The Official Panasonic VT50 Settings Thread - Page 24

That's a big area, so it depends upon what city you are in and what your expectations are.

Looking for the best expectations and best results but I live in Palmdale

David Abrams covers that area Locally (he's LA based).. also check with Jeff Meier, umr here on AVS (does tours there and will be back in Feb).... You can check with Bill at Coast Calibration but that may be a bit out of this service area.

Ray Coronado, also known as Rayjr on AVS. He lives in Palmdale and has done many video calibrations for members of the Los Angeles Home Theater group. He is THX and ISF certified. Go to the Los Angeles Home Theater group in AVS and send him a PM. He will be more than happy to talk with you.

How may I help you?

You also have a PM

RayJr

Thanks for the info guys

Seasons Greetings all! I am relatively new to AVS and to my new addition Panasonic TC-P65VT50 Plasma tv. This is my first Plasma TV and would like to know the best way to break in my TV and how to get the best picture quality I can from this model. As of now I have under 70 hours of use with nice custom settings recommended by a Amazon reviewer. I hear about terms used such as slides, Calman, etc. and would like to be in the loop on how to apply them and so fourth. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome! Seems the consensus is to do the following for the first 100 hours:

1. Keep the contrast dialed down to no higher than 70-75% of max.
2. Watch only fullscreen content (stretch if you have to); no content with horizontal or vertical bars.
3. Don't watch content with fixed logos for extended periods of time.
4. You can run the panel prep slides for 100 hours if you so choose -- I did -- but it seems that the prevailing opinion is that you don't have to.

New here as well but I've been lurking for awhile after entering into the long search of a new plasma, never owned one before. Today I finally ordered the 55VT50 after alot of research and pricing. Grabbed it for $1785 and two hours later the sell ended and priced back up to $2000 lol. Thank you alot for the tips posted here and I already have the slides and decided to go that route for break-in period. Told my wife and daughter that watching the tv will be really boring for 4 or 5 days. I did let them know that they could throw in a full screen movie with no logos if they wanted to.

Congrats and Enjoy! My P65VT50 is 5 days old today and I've got almost 100 hours logged, mostly slides. Right now I'm watching the Creation scene from "The Tree of Life". If you really want a visual and aural treat, this is one incredible test ride!

OK, I'm kinda new to this and have a simple question.

I keep seeing notes about isf day and isf night modes and then isf 3D day and isf 3D night modes.

Currently I am just plugging in peoples numbers into the custom picture setting. How and where do you access these 4 different modes (service menu?) and how does the TV know to switch between them? 2D/3D is obvious but Day/night? What is that based on? Time? A light sensor on the TV?

Also when you set these up in the, I'm assuming, service menu, what does the normal picture mode say? custom? and you shouldn't touch it after that?

Thanks,
Brian

Hi Oh2Smooth,

When each ISFccc memory (i.e. isf Night, isf Day) is activate, it will show up in your Picture Mode list / each ISFccc memory is added to the list once Activated on a Input.. ControlCAL G/VT30 Edition v2 will activate and adjust the ISFccc memories.

There are 4 memories Per Input (isf Night, isf Day for 2D - isf Night, isf Day for 3D). Once each is activated, you simply select that ISFccc memory from the Picture Mode list (as you do Custom, THX etc).


I'll PM you some info
Edited by turbe - 12/19/12 at 10:38am

Would it be safe to say an open box 55VT50 with 40 hours on it at $1,200 with BB warranty is a no brianer?

good price - are you able to inspect it before purchase?

I suppose you could also do this inspection at home and take advantage of BB's return policy if needed(?)

It's better to inspect it before you buy it.

I heard that BB is keeping track of returns and you could find yourself in a jam if you want to return a second set.

immaculate...

I don't think that's the kind of inspection that turbe is referring to. Check the screen with the display off for any small cracks that would otherwise be hard to see. The best way to do that is use a flashlight shining across the screen from it's edge. Run solid color slides to look for dead or stuck pixels and image retention. I would also check to see if the display actually has 40 hours on it. Many times that's not a reliable number when it comes from a sales person.

Good luck.

yes, htwaits is correct, spend time as he posted including with it powered on with different solid colors filling the screen

I know better not to assume all would know what I meant

Me too. But, as time goes by, I forget more and more often.

I will be passing 100 hours of slides on my 55" vt50 tomorrow and am looking for a calibrator.
I have a couple of names from other threads, but just wanted to ask if anyone has any personal experiences with a NYC calibrator.

^^^

Check out Kevin Miller, Chris Eberle, Ed Johnson, Chad Billheimer, D-Nice, Jeff Meier..

Service menu shows 40 hours. used color screens within service menu to look for burn-in. I might not be around as much, but certainly have been around. Just curious what the pricing was these days

Chad Billhiemer does tours there and is a great calibrator, I am sure all the other names mentioned would be good too. Chad has done 3 calibrations for me and the result has been outstanding everytime.

Chad has been calibrating my sets for almost 8 years now. Top notch guy.

So thanks to Turbe, I'm up and running with ControlCal on my 65VT50 so I've been checking out more settings (hated keying them in all manually).

I had been running CNETS settings and were pretty happy with the results but many here said they were sub-optimal. I had on my list, HTs, wmwilker's, and topper's settings to try. Last night I gave wmwilker's a go and so far I like them but honestly to my eye on the limited material I've viewed so far, I'm not seeing too much of a difference between wmwilker and CNET's. There definitely is a slight color difference with CNET's being a little more muted overall which makes wmwilker's more appealing but it wasn't a significant difference to me. Also wmwilker's day mode is slightly brighter which is expected/good with his night mode more closely matching the CNET's brightness/contrast performance.

I'll mess around with the other's I have tonight and see if anything is better.

As far as calibrations, who is recommended that is local to the SF bay area? I know d-nice travels and I PM'd him but haven't heard back. What is the rough cost of a calibration, $4-500? And do they charge by input and to calibrate extra to do 3D as well as day/night setups?


Thanks,
Brian

It looks like a good deal. I use Amazon for a rough guide to pricing. It's a long shot, but it is worth checking for micro fractures in the glass. Enjoy.

I figured I would share with you what I have come up with in regards to my 65VT50 settings and calibration. I have been reading this thread from the beginning and there is a great wealth of knowledge here. I am by no means a professional calibrator but have been calibrating my own displays for about 4 years now. This display from a calibration stand point is challenging to say the least…compared to calibrating my Pioneer KRP-600M! I ran D-Nice’s break in slides for 100 hours and watched mixed content for another 100 hours before my first calibration attempt. It took me 8 sessions until I came up with results that I found worked for me. Thanks to Turbe I downloaded the new ControlCal software, which by the way is awesome and I couldn't see in a million years calibrating this display without it! In all of my sessions I tested using APL small, big, and regular windows on both the AVSHD709 disc and GCD disc. I ended up going with the small APL windows on the AVSHD709 disc burned to a bluray. To my eyes this gave me an overall great viewing experience, since calibrating with the plasma's ABL in mind seems impossible! My gear I used to calibrate is a freshly profiled Display3 Pro I just got back from Tom Huffman, Chromapure software, my Oppo BDP-93 set source direct/4:4:4 connected directly to my display, The AVSHD709 burned to BD, and ControlCal software. I did things a little different compared to normal ISF Day/Night calibrations. In ISF Day I set the gamma 2.2 and for ISF Night I set gamma 2.4 but kept the FTL the same on both profiles. I like having the choice to switch between different gammas then FTL and with the gamma set to 2.2 for day works perfectly for my setup. One side note(I found this through testing)…Since 96hz gives you a lower mll remember when calibrating if you copy settings over to another input that is 60hz your brightness and gamma will need to be readjusted. I also found one other oddity…My meter can read an mll down to .001 and my ISF night reads .002 but my ISF day consistently read .001! I’m not complaining, just weird. Here are my settings for both ISF Day and ISF Night: (In My reports the before reading for ISF Day is the THX Bright Room Preset and ISF Night is THX Cinema)

Picture mode - ISF Night
Contrast 92
Brightness 56
Color 50
Tint 0
Sharpness 25
Color temp Warm2
CATS: Off
Pro Settings:
Color Space Normal
W/B high R -5
W/B high G 0
W/B high B 9
W/B low R 6
W/B low G 0
W/B low B 0
W/B detail adjustment
Input signal
10% Stimulus
R -23
G 0
B 1
20% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B 2
30% Stimulus
R 1
G 0
B 0
40% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B 0
50% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 3
60% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B -1
70% Stimulus
R -1
G 0
B -1
80% Stimulus
R -1
G 0
B 0
90% Stimulus
R -2
G 0
B -4
100% Stimulus
R -2
G 0
B -5

Red hue -4
Green hue 21
Blue hue 0
Red saturation -3
Green saturation 33
Blue saturation 4
Red luminance -5
Green luminance -3
Blue luminance -6
Yellow hue 5
Cyan hue -3
Magenta hue 3
Yellow saturation 1
Cyan saturation -2
Magenta saturation 0
Yellow luminance 1
Cyan luminance 1
Magenta luminance 0


Black extension - 0
Gamma adjustment - 2.4
Panel Brightness = Mid
Contour emphasis - Off
AGC - 0
Gamma detail adjustment
Input signal level
10 Stimulus Gain 0
20 Stimulus Gain 11
30 Stimulus Gain 8
40 Stimulus Gain 7
50 Stimulus Gain 0
60 Stimulus Gain 6
70 Stimulus Gain 4
80 Stimulus Gain 0
90 Stimulus Gain 0
100 Stimulus Gain 0

Motion smoother - Off
1080p pure direct - On
Black level - Light
24P Direct in: 96HZ

Picture mode ISF Day
Contrast 93
Brightness 54
Color 50
Tint 0
Sharpness 25
Color temp Warm2
CATS Off
Pro Settings:
Color Space Normal
W/B high R -6
W/B high G 0
W/B high B 8
W/B low R 6
W/B low G 0
W/B low B 0
W/B detail adjustment
Input signal
10% Stimulus
R -10
G 0
B 9
20% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 2
30% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 1
40% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 1
50% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 1
60% Stimulus
R 2
G 0
B 0
70% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B -1
80% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B 2
90% Stimulus
R -1
G 0
B -2
100% Stimulus
R 0
G 0
B 4

Red hue -4
Green hue 21
Blue hue 0
Red saturation 2
Green saturation 38
Blue saturation 4
Red luminance -6
Green luminance -4
Blue luminance -7
Yellow hue 5
Cyan hue 0
Magenta hue 2
Yellow saturation 0
Cyan saturation -2
Magenta saturation 0
Yellow luminance 1
Cyan luminance 3
Magenta luminance 0


Black extension - 0
Gamma adjustment - 2.2
Panel Brightness = Mid
Contour emphasis - Off
AGC - 0
Gamma detail adjustment
Input signal level
10 Stimulus Gain -13
20 Stimulus Gain 0
30 Stimulus Gain 0
40 Stimulus Gain 2
50 Stimulus Gain 4
60 Stimulus Gain 7
70 Stimulus Gain 3
80 Stimulus Gain 1
90 Stimulus Gain 2
100 Stimulus Gain 0

Motion smoother - Off
1080p pure direct - On
Black level - Light
24P Direct in - 96HZ

ISF Night.pdf 2382k .pdf file ISF Day.pdf 2384k .pdf file

Could you please post the actual settings files so others could try them out?

Sure, but how do I acquire the setting's file? Through ControlCal?

Yes, in control cal, whatever settings are currently visible in the controlcal screens (either through you doing a "GET ALL" from your TV, or typing them in manually) then if you go to File->Save settings, it will save an xml file locally whereever you specify which makes it easy to archive, send,edit settings.

Similarly, when you receive or want to retrieve older settings, you go to file->Load settings and retrieve the settings and then "SEND ALL" to you display to make them active.