The Official Panasonic VT50 Settings Thread - Page 34

My lcd was a 50in. I don't recall seeing this much jerkiness from my brothers 65in S2. It seems pretty bad.

Did you try turning off the motion smoother?

I concur. There's a few posts in this thread, one including the charts, that make out the BB calibration as "you get what you pay for". People are really better off learning to do it themselves, or hiring one of the many pros that can be found here.

I don't know where is it found?

I completely understand and kinda agree with ur advice, I am getting it for free so I thought i wud give it a try, if its not upto the mark, will then seek a professional.

It's found under "Advanced Picture", which is at the bottom of picture mode menus (Menu --> Picture --> Advanced Picture).

I'm not saying this is the issue, but it is on by default and I absolutely hate it and to my eye, made scenes jerky.

In THX Cinema it is turned off and it does not give me the option to turn it on(greyed out).
I'll have to mess around some more with it tomorrow after work.
Thanks for your help.

Sorry, forgot about it being grayed out in THX. If you came from an LCD set, perhaps you then are actually missing the motion smoothing setting. I would definitely say play around with it a bit (in Custom mode).

Some advice then, do NOT let the tech go into the service menu. Everything can be calibrated with the use controls in the ISF Day/Night menus.

Hi, a questiom from a plasma rookie.

I've had my P50VT50 (EU version) since fall 2012, and I'm very happy with its performance. Especially when hooked up to my Xbox 360 for some gaming sessions. However, I'm concerned about calibration, mostly for movies and such, and how important (or not) it really is. I'm running my blu-rays (using a PS3 Slim) in the THX Cinema mode, and everything looks great and all. Except for when in mid-dark/dim scenes. I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like really, because I'm quite a rookie, coming from either my old Philips CRT brick of hardware, or my parents old 1st generation Plasma TV. But it's like when in these scenes (for example any restaurant scene in The Dark Knight, or the Jotunheim scenes in Thor), it doesn't quite feel like it's 'deep black', but rather like a green-greyish tint. Somehow it feels like the light output is a bit too high in these scenes. Been monkeying about with the settings, and lowering brightness level by 5-10 notches, would somewhat eliminate the problem, reducing overall brightness. But then instead, really dark scenes offer weak differences between different kinds of 'black'. It's like everything dark becomes one with the pitch black darkness (makes sense though, turning down brightness ought to make it darker). Now I wouldn't be too alarmed, or even care at all (not to mention invest time in figuring it out), if it wasn't for this certain TV being advertised as acting like a dream with black levels and contrast.

I'm strictly using my set in a dark room, and I rarely watch any movies during daytime anyway. So I want my TV set for night conditions, but somehow THX Cinema won't do it for me. Being new to calibration (and this kind of technology overall), I thought I'd ask around if there's anything simple I can do to tweak the already otherwise good THX Cinema mode. Without too much hassle I mean. Should I keep brightness levels at 0, or back down to around 10? How about contrast and gamma? At the moment I think I have gamma turned to 2.6. That too seemed to reduce the greyishness somewhat. Switching to Game mode also seem to give it less green/grey tone. For example the Jotunheim scenes in Thor look more black and blue, the way I assume they're supposed to..

Is everything working as intended or what's going on? I imagine the picture differs slightly between every unique set, but still, worried it's either me, or my TV that's broken. Read about it being able to push blacks to the point where the screen more or less becomes one with the bezel (or background). And yes it can turn really dark, especially if tuning brightness levels, but not 'that' dark. Any ideas?

Also, keep in mind, I've already configured my PS3 to the recommended blu-ray settings.

Thanks in advance
Edited by Loftberg - 1/28/13 at 5:30am

I think the EU version has slightly higher black levels than NA version. You could start by using Custom mode (not sure the names of the picture modes in EU though, maybe Pro?). Having it calibrated would be the best option of course.

Quick question, for those that calibrate W/B via a meter, does how the room is lit make a difference is settings or do the W/B setting only change if you change another function within the plasma? I have bias/back lighting and was curious if the W/B settings would change if instead, I viewed in a completely dark room or a very bright room? There are so many calibrations possible on the VT50, it can be a bit overwhelming. Thank you.

That's why many will have a reference viewing mode and a mode when more lights are on in the room/viewing during the day etc.. The ISFccc Interface can be used for this, isf Night memory for your Reference viewing/light controlled environment and isf Day where you need more light output from the display..

In reality, the environment is very important, calibration is for a reference environment and really calibrations for rooms with light control issues / day viewing are always a compromise anyways...

You may want to also check out this Thread as well.

.
Edited by turbe - 1/28/13 at 12:34pm

Thank you so much for the link Turbe.

As MNC suggested, have you tried the factory CUSTOM mode? Nothing changed or tweaked... just factory CUSTOM.

When I first got my 65VT50 and was exploring these factory-provided presets (for watching mostly HDTV but also for BluRay movies) I quickly determined that it was CUSTOM which gave me the picture, color, and contrast/brightness I was looking for until I could have a professional calibration done.

But even so, CUSTOM on the VT50 looked to me essentially identical to the look of my Sony 34XBR960 in those same visual image characteristics, which I've grown used over the past 9 years. So maybe I'm biased. For sure CUSTOM was MUCH more appealing to me than THX Cinema.

I agree, it is terrible. I am not sure how people can even watch TV with it turned on. I don't know any of my friends that like it. First thing that I did was turn it off on my new set.

I wanted to try pre-determined settings in the custom mode, just to see what it'd look like. Problem is, all settings out there seem to be for the NA market. I don't even have a 'custom mode'. It's called Professional1, but the settings are limited. I see people turning contrast up to 100 for example, whilst mine only goes up to 60. That means I can't try any of the calibrated settings out there (C-Net's for example). I figure the menus look different on the EU version. However, yesterday I tried the other preset modes. And it seems like its my eyes that are not used to the warmth of the THX Cinema mode. Because I tried the first mode, called 'Dynamic'. The maxed out constrast made the colours *pop* a little bit too much, but lowering it made it easier on the eyes. I also tried switching between cold and warm colours. Turned out, it's the warm colour setting that seem to give the picture its greenish tint - so I assume it's just the way it is, and supposed to work. Selecting cold colours surely made the picture colder, but also reduced the greenishness. However, the Dynamic mode almost seemed a little grainy in the picture. Not sure what that was, like it made all the plasma-blobs more visible. Remember, I'm a newbie
I do use the Custom mode (Or in my case, called Professional1, found just below the 'Game' preset) from time to time, but mostly while gaming. For my most likely untrained eye, this mode just looks like a dimmed version of the THX Cinema. But the warm, green tint is still there. And I can't find anywhere to switch colour temperature setting in the Professional1 mode. Or is "warm colours" the way to go?

This is where I start to think I'm the one with the issues, not the TV set:p

I have seen mention of turning some things off during break in period. Is there a post with the "break in" settings. I found all the custom settings, but want to set evertything right for the first 100 hrs. I plan on running the slide for a day or two until I get help putting it up, then mixed TV watching with the slides over night. My 55"set is delivered today. Very excited but want to do it correct.
Edited by colleyvillesoon - 1/29/13 at 6:46am

I realize this will be more of a curiosity rather than a real tool for us, but for the iPhone and iPad users on the forum there is a new app called "THX Tuneup". It will be $1.99 soon but right now you can download it for free. Connects to your device via an Apple HDMI cable or wireless via Apple TV.

I'm downloading it now. For free it is worth a look.

What does it do?

For video it displays test patters for Contrast, Brightness, Color and Tint with a narritive to walk you through the process. It's pretty basic. Also has audio checking but since I only had the connection through Apple TV mirroring I didn't bother (2.0 only).

Well I played in Custom mode with the smoother and no matter what i set it to the jerkiness remains guess I'll have to live with it. It is tough to watch programs though.
Also the tv has turned off twice on me for no reason, is this common? I have power saving turned off. If this persists will Panasonic cover the repair as I'm thinking about returning my BB warranty since I don't notice any IR what so ever. So I would like to use the money from the warranty towards a calibration.
Any thoughts on any of these issues is appreciated.
Edited by skidog - 1/29/13 at 3:26pm

W. Jeff Meier
AccuCal - Audio & Video Calibration and Consulting
www.accucalhd.com
www.homecinemaguru.com (blog)
573-480-9664

He will be doing my Plasma and Audio calibration personally with his $40,000.00 test equipment. Call him, he's in Missouri. A super nice guy to talk to. He's an engineer and travels all around the country. Check out his website and prices. But try to schedule before March since he takes July and August off.

I've read so many reviews on the VT50 and the calibration methods people use. There good for starters but everyone has different houses and different light issues to deal with. So I think it's best to higher a professional calibrator to set up your system with the best day mode and night mode possible. This way you will be worry free and have less stress in your life determining if you should have done it this way or that way. Regrets can be a bad thing and will ruin all your decision making.

I hope this helps you out.

Good luck with everything.

Jeff is "Da Man"!

Do you see the jerkiness when watching material other than your cable, such as Blu Ray's or DVDs? It sounds like an issue with the cable to me.

The turning off sounds like it might a legit problem. Maybe you should exchange it?

I downloaded it, because I am intrigued when I read that it uses the devices camera to look at your display when making adjustments.. a form of a meter.

Problem is, I don't have a special cable to hook it to my TV. I'm surprised they don't have an option to let it connect through wifi without having to use an apple tv box.

I agree it is very limited unless you go to Apple and get their very expensive dongle and HDMI cable setup. And the camera is only used to apply a red filter for Tint correction, which I haven't seen anyone have to change on a VT50 yet. Still, the patterns are good and the voiceover is educational for beginners. It's pretty well put together.

well i must say I'm now very interested to see if I could possibly get anymore out of a calibration than I've already gotten out of this thread. Going to contact C B and J M and start the dialogue.

Anyone gotten amazing results out of this thread and then further been amazed out of a full calibration?

Until you have a professional calibrate your panel to the established standards using good test equipment, you will not optimize your set. It is very possible to get close by "borrowing" settings, but there will always be room for improvement.

Having said that, there are many out there who would probably be quite satisfied with some of the shared settings here.

Like yours!