The Official Panasonic U50/54 Owners' Thread - Page 26

I also have plugged in Anikun07's settings into my 50U50 and also have noticed an improvement in picture quality, colors are more accurate, black and white scenes are also much improved with much more information showing up in dark scenes while still having awesome black level. Service menu was very easy to navigate

Hmmm....I'm intrigued. Think I'll try those settings.

Darn
I did not see the post linking to the UT page and just returned the U50 to Best Buy. I was not on yesterday to see the post about getting into the service menu.
Gee so many post on this web site not to go into the service menu that I wished I knew many had no issues doing it on the U50 since I had that green tint in flesh tones that made my final decision to return it.
I would have gladly tried it.

It seems theres a big difference between certain U50 sets, on the first one I took back because of what I found out later was probably dithering,
on that set I could really only notice it sometimes when the screen would go black and then lighten up for second with staitc all over the screen, it would always go back to solid black again and I never noticed it when there was color on the screen and in Blurays etc... but after talkin to panasonic and some on here it sounded like there was something wrong with the tv so I returned it. On my new one it does the same thing but there is also grain in alot of content, don't think its film grain because it happens in everything not just movies and its not dithering because I have brightness set low enough before it starts dithering.

However both TVs seem to do skin tones very good and theres no green tint to them whatsoever, colors seem to be very accurate but there is a haze type look in cinema mode and thats the mode I prefer because the other ones seem to crush blacks pretty bad no matter what the settings, Does changing the settings in the service menu help with the hazy look you get on cinema mode with color temp at warm 2?

It boggles the mind on why panny sends out there plasmas set up this way. The stock 'Standard' setting that BB/Costco/SAMs club use when displaying panasonic plasmas have them looking absolutely pathetic. If I didn't know better by perusing this forum I would've never given plasma a chance. So glad I did!

Just ordered the 60u54 from SAMs club! Can't wait to get it and start breaking it in. Could I use the Disney wow pixel flipper to break this thing in?

The standard mode is to comply with low energy consumption. That $21 per year yellow sticker is all marketing. Real world usage will roughly double using calibrated cinema mode. However the cost is still quite low.

Let us know your results!

I just bought a TC-P60U50. I turned it on and started watching and during bright or white scene I start getting this buzzing or humming noise in the back and I can hear it from 8 to 10 feet away. Just wondering if I should call panasonic about it or if it is something normal. Any input would be helpful. Thanks

Sorry I just do not feel doubling the use is an accurate assumption.

The label on the back of the one I had was accurate. 325W.(peak? or average? Not sure) Of course the wattage goes all over the place with plasma depending on everything from volume to screen brightness. I neither have a cave room or sun room so my setting were based on popular cinema settings with brightness under 50%

Unless you feel the Kill a Watt is a poor measuring tool, all I can tell you is that even with many settings listed,
I was averaging the 4.5 KWH over 48 hour period with the 50u50 , and the Hisense LED 50" - 1.28 KWH over 44 hour period same viewing times.

Absolutely depending on the settings you could use definitely more energy. Especially considering you prefer the brightness of Hisense LED, I am not surprised you can produce those numbers.

Even if the plasma used 8 times the power of LCD, I'd still pick it every time. Cannot stand the horrible viewing angles and poor color rendition of led backlit lcds <$3000

Call Panasonic.

I called Panasonic today about the buzzing. They are going to send a tech out Friday. Any idea what makes that noise?

Just jumped on the 699 deal for the 50UT50 at best buy. The salesgirl sold my wife and I on having professionally calibrated. While I guess I could do it myself probably won't do very much. Will it make as big a difference as she said? Or is a calibrated plasma noticeably better than a non calibrated one?

You bought the UT50. This is the U50 thread. Try that thread you will get better info.

It will definitely be noticeably better. How much better and whether its worth the money is hard to say. You only spent $699 for the tv. An average calibration is probably $300 or better. Personally I would find some good settings here at avs and save your money.

thanks

Mine does the same thing, I can hear the buzzing from 8-10 feet away as well. I just thought it was part of normal operation of a plasma television.

Let me know what the Panasonic tech says, I'd like to figure out whether there's an issue with my set as well.

The panasonic tech came out today and told me I have a bad board in the tv. They are going to order a new board and install it hopefully later this week.

FYI to anyone one the fence on buying one of these locally - I went to Sam's Club to buy the TC-60PU54 on Saturday. The manager told me it is a deleted item (they won't be restocking) he sold his last one Friday and they were out of stock at other Sam's around town. It still shows available online though.

Whoa, so the buzzing is actually an issue? Wonder if I should call in for mine...

On a sidenote, does anyone know how to turn off smoothmotion entirely? I get the soap opera effect on certain movies but not others. The first act of 2012 seems like it was shot with a home video camera, and all of Apocalypto as well. Weirdly enough, it doesn't do this on other movies. I'm talking DVDs through my HTPC here, played by MPC.

I just bought a u54 the other day. I just noticed there is a small black border aound the whole picture. You have to walk up to the screen to see it. When i change the the format the h-fill increases the border slightly and the others stay the same. I am using u verse HD at 1080i since they don't offer 1080p. Just wondering if the border is normal because the image does not reach to the edge of thé frame of the tv.

Perfectly normal.

Thanks
Edited by ghostof1777 - 2/12/13 at 6:46pm

If you have the pixel orbiter on to help reduce image retention, the borders will also change in size/width; also perfectly normal.

Odd black borders? If you're on Full/Size 2, pixel orbiter is certainly the reason and I suggest turning it off for best picture.

I've played 10 hours of Battlefield Bad Company 2 on this TV so far (in about 2-3 hour periods over the week), static white images on screen included the ammo counter, my crosshairs, the minimap and the scoreboard; so far no image burn in or even retention. Upon a pure white or pure black screen, everything looks as it should, and with no pixel orbiter. Your mileage may vary, but I'm confident enough to turn it off.

Even if you were to somehow experience any burn in, pixel orbiter would make it very slightly better as it just shifts 2-3 pixels per operation. You'd just end up with a blurry burned in image, just like you end up watching a blurry TV with it on.

Menu > Setup > Anti Image Retention > Pixel Orbiter > Disable.

Let me make myself perfectly clear--I am NOT an advocate of enabling the pixel orbiter as the be-all and end-all of image retention issues. Good program and content management and prudent care in how long certain images are displayed (i.e., gaming screens and information scrolls) will go a long way in preventing image retention and burn-in. I had an early Pioneer Elite plasma that had no such circuit and had zero image retention issues in ten-plus years of operation.

I was merely pointing out that the pixel orbiter WILL cause the margins on the screen to change as it cycles through its program. Some have noticed it and found it objectionable.

Is the work they're doing on your set costing you anything?

Panasonic is paying for it. I'm still in warranty.