Official Panasonic UT50 Series Discussion Thread - Page 37

I am planning on purchasing a new Panasonic plasma for our daughter for Christmas this year. She "trusts" me implicitly on TV's and would be glad with anything I chose/purchased for her with the caveat that it must be "about" 50"...which is reasonable request given that she will be sitting about 10' from the screen. OK...so she "hates" 3-D, and will not be "streaming" videos...I purchased a Panasonic Blu-ray for her last year, BTW, and she likes the "discs." So my question is: Panasonic TC-P50U50, OR the P50UT50 ??? I know the "U" has no 3-D and no big streaming options, and that is fine...and is only available in the 50" size (fine again), but is there any difference in processing quality or any other "picture quality" issue? I read that both models are rather inferior in a room with significant light. Please help me discern whether there is a appreciable difference in potential for better picture quality in the UT. Thanks !

Does anyone else's UT50 squeak on the pedestal? When I walk near the TV stand and the TV moves it squeaks. It's getting rather annoying but I don't know how I would fix that.

Mount it.

I think both sets are pretty similar. Before I purchased my 42UT50, I asked myself if buying the U50 would be a more wise choice. I ended up going for the UT50 because the price difference was not as bad at the time and after seeing all the positive reviews about this set in this thread I just had to get the UT instead. I would not have forgave myself had I bought the U50 and the PQ was not as good as the UT.

I can't, there's a window between the kitchen and living room and it just happens to be behind the TV. I wish I could, I've been considering a way of mounting it to my TV stand like I've seen at some of the stores. I had that with my 32" LCD but this is a bit bigger, heavier, and more expensive, so I'd hate to see it fall because my design had a flaw in it.

Would an articulating mount be of any help with your current situation?

I suppose it could be possible, I didn't think about that. But for now I fixed it. One of the screws from the pedestal to the TV was able to tighten about 1/10 of a turn or so and that seemed to fix it. It wasn't by any means loose, but I was able to tighten just a bit.

Awesome, glad you were able to fix it.

Thanks for the response. Yea, not needing the 3-D and not needing bigger than 50", I wonder about the ONE factor that really matters...PQ ! Is the U50 inferior to the UT in pure P.Q. ??? Are the speakers the same sound quality? I think the motion blur reduction capabilities may be greater with the UT over the U model, but I'm not sure. Others?

This is from LeftyGuitar1963 taken from the U50/U54 thread "IMO, its pq is on par w/the UT50. I saw them side-by-side, and felt there were no differences whatsoever, apart from the 3d capabilities & the newer, samsung-style stand."

He's seemed very pleased in his posts so I think that should be a good recommendation.

Edit: You can also look as Sam's Club (possibly Costco?) if you're a member, they may have a better price. It would be the U54 from the club stores.

FYI, I sold my XBOX for $190 on Craigslist. I could have held out for more but preferred to have it done and over with. I had originally listed at $235, then $200. Part of the issue was that it was discounted to $250 in many places, so nobody was going to pay that. When I listed it for $235 I had figured I'd have to negotiate down to around $200, so the $10 isn't a big deal.

Also, with light coming in the windows, there was definitely blinking going on at 48hz for 3D. In a dark room that's not an issue. Maybe why some people don't notice it?

yeah i unloaded mine yesterday on craigslist for $225. i probably could have held on to it a bit longer when the price jumped back up to $299 and got $250 out of it, but it took me a week already at this point.

Thanks Anikun ! I think I may go with the U50/54 for the daughter.

Hello, I'm relatively new to the plasma world and was considering buying a Panny 42UT50, especially for gaming (new and older consoles). I've read the majority of this thread but still am doubtful about a few things, may anyone be helpful?
1 - First of all: is green trailing still a problem? I can see it distinctly on 2008 Panasonic PZ80 when rotating camera in games and it's definitely a deal breaker for me.
2 - Is upscaling of SD good on this set, in particular reference to games (Wii and older consoles)? On this year's Samsung scaling is really good, is it comparable?
3 - Last but somewhat important: if I understood correctly the tech, using the Tv in 4:3 with black sidebars shouldn't ruin the tv if not in the very very long distance due to uneven phosphor aging, but it shouldn't have anything to do with IR, am I right? And is IR anyway always temporary?

PS: I also have seen the Samsung 43e490 in a shop, it performed greatly compared to near lcds and was tempted to buy (considering also good Samsung scaling and from what I read good motion resistance to IR). Price was a bargain compared to the UT50, but the fact that's only 1024x768 put me on hold. Other than that, Panasonic should be way better regarding contrast, but I'm really doubtful about scaling capabilities. On older Panasonics scaling, tried with good precise 480p signal as that digitally generated of the Wii, was definitely soft and blurry. Please help me make up my mind!!!

Picked up my UT50 last night on sale for $899CAD which is as cheap as I've seen it up here other than one-off sale a few months back for $799. No free Xbox or anything though .

Quick question on settings that has me a bit confused. I am using PathofNeo's settings from this post/thread: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412033/the-official-panasonic-ut50-settings-issues-thread#post_22058504 and right off the bat, things look excellent! Thanks PoN. I will try a calibration disc after 100ish hours and see if I want to make any changes.

The one strange thing is when I go into Advanced 3:2 pulldown is "off" and grayed out, I cannot change it to auto. 24p direct in is also grayed out. I am using "Graphics" as HDMI type. The only source I have for the TV right now is a Popcorn Hour A-100 media streaming box which has output set to "Auto", so the menus are 1920x1080@60Hz and content is x264 encodes using MKV container, usually in 24p. Motion looks fine to me with PoN's settings, but I'm curious why 3:2 pulldown and 24p direct-in are not accessible, do I need to change something else to fiddle with those?

Thanks guys, will post better impressions after I have more time with the set, only had about an hour, my test material was Art of Flight (snowboarding movie, think Planet Earth cinemtography) and a bit of The Avengers, both 1080p x264 encodes. PQ, black levels etc. were awesome with the lights off. Dark scenes with the lights on result in a bit of reflection if I have the overhead lights on, but still fine for casual viewing (I will always have lights off for movies).

Just ordered a 50UT50 for $674.99 + tax from Panasonic EPP. I will upload my calibration report once I get some time on it. I have high hopes that I can get the UT50 to calibrate very close to my ST50 after some service menu tweaks.

Thanks Kanedo, I really look forward to this and once you have some hours on the TV. I can't afford a calibrator at the moment, which do you use? I really want to calibrate mine but the best I can do right now is just the basic AVS HD 709 by-eye tests.

hope you didn't stick the wii in widescreen....Even using component, cables/480p yields
a soft/blurry picture when wii games are set to widescreen. Stick it in fullscreen and the image
is true to it's 640x480 origianl ratio.

My Panasonic X5 scales wonderfully and wii games look phenomenal on it, brightness
levels and color gamut are pretty damn amazing in game mode. but
the input lag which is 2 frames or more is the deal breaker for me as to why
i won't game on it

I have had my UT-50 for a couple of months now and I have just recently started hearing crackling sounds coming from the back of the TV. It started out as a buzzing sound, but that seems to have gone away, but now it crackles like it's shorting out or something. Is this a major problem? Idiot me somehow threw out the receipt so the warranty won't help at this point. Do I just cross my fingers and hope it won't start on fire (lol) or is there a way to fix it/ and has anyone else heard of this problem? Thank you.

Yeah, I always played Wii games in 4:3 for max quality, stretched 16:9 is a really milky and blurry picture. In fact, I'm even a bit upset with Nintendo, because the best Wii games don't have a native 4:3 mode, so that one is obliged to use the dreaded anamorphic picture (ex. Donkey Kong Country Returns, Skyward Sword).
Regarding this matter, do you also use 4:3 with your plasma? Don't you notice any uneveness till now? How is X5 in regard to Image Retention? Things that I fear the most with Panasonic are green ghosting and I.R.

Today I've seen in a shop Panasonic X5, Ut50 and Samsung e550. I noticed a hint of green ghosting on the X5 that was demoing an almost-black-and-white desaturated clip and that worries me for the Ut50 too (but probably it's me being really sesitive to this thing).
Ut50 looked wonderful in HD but honestly Samsung did too. At the moment I'm evaluating the Samsung as maybe the best purchase. I've tried at home (and returned for bad clouding) Samsung's lcd eh5000 ,which uses the exact same Mstar processor of the e550 (they even have the same exact menu and controls), and I've been really impressed by its scaling algorithm. Wii was amazing and 720p Ps3 games got an unbelievable level of detail and crispness even in comparison with my 32" 720p Toshiba. Input lag also looked very low to me (easy 1-frame links in SSFIV, but input lag doesn't bother me so much, even if I consider myself an hardcore gamer) and e550 should be theorethically the same. Other than that, I noticed in the shop on this plasma great uniformity, no motion artifacts and really low level of dithering (maybe lower than Panasonic, then it's obvious for all this things it must be tested at home). Perhaps it won't have Panasonic absolute blacks, but for the rest it could be a really good alternative and at a bargain price. (799 euro here in Italy with 2 pair of 3d glasses included and it also has 3 hdmi inputs that's not bad).

PS: Would you mind taking a couple shots of Wii on your X50? I would be really grateful to you!

So how does the Wii look on a 50"/51" via component cables?

I always crank the sharpness up to 100(looks its best) and the contrast as well. at least on a plasma, like in the X5's case. I'm still blown
away by it's brightness in game mode and the extremely vibrant, rich and colorful colors you can achieve
with the basic color controls. Color management enabled adds additional lag so be sure to turn it off, and by having the color
matrix set to 'SD' causes a lot more lag as well EVEN if you're playing 480p content. So setting it to HD regard;ess is a must and of
course turning off video noise reduction.

I'm also leaning towards the 51" E550....but I'm worred that it won't beable to produce a bright enough picture in comparison
to panasonics 2012 plasma lineup. and i'm curious about the color as well. I had a horrible experience with the 42" 720p D450
from last year....When playing the wii, the set seemed to have this nasty filter-like blurry look, as if vasalene was smeared across the screen and it was
way too dim for my liking. I'll admit i didn't spend enough time on it to fully make sure if CATS was turned off, plus
during that time i never had the wii set to 4:3. I i could of sworn i turned off the cats though...hmmm. XP

Also, here's a trick you should do for titles that are designed to be in widescreen for the wii like NSMBWii, kirby's return
to dreamland, skyward sword, donkey kong country returns ect ect. In the wii menu, stick the wii in widescreen and on your
TV remote stick your tv in full screen and whalla, you'll get a super crisp & clear 4:3 image without any bars.
You'd think that the picture would look a bit squashed, but in my experience it doesn't at all. It looks perfectly fine to me.

I've also got a wii HDMI adapter....and while HDMI delivers an even brighter picture, crisper/sharper image and the like
this specific Neoya adapter i have produces extremely limey greens and purple-ish blues to the point of color crushing. sigh*

The E550 also does 1 frame of input lag when you label HDMI to 'PC" but it locks out certain basic picture controls and
that's a complete deal breaker. So by not using 'PC' apperantly youg get 2 frames...I planned on getting last years S30
because apperantly the S30 and ST30(wont get the ST30 because of the added in filtre which makes the PQ look worse) are
the wholy grail of panasonic plasma gaming as far as input lag in concerned...But i can't test the S30 out, instead i'd
have to order one online and take a chance...

I'd love to know how Brightness Levels, color, input lag, blacks levels and crisp/clearness of the E550 and UT50 stack up
against one another. B-)

Oh and as far as gaming goes on the X5, there are a bit of motion artifacts, and green phospher trails are very minimal,
i only barely notice them when playing titles such as metroid prime 3, or anything 3rd or first peson related. keep in mind
to that anything 30fps related will result in image doubling, which you most likely already know anyways. ;p

So yup....E550 Vs the UT50 is what it's going to come down to for me, unless i take the risk and score the S30...

I calibrate TVs myself using i1 Display LT meter and the free open source HCFR software. If you're willing to spend the time to learn how to calibrate yourself, the only monetary investment you have to make is to purchase a meter.

I'm in the process of returning my 55" ST50 for a 60" UT50 ($1,199) through Amazon. My ST50 has DSE (Dirty Screen Effect), and line bleeding that really bothers me... so I decided to go without the louver filter.

I'd still love to hear what you think of your calibrated pictures and how it compares to PathofNeo's settings. How many hours do you have on your TV now? I just checked mine, I've got about 65, I didn't bother with running slides or anything.

I actually have zero plans to use anyone else's settings. I've calibrated over 10 TVs now. Some of which are the same models. Below is a list of settings I think you should set yourself, ones you can copy, and ones you should never copy.

Settings you can calibrate easily with calibration disk and your eyes
- Brightness
- Contrast
- Sharpness
- Black Level (high, low)

Settings you can copy from others
- Preset mode (vivid, cinema, game, custom)
- Color
- Tint
- Color Temperature (cool, medium, warm)
- Gamma <- doesn't apply to UT50
- HDMI content type
- disabling of enhancing features such as C.A.T.S, AGC, edge enhancer, etc...

isf/Pro settings you should never copy from others (these should only be changed if you are measuring with a meter)
- White balace (2pt, 10pt, 20pt)
- CMS (color management system) <--- you should never copy these... doesn't really apply to UT50 anyways

I've calibrated several TVs of same size and model, and the isf/Pro settings vary drastically for all of them. If you must adjust isf/Pro settings without a meter, you'll be better off eyeballing it than copy someone's isf/Pro settings.

For UT50, the only pro setting you have available is the 2pt white balance in service menu. Don't touch those unless you have a meter or hire a professional with a meter.

One of these days, I'm going to make a video detailing how to calibrate TVs. I think too many members on AVS just blindly copy settings verbatim. This is a bad practice, and should be discouraged. There are some settings you can share, and others that only pertain to your TV. Once I get my UT50, I'll post a detail set of instructions on what you can copy from me, and what you should not.
Edited by kanedo - 9/7/12 at 1:50am

I read through the HCFR tutorial linked on the AVS 709 download thread and I look forward to actually doing it. I read that the i1 display pro has been working well with HCFR so I'm happy about that. One day I will get my sensor.

I've noticed some pretty loud buzzing on my 1 week old UT50, especially on white scenes, but even bright scenes in general I can hear it from my couch at about 10 feet. It seems to settle down a bit after 20-30min of use (or maybe I'm getting used to it). I could live with it if it was only on pure white screens, but if I hear it at all during movies that is not acceptable to me.

I really don't want to deal with the hassle of boxing it back up for an exchange, but I'm assuming taking the back off to check for loose screws would void the warranty?

I'll give it another week or so, as I have a 30 day exchange policy at my local retailer.

Mine buzzes on bright scenes as well. I think it's part of the nature of the beast.

I'm not sure if this has been asked but do you guys think the UT50 is worth the extra couple hundred bucks over the U50? I know I would value 3D, but are there other features that justify the price difference? What about the pq? TIA!