Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 28

Turn contrast to 50

Thank you. And I might add that I have switched Motion Smoother to Off for BR play as I noticed a bit too much artifacting. I have also found that contrast seems to be fine anywhere between 80-100. Big range, I know. This setting will vary the most based on personal pref.

MrBeer, who are you getting it from. FS, BB, VIS, LD?

Thanks

What did you use to come up with your numbers?

I'm waiting until after this weekend's Shootout before deciding whether or not to upgrade from my VT30...I remember some defects were discovered during last year's Shootout prep (Sharp Elite's cyan issue), so am waiting to see if anything is discovered this year at the last minute while undergoing the rigorous testing and calibrating

Elevation comes up a lot in buzzing topics but it is irrelevant. Panasonic plasmas have been rated up to 9,200 feet for years and is not a factor when someone has a buzzer.

Simple eyeball after Disney WOW advanced cal.

A quite crude means of calibration but the PQ is quite amazing. Not sure how it could get much better even with a pro cal. Skin tones are much more natural than the VT30 ever was and the blacks are superb right at +54 on the brightness.

Colors are not overly saturated and look quite accurate to my eye.

I watched Warhorse yesterday and the blacks blended with the bezel just like my 5020 did. Regardless of what a meter tells us, I see zero difference in black level performance between the VT50 and and the 5020 e-lite. The pop this set has is sick and the asthetics are smooth like butter.

My history of sets are as follows.

Kuro 5020 E-lite which kicked my samsung LN52 out of the house
65VT30
D7000

The VT50 gives me the warm and fuzzies as an overall package more than any of the above by far.

The only thing that bothered me was the artifacting with Motion Smoother on in any way. Once I turned that off, I was content with the PQ and for me that is saying a hell of a lot. I am known as captain OCD at home.

This is what I imagine would happen if my display where set remotely anywhere near those contrast ranges.



Rather surprised it has not already occurred for you, yet. ;}
Best Regards
KvE

When you say motion smoother are you referring to the 3D cinema smoother?

I post this so often it's almost like spam, but just another reminder to the new VT50 owners out there: you can very easily calibrate brightness, contrast, color and tint for free using the downloadable/burnable AVS HD709 patterns disc. No equipment is required (or even necessary) for these settings, except color and tint need the use of a blue filter... unless the VT50 menus have a "blue only mode"- can anyone confirm if it has one?

I hear you man, but.....

If you read my post fully you would have learned that my burn in occurred using D-Nice settings to include break in followed to a T.
I also said that contrast was a personal pref, although 100 prolly is a bit obnoxious. I have mine now dialed down to 80 with all other posted settings staying the same. I like contrast high and my VT50 shows no hint of IR like my 30 did in the same amount of time. The point is that the VT50 seems far less prone to it than the vt50.

PS I have my gamma set to 2.4 and panel brightness set to mid and AGC to 0.

Updated precal settings:

Custom mode
Contrast +80 " be carefull here in the first 100 hours and static images"
Brightness +54
Tint 0
Color +50
Sharpness +50 "yes I like sharpness, call me crazy"
Warm 1
Cats off
VNR off
Block NR off
Mosquito off
Motion smoother Weak or off
Black level light

Pro settings:
Panel brightness Mid
AGC 0
Gamma 2.4

Rest is default


I use HD size 1 for satellite viewing because I greatly prefer it to seeing the crap at the top of the screen on most channels. I go to Size 2 for critical viewing.

These work for me but everyone is different. Also be careful to stay out of the menu playing with settings for too long. My vt30 had the word "Menu" BURNT into it by day three of me screwing around tweaking with contrast at 50.

No hint of IR on the new set

Is it normal for the screen to have a very small "black boarder" around the entire image before hitting the bezel. I have tried changing all the overscan settings I can think over and it still shows up (even on initial setup).

Not quite what I am talking about. Without the 95% over scan you can get a portion of garbage data at the top of the screen that consists of white lines and such.

Overscan resolves this issue fully when viewing sat or cable content but is not needed for true or quality HD content ie... BR material.

What I am seeing is clearly not overscan (I have seen the garbage info on my projector) but is present on my new VT50 set. I read on another forum (AVforum) that this is normal for all Panasonic plasmas. However, I wanted those AVSers to chime in.

TopperMcFly, I may take a look at how your numbers look on my set tonight. I ended up setting the gamma to 2.6 (which probably accounts for my brightness being higher), but didn't think 2.4 looked bad at all.

You do realize that the higher you set the sharpness the more detail you loose.

Any one know what the 1080p pure direct mode (4:4:4) do?

You couldn't be more correct. 0 is where sharpness needs to be on these sets. Any pattern will tell you that it's unnecessary. The complete 2012 line is perfect at 0.

Has the issue with the ISF modes been resolved?

I am confirmed for my EPP delivery at 12 noon tamale. Bummer that it's also Diablo 3 release day =)

The issue with the isf modes is with the Calman software. They are currently working on a fix. Isf modes can be properly calibrated with ControlCal.

In other words, it's not a problem with the TV.

This observation isn't pointed at you personally, but it comes up so often I've just got to point it out. There are vast numbers of folks who have posted the exact same feeling about profession calibration.

On the other hand, I've collected links to a lot of owner's reports about their professional calibrations. (See the link in the signature area at the bottom of my post.) None of the folks who wrote those reports have then made the observation that they didn't see much difference in the results. Some of those owners, writing about their professional calibration, have pointed out that pre-calibration they believed what you stated in the quote above.

Almost all the calibrations reported were done by professionals who are active here at AVS. Maybe that's a select group. I like to think so.

I know for sure that a professional calibration isn't something that everyone would get extra value from. You seem very happy with your results, even your unique take on contrast.

Enjoy.

I hear what you are saying. But I can point to several posts where people feel that their picture looked very dull and drap after a pro Cal and felt like they wasted their money and some can't say enough good things. The fact is that there are a ton of people that do not like a calibrated look. They like pop and somewhat over saturated colors. This does not make one person right or wrong. It just means different strokes for different folks.
I am not the only person that feels this way or felt like cinema mode on most sets look like dirt was thrown on the screen. Although I find cinema mode onthe vt50 has more pop than any past plasma I have owned.

I always use D-Nice settings but I always end up jacking up a couple settings because I prefer pop to accuracy. I will never turn someone away from a pro Cal but I will always warn them on what to expect.
I will be the first person to admit that my contrast numbers are high. That is why I stress that the contrast number is the one that may need to be dialed down for personal pref. I stand behind the rest of my numbers though in terms of what is pleasing to my eye and I think others will like them as well.

Regarding sharpness, I will accept what the pros here are saying and I will revisit that aspect. But I can't help but feel the pic goes a hair fuzzy with it at 0. I will take a hard look at that. I really appreciate the input from everyone. I am like the majority here that are just armchair DIY calibrators that just like to share experiences to hopefully learn a few things that may help each other out.

Just my .02 cents but hell u spend 4k on a tv then damn money for a calibration OR 3D glasses should NOT be an issue!!

Why cheap out now?!?!??!

I can give you an explanation that has been true with other displays in the past. If I had more information about your screen it would help. How wide is this black strip around the outside edges of your screen?

Here is my guess, for what it's worth. There is a space that's maybe 1/8th to 1/4" wide, maybe a little wider, between the bezel and the image that you see, where there are no pixels. It might even be intentional to be sure that the bezel never blocks the view, no mater how wide the viewing angle, of any part of the image. It makes sense to me that, with an array that's 1920 by 1080, there would be some margin for error between that pixel array and the bezel.

There are test patterns you can use to measure over scan. Get one of those patterns on your screen, and set your display to the equivalent of Dot by Dot (zero over scan). If I'm right, you will see the entire test pattern.

If your black boarder is bigger than my guess, file this suggestion in the appropriate container.

Nice, but man, you have GOT TO hide those cables