Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 301

had this set for a month now.

really disappointed in the black levels when watching in a dark room.

with ambient light, things are OK, but turn the lights out for that more cinematic experience and blacks are nothing but greys (when watching dark scenes). i might as well be watching an LCD panel.

i'm wondering if i've got a defective unit. everyone has been going on about the fantastic blacks. i've only seen anything close to these when watching in a room with lighting.

does anyone have experience of watching this set in a dark room ? particularly dark scenes. i''ve been watch the new "Les Miserable" blu-ray and during the dark scenes, the top and bottom bars look very grey - along with the black level inside the frame.

this wasn't the experience i was expecting with this set. especially after all the reviews.

i'm on THX Cinema mode and this set hasn't been calibrated.

would appreciate any experiences so i have an idea if i've got a bad unit. thanks.
Edited by AndyM - 1/8/13 at 5:53pm

have you tried some of the custom mode settings that others have posted in the VT50 settings thread?

^^^^^ Not sure how to answer AndyM's post without sounding like a fanboy. I just watched The Bourne Legacy on my P65VT50 (rental blu-ray). I'm using custom mode settings that I borrowed from wmwilker and put in my ISFccc Night mode. I continue to be impressed with the contrast on this panel, and the blacks look anything but grey to me.

Now, given a perfectly black room and THX Cinema as your settings, you probably will see the panel slightly "lit" if that makes sense. After all, the panel has energy and unless you calibrate it for the light levels in your room you will see that slight "glow" that you are talking about. You need to at least use a calibration disc like WOW to at a minimum calibrate Brightness and Contrast for your room lighting. If you do that and still don't like what you see, try adding just a little light to the room (which you already described). If that's stll not doing it for you, maybe this set is not for you, but I guarantee you for the money, this is your best bet right now.

I don't think you have a defective set by the way, not by your description.

Just curious, what is your brightness setting at? If I recall on mine, I had to dial it down 4 notches for my environment even in THX.

In dark scenes you're not going to get perfect black and like scirica said, there will be a 'glow'. In bright scenes do the bars blend in with your bezel or are they still very visible?

Have you considered adding a backlight? It is a way of improving the perceived black level.

Note that he's in the UK, so he likely has the European version of the set.

IIRC, this means he has a choice of better black levels or a bright picture, but not both, because some features are only available in the "Pro" modes, and some are only available in the built-in modes.

One other thing I have noticed is that although black is black on the US version, almost black displays correctly...as "almost black". So, unless the source really has true blacks, it could be that the display is showing what is really there. I noticed this a lot in the season 1 Blu-Rays of Person of Interest, where the gaps for commercial breaks were quick fades to/from true black. You could really see the part of the transition that wasn't black.

Could someone please list the main drawbacks of the VT50?

So far I have read low light output during day, 1080p 24hz jitter problems, fan noise and 3d crosstalk.
I am sorry to ask a question that probably has been asked over and over but 300 pages is a bit to much to read thru :P

I currently have a european 64E8000 that seems ok (the european version has forced NR)
And I am fired up when it comes to the option to auto calibrate the VT50 with Calman

Make sure your hdmi rgb 16-255 etc is set correctly.

Which would be?

It depends on the source, although 99.99% of the time, you want the limited (16-240) setup. PCs are the most likely device that would use fullrange (0-255).

But, if the RGB range isn't flagged correctly on the output, the TV will think black is one value, while the device thinks it's another. This can lead to blacks displaying as grey with dull whites (flagged as fullrange when it's really limited), or greys displaying as black and "ultra" whites (flagged as limited when it's really fullrange).

Any answers or comments to this post would be great. I'm in the same boat with the same requirements for the most part.

If you are viewing in very low or no room light scenarios, have you guys tried some sort of temporary back light just to see if that helps reduce your eyestrain while viewing in the dark? A small lamp centered in back or perhaps a couple candles. Also, have you done any sort of calibration to your panels yet, especially one more suited for low or no ambient light viewing? If you've upgraded from a smaller size, and you have the panel set to a default sizzling-bright output, relatively speaking, this extreme brightness in a darkened room might be triggering your discomfort.
Edited by CruelInventions - 1/8/13 at 9:38pm

I think it was in this thread maybe, 2 or 3 weeks back, where someone from the UK had a similar issue. There were several posts discussing the issue and some headway was made, I think.

Yes of-course back lighting will reduce eye strain, I use a 56K 15 watt bulb behind and to the top of my VT50. However and the reason for my reply is that a back light behind the VT50 can show through to the screen causing a lighter area on the screen.

All of my calibrated settings are made to reduce eye strain, but not at the cost of color pop, black level, contrast or depth. iow a viewer can view hours of HQ Blu Ray disc's and never get eye stain, but still seeing as close as the VT50 can do, what is intended to see on the HQ Blu Ray disc.

These settings are made for a range of lighted viewing, from no light to medium lighting.

ss
Edited by sillysally - 1/9/13 at 9:42am

Quick viera link dnla question( which I know everyone here says is a bad interface)

Sending pictures to my TV via my iPhone, I can rotate the pictures around using my remote
Videos I send always seem to be sideways with no way to adjust (that I know of)
Any help here

Or does anyone know how to edit a video in my iPhone an rotate and then I save it so it correct
Thanks in advance
Bill

Just became a proud 55VT50 owner last night and, after getting everything set up and plugged in, I turned it on, set it to THX Cinema and all my wife and I can say is "WOW". I can't believe how big of a different it is vs. my old Samsung 40" LCD! We watched parts of "Green Lantern" and "Puss in Boots" last night (neither of which I really wanted to see before) and were just blown away. The color is so much better and the PQ in general is like night and day. I can't wait to fire up the 3D (once I can find the glasses). Best part is I told my wife what she need to be careful of for the first 100 hours (since she'll be home more than I will this week), and she actually asked me later if it was OK to watch "Private Practice" with the ABC logo.

On a related note, are there any channels (aside from the obvious ones like ESPN, CNN, etc. that have tickers) that we should avoid watching for extended periods for the first 100 hours or so? I know that letterbox movies and 4:3 programming needs to be stretched to full screen and that HBO is the best channel because they don't have logos at all, but I'd read elsewhere that Cartoon Network and other channels that have very bright, solid logos can cause IR issues early on. I want to make sure to be relatively careful for the first within reason (there will be football watched this weekend!).

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone on this board, as reading through the posts here really helped me decide on what to buy and how best to get it set up. And thank you ahead of time for answering what I'm pretty sure will be very basic questions (like the one above) once I get ready to adjust the settings and make the picture even better!

Do you have any Best Buy's near you? Sears has the Panny 3D glassses on sale now for $29.97. The regular price is $79.99. If Sears doesn't have them in stock(they usually don't) Best buy will match Sears prices. I picked up four pairs yesterday.

http://www.sears.com/panasonic-ty-er3d4mu-3d-active-shutter-glasses/p-05726893000P?prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5&sid=I0084400010000100600&PID=4003003&aff=Y

I went yesterday to my local one. They were out and couldn't even order them. I'm going to try a couple other ones as well as Paul's this week.

Just wanted to be sure... you can only use four pairs of the glasses with the VT50, correct? That's the greatest number of bluetooth connections that can be made (as one is reserved for the small remote that comes with the VT50.)

I need to re-check the user manual I was reading yesterday, so don't quote me on this, but I thought the glasses were an exception to the limited number of connections. I'll check again when I get home later.

I hope so and I'll have to check as well b/c I bought 6 pairs. Never even crossed my mind there might be a limit.

Agreed! 4 is a pretty small watch party!

Well my 65 was delivered today, all I can say is wow! The PQ is awesome. THX Cinema w/ minor adjustments. I have an appointment w/ D-Nice at the end of the month for a calibration. I can't believe it will get better than this. Gonna try some 3D tonight. Extremely satisfied.

Congrats! What display did you have prior? For some this is a ten-fold increase, for others only incremental. I'm loving mine (200 hours on the display so far, calibration on Friday-Jeff Meier).

According to the user manual bluetooth specifications:

"Up to 5 devices can be used simultaneously (except the Touch Pad Controller and the 3D eyewear)". My interpretation on that is that the eyewear is not limited.

Yes!! Good thinking bro. Wife aggro here gauged at 0% so far. Hope the 55vt50 delivering on Friday has no issues. I don't want to go through what I did with the es8000.

I did not get any type of extended warranty yet. I want to see if this is a keeper or not. Where do you recommend getting an extended warranty from? I purchased this TV from paulsTV.

Your in good hands, shagz. You will be blown away by the picture quality over the ES8000 you had before it.

It's funny we hear people say that the Samsung picture is more detailed...But then they get a VT50 and are blown away by the overall picture quality.

Newest Owner.

BB matched the Paul's TV price and backed out the tax. I also got them to PM Sears, so I picked up 2 sets of glasses (all they had in the store )

Started with a Panny 58" 720p. Had it for four years. Three weeks ago bought a Sharp 70" 2D. PQ was okay. Bad off axis viewing and a little big for my space. Traded it for a Sammy 60ES7500. Impulse buy. Great PQ and 3D, but light bleed /banding and a little too small. I sound like Goldie locks....

Anyway the VT50 is perfect in every way. I was expecting a lot and it delivered.

Let us know how it looks after the calibration.

Congrats! Get ready for wow!