Official Panasonic UT50 Series Discussion Thread - Page 34

I have seen all of those except Puss N' Boots and Despicable Me and they all have plenty of "pop out" 3D effects.

Hugo only has 2 or 3 instances of crosstalk with my tv set to 48hz. Movies in general are mainly just depth. The samsung glasses are fine and work just as good as the panny's and will make zero difference in picture quality,i have 2 pairs of each. The only real difference is size,comfort,and the ability to be charged and i'm sure that won't improve your picture quality. They are far from garbage at one third the price,i don't know what he's smoking but i want some. The best pop out film that i have seen is the documentary "Planet SOS". It is by far the best and is just as good as some tech demo's i've seen. There are multiple instances where it seems like things are sticking 3 to 7 feet out of the screen and into your room and you can literally stick your arm out and run your fingers through them,its pretty amazing. It may be hard to find,it was made in 2002 and you can dl it from binsearch.info if your a newsgroup subscriber.

Just read a CNET article that compares the two and it does state that due to light being let in on the sides by the Samsung glasses that that could make crosstalk worse. Looks like I will just need to pony up the money and see for myself.

The Panny glasses are much more durable and comfortable. You should be able to find a set of used ones for $30-$35.

I think it's official that I'll be getting a 55UT50. I don't think I will be calibrating white balance or need to change the color space to "Wide" which are available on the ST50. But the BB associate said their return policy is 30 days, all I have to do is bring it back. So in case my room is too bright with my ceiling light on I can bring it back for the ST50 which I thought the glare reduction was pretty noticeable in the store.

Good choice and hope you enjoy your new set

Picked up this panel with Panasonic's Employee Pricing Program through my employer and absolutely love it. I have one question. I notice that while streaming Netflix titles (via VIERA on the panel) that should have 5.1 (according to tvandmoviesnow.com and in this case, Captain America), it's converting to PCM. I'm using an Onkyo TX-NR515. The settings are correct and should allow for 5.1. I have the AVR connected through HDMI2 (ARC) as well as an optical cable. I thought I needed to remove the optical cable. I did that mid-stream and lost all audio. Any suggestions? Retry after pulling optical NOT mid stream?

I can register the DVD player for Netflix and stream through there. I have not tried that yet to test the audio.

does anyone know if i can play a 3d bluray iso from an external hdd on to the t.v?

I think you're graphics card would have to support 3D output over HDMI.

Edit: I found this over at OCers http://www.overclock.net/t/1198993/pc-to-hdtv-to-output-3d-movies Looks like you'll need the software too. I see that PowerDVD 10+3D patch is recommended. I don't know much besides run avi/mkv off my PC so I'm not familiar with playback software. I never really like the PowerDVD software OEM versions that came with my disc drives, either, so I'm certainly not familiar with that program. I will add that I see PowerDVD listed fairly often here at AVS and the last version I ever tried using was a LONG time ago (2003-ish?).
Edited by anikun07 - 8/11/12 at 6:12pm

No, the internal media player does not support ISOs, only certain types of video files like .mkvs with mpg2 or avc/h264 video and ac3(dolby digital) audio, doesn't support dts audio.

Ok,so how would I be able to play the iso file without a p.c or anything like that?

You'll need an external media player. WDTV,PCH,Dune etc...

Sorry 'bout that hovermaster, I misread your post and thought you meant off an HTPC.

Can anyone comment about the glare a little bit for indoors? The fellow at BB said indoor lighting isn't a problem with PDPs and I only need to concern myself with daylight, although a friend of mine with a Panasonic plasma, possibly a U25(?) he's pretty sure it's a 2010 model, but he thinks it gets glare during dark scenes from indoor light. Has anyone else had this experience with a room that's not completely dark? I kind of wish I had a light meter to know how much light my ceiling fan/light produced.

Not that anyone truly cares but I fixed my glasses/sync issue. I pulled the tv off the wall and could see that the Bluetooth adapter on the back was askew. One screw holds it in place. Took it off, reinstalled and bam! Instant glasses sync with the Samsung and Panasonic glasses.

I care, that's good to know! When I get mine, if I have that problem I probably never would have thought of that.

I take it this was just for a certain size UT50 like the 50"? I ask because we just bought a 55" open box special on Saturday.

I bought an open box 50" last wednesday and was told that the free player was only part of special bundled units from Panasonic. I moaned and complained and they gave me an extra $75 off the price instead.

Can anyone comment about the glare a little bit for indoors? The fellow at BB said indoor lighting isn't a problem with PDPs and I only need to concern myself with daylight, although a friend of mine with a Panasonic plasma, possibly a U25(?) he's pretty sure it's a 2010 model, but he thinks it gets glare during dark scenes from indoor light. Has anyone else had this experience with a room that's not completely dark? I kind of wish I had a light meter to know how much light my ceiling fan/light produced.[/quote]

anikun07

I gave a fairly long description of the glare non-issue on p32 of this thread. You could check that out.

In brief, I would say that my viewing room is hardly ever completely dark. (In fact, I don't like to watch in a completely dark room, it just bothers my eyes.) Even at night my wife will have the lamp on beside her chair. The lamp in not in view at all in the reflection, but it does cast a fair amount of light onto the wall behind my seating position. However, it is not enought to have any significant effect at all on the image. When I turn on the lamp beside my chair, I can clearly see the lamp reflected in the panel on dark scenes and it does therefore effect the image. During casual viewing, such as when watching the news, even this reflection is easy to ignore.

I have good blinds on most of the windows and never get direct sunlight in my viewing room at any time of the day, but there is a fairly large window high up on the north facing wall with no blinds. From about 1pm until about 6pm, the prevailing, scattered, strong Texas light hits the wall behind my sitting position. At this time of day, dark scenes do show reflections, but the only viewing I am doing then is casual, such as the news, so it is not that improtant or disturbing.

My advice to you would be to make sure that whatever lamps are turned on at night do not show up as a reflection on the screen, say for example, when the screen is off. If you cannot see the light source directly reflected in the screen, I doubt that you would ever have any complaints with this panel.

I hope that this helps.

Thank you for the reiteration, Theo. I do notice one minor reflection on my LCD (matte screen) and it's not directly from the ceiling light. I have a 75 gallon aquarium next to the sofa, it's positioned so the end of the aquarium is facing the wall the TV is against. I'm not sure how the light is reflecting, it may just be the aquarium light, but I do notice a little bit of a white spot when the TV is off and during dark scenes. I don't know how much more this would be pronounced on a bigger and more reflective screen.

Also, I was wondering about the color white. I don't want to get the trolls coming in masses, but I have read from other websites that plasma is difficult to get true white and it's looks gray? The example I've read being used over in the ST50 thread is watching hockey. If the white balance is accurate then shouldn't white be white, or if it looks dim then increase the brightness?

Anikun

Glad I could help with the reflection question. I can't quite picture how your aquarium is positioned or where the reflection comes from, but I remembered a notice in the box of my old DLP when I bought it about six years ago. They said that a while spot in the middle of the screen when the TV was off was normal and was not a defect. Maybe this spot is something inherent in the design of your current TV.

As to your question about the white balance of a plasma or whites being "grey," I think you might be mixing two different things. As an amateur photographer who has done a lot of color printing and color corrections, I am able to see color casts readily. White "balance" has to do with color casts, for example if the color tends towards green, or yellow, etc. Your eye will generally not actually see this in bright white scenes, but you will see it in places like shadows or shades of grey. A good example is while watching golf. The bright scenes look fine, but a close-up of a player will show a distinct pink/magenta cast in the shadows of his white shirt. This magenta cast can be very strong and is the video camera trying to color-correct for the strong presence of green from the grass (magenta is the opposite of green).

The "Grey" that people speak of I have noticed only on broadcast commercials where there is a bright white screen with some kind of graphic in the advertisement. I notice that the bright "white" screen is not really "white" but is noticably more grey than I would have thought. However, as soon as you get regular programming with a mix of light tones and dark tones, the whites look brilliant white, as a result of the contrast between light and dark. I think that this is what people mean when they talk of a plasma being "grey." Now, I have yet to watch any hockey on this panel, so I cannot comment on how it will look. But so far, the only time I have noticed a "Grey" panel is during commercials--Big deal!
Edited by Theo-Prof - 8/15/12 at 11:05am

Again, thanks. I understand about what you mean about the camera trying to color correct itself is it's similar to how point and shoot cameras attempt to find their white balance, which is always difficult indoors with fluorescent or soft white bulbs. Thanks for your comments about the commercials, we hardly watch broadcast and don't subscribe to cable TV, but I know exactly what you mean. Since you like photography, how do you like the TV picture when looking at pictures on it, assuming you have an HTPC or similar picture viewer? On my 32" 720p I love how pictures look so bright, colorful, and vibrant. I can't wait to see them on a 55".

I've only viewed photos via the USB port and the SDHC card reader. They look very good, but the TV does not give many options for zoooming in on the image to look at detail. As far as photography goes, I still enjoy the old-school large format and medium format film cameras, especially for black&white. While I have used Photoshop for years, only within the last year did I really get into digital capture.

Anyone know why I can't adjust the 3d settings while watching 3d content? I've tried while not viewing as well. But everything is greyed out.

did you go to the menu, scroll down to setup, and go into 3d settings options?

Yeah. But it's greyed out.

Do you have 3D playing? I remember reading, possibly on this thread, that in order to aces those settings you need to have 3D going to the TV.


Theo,
film will always be the best canvas for photography, if I were better I would use film, but I think I would burn through money too fast with film and not be happy with my prints. I'm glad to hear they look good on the TV.

Anyone here return this for the st50 or vice versa?

Tonight I created a fake 55" UT50 based on the dimensions in the owner's manual. You can see the 32" LCD I have compared to the proposed 55" UT50.
I think in the picture is doesn't look as imposing, but my eyes are only 10 feet away from the screen. The picture is 48 inches wide and 27 inches tall, and compared to the 32-inch screen it seems enormous. I'm thinking it may be better to go with the 50-inch. It's a little smaller but I think it may be a better fit in the room. I know when I bought the 32" in considered a 26" screen at the time, but back then I just wanted to keep the vertical height of my 4:3 CRT TV. The 50" screen, bezel included, would fit inside the picture of the cardboard TV.
Edited by anikun07 - 8/18/12 at 9:54pm

I was in between about the 50" and 55" and I think I will choose the 50" for the following reasons. 1) It was the original size I wanted. 2) It uses less power than the 55". 3) It costs less than the 55", both in raw price and price per inch. 4) I can use the extra money saved to get Panasonic 3D glasses at the time of purchase and a 3D Blu-ray or two. 5) The 55" feels like it takes up the whole wall and the 50" feels more manageable in our living room.

I'm still not sure if I want to have the TV above the center channel speaker or if I want the speaker above the TV. I suppose it's a tradeoff because if I have the CC speaker on my TV stand then it's closer to ear level, but I will be looking up a little to watch the TV. Hm..I think it may be less of a nuisance to look straight forward, and try the CC speaker above the TV. Does anyone know if have the CC speaker above the TV sounds like dialog is coming from "Up" if the speaker is either straight forward or angled down a little? I think that will be the best solution. I'm still watching the prices of the Panasonic plasmas and so far they've held steady for the last 3 weeks. I wonder if this Sunday they prices will change. I won't mention prices, but I think once the price drops below where it's at, I will head to the store and buy one. I'm super excited and can hardly wait! I'll be sure to post some pictures when the time comes. This has been a great thread to read and I'm glad I've read through it and have had advice given to me. I look forward to helping others on this thread after I have experience with the TV instead of just passing on what I've read here and in the manual.

My center channel speaker is on a shelf above and slightly behind the TV. It sounds fine. The dialogued is nicely anchored to the screen, which is the key, I think, with the center chanel speaker.