Official Panasonic GT50 Series Discussion Thread [No Street Price Talk] - Page 211

Originally Posted by JukeBox360 

I also use it as a PC monitor. Which I'm typing on now. From day one I Literally put about 500 Hours of gaming on it between me and my kids. I honestly feel as if burn in is impossible to do on this set.

Originally Posted by Copper Blue 

Had the GT65 for a week now and I love it. One question. I'm currently watching blu-rays on a PS3 through an HDMI audio receiver (Ps3 to receiver to TV, all using HDMI). Is there any picture quality advantage in going directly from the PS3 to the TV via HDMI?

Originally Posted by JSpectre88 

So I have a question about the gamma settings. I only have a 50" model and all the custom settings say to put gamma at 2.6. I agree with all the other settings, contrast around 75-80, brightness around 55-60, warm2, etc. but it honestly looks better with a lower gamma to me. I know the TV has great blacks and that was one of the major selling points for me, but dark scenes just look way too dark to be right (IMO). I prefer it around 2.2, but settled on 2.4 so I'm at least not ruining the blacks. It brightens the image just a touch and the darkest blacks in the image are still preserved, but it gives the rest of the image more "pop". I assume the answer is to do whatever looks good to me, just curious if there's any reason to leave gamma at 2.6.

Originally Posted by JSpectre88 

So I have a question about the gamma settings. I only have a 50" model and all the custom settings say to put gamma at 2.6. I agree with all the other settings, contrast around 75-80, brightness around 55-60, warm2, etc. but it honestly looks better with a lower gamma to me. I know the TV has great blacks and that was one of the major selling points for me, but dark scenes just look way too dark to be right (IMO). I prefer it around 2.2, but settled on 2.4 so I'm at least not ruining the blacks. It brightens the image just a touch and the darkest blacks in the image are still preserved, but it gives the rest of the image more "pop". I assume the answer is to do whatever looks good to me, just curious if there's any reason to leave gamma at 2.6.

Originally Posted by Iain- 

I was truly amazed by the deep, dark blacks of my previous 32-in CRT HDTV (c. 2005). So much so, that I decided several yeas ago that Panasonic plasma is the best route for this should I ever replace it. I've patiently waited for Panasonic to sort their plasma line for the past 2-3 years so I could rest assured that I would get a robust and reliable display.

They finally did just that this year and here I am with this beauty of GT50 now sitting in my lounge room.

BTW, the black levels of new display far exceed anything the old CRT display offered. I highly doubt LCD display could offer this feature with current state of that technology.

Originally Posted by Bond 007 

No. As long as your receiver is just assing the signal along. If you have some sort ofvideo processing going on with the receiver that may be different. What kind of receiver do you have?

Originally Posted by ed3120 

Haha...I agree with not muting it, but I can hear the high pitched buzz while watching TV. If someone on TV is talking, yes, it drowns it out, but as soon as there is a break in the dialogue, I hear the buzz.

Originally Posted by Bond 007 

Agreed. But if it takes 3 weeks to hear it there may be something else going on.

Originally Posted by ed3120 

Did you do anything to break it in, or did you just do what you wanted. Did you turn your brightness on or do anything else to minimize IR?

Originally Posted by ed3120 

I'm a little confused now. You said in an earlier post that your Panasonic has the worst IR of your TVs, but you said you have no burn-in. Are you saying that you get a lot of IR, but haven't had any permanent burn-in? How long does the IR last?

Originally Posted by Easywind 

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. Does anyone have any thoughts on the actual picture for gaming? I'm assuming LEDs will be brighter (and sharper?), but will have motion blur. I honestly haven't seen any games played on decent plasma. Can anyone provide any insight or preferences from personal experince?

Honestly, if this was just a matter of watching Blu Rays, this set crushes LEDs.


Thanks for any input!

Originally Posted by Dagg21 

To summarize if your main viewing habit is watching all white screens on mute dont buy this set it may buzz from a distance. If you watch actual movies with audio and pretty colors do buy the set.

Originally Posted by ed3120 

I'm considering a GT50, with my only concern being IR and burn-in. I know that IR means temporary and burn-in means permanent. Based on read this forum and Amazon reviews, my impression is:

Most people are happy with their set and have no IR.
Some people are happy with their set, but have IR and say it goes away in a reasonable amount of time or really isn't that noticeable.
Some (fewer) people state that they have significant IR issues and can see things a month or two later.

I don't know if some sets are more to IR or if some people are more prone to IR (meaning they keep their brightness high, pause things for long periods of time, watch sports, news with tickers, play video games, etc).

I don't know if people that notice stubborn IR

I tend to watch mostly HD TV shows, with about 2-3 Blu-rays with black bars per month. I don't watch sports or news with tickers very often. I game maybe once per week with the session being 2 hours or less. I'm trying to figure out the odds of me getting into a bad situation with a GT50, where I'm either;

1) Constantly dealing with short temporary IR showing up on TV shows if I decide to watch the History Channel or Food Network for 2 hours in a row (with logos)
or
2) Dealing with stubborn IR/burn-in due to one big oops caused by myself or possible my wife or son where a channel was paused too long, a channel was left on too long, or a video game was played to long. (My son is 3...not a gamer yet, but he might be in 2-3 years.)

I welcome any responses, either positive or negative.

Originally Posted by Porteroso 

Very few of us ever see temporary IR during normal viewing. 99% of the time when someone complains about it, it's because they watch espn for 4 hours then run slides right after. And that actually makes sense, that pure single colors would show IR much better than actual colors. If you're worried about IR, I wouldn't be. I'm rather critical, and the issue of buzzing and IR, my biggest peeves, have turned out to be unnoticeable, even when I'm looking/listening for them.

Of course some sets seem to be very prone to IR, and you hear these horror stories of things burned in forever. But that's not the case with mine, and I don't think it's the case with many at all. Buy from someone with a good warranty, and make sure you can return. You'll be able to tell very quickly whether you want to keep it or not, and for just about all of us, there was no returning.

Originally Posted by JukeBox360 

The only reason to get an LED set is for a super SUPER bright room. I'm talking about the sun being directly on the TV. Other wise plasma sets have most bang for their buck. As for gaming. It's the main thing I do on my set. I wouldn't change a thing.

Originally Posted by JukeBox360 

You guys are seriously over looking things. Buy the set. If you don't like it. Take it back. If your concerned about buzz. By an LCD. Stop looking for problems and enjoy it. Ridiculous things like hearing your TV from 15 feet. Guess what. DON'T HAVE IT MUTED JUST TO LISTEN FOR A "PROBLEM."

Originally Posted by Porteroso 

Very few of us ever see temporary IR during normal viewing. 99% of the time when someone complains about it, it's because they watch espn for 4 hours then run slides right after. And that actually makes sense, that pure single colors would show IR much better than actual colors. If you're worried about IR, I wouldn't be. I'm rather critical, and the issue of buzzing and IR, my biggest peeves, have turned out to be unnoticeable, even when I'm looking/listening for them.

Of course some sets seem to be very prone to IR, and you hear these horror stories of things burned in forever. But that's not the case with mine, and I don't think it's the case with many at all. Buy from someone with a good warranty, and make sure you can return. You'll be able to tell very quickly whether you want to keep it or not, and for just about all of us, there was no returning.

Originally Posted by ed3120 

Is it safe to say that IR is worst in the beginning and if I don't have IR issues in the first month then it won't get any worse?

Originally Posted by ASiani 

This is my first plasma set and I was very concerned about IR and burn-in when I first got it. Having people say they "never" get it concerned me even more once I did see it. However, after owning the set for two months now, most of my fears are gone but I still tend to be cautious.

I watch channels with those semi-transparent logos and I don't ever see IR from that so I now believe those people that say they have never seen it on their set. I do get minor IR at times like when displaying the TV menu like another forum member mentioned.

However, there are times when IR happens and is a bit more persistant. For example: I have an Xbox 360 and I use the Comcast XFinity App often enough. While searching for content that I want to watch, there is a BIG RED XFINITY logo being displayed on the screen for the 2 minutes it takes to find something to watch. I'll then see Xfinity letters in my normal viewing content for a good 5-10 minutes afterwards. Being a new plasma ower, this concerned me at first but it does go away quick enough and it's getting easier to accept that "IR happens" Can I get that on a t-shirt or bumper sticker or something?

Anyway, just wanted to chime in my personal experince on that subject also especially since this is my first plasma and my fears were heightened more than the seasoned owners I'm sure.

Originally Posted by Recstar24 

Even in that scenario the thx bright room really has narrowed that gap. I mean it is blazing bright, I cannot fathom anyone needing anything brighter.

Originally Posted by bhcubed 

I did not have the set on mute, I was using the web browser, so, yea, there wasn't any sound. I was not looking for it. I do think it's something that I can live with, since it will most likely be a rare occurrence that I actually hear it. But, if it is a problem, and there are sets that do not do this, why shouldn't I get it fixed? I would just like to be able to enjoy the tv in it's full capabilities. And by the way, if you can hear something from 15 feet away, it's pretty damn loud!

Originally Posted by JukeBox360 

Anyone randomly running slides just shouldn't own a plasma.

Originally Posted by ed3120 

Is it safe to say that IR is worst in the beginning and if I don't have IR issues in the first month then it won't get any worse?

Originally Posted by JukeBox360 

I honestly can't see anyone causing a burn in into this set. I treat this thing like an LED. Static images are always on it at least 2 hours at a time. Yet I still have no issue at all.