Official Panasonic UT50 Series Discussion Thread - Page 66

Good point. The buzzing is annoying. Mine recently started doing this and it's very faint, but loud enough to annoy me.

We have thick curtains and the lights are on a dimmer, so that sounds promising, thanks. If I don't see an ST50 deal come up, I'll get the UT50.

Mine did it from the start, and the tech replacing the screws didn't help and he wasn't willing to do more as he said it was at normal levels and changing boards wouldn't be likely to help.

To be fair, I"m pretty sensitive to hearing buzzing noises--especially when it's something intermittent like this (only bright scenes) rather than constant which I can tune out (like the whirring of my dvr drive/fan.

But it definitely wasn't faint. I could hear it over dialogue in bright scenes and from 10-15 feet away with a white slide up and no sound on.

Just got the TC-P50UT50 from Best Buy for $699. Needed a new TV and was saving up for the VT, but couldn't pass up on the price. I just wish it came bundled with the TY-WL20 so you could use the apps. Best Buy didn't even have the TY-WL20 , so I'm looking for one. Too bad it can't use the NETGEAR WNDA3100 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N USB 2.0 Adapter like some Panasonics can, it only costs $38 compared to $55 for the Panasonic. I'm kind of a newb, but I need a 3D BD player, so I can make use of the 3D feature, so can I get one with built in WLAN and piggy back the TV off it so I can use the TV apps? I would have to leave the BD player on all the time though, correct? I was looking at the
BDT-320 or BDT-220. Any info will greatly appreciated.

If you get the BDT-220 (very cheap from many sources right now) you can just use its wireless and built-in Vieracast apps instead of the TV's apps, it has pretty much all the same ones.
In fact in some ways its better to use an external device for smart TV internet apps, since then you can also use the TV's aspect ratio format control if needed - its not useable with the internal TV apps.

I started thinking about it more after I posted and realized the TV couldn't use the WLAN from the BD player. I really just want to use the Skype on the TV, since all of my family's smartphones have the app, we can call one another and receive calls while watching TV, not sure if that feature would work with just the BD player on, but might if I were watching a movie. May just break down and get the adapter, just wish i could find an alternate to the Panasonic unit, since it is proving hard to find locally.

I could use a little advice about the WLan. Since mu new 50Ut50 is a long way from my router and even my laptop gets only 2 bars locally, I decided to order a 75 ft Cat 6a cable to hook the panny to the router. But Duh I forgot about the Blu Rays I have. I have both a Lg Blu Ray and a PS3 in another room both hooked up wirelessly to the router. I will move one of these devices to the room with the New Panasonic. Should I buy a hub of some kind and hook the 75 ft cable into the hub then the Panasonic and Blue Ray into the hub or what?

Also will the BD player hooked up to the internet get confused with the Panasonic TV being also hooked up to the interner? Do I need to get a book for dummies?

I'd just get a wireless bridge and see if that picks up the signal from the router strong enough, then just plug your HT devices into it. Easier than trying to run a cable that far too a hub.

Too bad wireless gaming/media bridges are as much, if not more expensive than the Panasonic WLAN dongle.

True. But he may need it if he wants to move the other wifi gadgets there as he noted above as the wifi dongle wouldn't help with that obviously.

I was referring to my situation..;-) I thought about going the bridge route myself, but not that economical for me...:-(

Ah, gotcha.

Personally I find TV apps useless so I don't bother with them or the network stuff on my TV. The ET5 I have now has built in wifi so I did set it up, but I doubt I'll use any of it as it's too much hassle with getting decent audio with no sync issues from the TV to the surround system vs. just using the apps on my bluray player or game consoles.

But I guess some still just use TVs and their speakers or sound bars, so the TV apps are useful for some I guess.
Edited by dmaul1114 - 1/30/13 at 12:25pm

OK but since I already have the cable being delivered tmorrow and have a rope (string) pull installed in the ceiling, I am thinking i would just hook the Panny directly to the router that has both eports and wireless. The router is a G and the net service is regular Road Runner.

So I can try to just move the PS3 since it is already synced with the router......but since I have such a weak signal at the Panny, I was wondering what I need to buy to hook up the PS3 and any other devices that I decide to add and can they all at the same time run over the Cat6a cable? just a splitter hub? what brand? Do I need to change routers to a N ?

You would probably need a local ethernet switch to connect more than one ethernet device (TV, Bluray player) to the ethernet connection from your long cable to the router.

If it's that easy to wire, then yeah, just go with that.

I'm pretty sure you can just get a wired bridge and plug that cable into it and then plug your TV, PS3 and whatever else you want hooked up to the network into the ports on that.

I doubt upgrading to an N wifi router would boost the signal strength all that much. Going wired with a bridge/hub is probably the way to go. Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable enough about networking stuff to suggest a brand or model. Hopefully someone else can pop in with specific recommendations.

Thanks, I guess a 10 Base T hub is what I need then. I almost confused this with a USB hub. Any recommendations about which one?
I see one on AZon that sez for better than Cat5 which is rather old as a see 5e and 6a are used mostly now. I would prefer to not buy old technology.

With USB they are called hubs, but with ethernet (10baseT, Cat5) its called a 'switch'
Checkout the models at newegg.com for a good selection with reviews.

This one from NE looks ok....Do I have to worry about the ports or are they all the same?
NETGEAR 5 Port Gigabit Desktop Switch (GS605AV)

hey guys just heads up, costco will be selling the ut55 for $749 starting tomorrow for a few weeks. i got mine at $799 and i felt it was worth it so this is a great deal.

no need to waste extra money for a gigabit switch, get a cheaper 100Mb/s switch since thats all the TV and blu-ray player can support, they aren't gigabit speed capable.
I see newegg has a Roswill 8port switch model on sale this week with a coupon code for 20% off for under $8 - reviews are good for this purpose too.

.

Confirmed. I just checked costco.com and there it, listed for $749. What an amazing deal. Im going to file my taxes tonight, and should it go well, Ill be picking up the tv tonight or tomorrow.

Arghh after 4 exchanges with BB (Samsung LED/LCD-->LG LED/LCD--->1st 50UT50 [had bad pixel and excessive buzzing]--->2nd 50UT50 [perfect/perfect]) I now hear for $50 more I could've had a 55... Hmmm.. What to do.. Pretty sure if I try to return my current set, BB will blacklist me for excessive returns hehe. I think I'll just keep my 'perfect for me display'
For the poster above, I actually bough amazon cloths to drape over my windows so I can continue to use this plasma. My previous LED/LCD sets all had the 'watching on a computer screen' look I just couldn't get over. This 2012 set blows away my 65S1 in PQ and has a pop that's missing on the LED/LCD's

I'm probably going to pick one up tonight from Costco. I was wondering if I should look for one manufactured after a certain date that may have fixed certain issues like excessive buzzing or is it just luck of the draw? Otherwise I'll just go for the most recently manufactured one.

Also ordered a 55UT50 last week... it arrived this am, will be setting it up tonight (woo hoo).

Incidentally, Costco has price protection (for 30 days, iirc). A quick call to costco.com got the $50 difference (from the 799 I paid) credited to my card.

A question about setup: From reading here and elsewhere, It seems that the upright panel is designed to slide down onto the vertical support bracket/flange on the included stand... is this correct, or is better to carefully lay the panel face down to attach the base? The pdf manual I downloaded is ambiguous about this.

If I were to buy a UT50, more specifically the 50-inch version, would I need to postpone any gaming until after the 100 or so hour break-in period, or could I set the TV up and start playing?

I slid my panel onto the base upright and then screwed them together

It depends on how much gaming you do. From all of the reading I have done on plasma televisions the general consensus during the first 100 hours is to only watch content that fills the screen (no black bars) and limit static images like the HUD in first person shooters, fighting games etc... as much as possible. I play a lot of games mainly COD multiplayer and during the first hundred hours with my television I played Hardcore mode which limits the HUD. I also played the Gears of War 3 campaign which turns the HUD off when you are not shooting. Also, I limited my gaming sessions to about 2 hours at a time before switching to something else. They say the phosphors burn the hottest during the first hundred hours or so. Its better to be safe than sorry. Good luck

LB

Yes, you want to slide it on to the pedestal. DO NOT lay it face down. Although it may do no damage, it is a point of controversy, especially for transport.

Thanks soobaerodude and anikun07. I will be assembling this with my wife tonight... hopefully after the panel is slid into place on the stand, it will be stable enough for her to attach the mounting screws while I keep the panel balanced.

We've been lining up 1.78:1 content for the break-in period. First up is Archer season 3...

We got a Panasonic P50UT50 last week. We also got the TY-WL20U Wifi adapter. We plugged it in, connected to the network and everything worked fine. However, every time we turn the TV off, we lose the settings to the wifi network and have to set it up again. What is going wrong and how do we fix it? I went with this TV so my wife wouldn't have to switch HDMI inputs to watch netflix. Having the connection settings get lost every time makes it even more complicated.