Panasonic 42pz700, 50pz700u, 50pz750u, 58pz700u and 58pz750u Owners Thread! - Page 310

Yes. I'd advise letting the TV do a full auto-scan. It took almost 30 minutes on my set, but it did a lot of searching and found the QAM channels in the sub-70s, with some exceptions. (Like Fox-HD on 73-13, for instance, but PBS-HD on 9-5.)

In my 58/750U's About screen, it has several version numbers. The top one, "TV", shows 0140-0030. I seem to recall we need to read this in reverse, so is my firmware 03.00.04.10? Or do I look elsewhere in the service menu for firmware revs?

I have no idea. I've never had reason yet to try and figure it out.

As I understand it, your TV version would be 3.04. The only update for the 750 series is 3.02 so you're covered.

How would you read 01001020 into a version number?

Based on what I was told by Plasma Concierge awhile back on my set's version of 0100-0300 equating to 3.01, yours should be 2.101 which would make sense given the last update was 2.090 dated 7/07, however, a call to Plasma Concierge would be your best bet to confirm.

There is a steep learning curve with the software, charts, data, terminology/concepts, and getting familiar what the idiosynchrasies of the TV's controls. Eventually it all comes together, but be prepared to spend some long nights annoying everyone in your house while you tweak away.


Someone recently posted a so-so translated version of that docment in the ColorHCFR 2.0 thread.
I have verified that my Oppo 970 converts the HCFR PAL DVD correctly. You can use Avia, DVE, GetGray, as well as free (SD)DVD, HD-DVD and BluRay disks available in the AVS calibration forums.

Sub-Brt is the master control for the user Brightness control. If you raise it, you would have to lower the user brightness to get the same black level. And it has the same affect as the user Brightness control except that it is more granular (finer). For example, (and I don't know the exact relationship) 5 sub-brt clicks does the same thing as 1 brightness click in the same direction.


Have you checked this with a black-level test pattern? My guess is that Dark will still clip blacks even if you pushed sub-brt to excessive (unwatchable) levels.

This is called false contouring or color banding. To some extent it is the fault of the display, although I don't think the 700u has any serious false contouring issues.

It could very well be in the source. Mpeg compression often created this effect.

Thanks for the info! I hadn't checked that other thread in a while. I've now downloaded the document translation and took a quick peek at it. Lot of the terms up front are ones I already know from having calibrated and profiled my home monitors for many years (I'm on my second puck). Only a teeny tiny step, but it's a start and the information in that thread hopefully will get me past the more "fun" parts.

Should get interesting.... but I think it'll be fun (for the first couple hours anyway... :-).

Thanks again!!!

Hello Gang,

I just saw some pretty good price for 50pz77u on Fry's.com (free shipping too). I was leaning toward the pz700u but the price differential is quite substantial. Any thought on this?
Thanks.

I've seen very similar results with Bright/Sub-Brt ratios, based on all my "testing". Dark mode, while it looks great for say, "watching older (pre-2000) movies" which seem kinda "pale" on HD channels, does still crush out more modern video content. Its all relative based on what's done in Service vs. User menu, as one setting could negate the other's changes.

Ok guys and gals, I think I may be on to something. I just woke up and did some quick changes at 3am (fell asleep on couch at 10pm after making minor changes to "Contrast" on Component) so take this with a grain of salt.

I was a little worried going into Service menu a few weeks ago, on the Component port, because the Contrast has what I'll n00bishly call "active Contrast monitor", which has realtime contrast level display of sorts (I was calibrating live TV). Initially, I thought I had a stuck volume key on the remote. Anyway long story shorter, I initially had Contrast set to about 185, which is near what I think the set came with, and had dropped it down to ~150 tonight. This seemed to help out with the "torchy whites".

When I went back in later, I dropped the value to 11B, and now I do not get that glare from "reflections" on peoples' faces, etc, that I had mentioned earlier. This allowed me to push Picture in Custom mode, up to +30, without giving it that super-saturated look. Subsequently, I was able dig out even more detail in the dark sections. The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 trailers on HDNet look much much better in this respect. These changes seem to give that extra brightness people were looking for from Cinema mode, while still retaining an overall clean PQ.

The biggest discovery though was that the changes on the Component port seem to carry over to HDMI (global setting?), whereas Contrast is "not" configurable on HDMI (at least not my set, firmware issue?). My once "soft/blurry" component PQ is now really sharp/focused, even with my $40 Monster Cables. The little bit of SD I watched after the changes, via DishNetwork I was complaining about, also looks markedly better.

My preliminary settings are:

User Menu/Component
Picture: +25
Brightness: +4
Color: (-3)
Tint: (-3)
Sharpness: (+2)
Black Level: Light
Color Temp: Warm

Service Menu
Contrast: 11B (HDMI port still says 000; I'll still be working with this value)
Color: 35
Sub-Brt: 820 (I'll be backing this down to ~800)
Tint: 00
R Cut: 80
B Cut: 80
G Cut: 80
R Drv: DE
G Drv: DB
B Drv: 99
All Cut: 80
All Drv: DE

(All of the Cut/Drv Settings are pretty much Default)

There is still some wiggle room and fine tuning left in it, but where my previous posts got me in the ball park, I now have some good seats. At this point, "I feel like I have a better TV". I no longer feel the "need" to get an ISF, where I was once on the fence. I think I've pretty much resolved the few issues I had regarding the: over-saturated Reds, slight Green push (minor Tint changes), torchy whites, and crushed blacks (still need a lil work, but much more liveable now).

Hope this helps.

Use the "Search this Thread" feature to read what others have said about 77u vs. 700u, however, the consensus (given this is the 700 thread) is the 700u will provide the better picture. Just depends on how much the better picture is worth to you.

Edit: Fry's has discounted the 77u and is Out of Stock on the 700u. That should tell you something right there.

I had the 77U first...then returned it for the 700U...the 77U anti-glare screen is very effective but it creates a matte-like LCD picture quality...for my plasma tastes, the 77U lacked the Wow-Factor PQ...then I got the 700U...Wow!

To my eyes, the difference is pretty profound...perhaps, it depends on your viewing enviroment and wallet.

I am believer in the fewest processes the better. I set up my 42PZ700U to convert the native output of my Directv HR 21. The SD was definitely better. The only downside is the time the TV takes to convert at channel change. This takes up to 3 seconds more when there is a resolution change. Not a bad trade-off for a better SD picture. So I was intrigued with the Firmware update for the 42PZ700U. The update (47.09t2) was for the D-Board. This controls the Format Converter/Plasma AL/Sub-Field Processor. The improvements were supposed to be listed in the instructions. They were not. So I decided to take a chance and upgrade. I downloaded the firmware into the SD chip and installed. A check of the service menu confirmed the installation. So what has changed? No visible effect as yet. The only thing I have noticed is that the conversion time has stretched another 2 seconds. Not a great trade-off if there is no corresponding visual improvement.

What are your settings for the HR21...

Native = ON

All resolutions checked off?

How did you setup your 42PZ700U to convert the "native" output?

My understanding is that D-Board firmware update is only for those folks that have had their D-Board previously replaced by a technician so there probably would not be any noticeable difference otherwise. And thankfully for those of us that see no noticable difference with the Panny upscaling, we're able to take advantage of the speedier channel changes. Although my SD channel watching is rapidly disappearing.


The 700/750u automatically converts all inputs to 1080p .. there's no switch.

He was talking about the settings on his DirecTV box. You can set them to output native signal, or to have a fixed resolution. In other words, let the DVR upscale or let the TV. He is choosing to let the TV upscale, which I agree with.

So setting native = ON and checking all the resolutions off on the D* HR21 will do the trick and will let the TV upscale?

The first part of his question, yes he was, however, the part I cut out he was referring directly to the 700u which is the part I addressed.

You should have the boxes for 480i, 720p and 1080i checked and native 'ON'. This will let the TV do the upscaling/deinterlacing.

When you say checking off, I assume you mean the boxes ARE checked. If you uncheck them, then the DVR will not send that signal.

Yes....that is what I meant by checked off

Thakns for the info!

I am totally satisfied with the anti-reflection aspect of my 58pz700. I can watch it with lights on nearby the listening area, lamps located on either side of the listening sofa, and there is no noticeable distraction/reflection on the screen from this. It is totally awesome IMO.

How far are you seated from the 58pz700? I am deciding between the 50 and the 58. Also, does the 58 overly dominate the room (your expectations vs reality)?

I'm actually kinda disappointed with that aspect of my 42PZ700. I just received it a few days ago as a warranty replacement for my PX600, and I cannot tell any difference between them (with respect to being anti-reflective). I see exactly the same reflections. I even compared them side by side before the Panny rep took away the old one. There is no improvement in the anti-reflective coating on the 700 series versus the older 600 series. I was hoping for more.
I really think that this is just something that the marketing folks decided to throw in there, just like the "480Hz sub-field drive", which has probably been a 'feature' for a few years, but never advertised, until they felt they had to compete with 120Hz LCDs.

Agreed. I can readily see lamps set on either side of my sofa which is especially noticable in dark scenes. That's what prompted me to set up bias lighting on the rear of the Panny resulting in no annoying reflections.


Many would agree bigger is better limited only by one's budget. Ideal viewing for a 50" is 8'-11' and for a 58" is 10'-13'. Several posters have commented viewing their 58" at 9'-10'.

To fully appreciate the quality of an HDTV, you're going to want to sit closer than what you're used to with an SDTV. The general rule of thumb for ideal viewing distance range:

HDTV: 2-3 times display width
SDTV: 3-5 times display width

My first look at an HDTV was my dad's 42" Samsung which initially I thought was HUGE compared to his old 25" SDTV. I thought that size was more than sufficient until I did more research on HDTV's and opted for the 50". Now when I visit him, his 42" seems rather small in comparison to the 50". Had I known beforehand just how spectactular viewing HD programming is on this set, I would have opted for the 58" had it been in the budget as it definitely would not have been too large in my family room of 15'x12'.

Well, after a little tweaking, it does turn out that my cable company switched around where the HD channels are located. So I found all the HD channels again -- though I'm still having an issue with ABC (7-1).

The TV picked up two different channels on the 7-1 designation. One is the true ABC-HD... The other is nothing but static.

If I assign the HD channel to my favorites, it also picks up the static version.

Then, if I'm browsing my channels via favorite, it only picks up the static channel and not the HD one.

Annoying. Think I'll just wipe all the channels clean and start again.

Thanks again for everyone's help on this one-

I believe what we tried to tell you. And it's going to happen again.

I'm a little further than that recommended by some places for a 58" set (but optimum by some others ... seems to vary) so it's theoretically good if we had one even bigger (but wouldn't fit -- I measured first and chose the largest one that would fit into the corner where it's located, fireplace mantle on the side is a boundary). We're 12' from our sitting back in the chair eyes to the center of the screen in a almost perfect horizontal line. If I sit up on the front edge of the chair and lean forward a little I'd be at the 9 feet that's the normal stated optimum for a 1080p set of this size (can't say things blossom wonderfully when leaning forward like that, actually I don't notice anything :-).

As to dominating the room, it does currently, but in a few years I expect that it'll lose that distinction will go back to the room's focus that it was before when we had what's now thought of as the small, puny, tiny, 32" Sony XBR set we had previously. The set being new, and so awesome, the room revolves around it for now. :-)

Anyway... one place to play with numbers is here:

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/v...l#anchor_13194

But there are others. I think my method, practically speaking, is the proper one: largest one before one's wall runs out or one's wallet runs out, whichever limit is met first. :-)