Panasonic 2012 TC-PxxST50 Settings Thread

Thank you for the cnet settings. I'm currently using D-Nice's settings which are a bit dim for daily use but great at night.

Any comment on a preference between cnet's and D-Nice's settings?

3:2 isn't available to me on HDMI 1. I'm running HDMI from a scientific Atlanta HD DVR into a Monoprice switcher and then into the HDMI 1 slot.

Do I need to switch slots or is this not available from a cable box source?

We're supposed to "break-in" the sets before applying these settings, right?

If sso, does all of the information in these specific posts still apply, even though they're from 2007/2008?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post12383163

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post14472276

I just want to make sure I'm using the correct break-in DVD, etc.

C-net's calibrated settings are excellent in custom mode at night, but too dim for me in daytime. But I don't want to keep changing the custom settings, so can anyone suggest another mode with settings that approach the calibrated accuracy, but with a bit more brightness/contrast/pop for daytime viewing?

do you have a link (or PM) for D_nice settings
thanks

Took a quick peek yesterday at D'Nices pair of settings + one's from CNet, and IMPRESSION was that they seemed more similar than different.

Obviously panel-to-panel variations make any such "universal calibration settings" something of a crap shoot, but was encouraged by the apparent similarities...

i agree , they are extremely similar, aside from these settings:

W/B high R:
W/B high B:
W/B low R:
W/B low B:

Links to that are blocked (also via PM i believe).

To find them, go to the 2nd post in the Official ST50 thread for info.

jhp612, where in the CNET reviews do they post the actual settings used? For example in this review of the ST50 I don't see them...
link

David Katzmaier (CNET) settings link:

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-19410_10...ateThreadPopup

Thanks!

I'm replying to my own post. Just wanted to add that I've been simply using cinema mode on default settings for daytime and its quite good, much brighter with good pop, than custom mode after calibration.

Does anybody have any recommendations for 3D mode at night? I tried CNET's settings and then just bumped up the contrast and brightness about 10 points each, but while that helps, I don't think it's the perfect solution because as you increase brightness and contrast the brighter areas will start to wash out. What are others using?

yeah 3d mode is tough (i'd like to hear some people's optimal settings for 3d mode, and also about their various 3d settings in the other menus) because the glasses make it so dark, i find that i really have to have a super bright screen for it to look OK, last night I was using game mode on default in 3d mode while watching avatar 3d, and it looked good. after experimenting with various picture modes with the glasses on, I think it looks best on settings that would be considered almost torch mode without the glasses. definitely not an accurate picture though when cranked up that high.

I can't believe more people don't have any info or recommendations on 3D mode settings. Doesn't anybody here watch 3D, or is everybody just stumped like I am on how to achieve the best image with the glasses on?

I'm stumped. I was messing around with 3d settings yesterday, but couldn't settle on any particular settings. I am also having trouble finding good settings for standard mode (for daytime viewing). Cinema mode on default is what I've been using, but I'm starting to think I'd like a bit more "pop" in the daytime. The problem is, on standard mode, if you turn the contrast up too high, faces start looking washed out.

They're not similar at all... the differences between the two would make the grayscale look considerably different.

I don't know what meter Cnet uses, but I've tried their settings in the past and have found their settings to have a red/orange tint. This was made especially clear to me when I actually got my own meter and calibrated myself. Just comparing D-Nice's settings with Cnet, it seems like this would be the case again.

yes, I've switched back and forth between dnice and cnet settings, and I agree, cnet's settings colors seem a bit too red to me, especially on people's faces. however, i found cnet's settings for brightness=60 to work better for me (more details visible) in dark scenes of game of thrones last night, while contrast seems to work best at 80 for me. (cnet's contrast = 82 is a bit too high imo)

I also bumped up my brightness to 60 last week and tend to enjoy it a bit more that way.

I am doing the opposite and cranking the contrast to 100 and brightness down to 43. This looks beautiful. The 85/60 setting from c-net crushed some whites like smoke and clouds and lost detail in blacks, not sure why you would ever want to limit your contrast range like that.

I noticed a few things with the 3D settings I have.

First the 3D popout on my BDT-320 seems to do nothing but make the 3D worse the higher you turn it up. The depth of field actually seems best when set to 0, and gets progressively more narrow and blurry when you turn it up. I would expect the blurr, but figured the depth of field would grow not shrink.

Second was that I noticed the 24p output with pulldown left extra crosstalk on the closest 3d layers. It was still there when I set my 320 to output 60hz, but noticably improved.

Third is the contrast and brightness balance which I noticed is better off left alone. Sure the screen gets dimmer with the glasses on, but the blacks still look good if not better, and the brights are more dis-colored than dimmed, which brings me to..,

Fourth is the color settings. I haven't played enough yet with these, and I don't have any quantifiable way of tuning them other than just personnal preference. It seems Warm2 adjusts away a lot of the blue shift, but I would imagine changing the Gamma would be a better place to start.

So all in all I am very impressed with the 3D. Of coarse I came in with low expectations, and am not a 3D fan, but I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. My biggest nitpick is crosstalk in the closest and fastest moving elements. It seems when objects come at you they go blurry/cross-talky before they reach their visual peak, especially if they are fast moving. The popcorn in the schoolhouse scene of Megamind comes to mind! The same small eliments with slower more controlled motion (like the dirt falling off the alien robot in Monsters Vs Aliens as the president retreats) look awesome for example. I haven't had a chance to see any of the "superior" samsung active 3D sets other than in the store, but from watching I can't imagine what they could do better except the very small/fast moving details I described. I imagine this is indeed the difference in reviews. Hopefully some future firmware can improve on this, but it really is nitpicking to me.

I understand you're coming from an LCD. Contrast is not like the backlight settings on lcd/led. Contrast controls white and Brightness controls blacks & shadow details. It seems that you have these two backwards. What is more similar to backlight is the panel brightness setting which should be set to low or mid.

Changing the contrast and brightness affects everything; color, gamma, grayscale, shadow detail and white detail. Contrast should be set so that there's no shift in the grayscale or color, you don't experience eye strain, or there's no clipping of any white detail. If you don't see any of this, then you can set it as high as you want. Brightness should be set with something like a pluge pattern so that only above black is visible. That's one of the nice things about LCDs and the backlight control as it has essentially no affect on everything else.

Feel free to change Cnet or D-Nice's settings, but know that your changes are affecting other things. I wouldn't go too far from their respective settings. But as long as it looks good to you, that's all that matters.

@HD70GUY, your changes would create a more punchy picture, but you're probably crushing both white and shadow detail. Not to mention a higher contrast and lower brightness makes the set more susceptible to image retention/burn in.

Yeah, I am definitely straying from optimal color (if I ever was there with the C-Net settings) by bumping up the contrast. I did set the contrast and brightness with a pluge pattern though, and am not crushing either. The C-Net settings were crushing white and washing out black. The dark lines on the standard pluge did disappear, but the gradient pluge was showing striping and went full black before the end. The white end was not striping, but did go full white well before the end. I know I'm not at optimal callibration, but the contrast is improved. Color is the harder thing to achieve without ISF equipment, but it is close enough by my eyes for right now. After I have a few hundred hours on the set I will try and look into a professional calibration or even buy a meter.

Okay so I have to correct myself here. I did set up with a pluge pattern, but I did it before applying the C-net color settings. When I went back to check the black level does indeed crush at 43 and needs to be between 55 and 60 to look right. I am definitley getting better results to my eye with 100 contrast as opposed to 84 though.

I'm no expert so if there is a downside to such high contrast that I can't see with a pluge, what test should I be doing to double check?

I think test patterns may be deceptive when calibrating a plasma due to the way plasmas allocate power to specific areas of the screen based on what is being displayed, but I may be wrong and am far from an expert.

Sounds reasonable, I just wonder what test I can run to see if I am crushing white in dynamic scenes.

yeah i'm having trouble finding good daytime settings for standard mode that doesnt crush whites

Anything in the service menu that can help better calibrate the tv?