Official Panasonic VT50 owners thread - Page 327

if you have overscan off by putting it on Full and Size 2 you will sometimes see things on channels they didn't intend you to see since they were assuming some overscan. Could this be the type of thing you are seeing?

It absolutely is in my case. If I set it on Size 1 its not there. But it really doesn't bother me enough to make the change every time I watch that channel. I really don't even notice it any more.

i need some hookup advice for all this new stuff i got.

directv genie
oppo bdp-103
denon avr-4520
panny 55vt50

about which:

props to directv for understanding the words "customer retention".
props to oppo for shipping the same day i ordered and saving me the tax that amazon was going to charge.
props to paul's tv for getting me the best price (by far) on the panny.
props to mike at av science for getting me a great price on the denon (and, especially, for taking care of me when the first one arrived doa).
and finally, props to this community for all the information you provide -- that i have all of this stuff is because of this forum.

so, hookup? i've got it all working, just want to know the best way to run the cables to get the best video quality i can out of this setup. i'm good on sound. right now my sources are all running to the receiver via hdmi and the denon is set to pass through for the oppo. but,

should i run the hdmi cables directly from my sources to the tv? i'll have to run a digital links from the directv receiver/oppo to the denon for sound, if so.

some people are running their cable/sat through the oppo to take advantage of the oppo's upconversion capabilities. how the heck do i do that? do i want to do that? does that mean i have to turn on the oppo every time i want to watch tv?

some people are running two hdmi cables out of their oppo's, one for sound, one for video. i couldn't make that work, whether i need it or not. do i want to do that?

i am confused about the denon's pass through video capability. i think i want the oppo's video signal to be passed through because its video capability is better than the denon, but not the directv signal, because the denon's video is better than the directv receiver. is that right?

any particular settings i need to know about in any of this stuff? the picture is generally stunning. i noticed, however, that the panny was having a rough time resolving the very fine black and yellow pattern on a tennis player's outfit while watching the australian open the other day. it's like it couldn't make up its mind how it wanted to present the information leading to a strange (and very distracting) flashing over the pattern, back and forth, and it never could figure it out. is that something that i can fix with an adjustment?

my sincere thanks if you choose to provide me with anything more than you already have.

Absolutely, that is essentially the point of Size 1, to display cable shows without edge irregularities but cutting them off. After a few minutes I didn't even notice anymore either.

It was just a bit alarming at first as the first thing I thought was "oh no, stuck pixel on white!"

Well unfortunately I am using the latest firmware update 1.170.

What software was he using and how did he try and connect to your VT50?
What mode was he trying to set.?
Did he at-least calibrate custom mode.?
Was he able to set your Gamut/CMS in the mode he couldn't set the Gamma/Grayscale.?
Did he still charge you for the calibration.?

ss

If I remember reading correctly, it was the calibration software that needs updating due to changes Panasonic made in the TV.

If you want to know what he used google Coast Calibration and yes he did at least set my custom mode and he did charge me. He also told me he would come back if he found out any other info.

Well the tech told me that he calibrated a VT50 yesterday with no problems. So I'm not sure if its his software or my panel. My panel was just built in Nov of 2012.

Did anyone have problems setting up the wireless connection?

I received my 65VT50 this week. When completing the initial setup, I wasn't able to set up the wireless connection at all. The TV initially found my network (and also my next-door neighbor's), but could not complete the connection after trying for a good 3 minutes. I double-checked the password and encryption type, and everything seemed to be fine.

And now the TV can't even seem to detect any wireless networks!

Any ideas what the problem might be?

Thanks.

6 windows VT performs flawless

Sports has shown me just how much TV networks rely on overscan.

As they change cameras, you can see that the graphic overlays aren't in the same spot on each camera...sometimes 4 or more pixels off. Sometimes, it's the graphics that move, and sometimes it's the underlying camera shot. Likewise, graphics don't always extend to the edge of the screen, allowing you to see around the edge. It's almost as if those covering all the pixels costs extra money, so they don't do it.

But seriously, I can't understand how this can happen in today's digital world, where 1920x1080 pixel camera outputs are fed into a digital mixer and graphics are added to create the final output. How can the output of a digital camera be "off" by even a single pixel, unless you intentionally adjust it to be that way?

I had such a issue with the wireless? That I solved the problem by running an Ethernet cable
Then again, I know that's not a realistic solution for some
It just got tired of fiddling with it, and I'm not taking it off the wall and tearing apart my a/v system just for that...

I was emailed this report from the Calibrator as well.. As I understand it, 10pt controls were not functioning normally in ISFccc, they were in Custom... This Calibrator has done several VT50's (another -2) and in fact did one the next day without issues (as you posted as well).

In the distance past, when there is an issue in ISFccc, Custom also has problems so this is the first time for a report like this for me.

I will also followup via telephone with the Calibrator.

Apologies if this has been covered

I have the viera remote set up on my iPad. It works well but I can't figure out how to pull tv down to the iPad. I can push from iPad to tv just fine. Is this feature not available in the us?

Hey guys, checking in again. So I finished the slide prep on my second VT50 (returned the first under the Best Buy 30 day policy due to the dead pixel). I didn't notice this at first, but I have one weird pixel, but it's not dead this time. It almost resembles a "weak" spot on a light grey background or non-red color slide. However, it can "spaz" out and start flashing red as well.

Unlike the dead pixel though which I could actually pick out from 8 feet away, I can't pick this one out unless I'm close up. Does anybody know what is causing this and can I do anything to salvage or save the pixel? Will this pixel likely be dead in a few months?

It's in a worse spot than the original pixel, but I can't really tell it at the moment like I said. I just don't know whether or not to risk the replacement AGAIN and wait on a 3rd set to arrive.

I believe I've also noticed the screen occasionally go black (like for a second) on our cable feed when watching a movie or show. Is this normal or indicative of a faulty set? Sheesh, who knew buying a TV could be such fun!\

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hey everyone. I know this has been beaten to death, but does the VT50 have less IR than Panasonic's cheaper models?

I really like the image quality of the Panasonic so I might get one either way. Thank you for your help.

I browse the ut, st, gt and vt forums pretty regularly and I haven't noticed any model being worse than any other for ir.

Oh ok, I was under the impression that it was worse on the gt50 and st50.

Basically I want to be able to watch blu-ray and some television with logos without image retention. I almost never play video games but I do watch a lot of blu-rays and television. Would this tv work for me?

Thanks again for all your help.

Also, I'm coming from a very nice Samsung A850 lcd that has completely died unfortunately. How much of a image quality jump do you think this is? Thanks.
Edited by ipodchicken - 1/31/13 at 4:59pm

This TV will work wonderfully for you.

Yes. This tv will work fine for you. Be careful of logos for a long continuous time for the first 100 hrs or so just to be safe.

What settings are you using? Did you have it calibrate professionally?

Thnaks

I don't have IR issues on my VT but I did heavy the ST which did have slight IR issue. It went away pretty fast though.

Using tweaked custom settings.

Considering what you have, I would recommend HDMI straight to the VT50 from the Oppo and Genie, especially if you have your audio needs covered by the Denon Receiver. Sure, the Oppo has upconvert capabilities (it has an HDMI input as well as 2 HDMI outputs, thus go Genie>Oppo>TV) which may be a benefit to upconverting sub-1080 resolution broadcasts but so does the VT50. Considering you'd use the same number of HDMI cables (2), going either route, I'd try either option and see what looks best to your eyes.

The only negative thing to look for initially would be audio sync issues with the video.

I've tried 720p/1080i out of my Linksys DMA2100 Windows Media Center Extender (from my home HTPC) both ways: (a) direct to my 65VT50 where it gets upconverted to 1080p for display by the set, and (b) routed through external input to my 103 where upconversion to 1080p takes place for delivery as 1080p to the 65VT50. Actually the HDMI-1 output of the Oppo is going through my Yamaha RX-V867 (with no processing there) and delivered to both my HDTV's: (a) 65VT50, and (b) Sony 34XBR60. I don't really watch both simultaneously but this gives me the flexibility to watch on either HDTV as the mood hits me.

In my opinion, the Oppo does a visibly superior job of upconverting to 1080p when viewing on the Panny. Picture on the 65VT50 is definitely better that way, than direct from DMA2100 to the 65VT50. And this is also re-confirmed by a much "punchier" 1080i image delivered to the XBR960 when I watch on it. Even when no upconversion is required (i.e. 1080i source HDTV program), the 1080i presentation on my 960 is absolutely "better" than without the QDEO/HDMI-1 processing from the Oppo. I noticed it right away on the 960, with the picture seemingly brighter, sharper, cleaner, better color, superior contrast, etc. Not huge of course, but to my eyes given a choice going HDMI from source through the Oppo DEFINITELY produces better image results than straight source to HDTV, both at 1080i on the 960 and at 1080p on the Panny.

This indeed is a real problem with the BDP-103 on its HDMI input. The artifact is absolutely coming from the 103 because of using HDMI input, and not from any lip-sync introduced by routing sound through the AVR and video out of the AVR to the HDTV.

It is a known problem (and really a serious one in my mind) with the 103, and is only (for me) present when using HDMI input and when sending both audio+video out over HDMI-1 (to the AVR and then from there out to HDTV and speakers). There will be no lip-sync initially, but over time the lip-sync symptom increases from zero to significantly non-zero. For me the "solution" (which is just a temporary workaround) is to STOP the source playback momentarily, and then RESUME it. Once again, lip-sync is almost always now back to zero again... for a while anyway. But it will once again build up to very non-zero. This is very annoying, but Oppo is aware of it and hopefully will eventually fix it in some upcoming firmware release.

In contrast, if you use "A/V Split" and send video-only out HDMI-1 and audio-only out HDMI-2 (to an external audio system), and both HDMI-1 and HDMI-2 are active and in use, then there is no lip-sync at all. Works perfectly. The problem appears only if you power-off the device connected to HDMI-2 so that "A/V Split" senses that and moves the audio back over to HDMI-1 for delivery along with the video to the AVR and speakers (from the AVR), well now the lip-sync problem reappears.

It's not coming from the AVR, I'm certain, which is not even doing any decoding as audio is being delivered as LPCM. the problem is clearly coming from the 103 as it is not present when HDMI-2 is active and in use for audio-only, but only "starts at zero and grows worse over time" when HDMI-2 is inactive and audio+video is delivered via HDMI-1 to the AVR.

Nevertheless, overall I prefer the picture improvements running HDMI external source through the 103, as well as the "A/V Split" which delivers audio-only LPCM on HDMI-2 (from both external HDMI input as well as BluRay discs) to my external headphone system when I want to use it. I'm sure Oppo will fix this lip-sync problem eventually, but for now it does exist and must be "tolerated" and "worked around", if you feed audio+video from external HDMI input out over HDMI-1.

I suggest looking into Netgear power line adapters... I have had issues with wi-fi & cell reception in my home (tech shield insulation & multiple walls) and bleed over from neighbor's wi-fi.
For 0 loss data streaming, security and dependability, simply plug in remote adapter to an electrical outlet and run a short ethernet cable...FWIW sitching to Verizon solved all cell issues.

I recently purchased the Samsung ES7100, but I can see motion blur on the grass during soccer/football games from an SD feed (streamed from Xbox). Has anyone found the Panasonic deals with this better?

Yes that is why I asked about custom mode also, I have never heard of this type of problem. Yes sometimes folks have a hard time accessing ISF modes, but that is because they just don't know how to use the software in the manner that is needed to be used to access the VT50's ISF modes.

ss

I have been following this thread for a few months now, with the thought of buying a VT-50 series TV. Having read so many comment with people having to many problems to mention, are any of you owners sorry you bought this TV. I ask because we are approaching 10K comments, and most are redundant with the same issues, to numerous to mention.

Are any owners sorry they bought this product. I know I am having second thoughts. Did the CNET top rating of this TV influence you to purchase it.

I am having a hard time rationalizing why I should buy this TV after following this thread for over two months. I actually stopped reading this thread for a month, came back and people are still buying these sets and then coming here for help. How do I do this, how do I do that, this is not working, I am on my third set, Internet problems, dead pixels, break in time, calibration.

Sure there are always going to be problems with any thing you buy, but right out of the box you have to come here to set it up.
I am not here to try to burn Panasonic, I am trying to understand if this is what is to be expected from a top rated TV, if so, perhaps for me anyway, a TV I can take out of the box plug it in, make my basic adjustment and enjoy it should be the main focus of my purchase. It has nothing to do with money, I don't want to have to come here all the time and add to the list of problems people are trying to solve with their new TV.

Any opinions regarding a different TV in the 55" range would be most welcome. Does not have to be Panasonic or even plasma. I can also do without wifi and 3D.

On a final note, I didn't mean to rant, but reading this thread has overwhelmed me regarding the VT-50 series Panasonic TV....