**Official** Panasonic X54 series RPTV Thread. - Page 3

how does a Porsche compare to a Chrysler?

What a wonderfully detailed and unbiased answer...

I just got the 47x54 yesterday and love it. I am very impressed with the SD so far, it has exceded my expectations. Can anyone help me with the settings? What are you all finding to be the best tweaks so far? I'm very new at all this so any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I got the 47x54 two weeks ago and so far there is nothing to complain about it. HD looks awesome just like any other high end tv I have seen.

Ok TV update.... I have had it for about 2 weeks now so around my house that means It's got lots of viewing time on it....

XBox -
It works perfectly and looks outstanding. I'm not sure about the 720 conversion. I don't have any game packaging (wink) to be able to know what games are 720 and see if it works correctly. All I can say is everything I have played, from Halo - GTA - All ESPN Sports - Moto GP2 & Project Gotham Racing have looked stunning....

Settings -
Well the auto convergence setting is a blessing, it works perfectly. Only problem with it is that the manual is not clear that first thing you should is get the TV hookedup and run this setting (the button is on the front of the TV). The manual really walks you through the initial setup wizzard when you first turn on the TV. Its should tell you to auto converge first.
I'm running my DSS signal via s-video. Now I have it in Vivid mode, cool colour temp (personal preference) and... crap I will have to check the rest of the settings. The picture is very bright and clear even in a room where glare is an issue.

Likes:
1) That you can skip AV modes you don't use. I mean I only hook up 2 items, I don't want to have to scroll through 8 items one of the two.
2) Just Mode - This is what I use to watch DSS and cable. WOW, it strechs really well and keeps a good focus in the middle so people don't look distorted.
3) The fact that each AV mode keeps it settings. For example my DVD is connected on component 1 - It stays in "Full" mode while I run my DSS is "Just" mode.
4) The stand on top of the TV is perfect for DVD & DSS boxes as well as my center channel. Its very handy.

Dislikes:
1) The sound is not very good. I expected more based on my prior experince with Panny's on my 32' Gauo. This is fine since I have a receiver but when I just connect the Xbox to play I don't have all the cable to connect to the receiver, and that is why I don't think the sound is the best
2) Panny still does not have a code that works Marzntz recievers even though the code list shows an entry for it. I have a Marantz 6000 and remote will not work it.
3) The manual is not all that great and does not really explain all the features in enough detail. Everything is covered in the manual, but a very high level.

All it all, things are going well right now and I'm happy with my purchase. Will keep you updated and try and answer any questions that come up from other users.

That's an excellent review--you hit the nail on the head with your comments. I'm a relative newbie but I had just about all of the same likes/dislikes you had. I've had my 47x54 for about two weeks now and am very happy with the set. One question I have, though, is how you are watching cable in "Just" mode. I'm using TWC HD digital cable with a Pace box. The HD channels look great at 1080i. However, the SD channels will only run at 1080i (4:3) or 480p (in Full mode). Using the Panasonic remote I can toggle between 4:3, Zoom, and Full at 480p. But if I'm reading that terrible manual correctly, you can only get the Just mode at 480i. How can I set this thing up so that I can get HD channels at 1080i and the SD at 480i?

I'm not familiar with the TWC box, being a D* user myself. However, does your box have an analog RCA out? You can route that to one of the video inputs and simply go to video 2 or whatever when watching SD. That's what I do, for the limited times that I do watch SD.

As for the auto convergence. It's passable. I've found that it does do an OKAY job, but if you pull up an AVIA 100 IRE cross hatch, you'll see a lot of Red and Blue. Also I've found some drift on my set. This is somewhat normal for the first couple months of ownership, but I'm saying so as an alert that you may want to reconverge every so often.

Anyone had any luck with getting the cover off? I wanna get in there and do some manual tweaking.

Anyone with a service manual?

Hey Everyone...
Just got the 47 inch an hour ago. I'm very impressed so far, but need to get some help with the connections. I'm going from the Comcast cable box ---->reciever with RCA. I need some help with going from the reciever to the TV. Should I go Composite or Coax or S-Vid.? How about going from the tv to the reciever? do I even need to since I have sound going from the Comcast box to the reciever. I'm just a little confused. Thanks y'all!

tmflem - Not sure, but are you using the HDMI interface? Something in manual about having "just" mode for that. But since I don't have HD signal, I'm just using S-Video. I would suggest running a second feed out of your HD box into component or S-Video so you can at least check out the "just" mode.

Chris - Component is best. But S-Video is good as well. Both are better then coax. Personally, I run all video directly into my TV and not through the receiver. Only my sound for everything routes though the receiver. The TC has lots of input options and its newer then my marantz reciever.... besides this way it takes less cables to get everything connected.

Neglekt - I have noticed that the convergence shifts, right now I'm planning on running the auto converge ever 2 weeks, until the end of the year when I have a pro come in and adjust the settings.


Does anyone know where in Canada a guy can get the tuning DVD's? I would like to check one out.. but I don't want to spend a forture.

Actually, I have figured out a "workaround" to check out the "just" mode. I set the Pace box to "pass thru" in the resolution settings. This way the SD channels come through in 480i, and most of the HD channels still come through in 1280i. However, a couple of the HD channels don't come through at all when setting the Pace box to "pass-thru" so I'm looking for a better fix--preferably, I'd like to be able to use 480p and the Just setting. I am using component outs from the Pace box into the TV. Maybe I'll try HDMI. Or maybe I'll try using the S-video out for the SD channels and the component outs for the HD channels. Best thing about having a new toy is getting to experiment a little, right?

BTW, I find the "just" mode is a big improvement on the other alternatives (4:3, Zoom, Full) for the SD channels.

nm

I would base your settings on anything that's posted in here. The settings are relative to your tv and input.. .therefore what works on my tv may be vastly different on yours. This will also vary on whether you are using a dvd player with blacker than black, or an OTA NTSC signal.

Using an AVIE or DVE will help you get in the right ballpark... but it somewhat becomes a matter of taste after that point.

Quick question for owners...Should I be concerned about the black bars onthe top of the screen when watching certain movies in Just/Full mode? Theonly mode that doesn't have the bars on some movies is zoom, and that picture just looks bad. I'm worried about burn-in. Thanks.

if a majority of your watching is either sd or hd and the screen is full i wouldn't worry about. there should be nothing wrong with watching a 2 hour DVD with black bars once in a while. however, if all your watching are DVD's than you should vary wether or not you have the black bars. meaning alternate, one movie with zoom and one with the bars.

**** Was having problems with the volume control from the Comcast remote not working..

Called Comcast Tech Support and here is the fix.

push the [CABLE] button
hold down [SETUP] till it flashes the CABLE light twice
enter 999

oops. I posted on the wrong "Official site".. Duh!

Hey guys,

I took the plunge and put a deposit on a 47x54 today, I'll have it delivered on saturday. When it arrives I'll try running a 720p Xbox game on it to see if it actually supports it or not.

Any basic setup tips for this unit, it's my first RPTV and I want to make sure it has a long lifespan.

Anyone in Ontario know where I can get AVIA or DVE? I can't seem to find it locally.

TIA for any advice.

Grego,

I had the same problem with finding DVE in Ontario (London). The easiest way seemed to be chapters.ca. I ordered mine from the States and it was delayed at the border for 4-5 days. Didn't even think about chapters until it was too late.

From a setup standpoint- my higest setting seems to be brightness @ 32- 36 depending on the source. Everything else in teens to low 20's.

Are you supposed to tip these delivery guys???? I didn't.... But I get over these things pretty quickly.

Regards.

Chapters eh? Good idea. I'll check that out tomorrow, I've spent almost all the money I made in the summer on this tv, so I hope its not too expensive.

As for tipping delivery, I won't lol, I'm paying 50 bucks for delivery anyways, its the same guy that sold me the tv that's delivering it.

Can't wait til tomorrow

Hey guys. I'm having problems with the Convergence feature. Whenever I go to the convergence screen and adjust manually, I can get it right for that particular source. But when I change the channel I need to go back and readjust. Like when watching ESPN, I can get the adjustments right for the 28/58 updates (scrolling bars on the bottom for in-game updates), but when I pop in a movie, and hit play, the "play" image is literally off the screen. Its like the image is just to big for the screen, because I always have to go in and move it up for this, move it down for that, etc.
Any thoughts? I'm really confused as to how this is supposed to work.

This TV is awesome for it's price!

Anybody got a PC hooked up to this RPTV with the DVI-> HDMI cable? I can get the 960x540 resolution working but I'm seeing alot of overscan? I'm using the Radeon 9800Pro.

If you have a working resolutions/timing, could you please let me know? Thanks

Okay, so I checked the TV's support with 720p by running an xbox game that supports 720p.
I enabled the 720p function in the xbox dashboard and then proceeded to run Amped 2 which is listed as one of many games that support 720p.

Here's the list from Microsoft's website:

"Amped® 2 (Xbox Live-enabled)
Crash Nitro Kart
Delta Force®Black Hawk Down (Xbox Live-enabled)
ESPN Major League Baseball (Xbox Live-enabled)
ESPN NBA Basketball 2005 (Xbox Live-enabled)
Freedom Fighters
MVP Baseball 2004
NBA® 2K3 (Xbox Live-enabled)
NBA® Ballers
Sega Sports World Series® Baseball 2K3
SoulCalibur® II
Steel BattalionLine of Contact (Xbox Live-enabled)
Street Hoops
Terminator® 3: The Redemption
The Sims Bustin' Out
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Tony Hawk's Underground
True Crime: Streets of L.A. "

Couldn't get a picture out of it, just blurry lines. When I switched off the 720p compatibility in the dashboard, it ran fine, so I guess that ends that lol. Oh well.

i just purchased this TV over a Hitachi 57X500. This an excellent TV at a wonderful price.

Jk

Do you think I need an ISF calibration and what's that?

Regarding the "Tweaking" of this set, does anyone have any references for this specific model?

As I will probably purchase this TV this weekend.

Peace,
Dave

Hi. I have been looking for a HDTV for 6 months and finally found the best balance between price/PQ in the Panasonic 53X54. My limitation is that in the family room where the TV will go, I have a media niche that is 57" wide and 25" deep. The Panny will fit in there, with no room for other equipments. I just have a few questions and would appreciate any input.

1. The manual describes an external equipment shelf. What is this shelf? Is this included? How many components can you fit on this? It would be great if anyone can post a picture of this shelf.

2. How is the horizontal viewing angle? Half of the people will be watching from the side sofa.

3. How is the quality of analog cable, VCD? The previous posts have been praising the quality of SD, but we watch quite a bit of VCDs which are generally poor but acceptable on the 27" direct-view JVC we currently have.

Thanks for the help. I should be ready to purchase the 53X54 this weekend if all goes well.

Rob

The shelf is on the top of the TV. It's just a normal platform with a weight limit. No shelfs or anything.

Well this TV is not the best out there, but for the price...it's best in it's class. For VCD playing. I thinkg you should be rest assured that i'll be good provided you have the best quality VCD first, not the "pirated" version.

As far as viewing angle goes, I'm not sure...you should look at the showroom model at circuitcity to decide....look and feel is always better.

IceBlade

Here's a pic of the TV in my room, you should be able to make out the shelf, my dvd player is sitting on it along with the control unit for my speakers.

So what is the conclusion?? Does this set ACCEPT a 720p signal? And if so does it up or downconvert??

Anyone??

Panasonic's website talks about DVI and accepting 720p, but I don't know if they mean DVI in general or their specific sets.

Peace,
Dave

I think we can safely say that it does not accept a 720p signal.