Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 184

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Relax and just be careful the first couple weeks. This thread I us full of witch hunts. Read all the reviews and you will find IR to be very rarely even discussed.

As tempest mentioned, he watched Olympics for the better part of a week, and was able to pick up a hint of IR that is already almost gone. That much of the sane logo is bound to leave something, but it is temporary, and very rarely even noticed with regular content. Now if you watched the Olympics with a brand new set for a week with anything brighter than thx cinema, be prepared for serious IR or even burn in. At the very least perform a proper 100 hour breakin. And you don't have to use clef, just be smart.
Edited by TopperMcFly - 8/8/12 at 5:51am

Thanks for the response. I definitely plan on breaking it in for the first 100 hours or so with nothing but full screen content without any static logo's. I will use mainly Disney/Pixar full screen blu ray's for most of it. I'm stoked to get this set.

Edit - I also plan on using THX Cinema Night mode right out of the box day 1, Which I hear is fine for the initial break in.
Edited by Gas0linE - 8/8/12 at 5:55am

Hi All,

I had my second VT50 for about a week now. My first one was a May 2012 build. This new one is a July 2012 build. It is perfect IMO. None of the issues I had with the first VT are present in this one. No IR whatsoever. If there is dithering in this set I cannot see it at all!!! This set is night and day compared to my first one. DSE was the main issue I had with the set. It was terrible. I no longer see DSE when watching directv. I do notice it when using 96hz mode on Blu-rays. It is still much less noticeable than the first VT I had. Switching to 60hz eliminates it completely! I am truly happy with this set now. The lesson I learned is to never buy early.

My set will be delivered this morning! I can't wait. Only a few more hours of floating blacks to endure.

As to the IR discussion, I don't have the VT50 as of yet but I've owned the VT25 for the better part of three years and I've never had an issue with IR. That's not to say I don't get IR - I most certainly do when I'm playing a game for an extended amount of time or watch something with a static image but a change of content or running the scrolling bar for 15 minutes every once in awhile completely eliminates any IR and I see nothing when playing actual content.

It's honestly been a complete non-issue to me with the VT25 and I would hope/imagine that is true of the VT50 as long as you're being careful early on (I stuck to full screen content almost exclusively outside of a 2:35:1 movie every once in awhile and nothing with static images like gaming for the first 100-200 hours of use). I didn't run any break-in slides either.

congrats, Let us know today what you think! My 65" arrives tomorrow. Can't wait to pop in Bolt and be awed by the vibrant colors a plasma has to offer (especially in the dark) I brought back my 55 inch Samsung ES8000 LED as it was a bit underwhelming. It had horrible screen uniformity! Blotches on a black screen, flash lighting in the corners (letterbox movies was a disaster) The colors and blacks looked washed out during night time viewing, and the viewing angle was pretty much the worse I seen on any TV. Definitely not worth the money I paid. I felt I paid just for the Voice and gesture controls which were poorly implemented and I never used.

I'm pretty certain from the other plasma's I seen in the dark and from what people tell me I will be 100% pleased with the VT50. I want that nice saturated vibrant color and deep blacks at night time with perfect screen uniformity in case I am watching a letterbox movie. I want that Cinema Picture feel.
Edited by Gas0linE - 8/8/12 at 7:21am

In general, plasma TVs dump out a TON of RF energy. It's usually not a problem, but if you're feeding it 100% noise (like a snow pixel flipper), it's going to be pumping noise into the local RF spectrum as well. It's the same reason why people sometimes have reduced wifi perf when microwave ovens are on.

This article pretty much confirms that Plasma tvs put out a lot of RF interference: http://www.eham.net/articles/4285

Regarding the lesson learned. I have a May 2012 and don't have IR. Don't see dithering or DSE either.

I'm with you there. His post doesn't make a lot of sense. DSE is independent of the source and frequency. But if he's happy, good for him .

It has arrived!

I can only report on MY observations on my experiences on both sets I had. Everything I said was tested and is true. You really think I would make this up? I did not expect switching to 60hz would solve the DSE, but it did. This is confirmed by 2 additional set of eyes, not just mine. Did you try this yourself to see if it works for you? I guess if I had time to waste and cared if you believed me I would create a youtube video to prove it. My first set had DSE no matter the source, and it was terrible!. This new set only has it when using 96hz mode and its not as bad as the first set. This is a big improvement and I am extremely pleased with the new set.

The problem with your observation is that the VT50's DSE is reported to be caused by the filter, and the way it is applied. It's a materials issue. Your previous set could have had some other kind of issue, but if setting your new VT50 to 60 Hz vs 96 Hz alleviates your problem, either it's in your head, or it's not DSE.

I know what DSE is. Can you 100% prove its caused by the filter? Do you know if the filter on the newer sets are different or have been improved. Do you know if Panasonic improved or changed any parts in the newer sets based on findings from owners of the initial sets? Do you work for Panasonic as an engineer? My point is you are just guessing. You are not stating any facts. What I posted is factual for my set. Before writing off what I posted try it on your set if you do have DSE. Prove me wrong with actions not assumptions. I only posted my observations here to possibly help anyone suffering with this issue like I did on my first set. Let me restate my observation. I went from having DSE on my first set, no matter the source, to only having DSE on my second set when using 96hz mode. Changing to 60hz eliminated it.

I agree. He may have had a defective set. DSE has everything to do with the kuro tech within the filter. The VT30 had a huge rate of uniformity and exaggerated DSE due to the manufacturing process of how they coated the glass. It was and I am sure still is, luck of the draw. Sure its possible they have refined the process, but highly doubtful. DSE is a product of filtering. If we all removed our front sheet of glass, none of us would have any DSE.

I see DSE from time to time just as every professional reviewer has noted. But my DSE is very mild when detected at all and I have a May build. And if there is no dithering at all, it's not a plasma. If you can't see any dithering when viewing darker footage from within a cab on Ice Road Truckers, I will eat my words and look into having my panel replaced.


but seriously happy to see he got a better panel.
Edited by TopperMcFly - 8/8/12 at 9:45am

Hey guys - was wondering if someone could help me out with some confusion I am having around settings with my new 55VT50. First off, this is my first plasma and it is simply amazing. Even out of the box I can't believe how great the picture looks, so needless to say I can't wait to break it in and get it calibrated. I also just got the new Panny 220 3D Blu Ray player to go along with it so I can enjoy some 3D movies. My question is, do I need to adjust any of the settings on the 220 player in order to get the best 3D picture possible, or should I leave them alone and just use the THX 3D settings on my VT50? Playing around with it last night I noticed that the 220 player has a setting that allows you to adjust the 3D image to "pop" off the screen more but I dont know if that is damaging the quality of the picture. I am also running 3D viewing in 48Hz mode to eliminate the majority of crosstalk. Any help on this would be great.

I have been using Bluetooth headphones and they have been working great. After some research, ended up with the LG Tone, which I believe are the same ones Topper has been using. Can't beat them for late night viewing.

It's everything I hoped it would be and more. I'll wait until I hit 100 hours of viewing before really getting into calibrating the set but right now I'm beyond the moon. Screen uniformity looks good, 96hz 24p looks splendid with only a tinge of flicker that I could notice (hardly bothersome) and I put in a few test BD's (including Dark Knight) and see zero floating blacks which alone has me ridiculously happy! Back to work for now but it's going to be a long day as I want to come home and play.

Quick question though: Is there some reason I can't enable the pixel orbiter when using the THX cinema setttings?

Hey CHG question for you... I would be using the headphones with the TV volume at 0. I'm assuming they work the same as on other devices where the headphone audible volume is affected by both the device volume (in this case the TV) and the volume control on the headphones themselves. If I have the TV volume set at 0, does it have any affect on the bluetooth headphone volume? This would be in my bedroom so I wouldn't be running through a receiver.

It seems like it wouldn't allow me to turn the volume up on the headphones very loud if the device volume is at 0, but I hope this isn't the case.

If it looks better to you, then run with it. Your perception of what looks best is the only thing that matters. That's why some ppl diverge from a perfect calibration to better suit what their eyes crave.

It is unavailable in THX modes. And remember that the pq will get better and better over the first couple weeks. Enjoy bro

As soon as you connect with the headset, the TV speakers are muted and the TV's volume control becomes your Bluetooth VC. The screen will actually say Bluetooth volume until you disconnect the headset.

I'm going by what several pro calibrators and the Panasonic rep over at HDJ have said. I'm far from interested in having a debate on this. If you want to believe that your panel is the Jesus panel, then by all means, enjoy it!

I don't need a debate or argument either. However, I do take offense to you saying I don't know what I am talking about or I am dreaming what I am seeing. You don't know the first thing about me. If you have not seen my set how can you comment on what I am seeing or not seeing? That is like telling me my car is not the color I think it is even though you have never seen it. How can you make such assumptions without seeing my set?

Ah, perfect - thanks for the info!

It's not worth the argument. Some people around here are just straight up jerks. Take what you can use and leave the rest.
Good luck and enjoy your new TV.

The VT50 at my local best buy is sitting on a very low tv stand...When I stand up and look at the screen I notice a slight change in picture possibly the brightness changes looking down on it...However the picture still looks great!!! My future VT50 will be sitting on a stand thats 3feet high so I'm fairly sure I will not notice any change standing or sitting in my set up.....

My question is on the firmware update...From what I understand it effects the color luminance.
Is their any notable difference on the THX presets after the update....

I know what you mean and sympathize. There is no doubt you got a much better panel thus time around. The confusion lies with what constitutes DSE. I am personally unaware of DSE that I know it as to be caused by anything other than the filter material. With that being said, it would seem hard to imagine frequency of the playback to have any part in making DSE worse or better.

From a scientific standpoint, you either received a superior panel with much better consistency in regards to the application of the filter coating. Which does not support the fact that you see a difference based on frequency of playback.

Or what you believe is DSE is actually something else. But I can't say anything is certain and don't mean to question your report of what sounds like a great sample of a panel.

I am interested in your comments about dithering. If you could humor me, I would love to know what you see in dark backgrounds of lesser quality content. If you still maintain that there is no visible dithering, I will be extremely confused and at a loss.

The filter is louvred like window blinds. Unless you are looking down at the set normally (weird) you will be all set. And I am not picking up any difference with the lum controls left at default. I may detect the slightest bit of over saturation, but if that is the case, I may prefer it.