Hopefully you folks can help me find some light at the end of this nightmare.
I'll keep it short, since I do realize this subject has been discussed ad nauseam (yet I can't seem to find that many posts that specifically refer to 65" models):
I own a Panasonic TCP-65V10, purchased brand new around April 2010. Had it professionally calibrated about a year ago. Before that, it was properly broken-in and used in TXH mode exclusively. It has always been connected to a PS Audio Duet conditioner. It doesn't have too many hours on it. I would estimate no more than 1000 hours, at the very most. Possibly quite a bit less, which is not much at all in almost 3 years.
I loved this set and had never had any issues with it, specially after ISF calibration.... until a couple of night ago.
You guessed correctly: black levels are now SIGNIFICANTLY higher. The blacks on the "stand by" screen on my Oppo 95 used to have depth and seemed to go on forever before. Now they look flat, lifeless and grey. For the record: I do all my watching at night in a perfectly dark room. Watching the brand new second season of "Game Of Thrones" on BD has been painful, specially during the last few episodes that take place at night. In short, the TV now looks like crap, worse than a mediocre LCD. Worse than my 2077 50" 720p Panasonic, which resides in the living room (and suffers from floating blacks, no less!). No image retention so far, at least, but blacks are washed out beyond belief. As with a lot of you, this basically happened overnight. I could not believe my eyes!
This is where it gets weird:
I had noticed minor increments in black levels throughout the years, but they were minor at best, and I thought perhaps my mind was playing tricks or I was being overly sensitive based on what I was reading here. Then, also all of a sudden, things would revert back to normal and the set would look great again. Sometimes BETTER than before. Punchy, inky, well saturated. Then, I started to sometimes notice changes during the same day. The set would look either amazingly great and lifelike, or simply just great. But now it's basically either BAD or WORSE, and it's been a few days so far, with no hopes in sight.
My question to you: Do I consider this another victim of the infamous "voltage/black level rise" syndrome, or could my problem be something else? Do I wait until blacks revert back to a more acceptable level? If so, when would that happen, in your experience? The TV is truly unwatchable as it is right now. I do not exaggerate. Do I give up, sell it and buy a new TV now that the ZT60 look so promising?
Your comments are appreciated.
I'll keep it short, since I do realize this subject has been discussed ad nauseam (yet I can't seem to find that many posts that specifically refer to 65" models):
I own a Panasonic TCP-65V10, purchased brand new around April 2010. Had it professionally calibrated about a year ago. Before that, it was properly broken-in and used in TXH mode exclusively. It has always been connected to a PS Audio Duet conditioner. It doesn't have too many hours on it. I would estimate no more than 1000 hours, at the very most. Possibly quite a bit less, which is not much at all in almost 3 years.
I loved this set and had never had any issues with it, specially after ISF calibration.... until a couple of night ago.
You guessed correctly: black levels are now SIGNIFICANTLY higher. The blacks on the "stand by" screen on my Oppo 95 used to have depth and seemed to go on forever before. Now they look flat, lifeless and grey. For the record: I do all my watching at night in a perfectly dark room. Watching the brand new second season of "Game Of Thrones" on BD has been painful, specially during the last few episodes that take place at night. In short, the TV now looks like crap, worse than a mediocre LCD. Worse than my 2077 50" 720p Panasonic, which resides in the living room (and suffers from floating blacks, no less!). No image retention so far, at least, but blacks are washed out beyond belief. As with a lot of you, this basically happened overnight. I could not believe my eyes!
This is where it gets weird:
I had noticed minor increments in black levels throughout the years, but they were minor at best, and I thought perhaps my mind was playing tricks or I was being overly sensitive based on what I was reading here. Then, also all of a sudden, things would revert back to normal and the set would look great again. Sometimes BETTER than before. Punchy, inky, well saturated. Then, I started to sometimes notice changes during the same day. The set would look either amazingly great and lifelike, or simply just great. But now it's basically either BAD or WORSE, and it's been a few days so far, with no hopes in sight.
My question to you: Do I consider this another victim of the infamous "voltage/black level rise" syndrome, or could my problem be something else? Do I wait until blacks revert back to a more acceptable level? If so, when would that happen, in your experience? The TV is truly unwatchable as it is right now. I do not exaggerate. Do I give up, sell it and buy a new TV now that the ZT60 look so promising?
Your comments are appreciated.
I admit that I doubted all those horror stories about the black levels rising overnight as if by some sort of Machiavellian master plan, but I have to say that, at east in my case, things happened exactly as described. Big, big difference overnight. My ISF calibrator came over the other day. Ironically, he was not as horrified with the overall quality as I was. In fact, he actually said the TV looked great to him, perhaps even "too" dark. He suggested to not stress over numbers and specs and focus on the big picture (pun intended) which in this case is certainly watchable. BUT measurements don't lie, and in this case they resulted in 0.02 ftl blacks, which is a far cry from the original 0.006 or so I was able to get when the TV was a few weeks old. Don't get me wrong: it is by no means a "disaster". Grayscale is excellent, definition is crisp as the first day and colors are accurate,. One tends to exaggerate and overreact in such cases (but can you blame us after spending so much money on a supposedly "premium" product?), BUT there is no question that the quality as a whole suffers severely from the no-longer-inky-yet-"ok" black levels. If I could turn back time, I would have not purchased this same TV...
