Official Panasonic PX60/600 Tweaking, Settings, Issues, Technical Thread! - Page 219

Ugh! You're making my eyes hurt. Vivid out of the box, yes you definitely are in the minority. Ultimately though it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of your settings if that is what looks best to you. Just remind me to bring my shades if I come to your place to watch a game.

I run in a tuned down vivid and find the colors pop way more then standard, family and friends also agree that it looks much better in vivid.

I remember reading something about vivid having different processing for the sharpness or something hence why I think it looks better. The standard or whatever looks blurry in comparison.

Has any one used the Monoprice wall mounts for the TH50PX600U will be using with wood wall stud 16in on center.Was looking at the
800mm wide-2852 Adjustable Tilting Wall Mount Bracket for LCD Plasma (Max 165Lbs, 37~63inch)
910mm wide-3004 Adjustable Tilting Wall Mount Bracket for LCD Plasma (Max 165Lbs, 37~65inch) - Wide
Also thought about the flat mount
800mm wide-3610Low Profile Wall Mount Bracket for LCD Plasma (Max 165Lbs, 37~63inch) but an inch space does not seem to be enough room for wiring.

Can't really comment on them. But I will share with you that I got the Omnimount cantileaver for my 50px600 and LOVE IT (it was rated for 200lbs). It cost a bit more, but the flexibility/adjustability and cable hiding is wonderful. It came with every conceivable bolt (and then some) to address any set up. Templates were very good as we were doing preconstruction renovation and based on the template was able to run pvc conduit piping in the wall to address all wireing (two openings in the template) for the plasma as well as for the speakers and future use.

..Mark

The way I see it, tuned down vivid is no longer vivid. I started from the vivid setting on my 42PX60U and adjusted it using THX optomizer from a DVD and then fine tuned to my liking. I started with vivid because IMHO it was the worst default setting and not worth saving.

Picture: +9
Brightness: +18
Color: -1
Tint: -8
Sharpness:-25 to -30 (I find setting sharpness this low eliminates mottling, edginess and compression artifacts on HD content)
Color Temp: Cool (This appears to be a sensitive personal preference issue, can't explain it but I like cool better than warm even though I recognize it is not accurate color temp)
Color Management: On
Video NR: Off
Black Level: light

Do you mind sharing your current setting? and what type environment you're currently on?

Currently I'm watching my 42" from 2 meters away W/ one of those yellow ambient light from IKEA.

brightness +18 ... wow .. isn't that a lil bit too bright?
and aren't you reducing the lifespan of the tv?

sorry, nubsauce learning here.

Folks:

42PX60U - September 2006 build. Applied the TV tuner firmware and the DG board (clay face) firmware upgrades yesterday, no problems, and PQ does seem to improve a bit for facial details.

I have Verizon FiOS, Motorola QIP 6200-2 HD receiver with HDMI and Component Video outs. The box is set to 1080i output. Note that the old 'menu' function on the HD box does not work anymore - you have to go thru' the stupid new FiOS TV interactive menu to see the box settings, but cannot change them - this was possible in the old 'menu' function, where you could view and change the box settings with the TV ON, and the box OFF, just pressing 'menu' on the remote. This function has been disabled after the release of the new interactive guide 3 weeks ago.

Question: How do I scale some of the '800' numbered HD channels that show up with black vertical bars at the end? I can use H-FILL, JUST, but both of these crop the picture. 4:3 provides the white sidebars. The FULL setting shows the black bars (only some channels, see below). I've tried both the HDMI and component video connections, but this does not work. Also, the 'zoom adjust' is greyed out for both inputs.

My old TH-42PWD5UY (the commercial EDTV non-tuner, component video input only, plasma panel from Panny from 2002! I still prefer the PQ on this panel, don't ask me why, don't want to start an ED vs HD threadcrap here) had a picture position function (H-POS and V-POS) that I could use very effectively to fill up the screen completely. I cannot do that with the PX60 since the zoom adjust is *greyed out*. HDNET, PBS-HD, Discovery HD, Universal HD, Fox, TNT, seem fine (no bars, correct 16:9 aspect ratio, so no issues). The local HD channels - WBAL-DT, WJZ, WJLA come in various aspects and sizes - I'm near Baltimore. I could adjust them very well on the old panel - but on the new panel I cannot, and to fill the screen I have to live with JUST and crop off the ends.

Seems anal - am I missing something or doing something wrong? Suggestions and recommendations please! Thanks for the help!

I am experiencing some issues with my TH50PX600U and a CableCARD. After about 5-6 tries Cablevision finally got the CableCARD working on my unit. Unfortunatley I am not getting all the channels. I seem to be missing my premium channels such as HBO, Fox Sports, YES, etc. It is reading the CableCARD because I am getting the call letters for each station but the screen just stays black. Example: Channel 750 will show call letters HBOHD which is correct.

So I had another technician out and they are now saying it's a Panasonic issue and that I needed to call Panasonic to get access to the Main Menu so the TV can read the CableCARD Host ID. The supervisor at Cablevision said his tech could not get into the Panasonic Main Menu to correct this issue.

I then called Panasonic and they had no clue and are now saying they need to send a technician out to troubleshoot the issue. I know this is a fixable problem since my neighbor had the same issue with his 42" model. He told me Cablevision came out and had to make sure his premium package was assigned to the card (or something like that).

EDIT: I have the most recent version of the firmware that addresses SA CableCARD issues.

Does anyone know what I need to do to get the TV to correctly read the CableCARD. If I had to guess I would say I am getting about half the channels I am supposed to get. I do get all the channle son my other TV's as well as this one when a cable box is connected.

tcatnat,

I can only comment on my experience with Charter (Madision, WI). I purchased a TH42PX600U for my parents. My sister's in-laws purchased a TH42PX600U. My friend purchased a TH50PX600U. Everyone had problems with the installation of the CableCard.

I guarantee you that 99% of the time it will be your cable company's fault. Why can I make this statement? I'll tell you why. For everyone of the aforementioned HDTV's, Charter did not have the individual's account setup properly in the system. If you get the CableCard verification screen, which shows up when Charter(or whomever) communicates with your CableCard, you should be good to go.

I don't care what you do. Who you need to call. Get someone of knowledge to double/triple check your account setup. If your account is setup incorrectly your wasting time.

TRUST ME !!! I went through this crap THREE times.

^^ Thanks for the reply, that's what I was afraid of and that's what I thought was happeneing. The service technician fromPanasonic is actually going to call me before coming out. In th emean time I am calling Cablevision to have them double check my account settings.

tcatnat,

"I seem to be missing my premium channels such as HBO, Fox Sports, YES, etc. It is reading the CableCARD because I am getting the call letters for each station but the screen just stays black. Example: Channel 750 will show call letters HBOHD which is correct."

This is exactly what happened to my parent's HDTV. I spent over five hours watching the poor technician try to figure out the problem. He got fed up with the Charter(CSR) on the other line and decided to call his buddy(Charter Technician) who was working that day. His buddy said the the CSR had my parent's account setup all wrong, made a three minute change. Guess what all the channels showed up and no problems since then.

Looks like I would be considered a late adopter.

I drove about 90 miles to pickup a Hitachi plasma. While in that city, I decided to stop by my membership club to pick up a mount. Lo and behold, they had 4 58px60u's. So I bought one of those instead.

I'll be wall mounting it this weekend, assuming all my cables and surge suppressors arrive on time.

I've done my best to skim through the thread, but was wondering if anyone can tell me of any know defects or quality control issues I should look for on this set? My sources will be a PS3 and Directv.

Thanks,
Gerry

Known defects or quality control issues? Only that one of your HD sources is going to be Directv. I know they have Sunday Ticket but seriously, I can't believe how bad the PQ is on their HD channels. Hopefully it will improve when they move to mpeg4 compression. My uncle hated the picture he actually went back to cable even though he still has to pay for Directv for another year, he does still watch football with Sunday Ticket though.

Congrats on the new tv, it's a great set.

I'm new here and just purchased the 50'' 600U. I haven't gotten my TV stand yet, so I'm not ready to do any big set-ups, but I wanted to make sure everything was working. I got a Sony home theater system to go with the TV, but am not setting up the speakers just yet - but I did want to test-drive the TV and the picture. (It looks so sexy on my floor.) Unfortunately - I'm not getting any sound out of the TV speakers. What's up with that?! I've pressed every button and there's no sound coming out. I don't know if it's expecting the entire external speaker set-up. But the speakers on the TV are turned on, the volume is up, and it's not on mute. The DVD player is connected via an HDMI cable. What are the possible reasons I'm not getting sound?

One thing I did notice that's different between what the instructions booklet says and what my menu says is that my menu doesn't have a "Home theater" tab in the menu. It's pictured in the instructions booklet, but when I hit Menu this button isn't there. Any reason?

EDIT: I just plugged in one of the external speakers - and I do get audio. So the systems is probably set to disable the TV speakers somehow, but I don't know how. I've got them turned on in the menu. What else am I missing?


Thanks!

Baron,

1st try changing Audio/Other Adjustment/HDMI 1 In & HDMI 2 In to "Digital"

See if that works.

2nd make sure that your DVD player is passing the audio via the HDMI port/connection.

I've changed every setting I could find! And then hooked up another player via component video and analog audio: and the speakers worked. The new DVD player I got doesn't even have analog out! So it seems that TV speakers don't work when the connection is HDMI - it just expects the surround system.

In the meantime, as I break through 100 hours I have all of my picture settings at 0. How long does it take to get through 100 hours?

And here's a question that might have been answered before but: what's the difference between Full aspect ratio and Just aspect ratio? They seem identical to me. For now I'm playing everything in Just.

Yep, that's basically what it was. The card they gave me was assigned to someone elses account. Cablevision is so incompetent.

Does anyone know how to get the channel bar to display every time I change the channel? I can get it when hitting recall on the remote but I want to see it for the programming info when Ichange channels. I cannot find it in the manual anywhere.

I had my previous Cablevision DVR and a DVD player connected via HDMI 1 & 2 respectively and both produced sound form the get go. Make sure your cable is not defective and that any settings on your DVD player for sound are set properly.

Hi folks. Ran two firware updates today - although I felt I was having no troubles before the updates, the HD picture looks better to me...

I think it might be a DVD player setting. Though I can't figure out how to fix it! It's not a big deal - I'll be able to hook everything up properly in a few days. I was just afraid that perhaps the speakers on the TV weren't working!

About these first 100 hours: if one sits down to watch a two hour movie with the aspect ratio of 2:35 before these first 100 hours are up - are the black bars really at such a high risk of burning in? Who did the calculation of 100 hours to break in the system?

When watching 4:3 programs - what is the best (safest) color for the side bars: black or grey?

Do I understand correctly from my reading here, if I want two sets of picture settings for my 50PX60U I will need to connect, for example, my DVD with component and SA8300HD with HDMI?

The picture on my SA8300HD needs quite a bit more brightness etc. than what I have calibrated from the DVD with the Avia disk.

Also, is there a method to get a better calibration for cable TV other than just eyeballing it?

I just recently checked the number of hours used on my 42" 60u, and I found that I've used it for over 1700 hours. Every once in a while, I will get some IR, but I was just wondering if anyone had any good calibration settings for me? I've had almost everything very close to zero for such a long time now that I'd like to see the best picture I can get. I know that everyone has a personal preference, but can anyone recommend a setting that is popular and that won't cause too much IR?

Thanks.

I tried a link but it didn't work so here is a quote from the review at the Plasma TV Buying Guide.

"In order to fully optimize the picture quality of our TH-42PX60U, we adjusted the picture settings to match those of our ISF-calibrated Panasonic TH-50PX60U. Because Panasonic sets meticulous standards for the plasma panels and internal circuitry in its PX60U family of plasma televisions, we can be fairly certain that the TH-42PX60U has the same optimal picture settings as the previously ISF-calibrated TH-50PX60U.

The following table contains the optimal picture settings for the TH-42PX60U. We highly suggest that, if you own a Panasonic TH-42PX60U, you imitate these picture settings. By configuring the television to the below settings we were able to get the color temperature to D6650K, a substantial improvement over the out-of-the-box measurement of D10000K+. Using the below settings to regulate the color temperature and white balance virtually perfects the picture of the TH-42PX60U:

Panasonic TH-42PX60U Optimal Picture Settings (ISF Calibration)
Picture Mode Standard
Picture +22
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm
Enhanced Black Level Off

Figure 1. Optimal picture settings for the Panasonic TH-42PX60U using ISF Calibration."


Of course YMMV, tweak away. You really don't need to worry about IR as long as you don't put a game on pause all day or something. I've had my 42px60u for 14 months and have not taken any precautions beyond the first 100 hours of use and have had no problems.

Have you used these settings yourself? I have DirecTV and have a mixture of HD and SD channels, so I'm just trying to find a perfect balance.

Best settings will vary from set to set but for me these settings are close. I have mine as follows for viewing on cable:
picture mode ... standard
picture ... +22
brightness ... +10
color ... -1
tint ... -4
sharpness ... +1
color temperature ... warm
black level ... light

These settings are great for me but I don't watch SD, except for news channels, so I haven't experimented with a compromise. I also have different settings for viewing HD DVDs with my A2.

I have a 50'' PX600U and my setting are:

Standard
Pic mode: +10
Brightness: 0
Color: +15
Tint: -5
Sharpness: +15
Color temp: Normal
Color mng: On
CATS: Off
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Black level: Light

I set these by eye while watching "Fellowship of the Ring" in a darkened room. These settings look pretty normal to me. Plasma TV Buying Guide reviews a 58'' version of my TV and I tried their settings and really didn't like them: too soft, too bland, too bright.

Now about the sidebars: I have the option of having Light, Medium, Dark, and Off. The Off makes them black, the rest are various shades of grey. Would Off actually be better than the rest?