# Panasonic releases firemawre to fix color accuracy



## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

I'm very happy to announce that Panasonic has released the firmware upgrade to fix the color accuracy on all GT30 and VT30 series Viera Connect TVs. *Do not instal this firmware update if your VT30/GT30 was professionally calibrated as it will wipe out your calibration.*

I'm proud to say this color accuracy fix came about as a result of our 10/17/11 shoot-out where we disclosed the red push. Jeff Samuals, Bill Shlindler and the senior directors of quality control and services attended the shoot-out. 

Jeff Samuels spoke publicly at our shoot-out to thank us for teaching them about the issues we found on the VT30. It's that type of corporate culture that I most sincerely appreciate in a company. All electronic devices have bugs, the companies that admit them and come up with fixes stand above the rest of the pack. 

My sincerest thanks and appreciation goes Panasonic and the few companies that listen to constructive criticism and are proactive to fix defects. 

-Robert


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## Dave Upton (Aug 4, 2009)

This is excellent news! I am actually shocked that they listened, as this was a subject of contention for me recommending the display to friends. Thanks for sharing the news.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Thanks for the news Robert! :T


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## MikeBiker (Jan 3, 2010)

It does seem to be unusual for a company to actually listen to users and then take appropriate action to fix the reported problem in already sold merchandise. I always wonder why the company didn't find this kind of color inaccuracy in their own pre-release testing.


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

Mike, I agree, I assume things can pass through by not doing thorough testing and or the ability for the Beta process to allow for every possible consumer application to be tested. In other cases engineering and or marketing feels the bugs or defects are not serious enough for the masses to see or care enough about. 

It takes a dedicated and thorough evaluation by a focused team of experts to find and identify bugs. I can tell you that our team of experts are not thrilled to do the many weeks of hard work to find and then determine why the defect are happening and then pass al of their hard work along to the manufactures for free. 

My feelings are that I am happy to do this and so sincerely appreciate the great executives that value our contributions and take positive action to find solutions and fix the defects in their products. 

Panasonic and Sharp (Elite) are passionate to get it right and I congratulate them for having the guts to face their mistakes and make them right. We told Sharp they needed them to fix the color errors and we must have discrete codes and in two weeks I got the discrete codes and now we're in the final stages of completing the color decoding issue. 

Panasonic fixed the fluctuating brightness very quickly once we reported it and now has fixed the color accuracy defect. Other companies have ignored fixing defects in the design and manufacturing processes.

Thanks for everyone's very nice replies!

-Robert


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## donnymac (Nov 6, 2009)

Just to clarify, and correct me if you know differently Robert. This update only fixes the luminance issue with the VT/GT and does not fix the color decoder problem.


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

Hi Donny, I honestly don't know, which is why I called it a color accuracy fix. I can tell you it's different than the fix Panasonic gave us for our shoot-out. 

Panasonic took our shoot-out VT30 back to the USA headquarters and when they returned it the color accuracy looks so much better. I also loaded the firmware into another store demo we have and it also greatly improved the color accuracy. Flesh tones look excellent after the upgrade.

I'll speak with my contacts next week and ask what they did in the upgrade and report back. I can tell you this new firmware greatly improved the red push. This is an upgrade everyone who has not had their VT30 professionally calibrated should install. 

-Robert


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## donnymac (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback Robert. There is a member over at HDJ who is working directly with Panasonic engineering in regards to this matter who reports that the color decoder is not fixed. Other owners are also reporting more accurate colors after the update.


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

Thank you Donny.

-Robert


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## tazz3 (Oct 26, 2011)

so this is only for the vt and get no st30?? this is not right panny should get slaped with a law suit.
iam calling panny tomorrw then a friend who is a laywer


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

tazz3, the firmware fix for color accuracy is for all VT30 and GT30 series Viera Connect TVs, not just the VT30 series. 

I don't think this justifies a law suit. Also you might want to post on the HDF insider thread where av junkie hangs out.

-Robert


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## sahmen (Dec 4, 2011)

Robert Zohn said:


> Panasonic took our shoot-out VT30 back to the USA headquarters and when they returned it the color accuracy looks so much better. I also loaded the firmware into another store demo we have and it also greatly improved the color accuracy. Flesh tones look excellent after the upgrade.
> 
> I can tell you this new firmware greatly improved the red push. This is an upgrade everyone who has not had their VT30 professionally calibrated should install.
> 
> -Robert


Agreed. It would be really great to compare the GT30 and VT30's PQs post firmware with those of the Sammy pnd7000 and pnd8000... I for one am on the verge of pulling the trigger on one of these units ( a 55 incher or bigger), and would really like to see another shootout (although I am aware that I am probably hoping for too much at this point)...

Still if you have some words of advice on what to get, I'd gladly welcome them.. Thanks.


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

sahmen, welcome to HTS!

Both are great displays, but considering Panasonic's deeper blacks and the fluctuating brightness and color fixes I recommend the VT30/GT30 series. Better overall picture quality, better built-in video processing and better integrated audio performance

-Robert


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## sahmen (Dec 4, 2011)

Robert Zohn said:


> sahmen, welcome to HTS!
> 
> Both are great displays, but considering Panasonic's deeper blacks and the fluctuating brightness and color fixes I recommend the VT30/GT30 series. Better overall picture quality, better built-in video processing and better integrated audio performance
> 
> -Robert


Thanks Robert: And now here's one more question regarding the panasonics: If both the 55VT30 and 60GT30 are within budget range, which one will it make more sense to go for, all things considered? Both size and 2D/3d PQ matter to me, but I will gladly sacrifice the extra 5 inches on the GT30 for the PQ of the VT30 if the quality of the VT30 is superior enough to warrant the trade-off... On the other hand, if the PQ of the GT30 matches that of the VT30 closely enough, then it would probably be better to go with the larger sized GT30: 3d viewing has made size rather important nowadays as I normally sit about 11' away from the screen.

I would go to a show room to compare the pictures on the Units for myself, but I live in a relatively small New England town and the local best buy does not even have any of the these top panasonic models (or those of the Samsung for that matter) on display in the store... I am always referred to a Magnolia store which is located more than 50 miles away whenever I ask to see the PQ of any of these top plasma models... They do have the ST30s here, but I have never seriously considered the ST30s. Thanks again.

Thanks again.

sahmen


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## Robert Zohn (Aug 13, 2011)

sahmen, I would take a 60" GT30 over the 55" VT30.

-Robert


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