The Official Panasonic UT50 Settings/Issues Thread - Page 9

The mp4 calibration files are broken out into folders corresponding with the disc's menus. I haven't checked if it has the tutorial but I don't know why it wouldn't.

You would just need use the basic patterns.

Is the Panasonic "2500 FFD" always enabled even with motion smoothing off? Or do I need to turn it on for that to be enabled?

I picked up one of these from Best Buy since they have it on sale just to see if the motion quality on it is truly any better than LCDs or DLPs.

It's always on, the subfield is like how quickly the phosphors moving, but the screen refresh rate is 60Hz, or 48Hz if you choose to enable it with 24p content.

Any calibrated 3D settings?

hi,thanks,yes,i now use the custom mode and set the tv with the avs 709 file i download somewhere,i think is getting a little bit better but now it develops a vertical purple ghost on the right side thats is making me nervous,maybe is normal for this kind of tv but i am not use to it,let see how it goes if i dont like it i return it to BB.thanks

I myself would take it back and exchange it for another. I guess maybe i just got lucky,but mine is perfect knock on wood. My UT50 has damn near perfect screen uniformity and none of the problems people have been having lately. Maybe QC and build quality has gone downhill as i've had mine since pretty much launch day.

I've really appreciated the work of pathofneo and anikun07 on this thread, there is a lot of great information on this set. However, looking through the different panasonic plasma threads, there is a real lack of clarity on

1. accessing the service menu - the way to access the service menu is to hold down the vol- and hit info 3 times.

this information seems to be very hard to come by despite a lot of interest by owners.

2. What settings are ideal in the service menu, especially 2pt white balance?

there seems to be a lot of concern about going into the service menu because you can harm your TV, however, I think that should be up to the owner wether they want to take that risk or not. I would be very grateful if anikun07 or pathofneo, or any other informed user would share service menu settings that improve the picture quality. I've moved over to the cinema mode based on pathofneo and anikun07's recommended settings and have been very happy with the results, but I want to squeeze every last ounce of performance I can out of my set.

So, anyone want to post a complete settings guide, including changes to the service menu options? I think a lot of people would be interested in trying it out, I know I would, and it would make the info people are looking for on this forum easier to find. Thanks guys!

I will give a full settings post later when I get some time.

Thanks anikun07, your contributions to these forums are invaluable, I really appreciate the detailed information you provide.

Okay, here are the settings I use for my 50" UT50.


Cinema Mode

Basic Settings

Contrast: +90
Brightness: +49
Color: +48
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0

Color Temp: Warm 2 (Calibrated to D65)
Color Mgmt.: Off
C.A.T.S.: Off
Video NR: Off


Aspect Adjustments

Screen Format: Full
HD Size: Size 2
H Size: Size 1

HDMI Settings

HDMI/DVI RGB Range- HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Standard 16-235
Content Type - HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Off


Advanced Picture

3D Y/C Filter: Off (Grayed Out)
Color Matrix: HD (Grayed Out)
Block NR: Off (Grayed Out)

Mosquito NR: Off
Motion Smoother: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: Off
24p Direct In: 60 Hz



Custom Mode


Basic Settings

Contrast: +84
Brightness: +56
Color: +48
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0

Color Temp: Normal (calibrated to D65)
Color Mgmt.: Off
C.A.T.S.: Off
Video NR: Off


Aspect Adjustments

Screen Format: Full
HD Size: Size 2
H Size: Size 1

HDMI Settings

HDMI/DVI RGB Range- HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Standard 16-235
Content Type - HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Off


Advanced Picture

3D Y/C Filter: Off (Grayed Out)
Color Matrix: HD (Grayed Out)
Block NR: Off (Grayed Out)

Mosquito NR: Off
Motion Smoother: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: Off
24p Direct In: 60 Hz



3D Cinema Mode


Basic Settings

Contrast: +85
Brightness: +57
Color: +48
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0

Color Temp: Warm 2 (Calibrated to D65)
Color Mgmt.: Off
C.A.T.S.: Off
Video NR: Off


Aspect Adjustments

Screen Format: Full
HD Size: Size 2
H Size: Size 1

HDMI Settings

HDMI/DVI RGB Range- HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Standard 16-235
Content Type - HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Off


Advanced Picture

3D Y/C Filter: Off (Grayed Out)
Color Matrix: HD (Grayed Out)
Block NR: Off (Grayed Out)

Mosquito NR: Off
Motion Smoother: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: Off
24p Direct In: 60 Hz

System Menu Settings =>3D Settings
Auto Detect 3D: Auto 1
3d Signal Notification: On
2D => 3D Depth: Medium
3D Adjustment: 0
Left/Right Swap: Normal
Diagonal Line Filter: Off


AND THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR....

White Balance via Service Menu. I've calibrated both Warm and Normal to D65 and this is the closest I could get.


Warm Color Temp Using Cinema Mode

R Cut 84
G Cut 6E
B Cut 65

R Drive EF
G Drive FF
B Drive 96

All Cut 84
All Drive FF



Normal Color Temp Using Custom Mode

R Cut 7F
G Cut 6A
B Cut 60

R Drive EF
G Drive FF
B Drive 97

All Cut 7F
All Drive FF

I don't think it really matter which picture mode you use as long as the primary adjustments are accurate, WB shouldn't change much. Keep in mind that WB controls are very TV specific so just because this is what make D65 on my TV with 329 hours on it (I just checked and it was 329:00 ) doesn't mean your TV will be D65.

I also want to add/reiterate that the grayscale is pretty good on the TV too. But I use HTPC to enhance the TVs picture by using Calman PC Client.

This screenshot is for Cinema Mode with test patterns off a Sony S580 with the AVSHD 709 disc. Target Gamma was set to 2.20 and would probably track a little better if it was set to 2.14. The output of the BDP is 16-235.




This is the pre-auto calibration using Calman PC Client as the pattern generator. Again, target gamma is set to 2.20 and tracks about the same as before - which it should. The output of the PC is set to YCC 4:4:4 which is 16-235. But it's important to remember that the PC's native output is 0-255 so the GPU is converting the output to 16-235. But I do have Calman set to read at 0-255, and this normalizes the results for PC use.




This is after the auto calibration with a few iterations to tighten the white balance and gamma tracking. For final auto calibration I set gamma target to 2.28. I chose 2.28 based on a user in a different thread, here at AVS, and it is a great balance between the lightness of 2.2 and the darkness of 2.4. I do have a 2.4 gamma calibration for "Night Time Viewing" but usually just use 2.28. Truly this is a near perfect picture for the UT50.





Finally, here's the color gamut for Cinema Mode and Custom Mode with the settings listed above.

Cinema Color Gamut




Custom Color Gamut



This may be partly why Custom tends to look more vibrant. Also, in the picture settings you can see that it is naturally brighter. But this is at the expense of gamma tracking.

Post Custom Mode calibration this is how gamma tracks with a gamma target or 1.10.




I think the wider color gamut and native brightness of Custom Mode is what makes people like it more with a punchier and more poppy look. But to get a true picture you must use Cinema unless you can correct the gamma errors. Only certain softwares can correct the color gamut with an ICC profile so I choose to continue using Cinema because the primaries and secondaries are closest to D65. Calman PC Client corrects white balance and gamma with an ICC profile but not color correction.
Edited by anikun07 - 11/18/12 at 8:01pm

Unfortunately it is not that cut and dry..Buck each plasma panel will yield different results (even though some may say no to this comment it is true no two panels are alike and not everyone's default highs and lows are the same out of the box). I have calibrated 4 UT 50's in the past two months and I can reassure you that all four have yielded very different highs and lows in the end. I can post my final service menu settings and you can pass them on to your set BUT it will not be the same out come, even though to you it may "look great" it does not mean that your set is now calibrated to reference quality.

If you want to get the most "juice" out of your ut50 i recommend you purchase a decent colorimeter and learn to calibrate your own set. Purchase the spears and munsil bluray to calibrate your contrast, brightness and color. remember you should calibrate what ever picture mode you are using (cinema being the best in warm2 when it comes to the ut50)..if your not interested and want a short cut than just be happy with the settings that people have posted, pick one and enjoy your set.

Unfortunately it is not that cut and dry..Buck each plasma panel will yield different results (even though some may say no to this comment it is true no two panels are alike and not everyone's default highs and lows are the same out of the box). I have calibrated 4 UT 50's in the past two months and I can reassure you that all four have yielded very different highs and lows in the end. I can post my final service menu settings and you can pass them on to your set BUT it will not be the same out come, even though to you it may "look great" it does not mean that your set is now calibrated to reference quality.

If you want to get the most "juice" out of your ut50 i recommend you purchase a decent colorimeter and learn to calibrate your own set. Purchase the spears and munsil bluray to calibrate your contrast, brightness and color. remember you should calibrate what ever picture mode you are using (cinema being the best in warm2 when it comes to the ut50)..if your not interested and want a short cut than just be happy with the settings that people have posted, pick one and enjoy your set.

anikun07, you are a gentleman and a scholar! Thanks!

I am curious why it is so dangerous to go into your service menu. If you mess something up, can't you just return settings to normal? If we had a list of normal service menu settings on this thread, it seems like there wouldn't be any chance for a permanent problem, except for the warranty being voided.

It is also interesting that the HDMI content type was recommended as being turned off, as you can see the praises of Graphics mode in numerous posts on this and other UT50 threads. does anyone know what graphics mode does, and why it is so popular?

As for 3:2 pulldown, I still don't really know what that is and what it does. I recently started watching 24p in 60hz and like the results, 48hz gave me a headache from the flicker.

THX1138, one day I'm going to set aside the time and money to learn calibration myself, but for now I just have to copy the pros.
Edited by Bukley - 11/19/12 at 9:26am

to get into the service menu, it should be noted you have to hold the volume button on your TV down, and press the info on your remote 3 times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCfAd3kn6VY

I thought it was all through the remote

Just put in anikun07's service menu setting, and really like the results. The service menu isn't too intimidating, 1,2 move between menus, 3,4 move up and down, volume changes the settings. There is a list of commands in the menu. Turn the power off when you get done and your settings will be saved.

3:2 pulldown is what converts 24 fps to 60 fps, or Hz. I think HDMI graphic is really meant for PC input and was praised because it was said to leave the source unaltered but off, I think, has no bias of input signal. Also, many settings in he service menu are unknowns to most of us so if something get changed on accident, well what was the default? We don't know. Many of us don't want to be blamed for someone else's mistake so we leave it a mystery or give links on the topic.

Anikun (or anyone else),

The ALL Drive setting... does that do anything besides bring down all of the other Drive settings with it? As in does it do nothing if you fiddle with the other DRV settings individually?

The reason I ask is I'm noticing a bit of blooming/haloing and iBrad said in the other thread it was probably due to All Drive being set at FF, but from his description it sounds like that only brings down the other ones at once so you don't have to bring them all down individually.

Thanks for the settings btw... I'll use yours as a base for tweaking my own... this will help a ton I hope. I don't need things to be perfect, but a good reference point to start with sure helps a lot.

Also, if the whites are overdriven, can this contribute to IR I'm wondering?

Ok I input your settings after saving both a hotel.pwd and a boardreplace.pwd.

The only funny thing to me now is that "Normal" is more warm on Custom mode than "warm 1" is now! hah! But it looks good so far... going to test it with different material.

Thanks!

PS. What does the "Method" setting do... i accidentally switched it... but I think it was originally at 0, which is what I put it back to. I couldn't tell a difference in the picture when I changed it anyway,

Edit: I can't seem to find in the service menu where it lists how long the TV has been on unless I'm missing something on that first info screen that pops up.

Edit 2: thanks Anikun!! this thing is WAY WAY closer to my monitor's calibration now... I cannot tell a difference at all between my monitor and your settings on the UT50 on animated stuff except on my monitor things are a very very very tiny amount more pinkish... and I think it actually looks better on the TV. As far as outdoor scenes with a lot of crazy colors my monitor still looks slightly better... but it's so close now I'm extremely happy.

Edit 3: White subtitles are still overpowering and create kind of rainbowy effects for me on dark scenes sometimes... that's my only complaint at this point... maybe I'm just tripping. I think it's related to the motion dithering because I see it sometimes when there's motion as well. I guess the subtitle fades out to display a new line it is is basically like "motion" too and it causes this effect as well. It's only apparent during some scenes on some shows and it's much better than the LCD sample-and-hold motion blur. Still a minor peeve though. I'm also seeing it sometimes when I just move my eyes.... almost like DLP ranbowing.. but not as pronounced... weird.

So this brings me back to what does the "All Drive" setting do? White backgrounds seem to be toned down by the ALB... but the white subs are just blindingly intense on this set... I'm almost debating dumping the .ass subtitle files out of these .mkvs and changing the default font to something not pure white so I don't see the slight haloing/blooming. But if reducing the "All Drive" or some other setting might fix this it would be a whole lot easier.
Edited by damag0r - 11/19/12 at 4:40am

Can't believe I'm saying this, but after watching some more content, I think I'm going to switch to Custom. The brightness and color is great, especially on animation. Never thought I could go from Warm2 to Normal color mode, but it looks really good with these settings.

I'm using "Custom" color temp "normal" too with Ani's service menu settings... don't think there's really much difference between Cinema "warm" and his Custom "normal" with those service menu settings, but I didn't really check... I'm just using the Custom "normal".

ALL DRV= the master (volume) control over RGB with G as reference.
Now you can adjust only ALL DRV few notches down to tone down the WB (white subs contrast/bloom) try go EF etc.

I'm glad to hear these settings really make a huge difference for you guys.



All Drive should raise and lower all three RGB Drive values, same thing with All Cut. I have to add, though, that it can change based upon individual color changes. I didn't notice it with All Drive, but All Cut did change as I lowered values which is why it is less than 80. I don't recall settings All-Cut, the set changed it as I lowered RGB values. I'm not familiar with overdriven white leading to IR, I thought anything on the screen long enough simply causes it. I do know it's not recommended to keep contrast at 100 (like in Vivid Mode) for at least the first 100 hours. When I had Constrast at 92 there was too much pop in the picture that the focus seems almost 3D compared to the background and it seemed like motion smoother was on. I couldn't figure out why the picture seemed to different and I toned down contrast and it's perfect on my set.



I'm not sure how Cool 1 and Warm 1 work, but setting the white balance in the service menu is for Warm 2 in the color temp options. So where do the white balances for Cool 1 and Warm 1 come from? I don't know, but my guess is they are either an offset from Normal or offsets of Cool 2 and Warm 2, or they are an interpolated average between Normal and the Cool/Warm white balance. I do not know what Method changes in the service menu, but I think default is 0. I don't notice any picture change when I change it. To find how many hours on the set, there is a main service menu page, I believe it is the page with X-Max ( I highly suggest you check YouTube for a video tutorial, there's where I learned) and you click "OK" on the remote and it will bring you to another page with a 2x5 or 2x6 cell matrix, and you use the directional arrows on the remote to move to the lowest right cell and hold "Mute" for three seconds, this will display hours and how many times the set has been turned on. For subtitles, do you have sharpness at 0? I don't know why you would see a halo unless either contrast was set too high or sharpness was too high. Also, could it be possible that the test is beings scaled so the characters don't have a nice crisp edge? Finally, could you be sitting a little too close? I think if you can't see the dithering of the screen from where you sit then that shouldn't be a problem.



Cinema Warm 2 - not Warm 1 - (adjusted as Warm in the service menu) and Custom Normal should be almost indecipherable because they were both calibrated to D65 in their respective modes. The only subtle variations would be because they were not the same calibration and the PDP display is impossible to get the same readings twice - just the nature of plasma. But for all intents and purposes, white balance should be as close to identical as can be possible with an i1 Display Pro.

If anyone knows if 3D calibration is done separately for white balance I'd love to hear how. I'm not familiar with how to calibrate white balance for 3D, if possible. I just have the picture settings adjusted for Panasonic active shutter glasses, but WB is either using 2D mode's or default based on what the TV is set to use and I don't know which.

Just to clarify I meant "warm 2" when I mentioned Cinema "warm"

cinema mode had a slight magenta cast in the blacks especially, and overall to a lesser degree. brightness was better in custom too.

I think it's most likely due to the gamut errors.

Thanks alot,these are my new favorite settings. Most people here realize that to get reference quality they must have their set professionally calibrated,but thanks to people like anikun07 and PathofNeo we can get close without having to pay the high premiums and have fun posting about our experiences trying the various settings.After all we are enthusiasts and this is our hobby.

SpectraCal has a new bundle with their new C3 colorimeter and software for $150. If anyone was interested in doing their own calibration this is definately a steal.