to CNET and get the ST settings.But per CNET, the difference between the GT50 THX mode and ST50 Cinema mode right out of the box, they sound pretty similar.

From their review of the GT50,

"There's no meaningful difference between the GT50 and the ST50's picture after both are properly calibrated. I mentioned calibration because that's how I compare all TVs -- only after adjusting their picture settings to the best of my ability (and since I publish my settings, readers can get their own TVs very close to what I see and compare in the review). But you might be wondering whether the GT50 can beat the ST50 before both are properly calibrated, since the GT50 has the THX modes and the ST50 does not. Comparing the GT50's best THX mode to the ST50's best mode, Cinema, I found that THX Cinema was slightly superior in grayscale and gamma, but dimmer and thus less punchy overall. Of course you can increase the light output of THX Cinema on the 55-inch GT50, eliminating that difference, but even after that, THX on the GT50 isn't that much better than Cinema on the ST50 -- certainly not worth the price difference alone.. ".

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-tc-p55gt50/4505-6482_7-35123235.html

The chance for IR is much greater during the first 150 to 200 hours. If you want to see what it looks like, watch CNN for 10 minutes and then go to Setup, Anti Image Retention and run the Wipe and you'll see ghosting of the CNN logo. After break in, you won't be able to see it as much. Watching moving images also gets rid of IR. Right now, watching the Seahawks Redskins game on Fox, most likely there will be some IR from that Fox logo in the upper right. When I first got my TV and was watching football, like on RedZone, I would zoom in the picture.As I got some hours on the TV, I would periodically zoom in and go back to the full picture. I don't do that anymore. And I just checked, no IR.

Hello,

I am hoping someone can help me out. I recently replaced my 3 year old Panasonic TC-P50GT10 with a 60" Panasonic TC-P60GT50. The GT10 is a great TV and I had no issues with it at all. I just hooked up the new P60GT50 to watch some playoff football. I was stunned to see such noticeable motion blur during plays. I literally couldn't make out the numbers on players backs while they were running. It is almost as if they are jumping across the screen.

I have read nothing but great reviews about this TV and am wondering if I may have a defective unit? I switched over to the NHL network and it was borderline unwatchable.

Are there any settings that anyone can recommend to help this issue? I have tweaked the custom picture settings that I have found online, but they do not help.

I have a hard time believing this TV would be inferior to my 3 1/2 year old plasma.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Mike

Any chance you have the motion smoother set to on? That option is found under the advanced picture settings.