Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 356

I actually just finished four straight days of running the slides nonstop. The tv never got hot which was my only concern...not even luke warm which amazed me, as my five year old Panny 700U would heat up fairly quickly even after just a few hours. I just finished entering D-Nice's settings and I'm blown away by the outstanding PQ. I also watched an Imax 3D movie and was in awe. This baby is a keeper!

One of the first thoughts going through my mind when I took real notice of it. :-)

Just watched Batman Begins and holy crap this set is awesome.

I dug up some of the more detailed specs both online and in the owner's manual and thought I'd post my findings:

Compatible with mkv
USB ports are only 2.0 :-(
Ethernet is NOT gigabit :-(

I'm still running slides so I'll tinker around with the suggestions on the streaming stuff and let you know how it goes.

Well....
PS3 Media Server over wifi seems to produce the same quality as DLNA streaming does. Can't get .mkv files to work for either one of them. Can't even get them into iTunes nor Windows Media Player. I thought i downloaded a codec for it, but it didn't seem to do anything as far as getting DLNA or PS3 Media Server to recognize them.

As luck would have it, the external hdd crapped out on me just in time, so that won't be an option. But, I did have a decent size SDHC card and i transferred the beginning chapter of an mkv movie file to it from my pc and then plugged it into the TV for a test run. the video quality was amazing, but no audio. I'm not sure how to tell what audio format the file was using, but I'm assuming it was 5.1 or so and it is understandable the TV wouldn't like that.

I searched some more and found some people use handbrake to convert to mp4. I know the file sizes between mkv and mp4 are usually different, but from what i can tell, it is because the mkv files usually have multiple formats bunched up into the file and most of them use the same H.264 video that Mp4 uses, so i think the video quality will be the same.

The question this leaves me with for now is: What audio option should i go with? I'm not using a receiver for now, but will in the future. If i pick DTS-HD pass thru, i'm wondering if that will let the TV take what it can and "pass" the rest to a receiver (eventually)

Has anybody had any issues from running d-nice slides? I am getting my 65tv50 TV on 3/5 and calibration is set for 3/11. I talked to my calibrator and he said just to run full screen programming for 100 hours before calibration. the only problem is I'm not sure if I will be able to get that many hours on the set in that short of a time without using the slides. I though about just running a bluray the whole time, not sure if the OPPO BDP 103 has a repeat function? So the disc would just start over from the beginning once the movie is over, anybody know if that is the case. channels like HBO would be okay except for the logo at the bottom and some of their movies still play with black bars on top and bottom. Anybody have any other suggestions to get the hours on the set?

The slides are perfectly safe.

I ran my break in on HDNET. No logos, just set screen to zoom that eliminates black bars on any letterbox movies they might have. Ran it for 24/7 for 8 days. Watched TV when I wanted to, then put it back on HDNET. No issues encountered, no IR.

I'm certainly nowhere near the videophile most in this thread are, just a guy who appreciates beautiful displays on my phones, computers and television.

For the 1st hundred hours on my VT50 I didn't bother with any slides, I just tuned the TV to whatever channel I wanted to when watching TV, and then I tuned it to HBO-HD when I wasn't actively watching and left the TV on for 24 hours per day for 5 days. No issues with IR that I can tell. Unbelievably gorgeous display for me with just the settings right out of the box, no professional calibration done yet, if I ever will bother.

You've got 6 days between purchase and your calibration, that's plenty of time to get 100+ hours on the panel if you leave it on 24 hours per day whichever route you choose to go with. I have HBO turned on right now, and there are no HBO logos on the screen, and I don't think they play black-bars very often, if at all. Maybe that varies from cable providers? I use Verizon FIOS. Are you in a big rush for "professional calibration"? I've read many a post here about people waiting a while before getting that done

So I just had my set professionally calibrated yesterday and I'm not sure if I should be dissapointed or not. My guy calibrated a day mode in custom and night mode in THX cinema. When all was said and done I ended up with ONLY 19 ftls. in THX mode. How is this possible? Hometheatermag.com reviewer was able to calibrate at 33 ftls in custom?! My final contrast is at a setting of 43. My guy confirmed with me the blooming pt was beyond 43. What do you guys think? He says 12-18 ftls is acceptable. Is it? I'm so used to hometheatermags settings that all of the calibrated modes THX cinema/bright custom look incredibly dull in comparison. Should I be upset? As soon as my calibrator said he only got 19 ftls. my heart sunk. I knew i was going to get a dull pic. Honestly, as embarassing as this is to say, I felt like i wanted to cry lol but I'm such a passive person I didn't know how to tell my guy I was upset. Should I be this upset or is this acceptable? I've already contemplated and sent emails to another calibrator, questioning if I should blow another 400 bucks.....

I actually just checked out HBO and didn't see a logo either. Showtime does have logos. I know I have seen the letterbox movies on showtime, not sure about HBO. Using the zoom mode makes sense to me especially while I'm not watching, just to be sure. I should be able to get the 100+ hours on it, just want to make sure I don't mess anything up. I wouldn't consider myself a videophile either but bought a Samsung UN55D8000 two years ago that I never really felt was up to par with the price tag on it. Actually never even considered a plasma until doing a bit more research on here. Everybody tells me that the 65VT50 will blow my old Samsung out of the water for the same price I paid on it. I already scheduled the appointment for calibration a few months ago. It was originally for the Samsung hoping to improve the picture, but since then have decided to make the upgrade and give the Samsung to my son for his room. Thanks for your input and help, I'll let you guys know how it all works out.

HBO is great...Only occasionally do they broadcast non-16*9 images, and they don't do logos as you mentioned. I would just suggest that you go into the Aspect Control and put it to pic size 1 as the HBO broadcast may me slightly smaller than full screen without a little overscan. Or of course you can zoom as you said.

Good purchase and good luck!!

I just noticed when using Viera Connect, my picture settings change to default, so do I really have to input my settings on there too? If so, I will just stick to using my BD player for streaming.

Yes. Takes about 60 seconds or so.

You might get more help in: "The Official Panasonic VT50 Settings Thread", which is here:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1410156/the-official-panasonic-vt50-settings-thread

I agree.

I'm assuming that you didn't mention who did your calibration because he isn't active here at AVS. Is he someone you've used before or did you have references for him?

At the end of your calibration did you and the calibrator view some known source material in order to judge the results?

If the time comes that you are looking for another calibrator, the link in the signature area at the bottom of my post will take you to flat panel (post number two) lists of owner reports about their professional calibrations. All the calibrators who's work is reported on are known here at AVS.

you didn't go with my Calibrator recommendations?

EDIT: see your pm
Edited by turbe - 3/3/13 at 1:19pm

Why did he calibrate THX and Custom instead of the ISF modes?

.

Did your calibrator say" ftls", if so I think he meant FL (foot-lamberts). Yes you would want about 32FT for a room with controlled lighting.

Do you have a USA (N/A) VT50, if so he shouldn't of adjusted your THX mode, when you have 2 ISF modes for 2D and 2 ISF modes for 3D (stereo). However custom mode is a good choice. .

3D (stereo) would probably be in the range of 5FL to 7 FL.

imo This is one of the problems. I have read or seen in a few cases, calibrators will use words that most folks don't understand, but they sound important so the client thinks the calibrator knows what he is talking about.

ss. .

Try these settings from D-Nice.
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1410156/the-official-panasonic-vt50-settings-thread/1290#post_23019808
Edited by sillysally - 3/3/13 at 1:27pm

he isn't going to go in much more detail in public.. this is not one of the Calibrators that I recommended in the past to him for the job....

I gave him some tips and did suggest he bring up his concerns about the calibration and gave some additional information if he chooses to followup with the Calibrator..

All the great Calibrators will address client concerns....

To be fair, he probably should post his calibration report. Maybe we are missing something and the calibrator did a ok job..

ss

Purchased my 65VT50 six weeks ago. This is my fourth Panny Plasma. Out of the box, the colors look great, and I plan to have it calibrated this spring. But, what is disappointing is that I have lots of latency or jerky moves when watching basketball.

I have DirecTV service, so I went into the bedroom, where my former S 65" screen was moved. Same basketball game, but no jerky moving. So, I am guessing its the 65VT50 television. Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can solve it? Thanks

Turn off the Motion Smoothing.

Darn I was so excited to hear of an answer to quickly. However, the Motion smoother is already turned off.

Hello everyone, Been enjoying my VT50 for two months now. Looking forard to calibrating! Is the Sqare Trade warranty for $259.99 worth the extra money? I have to decide tonight, please let me know what you think. I know it comes from the factory with one year warranty. Thanks everyone. Doug G.

The Square Trade warranty is for 3 years. Thanks.

I've had my 65VT50 for just a few days now and I am really enjoying it, after spending a couple weeks with a 65GT50 and returning it due to the "buzz" problem. The VT50 still has the buzzing trait but it is much much less noticable than the GT50. I also think the picture quaility/improvement is very noticable over the GT50 and well worth the extra $300 I paid. Also looking forward to calibrating the set once broken in.

I did have a question. My TV is on a stand and the cables are visible behind the TV. Has anyone come up with a way to black out the space between the stand and the bottom of the TV. I'm thinking of trying some black speaker cloth material.

You can buy the costco squaretrade just for $99 if you are a member, and an additional $5 if you're not a member. I bought mine at costco just to have a peace of mind

Sq Tr sells warranties by # of years and amount of coverage. You guys may be comparing 2 totally different warranties.

Has anyone else noticed the motion on the VT50 being pretty bad? Whenever I am watching something and they pan the camera to the side it gets real blurry and almost makes me sick. I have the motion smoother off. I have mainly noticed this while watching cable through Comcast and need to do some blu-ray viewing. Maybe it is just the source material being crappy and the grain is making it look blurry when the camera moves or something. Maybe it is partly due to me going from a 50" to 65" so it won't be as sharp. I never had this issue with my 500M. So I am thinking it is one of three problems. It is that Panasonic TVs don't handle motion as well, it is the difference in sharpness in going from 50" to 65" or maybe my set is defective. Any ideas or insight?