The Official Panasonic U50/54 Owners' Thread - Page 5

Picked up a pu54 at Costco a few weeks ago, and while the picture has been great, I've noticed it buzzing a lot more lately. It seems like its gotten louder lately, and is loudest with a full white picture. I can hear it pretty easily sitting on my couch ~10-12 feet away. Is this level of buzz normal for the tv (i heard all plasmas have a buzz), or is mine a lemon?

Might be a lemon but I've been able to hear both the Plasmas I've owned on an all white screen.

Plasma buzzing is normal, all 4 plasmas I've owned do so, but you should only be hearing it, if at all, from within 3-4 ft. If you're hearing it from 10+ ft away then you should definitely get it exchanged. The buzzing is typically related to the power draw which is highest on a bright/white screen. It also seems to vary from set to set so an exchange might be the ticket.

Having said that, at least from my own experience, the 2012 Pannys appear worse in this regard than previous years. My 60GT50 buzzes so bad on white/bright scenes than I can hear it from 15 ft away. I exchanged it and sadly my replacement 60GT50 was even worse, if you can believe it.

My second GT50 is going back next week but this time not for an exchange as I don't have the time to keep exchanging in the hopes that I'll luck out. I'm going to wait it out for a few months to see what Sony and Sharp bring out on the high-end (Sharp 945 series and Sony's next XBR) before trying my luck again. I'm a plasma guy through and through but I just can't deal with the buzzing. It's a shame that Panasonic hasn't been able to get a handle on this issue, at least insulate it enough so it doesn't sound like a fridge compressor.

So has anyone else experienced this or heard of it? It's done it one more time and the conditions seem completely random. I hate to return the TV if this is just something that happens as I already have it broken in and have experienced no IR or burn-in (so this seems to be a good panel),

Thanks.

My U50 doesn't shut off randomly, maybe check the timer function and in the setup menu check the eco settings.

That's the thing, it doesn't shut off...the screen just goes black. I can still access menus from the TV remote but nothing from the cable remote. Same cable box and HDMI cable I used with my last TV and have never had this problem before.

I have a similar problem with my other Panasonic plasma, turned out to be a loose hdmi port. There's a reset to defaults in the setup menu, not sure if that will help anything though.

Lag is nice.

I just returned a Toshiba 47" LCD 46L5200U, and that one had noticeable input lag... just navigating around the menus on my Xbox 360 had an annoyance factor. The U50 is instant response. Haven't played any games on it yet.

My previous TV was a Samsung HL-T5087SAX LED DLP. I apologize, I'm not sure what "native pass-thru" is but I went into the service menu on my stb and these were the only settings:

User Settings
TV Type: 16:9
HDMI/YPbPr Output: 1080i
4:3 Override: 480i
Additional HDMI Settings:
Thanks

I had a panny tc-p50s30 (2011) and the buzzing was non existent for a while. Then all of a sudden you could hear this buzzing like crazy from 10-15 ft away. I called Panasonic and they referred me to the technicians for my area. I set up an appointment for the tech to come to my house. He came had a look at it, removed a panel from the back and replaced it with a new one, and the buzzing stopped completely. Id rather call the tech to come out to the house rather than keep exchanging, that way he is there and can listen to the "before and after" fix.
BTW the tv was still under warranty so it was a free fix.

Guys/gals I have read so many threads that my head is spinning. Here's my situation: I bought the U54 at Costco at the end of May. I like the display but the glare is ridiculous. I previously had a 42PX60U and I loved it. I just sat back an laughed at all the people spending huge bucks to have "FULL HD" back in the day. I finally decided I needed a bigger TV and could not believe my eyes when I saw the U54 on the shelf. I really don't care for 3D, though it would be nice if it had it. But the glossy screen is killing me.
I have read conflicting reports that the "louver" filter on the ST50 is really effective at all. My 60U did a fantastic job of gutting glare. I simply didn't even notice the glare before. My TV is positioned in such a way that I can see it from the living room and the kitchen area. From the kitchen area, I get a full reflection of the front window. The glare completely obscures the image.
How does the louver filter on the 2012 ST50 compare to the anti-glare coating than a 2006 PX60U? It better be good to justify a 505 increase in the U54s purchase price (discounting the 3D and all the smart TV BS).

I just purchased a U54 from Costco. I was deciding bewtween the Samsung E530 and the Panasonic. After reading for a few days on these boards and other places it seemed that it was kind of a no lose situation. Both sounded really good. Ultimately I decided on the Panasonic just becuase the Sammy doesn't include their Cinema Smooth technology on the 530. The Panasonic documentation was written pretty vaguely concerning inclusion of 24 frame support for the U50 but I figured a chance to get it is better than not getting it for sure with the Sammy.

ANYWAY.... now on to my request for help to those more knowledgeable than I on this board. I hooked up the TV last night to my PS3 and watched some of Transformers and then watched all of the new Sherlock Holmes movie. BOth looked fantastic compared to the 32" Toshiba LCD I'm used to watching. Very happy with it. HOWEVER. When I try to watch AMazon instant videos I get no sound. I tried Netflix and that worked ok. Obviously Blue Ray discs work ok. I then put in Skyrim and tried to play the game (It looked BEAUTIFUL when compared to my TOshiba). But I have the same problem with no sound.!!...? ANy ideas on how to fix this issue or what might be causing it?


Also, secondarily, I noticed that there is no game mode on the U54/U50.. Disappointing and unexpected.

Finally, Per some notes I saw in this or the UT50 thread I dropped my contast to 65 and my brightness to around 50 to help break in the TV. Do I need to do anything else?



Thanks for any help,

aaaaahhh!
thank you very much.

I guess then, since I use the PS3 as both a BD player and for gaming, I will have to manually change it over to gaming mode each time I want to play a game...... would be nice if there were a dedicated/automatic way to do it. (But I guess it would be nice to be 6'5" and be the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys too....)


Thanks for the help. I'll try it out when I get home. I'm interested if I can see any differenct when playing Skyrim.


Still loving the TV. Great picture and no buzz or other issues so far.

So what exactly does game mode do?

The idea of it is to reduce input lag by disabling digital processing of the image.

The game picture mode on Panasonic plasma's is just that a picture mode. When set to this picture mode the tv DOES NOT disable any kind of processing. However ,this is not a bad thing as Plasma tech naturally has a much faster reponse time than even the fastest LCD/LED tv's and thus they always have a non-noticeable amount input lag. So a "true" game mode isn't really needed to begin with on plasma tv's.
Edited by vigp17 - 7/12/12 at 11:49pm

How is the U50/54 when it comes to IR? I've been reading that the new Panny's (ST50, etc) are pretty prone to bad IR very quickly. Just wondering if thats the same with the U series? A lot of people are saying station logo's etc are really bad on the new Panny's. This is the one thing that really bugs me with my 2010 Sammy (terrible IR).

Thanks,

-Guru

My U50 gets IR, the stuff that is stuck on the screen I only see when using solid colored slides though.

Hello all!
I am new to this forum and a first time Plasma TV owner.
We purchased the TC P50U50 about 3 weeks ago at S---- on sale for $699.
My husband wanted Plasma for football and I had been researching this model after seeing it
In B--- B-- and loving the picture quality. Just got the HD Upgrade through Dish last week.
We are still learning the features. We discovered the brightness fluctuation the day after the upgrade and I panicked but thanks to this forum I found out about turning the C.A.T.S. off!
Possibly the Dish Tech changed the setting. I had been bothered by a grainy/textured appearance up close in the Standard Picture Mode. I was afraid there was a problem with the TV. The manual is very basic and doesnt really explain the modes and their uses. We are enjoying Cinema mode right now! "LeftyGuitar" was kind enough to answer my post and tell me that was normal and invite me to this owners forum. So, for now I am reading your threads and learning about the TV. Thank you all for your kind assistance!

So far we love this model. The picture quality seems at least as good as other higher priced Panasonic Plasma models and better than many other brands and models costing much more.

I returned a U54 after Panasonic chat support AND phone support claimed the U54 didn't actually have Game Mode, it just had and input label for Game. Other Panasonic TVs let you select "Game" as one of the display types to enable it. People on the phone and chat both claimed they were checking internal documentation on Panasonic.NET for their info.

Personally I saw no display differences swapping the input label around, which is what prompted my chat and call.

Also I returned the TV not because it possibly didn't have game mode, it was more because the phone rep was pretty damn rude and absolutely refused to entertain any possibility that Game Mode might be enabled by renaming the input.
Edited by ocellaris - 7/11/12 at 10:18am

So I finally upgraded from my Panny 720p to this TV. After getting one for my step sister and adjusting the settings, I knew this was pretty much what I was looking for regarding an affordable upgrade. I have various calibration discs and found adjusting contrast a little more difficult in my house than in my step sister's. Not sure if it's a lighting thing or what. I'm probably not completely done, but based on my DVE, Spears & Muncil, Monster and WOW discs, I've come up with this so far:

Cinema Mode

Contrast: 98
Brightness: 56
Color: 49
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 10 (zero is probably ok too)
Temp: Normal (Most go for Warm 1 or 2, but Normal's always been my preference)
Color Mgmt: Off
CATS: Off
Video NR: Weak
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 pulldown: On

So far, looks good. I love the HD performance, especially from Bluray.

Can you comment on the IR on this set? Is is noticeable or not bad?

-Guru

Slides age the phosphors through their early life, which is when most IR issues would occur. This is incorrect that that they "nothing" to prevent IR. Friend of mine got a new plasma, right out of the box pretty much anything white would cause IR that would hang around for a few minutes. PS3 menus, the cable box UI, the TV menus... He freaked out and ran 150 hours of slides, did NOTHING else with the TV, and then started using it again. There is not IR with the exact same content that was causing IR before.

Aged pixels are widely considered less susceptible to image retention. The entire point of the slides it to evenly age the pixels. There is no voodoo going on here where the D-Nice aging ONLY helps the calibration and does nothing for IR. Running the slides is a safe way to put hours on the TV, and more hours on the TV very often means less IR.
Edited by ocellaris - 7/12/12 at 8:58pm