Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 19

Originally Posted by DesertDog

Revision3 seemed to play fine. Their player went "full screen". It wasn't the full display but the the full browser window. There was still the scroll bars on the bottom and right and the toolbar at top. See attached picture.

Vimeo didn't work well at all. The full screen button didn't do anything. The video stays playing when you press pause. Jumping in the timeline results in the video playing from that point but with no audio, and the video isn't buffering properly.

I also tried youtube even though there's a youtube app just to see. It works properly except for the screen size toggle.

ESPN mostly worked for their roll overs and other effects. The videos (flash based) played but had no controls and no indicator that it was going to play. 20 seconds after loading the page all of a sudden I had audio and had to find the picture box. The conversations section on one of tonight's MLB games did cause a complete hang. I had to exit and relaunch the browser. The couple others I tried didn't do that. Might have been due to the dynamic updating of the pages. The one that hanged was a west coast game and the others were east coast games that had been over for awhile.

Overall the web browser experience isn't great to me. It works but there's a bunch of little things that would make it a lot better. Simple stuff like letting the cursor cause scrolling when at the top or bottom of the screen. Right now you have to use the scroll bar which is a pain with the remote. Entering in URLs is also a pain. Typing with the remote isn't fun and they left off a lot of things that would make it a little easier like a button to clear the text field of the previous URL (you have to delete it a char at a time) or buttons that fill in .com like the iOS keyboard has. There's plenty of room on screen for them. The other entry thing that would be nice is "wrapping" the curser. When you're at the letter j (right most column) and want to type a k (left most column) you have to go all the way across right to left to get to it whereas one press to the right could wrap you around to the other side.

Originally Posted by CaTaSTrOphiK

Just enjoyed avatar on mine. No issues that I noted just enjoying!! Time to go play with some 3d now.. Crappy pic from my iPad... Apparently I left the cable box on and the glasses plugged in for it to.

Originally Posted by plasmaFTW



And people that are worried about image retention are being unrealistic. I have an older ST that I properly broke in and use primarily for a PC monitor. I don't even have cable or satellite. I use it for my PC, Blu-ray, and gaming . You'll be fine watching football all day long.

Regards,

B

PS. More pics to follow as I get it running in the backroom for the breakin slides.

Originally Posted by htwaits

I'm not sure I understand your reply.

Originally Posted by weedeater

Rumor has it that the set is compatible with a BlueTooth keyboard. Can you try that? Or maybe try a USB keyboard/mouse?

Originally Posted by savora

I have a couple of questions about calibration.

1) If you get it calibrated and then shipped, is that ok to do?

2) If there is a firmware update, do you have to get the tv calibrated again?

Sorry, I am a novice about this stuff.

Originally Posted by Tempest261

Anyway, here's my question: I definitely have the patience and I think I have the know-how (or I'm getting close) to do a pretty good calibration manually with the standard DIY license... however the Autocal deal for this month (1/2 off) is somewhat enticing. In your opinion, can Autocal do a better calibration than one done by hand, especially by an amateur like me? What about a pro like you or D-nice? How does it truly compare? On top of that, is it consistent with it's results with something like the VT50?

Originally Posted by Chad B

In my experience, the correct groundwork has to be laid in order for autocal to work well. I did not feel that the bundled layouts were helpful in that regard at all. I attempted to do that with a custom workflow I made just for the VT30, and I will say that even in the one I made it is hard to get across my intent.
Once the correct groundwork has been laid, the autocal makes things easier and faster, at least for grayscale and gamma from 20-100%. Often when it gets down to 10% I find I can do a faster and more accurate job by stopping it and taking over manually, partially because I know what to expect and partially because autocal takes such small steps and readings take a while at 10%.
This is very important, esp on the VT30, and is totally overlooked in the bundled workflows: the autocal results have to be verified after it's done and the results have to be fine tuned, and depending on how much of a perfectionist you are it may take from a minimum of 2 passes to over a dozen fine tuning passes after autocal has done it's thing.
The autocal doesn't do so well with CMS, though it's not a total failure there. It just doesn't have a human brain.
So to answer your question, the autocal will not get you the results that D-Nice and I get. In fact, it can leave color banding and sunburnt skin tones as well as any BB calibrator. But it can be a tool, when used in certain ways, that can make things a little easier and faster.
I am commenting mostly on my experience with the VT30, since the VT50 had the calibration issues.

Originally Posted by Tempest261

Thanks Chad. That's what I needed to hear. I'll wait a few years for them to sort this feature out. I'd rather be patient and do it right by hand. Besides, I find it kind of fun .

Originally Posted by D-Nice

After the auto cal, you are suppose to set it to whatever your preferred/correct contrast and brightness setting should be. Well, changing the contrast and brightness settings after the calibration voids the calibration as the display will no longer read what it did when the contrast and brightness were set to.

Originally Posted by PathofNeo

I'm in the same boat. I'm interested in the 55VT50 but really wish they made a 60". A 65VT50 is probably overkill (mainly price) for me and a 55VT50 is barely big enough

Originally Posted by subavision212

Can anyone explain the advantage of the VT one sheet design? Is it purely cosmetic? And how different would images be from on the GT series. Thanks.

Originally Posted by DaverJ

I understand this is a very subjective question, but I'm wrestling with the same thing. I have no way of seeing the VT30 and the VT50 side-by-side, so I would love to hear an informed, critical comparison of the two.

If the VT50 was "<10% better" than the VT30 OOTB, my decision would be easy - go with the VT50. But ">5% better", it's a hard call if that's worth $1000.

Originally Posted by rogo

So, the "one-sheet" design itself won't affect picture quality. Essentially, the VT has a single piece of glass that is also the "bezel" surround the image.

The GT has a separate plastic bezel.

The two displays, however, have different filters and some different capabilities settings-wise. Those will affect image quality. How much? Someone who has seen both could answer better than I. What I can say is without a very critical eye the answer is going to be "not a ton". And even with a critical eye the answer will still be something less than earth shattering.

Originally Posted by TitusTroy

I currently have a VT30 and for me the question of upgrading to a VT50 would require more then a 10% improvement...for 'only' 10% it would be a no brainer to keep my VT30

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

What makes a tv 10% better vs 5% better or 50% better? that's completely subjective...

Originally Posted by TitusTroy

where did I say it wasn't subjective?...I was stating that a 10% difference would not be enough for me

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Yeah, I get what you're saying, my point is one guys 10% is another guys barely noticeable is another guys 50% difference. Only way you'll know is to check them out yourself extensively and compare it to your VT30. The data seems to suggest it is significantly improved and the VT30 was no slouch.

Just be careful taking someone's 10% into consideration and realize that they may value something different than yourself. The improved brightness, black levels and shadow detail seem to make it worth the upgrade IMO...but I don't have a VT30 but I've viewed them a fair amount.

Originally Posted by TitusTroy

if I didn't currently have a VT30 it would be a no brainer to get the VT50...it's not a question of is it better then the VT30- it definitely is...it's more a question of is it enough for me to ditch my current set and get a new one...the great thing is that the VT50 is launching at prices that are cheaper then when I bought my VT30 at launch

I'm mostly concerned about IR on the VT50...I don't want to buy it if it has the same IR issues as my current VT30