Joined
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211 Posts
Okay, here is my set-up and settings.
Equipment
45"x80" Parkland (Matte White 1.0) Screen (Soon to be replaced w/Stewart Perforated)
PT-L500U Projector
Panasonic RP82 DVD Player
Custom Broadcast Grade 40' Component Cable
DVD Player and Projector powered from cheap-o "Clean Circuitry" Power Strips.
10'8" Throw Distance to PT-L500U
Projector is fitted with a 67mm (with at 62->67 step up ring) Hoya UV/Haze filter (it's just a piece of multicoated clear optical glass, that way I don't ever have to cap the projector or clean the lens)
My viewing with the projector is about 95% DVD so I really only have it calibrated for that.
Component Input
-----------------------
Picture Preset "CINEMA 2"
Picture Menu
----------------
Contrast +2
Bright -1
Color +1
Tint 0
Sharpness -3
Color Temp -1
ever-so-slight "de focus" to the left.
Lamp Low
Fan Normal
I found that the Color Temp -1 had by far the greatest effect on zeroing color bias, creating a nearly dead-on 18% middle grey, and all but nullifying the reported "green" issue.
I usually watch with two art deco up-firing torchiere lights (located behind the seating position) dimmed to about 5% of the their total brightness. This helps black levels and doesn't have any 'wash-out' effect on the screen.
I would recommend that anyone with a Matte White 1.0 type screen keep the "Advanced" menu setting on 0. The effects of the "Advanced" options are far to severe if your not compensating for a screen surface or some kind of filtration.
It's really a lovely projector, and with the exception of a super deep black, it creates a very watchable picture. The fan is a little loud for my taste, although I really don't notice it that often. At a 13' viewing distance I NEVER see screendoor, and only on poorly mastered DVDs do I ever notice anything that looks like VB (usually it's mpeg blocking). Yes, the VB is there if I get up really close and scrutinize the image (who watches from 3 feet away?!?!?), but the flicker tweak has essentially made it a non-issue from any distance greater than 7'.
Properly set-up this projector will easily compete with the images thrown from the InFocus 5700 & 7200 I demoed (1 hour with each) at Magnolia Audio & Video. Magnolia claimed that both their Infocus projectors were professionally calibrated, although there's the chance they could have been tampered with. The PT-L500U has no rainbows or color wheel whine making it the best bang for the buck for me by far.
My contact at Panasonic told me that a colorist at Universal (the person who operates the films to tape telecine) consulted on the color set-up for one of the presets on the PT-L500U. After looking at them all for some time now, I'd bet the colorists notes ended up being used primarily on the "Cinema 2" preset.
I like that you can store settings in MEMORY 1,2,3 for each preset so if anyone out the wants to try my settings you can save your settings first so you don't have to overwrite your own.
My disclaimer: your milage may vary- this is the only PT-L500U I've spent any serious amount of time with and I don't know if you'll get the same results. I've heard that ISF calibration is done per each individual projector, and that they don't prescribe to a one-setting fits all approach. This same is definitely true with professional CRT displays. The phosphors will deteriorate at different rates so often 2 of the same CRT screens will require different settings in order to match.
I.
Equipment
45"x80" Parkland (Matte White 1.0) Screen (Soon to be replaced w/Stewart Perforated)
PT-L500U Projector
Panasonic RP82 DVD Player
Custom Broadcast Grade 40' Component Cable
DVD Player and Projector powered from cheap-o "Clean Circuitry" Power Strips.
10'8" Throw Distance to PT-L500U
Projector is fitted with a 67mm (with at 62->67 step up ring) Hoya UV/Haze filter (it's just a piece of multicoated clear optical glass, that way I don't ever have to cap the projector or clean the lens)
My viewing with the projector is about 95% DVD so I really only have it calibrated for that.
Component Input
-----------------------
Picture Preset "CINEMA 2"
Picture Menu
----------------
Contrast +2
Bright -1
Color +1
Tint 0
Sharpness -3
Color Temp -1
ever-so-slight "de focus" to the left.
Lamp Low
Fan Normal
I found that the Color Temp -1 had by far the greatest effect on zeroing color bias, creating a nearly dead-on 18% middle grey, and all but nullifying the reported "green" issue.
I usually watch with two art deco up-firing torchiere lights (located behind the seating position) dimmed to about 5% of the their total brightness. This helps black levels and doesn't have any 'wash-out' effect on the screen.
I would recommend that anyone with a Matte White 1.0 type screen keep the "Advanced" menu setting on 0. The effects of the "Advanced" options are far to severe if your not compensating for a screen surface or some kind of filtration.
It's really a lovely projector, and with the exception of a super deep black, it creates a very watchable picture. The fan is a little loud for my taste, although I really don't notice it that often. At a 13' viewing distance I NEVER see screendoor, and only on poorly mastered DVDs do I ever notice anything that looks like VB (usually it's mpeg blocking). Yes, the VB is there if I get up really close and scrutinize the image (who watches from 3 feet away?!?!?), but the flicker tweak has essentially made it a non-issue from any distance greater than 7'.
Properly set-up this projector will easily compete with the images thrown from the InFocus 5700 & 7200 I demoed (1 hour with each) at Magnolia Audio & Video. Magnolia claimed that both their Infocus projectors were professionally calibrated, although there's the chance they could have been tampered with. The PT-L500U has no rainbows or color wheel whine making it the best bang for the buck for me by far.
My contact at Panasonic told me that a colorist at Universal (the person who operates the films to tape telecine) consulted on the color set-up for one of the presets on the PT-L500U. After looking at them all for some time now, I'd bet the colorists notes ended up being used primarily on the "Cinema 2" preset.
I like that you can store settings in MEMORY 1,2,3 for each preset so if anyone out the wants to try my settings you can save your settings first so you don't have to overwrite your own.
My disclaimer: your milage may vary- this is the only PT-L500U I've spent any serious amount of time with and I don't know if you'll get the same results. I've heard that ISF calibration is done per each individual projector, and that they don't prescribe to a one-setting fits all approach. This same is definitely true with professional CRT displays. The phosphors will deteriorate at different rates so often 2 of the same CRT screens will require different settings in order to match.
I.
.... now, life is good.
