Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 321

More detailed settings from hometheatre's website

http://www.hometheater.com/content/panasonic-tc-p65vt50-3d-plasma-hdtv-settings

Guys I am on the fence to buy this panel. I know it's great value but I have a question. I have 3 teenagers and this will be our main theater panel with some sports and gaming.My concern is with IR knowing that teens can be forgetful. I need to hear feedback from owners with or without kids if IR ,given my kids, is a real deal breaker. I have no problem buying a LED but this panel is great and I have the perfect dark room for it . Do I have a case here or is there a way around it or are my concerns over blown. Thanks CJK
Edited by cosmo j kramer - 1/25/13 at 5:07pm

If the Panasonic TC-P65VT50 is the panel your talking about, I'd personally wait for the release of the newer ZT60 model which is the 65" model. Unfortunately, I purchased my VT50 back in September on a quick, foolish purchase thinking that my movie room would be completed by October. Boy was I wrong. It won't be finished until March. If I would have known that, I would have waited for the 2013 model to come out.

According to the 2013 tech show in Jan, the newer ZT60 is the way to go. Unfortunately, it won't be released until April or May. A long wait without a TV can be a killer at times especially with many kids in the family. And also, the price tag will be around $4,100.00. A pretty hefty price.

But in my opinion, the VT50 is still the flagship product from Panasonic and there's really not that much difference between the two sets except for the glass framing and the brightness levels. You can't go wrong with either set. I purchased my set for $2,800.00. For my needs, it's good enough. Though this was my first Plasma purchase ever and if I knew how big the delay of my construction would be, I would have waited for the newer ZT60.

I'm sure you'll be very pleased with your purchase and the new coating they put on this set that doesn't produce that much glare in bright light compared to the older Plasma sets out there. Though the 3D viewing isn't as good as a passive 3D TV. There still trying to perfect 3D. Unfortunately, I don't see it catching on anytime soon.

Good luck with your purchase.

Thanks for your reply. The price of the vt50 is all we wish to spend. I would buy it tomorrow but I have real concerns about IR with so many teens in the house. As said, any feedback concerning IR, likely hood with teens? concerns overblown (why)? Does IR diminish after 100hour break in? or just buy a great LED and sleep well at night. Thanks CJK

I have no IR issues what so ever. This panel reminds me of pioneer Kuro when it comes wo IR it's pretty much impossible. My panel only has around 60 hours on it. After I'm done watching TV or gaming I run the break in disc and haven't witness any IR yet. Some do have IR but I guess its a hit or miss with the panel.

Spending extra $1,600 or so on ZT60 compared to VT50 will probably NOT ease your concerns with regards to IR. So, I'd say either get a great LED and not worry about or get VT50 and be careful with it for a while...Doesn't make sense to wait another 3-4-5 months for ZT60 when you really have no idea if it will be better or worse with IR compared to VT50. There's actually no reason to believe it'll be any better (or any worse). I guess the real question is if the teenagers will be using the TV for gaming/browsing or not...

As for picture quality between ZT60 and VT50, we still have no clue...how much better can it get? $1,600? I dunno.

How would the 55" work as a PC monitor?

EDIT: Parents have a 25" CRT with no composite video or audio inputs, time to upgrade! I am thinking the 55" VT50 is the best picture quality available right now within the realm of sane prices. But they are also looking at a new computer and screen (again, using a 17" CRT) which they may not use a whole lot since mom has an iPad. But I was thinking of just hooking up a Mac Mini or something to the new TV, hence the question. Hope the extra background is helpful.
Edited by GrandPixel - 1/25/13 at 5:59pm

I've had my VT for a couple of weeks so i'm not even at 100 hours yet, I've been gaming on my Wii U, watching letterboxed blurays, 4:3 TV shows on DVD and no trace of IR. Picture is so much better than any LED, so hoping OLED will be affordadable when I'm ready for my next TV.

If you vary your programming enough you shouldn't have any issues. I watched some Barrett Jackson footage off the DVR last night and noticed the Fox/Speed logo in the upper right hand corner of the TV this afternoon. I ran the anti-IR for 15 minutes and it went away some, but I suspect it will be mostly gone once we've run some other stuff on the TV tonight and tomorrow.

I've posted several times in this thread and the settings thread regarding IR, specifically mentioning Xbox Minecraft. IR hasn't been an issue, even with three minecraft sessions on the screen at once.

I purchased the 65 inch VT50 from Adoroama because it was such a great deal. The TV finally came in today, I inspected it and found no problems. A few hours when I finally sat down to watch TV it displayed the following error message
'The TV has sensed a problem with its cooling fan and it may automatically shut down. The most likely cause is an accumulation of dust. Please unplug the power and then clean the fan's vent holes with a vacuum. Refer to the Owner's annual for further instructions."

I did as the message said even though there is not a speck of dirt on the TV. However it did not fix the issue! I called Panasonic right away and they said I should call Adoroama and get a new TV, however Adoroama does not return TVs! Curse my luck! I am so disappointed!!!! I then tried to call Panasonic back and they were closed. Any ideas. The TV was made in December 2012.

Call Panasonic back. They should set up service at your house.

I wouldn't recommend it. Have you ever heard of a plasma pc monitor? There's a reason for that.

Thanks! I will call them back tomorrow and hopefully its a quick fix. Now I am really worried that I have a defective model and will continue to face issues. Man I just wish I had bought it at Best Buy or somewhere I can could return it.

I don't think a plasma makes a good monitor for a computer. There are too many fixed images. Short periods of time are probably OK, but a full time computer monitor might get you past IR and into burn-in. The strengths of plasma technology don't make much sense to me for use browsing the web, or for other typical computer activities.

Was your TV open box? If there is a problem with the fans that should be easy to fix. I'm assuming you don't have the TV closed in some kind of home theater furniture.

I'm noticing this same issue quite a bit on my new panel. Has there been any fix or mention of it lately? I'm wondering if I should just put up with it or send it back.

Be careful of the heat from your fireplace.

btw, I see your SRM-007, SR-009's but you must no have your Realiser turned on.

I know you have a nice 2ch speaker system, but if your room is smaller (key word smaller) like mine you may want to take a look at Yamaha YSP 2200 soundbar/sub. However if you want to mount this soundbar right under your VT50 then you would need something like this. Pinpoint AM15 Center Channel Speaker Mount. Should work very well and be centered to your VT50 as long as you centered your VT50 mount using three studs for your mount.

ss

Apparently he's not the only one. Just watched Looper last night and it had the same effect. Maybe lens flare is becoming the new teal!

how long where you watching the program for? where there any commercials?

I just came across an interesting scenario I was actually looking at an old video tape on a VCR and whenever I tried to fast-forward scan my picture would just disappear.
I tested it with another monitor and it's not the VCRs fault what setting might I have to change so that when I'm doing fast-forward on a tape my screen doesn't go blank?

My guess it that has something to do with the signal level dropping when you fast forward not sure there is a setting that would mitigate that.

Upon further testing
Is more an issue with my receiver than with the TV....
Any help here would be appreciated
Edited by billmich - 1/26/13 at 12:52pm

Is there a timer that measures run-time on our sets?

I read reports of people saying they have 100hrs or 300hrs, etc, well I have no clue how many hourse I have on my TV since I bought it new at the end of last year.

Check this site for info... [URL=http://www.**************.com/showthread.php?t=1772#.UMqqrHy9KSM]How to Check The Hours Used on Your Plasma[/URL]

Oops...nvm...send me a pm and I'll get you there. The sight is high def junkies. Eliminate spaces.

My set had 135 hours on it a week ago, and probably has close to 150 hours on it now. But I watched Barrett Jackson for probably 45 minutes and fast forwarded through commercials, so that logo was run for just about the whole time without interruption. BTW, I just checked with the anti-IR and saw zero trace of the logo. Again, variety of programming will help avoid permanent damage (burn-in).

Just bought the 65vt50 from bb. If you insist they will match Abe's of Maine pricing. They did for me and threw in a couple of extra goodies on top. At this price point there's no way I was waiting for the zt50.

Does anyone have a link for the optimal calibration settings for this tv?

I hope this set approaches the quality of my pioneer elite. The new panny is replacing a samy dlp 56 that's over 8 years old.

If you want 65 inches, you won't find a great led for under 5k

So, new 55VT50 owner here obsessing whether or not to run "the slides" and/or Pixel Jogger to help break in my set. Frankly I'm FREAKED about the IR talk and the like, coming from an old 37" Sharp LCD I went plasma this time thinking these issues were resolved and now it seems some say they are and some not. At any rate, I have the slides running right now but I've already set my calibration to the settings in the lengthy review of the set on Amazon. My question is what settings should I run the slides with? Should I just run them in "Standard" or one of the other defaults and THEN plug in the Custom settings after the 100hrs has elapsed?

Thanks folks!

Don't freak out! Just use the set initially with full screen content (no 4:3) and no extended logo time. HBO is a great option for this. Keep the contrast reasonable (THX Cinema works fine for this - not THX Bright Room). You can run slides to put hours on it faster, but regular content is the best in my opinion.

Just enjoy it!