# Panasonic TX-PxxVT50 Official Thread



## rab-byte

Was looking around for an owners thread but haven't seen one yet.

We just got the 55" in our store an I thought I'd most my initial impressions of it to start. 

Good blacks good shadow detail. Not as black as our calibrated elite but very clean. Saturation looked good in custom after a very little amount of tweaking. I have some questions about 24p signals. 

I'm going to post an in-depth calibration review in about a month if no one beats me to it.


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## lcaillo

*Re: VT50*

I assume you mean the Panasonic VT50, but other users may not know what you mean or may not search on that term. It helps people to find information if you include the brand and the full model, using something like xx to replace the size if you want to refer to a series of sets.


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## rab-byte

lcaillo said:


> I assume you mean the Panasonic VT50, but other users may not know what you mean or may not search on that term. It helps people to find information if you include the brand and the full model, using something like xx to replace the size if you want to refer to a series of sets.


Yep I do. 
If you're an admin could you change the title?
I'm on my phone and can't see if you are


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## lcaillo

*Re: VT50*

Is the model number designation TC-PxxVT50? Do you not have the option to edit your thread? I thought users had that, but I may be mistaken.


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## rab-byte

lcaillo said:


> Is the model number designation TC-PxxVT50? Do you not have the option to edit your thread? I thought users had that, but I may be mistaken.


I post almost exclusively from my phone. 
I'll check later from my computer


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## cleveland plasma

These sets are mighty bad for sure.


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## lcaillo

What do you mean by that? Bad how?


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## Gostan

lcaillo said:


> What do you mean by that? Bad how?


I think CP means just the opposite like top of the line or kickass when he says "mighty bad":T

Stan


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## lcaillo

I suspect that you are correct, but one has to remember when posting that we have people from all over the world reading this, and people from very different cultures. Many would not get that meaning.


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## Gostan

lcaillo said:


> I suspect that you are correct, but one has to remember when posting that we have people from all over the world reading this, and people from very different cultures. Many would not get that meaning.


I agree, but we need to take into consideration and give Chris a little leeway because he is from Cleveland.:rofl:

Stan


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## Gostan

Icaillo

On a more serious note, I do have the 65VT50 on preorder and expect to receive delivery by the end of this month. It will be replacing my 58V10 (which will be relocated to secondary loft room). I promise that i will definitely update this thread in June with my impressions, after i take delivery and reasonable break-in time/self-calibration.

Stan


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## cleveland plasma

^^^ TC-P65VT50 have been out in the US for about 7 days.


Gostan said:


> I think CP means just the opposite like top of the line or smokin' when he says "mighty bad":T Stan


Correct.


lcaillo said:


> I suspect that you are correct, but one has to remember when posting that we have people from all over the world reading this, and people from very different cultures. Many would not get that meaning.


 Sorry about that. I do understand what you are saying.



Gostan said:


> I agree, but we need to take into consideration and give Chris a little leeway because he is from Cleveland.:rofl:
> Stan


 LOL, come on now Cleveland is not bad. I think I wish I could just move somewhere else for a while though warmer 


--- Chad B review should be posted for the TC-P65VT50 in a few.......


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## vic_0002

The VT50 seems to be getting very positive feedback. While the black level doesn't actually match the 9th generation Kuro Elites, the gap is now no longer significant in terms of actual dark room performance (unlike last year's VT30). Haven't heard much about color accuracy other than having no issues at all. (Hopefully it performs like the VX300 in this regard).

Sounds like a very good accomplishment, considering the much lower cost compared to the Kuro Elites back in the day. I look forward to more feedback by calibrators and of course, the next VE Shootout!


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## Gostan

cleveland plasma said:


> ^^^ TC-P65VT50 have been out in the US for about 7 days.
> 
> 
> Correct.
> Sorry about that. I do understand what you are saying.
> 
> LOL, come on now Cleveland is not bad. I think I wish I could just move somewhere else for a while though warmer
> 
> 
> --- If you search Chad B, he does have a review posted for the TC-P65VT50.


Chris, Thx for helping Chad B get his VT50 review up on the web so swiftly. I would like to read his updates after he gets to reclalibrate with the updated calibration firmware. And thx to the Indians for helping my woeful Red Sox finally win one at Fenway last evening.


Stan


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## cleveland plasma

vic_0002 said:


> The VT50 seems to be getting very positive feedback. While the black level doesn't actually match the 9th generation Kuro Elites, the gap is now no longer significant in terms of actual dark room performance (unlike last year's VT30).


Right on, Chads exact words. The closest match to the Kuro is here ! As far as plasma's go.......


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## JimP

vic_0002 said:


> The VT50 seems to be getting very positive feedback. While the black level doesn't actually match the 9th generation Kuro Elites, the gap is now no longer significant in terms of actual dark room performance (unlike last year's VT30). Haven't heard much about color accuracy other than having no issues at all. (Hopefully it performs like the VX300 in this regard).
> 
> Sounds like a very good accomplishment, considering the much lower cost compared to the Kuro Elites back in the day. I look forward to more feedback by calibrators and of course, the next VE Shootout!


About color, on another forum I asked D-Nice to comment on the color. His brief response was "It's accurate"

What else is there to know?


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## lcaillo

It would be nice to see measurements. On man's accurate is another man's...


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## Chad B

The Panasonic TC-P65VT50 is the brand new flagship of Panasonic’s plasma line. It sports all the web based features you’d expect in a Smart TV, and it’s glass over bezel design gives it the looks to match the brains. The screen filter is very effective, minimizing distinct reflections without smearing them and remaining commendably dark even under harsh fluorescent lights. Chris from Cleveland Plasma had the VT50 finishing up a few days of break in and ready for some serious attention. 

_*Before calibration: *_

Standard mode is the mode the VT50 comes in out of the box. In this state, the VT50’s picture was extremely dim and drab. I saw brightness pumping and line bleed in the DVD menu, and pans had the fake-looking Soap Opera Effect smoothing. Skin tones were overly ruddy, though bearable. Shadow detail was somewhat lacking and colored, with charcoal gray suits looking a bit too dark and bluish toned. On the positive side, blacks were very deep and the picture had a good sense of depth. Clearly, any owner who wishes to get the best performance from the VT50 will have to make switching to a better picture mode a top priority.

One of those better picture modes is Cinema. Switching to Cinema brought a breath of fresh air to the picture, with much more acceptable brightness and color. Speaking of color, bright colors did appear to be a bit hot, and the overall feel was too earthy-toned. Brightness stability appeared good, though I noticed a hint of the Dirty Screen Effect in panning whites. Shadow detail was very good, with dark objects easy to see (possibly a bit too bright) and fairly neutral toned. The SOE was present again, giving movie pans an overly smoothed look. Depth and black levels continued to impress. Cinema had a lot of promise, though a careful calibration would be required to alleviate the somewhat earthy toned cast and slightly over rich colors.

Switching to THX Cinema brought slightly sharper definition over regular Cinema mode, and movie pans looked excellent. There was a bit more life in the image, and colors appeared to be slightly better balanced. Dark images appeared neutral and well balanced, though there was still a slightly earthy toned look to the image. There appeared to be just a bit of added graininess. THX Cinema had a lot going for it: there was a ton of pop, excitement, and dimension in the image.

Game and Custom modes looked very similar, the difference being that Custom opens up many more calibration options in the advanced picture menu. These modes showed some promise, with a bright, punchy picture, but whites looked a bit hard and dark images appeared too dark and tended to sink down into a black blob. The picture appeared overly enhanced and processed in these modes, though the VT50’s excellent blacks were evident.

Though most of the viewing was done in a dark room, I turned the lights on to check out the THX Bright Room mode. This mode is intended to punch through ambient light while still retaining a good deal of accuracy, and I am impressed with how well this mode worked in moderately bright lighting. Shadow detail was easily visible, though the beginning of chapter 2 in The Dark Knight showed some layers of blue in extremely dark objects. The picture had a lot of pop and punch; blacks blended in with the bezel, giving a great sense of contrast. Reds were not quite rich enough, and if I had to nit pick I’d say highlights were a bit greenish, but overall this mode did it’s job very well.

The before calibration measured performance of each of these modes is attached.

_*Calibration:*_

I began by calibrating the THX mode’s white balance in the service menu, which was a familiar, easy task. The results were good, and fairly similar to what I obtained with the GT50 I reviewed recently. It is worth noting that the VT50’s THX mode is better tuned than the VT30, measuring better in significant areas even after calibration on both sets.

The VT50 adds some significant calibration adjustments in the VT50’s Custom and ISF Day/Night modes that could possibly improve upon the performance of THX mode. Since Panasonic did not include a serial port on the VT50, I had to use the Ethernet connection method to calibrate the VT50’s ISF Day and Night modes with CalMAN. I found several problems once I started the Day mode calibration. First, when I started CalMAN’s auto calibration routine, I noticed that while it was having success smoothing out the grayscale, it tried and tried to adjust gamma with no change. I watched as CalMAN read the 90% step, found it was too high in level, and brought the 90% luminance control down, down, and down some more; all the while not making the slightest bit of difference in the reading. CalMAN finally gave up and went down to the next step and repeated the process at 80% on down. The end result was an improvement in grayscale tracking but little improvement over most of the gamma, which was in fairly bad shape (much worse than THX mode) to begin with.

I discovered that, strangely, any of the luminance (multipoint gamma) controls, whether 10%, 60%, or 100%, controlled only the luminance in the 0-15% range. For instance, the 80% control had no impact whatsoever at 80%, but it had a significant effect from 0-15%. That happened whether or not I had the brightness and contrast at the CalMAN recommended 50 and 100 starting points.

I thought that I would try leaving all the luminance adjustments at their default positions and just take all 3 colors up or down to calibrate the gamma. At that time I discovered that there was a strange interaction preventing the success of that technique. If I lowered green, red and blue were raised. If I raised red, blue and green were lowered. If I lowered all 3 colors simultaneously, there was absolutely no change in any respect.
Similarly, there was no change in gamut luminance with the CMS luminance control.

Interestingly, the Custom picture mode, which the ISF modes are based on, did not have these problems. Panasonic has some refining to do to the calibration adjustments for the ISF modes.

In the end, through careful manipulation of the controls, I was able to improve the gamma somewhat, so it was only marginally poorer than in THX Cinema mode.

Black level measured a superb .0025 fL in 60 Hz mode and .002 fL in 96 Hz mode, the lowest figures I have ever obtained; though the Pioneer Elite Kuro was lower still, as measured by others. The modified ANSI contrast ratio was 8309:1, with black steady at .0025 and white at 20.95 fL in 60 Hz mode. In 96 Hz mode, the ANSI contrast improved to 10554:1, with black at .002 and white at 21.2 fL.

In THX Cinema mode, there was no significant color differences between 96 Hz and 60 Hz modes, which is very good news. 
The VT50 did almost as well on the AVS 709 Dynamic Brightness test as the 50GT50, which means it did better than the Samsung PN-E8000 and LG PM6700.

The calibration reports for THX Cinema and ISF Day modes are attached.
_*
After calibration:*_

Comparing THX Cinema, THX Bright Room, and ISF Day revealed that THX Cinema had the richest picture. ISF Day mode, despite the calibration problems, was absolutely gorgeous, striking a balance between the rich look of THX Cinema and the brighter look of THX Bright Room. 

Overall, I preferred the color balance and smoothness of ISF Day mode over THX Cinema in a dark room. Apparently the smoother grayscale tracking and stronger light output of ISF Day took a slight precedence over the better gamma of THX Cinema.

I was struck by the easygoing yet exciting and immersive look. THX Cinema is excellent in it’s own right, and quite similar to the GT50; but ISF Day had a slightly more natural looking color that I found captivating. Viewing my 1080P/24 Blu Ray material in 96 Hz mode, the pans and motion were satisfyingly film like. 

Black levels were the best I’ve seen on a plasma since the last generation of Kuros, and I would venture to say any remaining differences in black levels between the 60” 9G Kuro and the 65VT50 would be extremely hard to see except during direct comparisons of mostly black screens in a very dark room. 
Shadow detail was excellent, with dark objects appearing to be about the right brightness and very neutral in color tone. 

Brightness and blacks appeared to be stable, and resolution was very crisp.

I did see hints of DSE at times, though it was not serious and was easily overlooked. While I’m on the down sides, I should add that the color purity I enjoyed was not present until after careful calibration, since the out of the box settings all had color that was either too cool and clinical or too earthy toned.

How does the 65VT50 stack up against this year’s best high performance sets? 

Samsung’s PN-E8000 is the only worthy plasma contender. While it has very natural color and other excellent traits, it’s black level remains pretty close to last year’s model with cable and satellite sources, whereas the VT50’s black level has significantly improved. That leaves the E8000 falling behind the VT50 in dynamic range and contrast, with other areas very close. 

The Sharp Elite, which remains unchanged this year, has the VT50 beat in black levels and contrast; but it’s off axis deterioration and the Dirty Screen Effect can be crippling. The Elite’s color can be made pleasant enough with a good calibration, but it’s color can never be accurate across all saturation and brightness levels. 

Sony’s HX929, also unchanged from last year, remains my favorite current LED LCD, with excellent color and overall picture quality. As with the Elite, the HX929’s black levels and contrast can beat the VT50, though the HX929’s blooming and off axis degradation are enough to at least even the score. 

LG has plans to roll out new full local dimming and OLED sets soon, but these will be limited to smaller screen sizes when they become available. 

The VT50 has some serious “Wow!” factor. When you get that rare combination of accuracy and excitement, it makes being called a nerd by your friends (or maybe even your wife) worth it after all.

*Update:* 

I am told that the calibration issues were specific to CalMAN and it's interaction with the current VT50 FW, and a fix is in the works. Meanwhile, ControlCAL is said to function correctly, and I will update the review as soon as I get to test it with ControlCAL.


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## Robert Zohn

Hi Chad, thanks for the excellent review! 



Chad B said:


> Update:
> 
> I am told that the calibration issues were specific to CalMAN and it's interaction with the current VT50 FW, and a fix is in the works. Meanwhile, ControlCAL is said to function correctly, and I will update the review as soon as I get to test it with ControlCAL.


I also learned it can be tough being the very first to review high-end displays as you find glitches before the product hits the main stream. 

We're working with Turb's ControlCAL for the first time tomorrow on our 65" VT50

Again Chad, great job on the your VT50 review, we're excited to do our pre-Shootout evaluations of this and the other 7 panels in next weeks Flat Panel Shootout event!

-Robert


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## mechman

Thanks Chad! We appreciate you posting this here! :T


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## JimP

Chad,

If I recall correctly, there was a problem in calibrating last year's VT30's 10 pt grayscale as an adjustment in one spot screwed up other adjustments.

Can you comment if the VT50 is doing the same thing?


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## Turbe

Just heard from Ed Johnson (Calibrator) who just worked on a VT50 at VE store using ControlCAL... His feedback to me: 46fL in isf Day, grayscale gamma excellent (all 10pt Controls working as expected in ControlCAL and Ed stated he was very impressed with ControlCAL's implementation), color gamut very good despite CMS Lum controls not doing anything (highest deltaE 94 is for Blue lum of 1.0 in the Gamut).. MLL .0022fL (he has Klein K-10).

He's impressed with the VT50 from this initial calibration (didn't get time to view a lot of reference material yet, just was was playing up on the wall)...


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## lcaillo

These look like very good numbers. I can't wait to see this set.


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## Robert Zohn

Turbe said:


> Just heard from Ed Johnson (Calibrator) who just worked on a VT50 at VE store using ControlCAL... His feedback to me: 46fL in isf Day, grayscale gamma excellent (all 10pt Controls working as expected in ControlCAL and Ed stated he was very impressed with ControlCAL's implementation), color gamut very good despite CMS Lum controls not doing anything (highest deltaE 94 is for Blue lum of 1.0 in the Gamut).. MLL .0022fL (he has Klein K-10).
> 
> He's impressed with the VT50 from this initial calibration (didn't get time to view a lot of reference material yet, just was was playing up on the wall)...


Correct as usual Mr. Turbe! :sn::clap: Great job on developing ControlCal and keeping it updated to control the latest ISFccc interfaces of the latest displays as they come to market.

We could not have calibrated as accurately without ControlCal.

Our sincerest thanks for a job very well done!

-Robert 



lcaillo said:


> These look like very good numbers. I can't wait to see this set.


Not too late to grab a quick flight this weekend to NY. We'd love to see you at the Shootout!

-Robert


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## lcaillo

Actually, Robert, I might have just done that if I was not taking scouts canoeing this weekend. I have not been camping with them in some time and looking forward to it.


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## Robert Zohn

Thanks, we'll hopefully catch you on our next Shootout sometime in September when we add OLED and other new emerging display technologies.

BTW, we love kayak and canoeing at our bear mountain summer cabin home. Enjoy the day with the kids!

-Robert


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## rab-byte

Y'all beat me to the review. I just did our stores display 55" and 10pt was worthless with calman. I instead went with 2pt control and was able to get WB in range but found some crushing in 10 and lower black. That forced me to raise the displays brightness to 20 fixing the issue. As stated by Chad luminance controls did nothing while saturation and hue worked as expected. I did notice green behaved less linearly then the other primary's. 

I have to admit I'm a little bummed about the loss of the serial port on the NA models as I now have to carry a router with me to all jobs. But it is what it is.

I'm hoping calman and Panasonic address these issues with updates soon as we should expect better then THX image after calibration.


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## JimP

JimP said:


> Chad,
> 
> If I recall correctly, there was a problem in calibrating last year's VT30's 10 pt grayscale as an adjustment in one spot screwed up other adjustments.
> 
> Can you comment if the VT50 is doing the same thing?


....or anyone else who would like to comment on this.


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## donnymac

JimP said:


> ....or anyone else who would like to comment on this.


The problem is with the Calman software this year and not with the VT50. The issue does not exist if using ControlCal to open and adjust the isf modes.


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## Gostan

My 65VT50 was delivered late Friday. It did not take too long to remove the 58V10 and get the much thinner VT50 up on the wall. Set the picture to THX Bright Room and we were off and running. Not in home too much this Memorial Day weekend, but the color, detail and black levels out of the box make me happy that I did not jump in on a VT30 close out. Replacing the V10 with the V50 was like trading a 10 year old vehicle for a brand new one technology/PQ wise. The old one ran steady but it's replacement is brilliant. I will break in with a varying combination of full screen broadcast TV, movies and slides. 

Stan


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## mechman

FlatPanelsHD review.



> *CONCLUSION*
> 
> Panasonic VT50 is a Smart Viera TV with Panasonic’s entire suite of TV apps and media features, powered by a dual-core processor. It runs smoother than in 2011 but the platform still lacks content, quality TV apps and vision. The new media sharing features that allow you to stream content from a smartphone/tablet onto the TV screen are pretty good but limited by the fact that you have to do everything from within the smartphone/tablet app. With VT50, Panasonic has also aimed to create an elegant TV and they have largely succeeded. With its conservative style, slimmer bezels, and black materials, it fits nicely into most homes. And our sample had no buzzing issues worth mentioning. Great.
> 
> Panasonic’s VT models have long been considered some of the best TVs around, and VT50 builds on that foundation. We have not witnessed any revolutions in the last few years but we still continue to see evolutionary improvements in picture quality. VT50 has deeper blacks than ever and Panasonic is inching closer to the infamous KURO black levels. Color accuracy is impressive and motion reproduction is great. Panasonic VT50 still has some very minor color banding problems during fast motion but nothing worrying. We also noticed very moderate phosphor trailing in black/white scenes but this is also close to insignificant. The movie experience is great, gaming performance is great (due to fast response time and low input lag), and sports ditto.
> 
> Is Panasonic VT50 the perfect TV? No, not at all. The Louver filter improve daytime viewing but the relatively low brightness level and the glass layers still cause some color washout to occur. VT50 also suffers from dithering when watched from a closer distance, and even though 3D pictures look good with almost no crosstalk, we are still not enthusiastic about the active 3D glasses. And then the inevitable question: What about competition and Panasonic’s cheaper plasma TV ranges? Actually that is interesting and compared to GT50, we have to say that performance is closer than we had expected. At times there was no difference. The Louver filter improves daytime viewing but for the most part VT50 feels like a natural extension of GT50 into higher size classes – and maybe that is what it is supposed to be?
> 
> Still, VT50 is a fantastic TV. For your very bright living room you may still consider LED models but for everything else, it simply does not get much better, in today’s market, than VT50 in terms of picture quality. The TV deserves praise and our Highly Recommended Award.


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## dsskid

Thank you mechman.


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## gimp

Are 65VT50 calibration settings posted anywhere yet?


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## mechman

gimp said:


> Are 65VT50 calibration settings posted anywhere yet?


I haven't seen any yet. I'd keep an eye on TweakTV.


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## Turbe

gimp said:


> Are 65VT50 calibration settings posted anywhere yet?


wmwilker posted his reports and setttings here

best to do a proper calibration


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## gdstupak

My 55" is expected to arrive from Amazon on July 2nd (or hopefully sooner).
This will be my first new-tech TV (plasma,LCD) as I am still watching my old-tech 2002 Pioneer CRT RPTV. I have been waiting for the first affordable Kuro quality TV (specifically black level and shadow detail) and this is it for me.


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## mechman

Good to hear Glenn! Post some pics when you can.


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## gdstupak

Will post pics when I have it mounted on the wall.

The expected delivery date is supposed to be by Monday (July 2) or sooner, but I got some disheartening news this morning. I received an email from the shipping company that it is at the local warehouse and ready for me to call for a delivery date. I thought , "Yeah, it's here early!" I called first thing this morning and he said my order was on the truck already and would be delivered today, "Yeah!!!" 
After several minutes we both came to realize that I was not the guy he thought I was and my order was still at the warehouse, "oh well." 
But then he told me that the warehouse is several hours away and they probably wouldn't be able to get to my area until next Thursday at the earliest. After a bit of me griping, he finally said he'll see if they can get it to me Tuesday.

Almost forgot to mention the good news:
The wall mount arrived today.... Unibrak UNB 550.... so I can get this mount up and ready early.


EDIT:Friday update, the shippers called Thursday and said they could deliver it this Friday (June 29)..."Yeah, it'll be here early!"


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## gdstupak

Chad B said:


> Switching to THX Cinema brought slightly sharper definition over regular Cinema mode... *There appeared to be just a bit of added graininess*...


Can anyone expound on this a bit?
Should I take this to literally mean that THX Cinema mode adds a grainy texture similar to what some movie makers do with their clean digital images to make it look more film-like?


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## rab-byte

gdstupak said:


> Can anyone expound on this a bit?
> Should I take this to literally mean that THX Cinema mode adds a grainy texture similar to what some movie makers do with their clean digital images to make it look more film-like?


He is saying that there is less video "noise" in the THX mode VS cinema mode.


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## gdstupak

Chad B wrote that THX Cinema has "added graininess" compared to Cinema.

Rab-byte, the way you wrote your last post means that "added graininess" refers to less video noise, is that what you meant?
Or do you mean that "added graininess" refers to more video noise? Meaning that THX Cinema has sharper definition, but more video noise.


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## rab-byte

I'm saying that added grandness is more video noise in the picture. This is not a good thing. You Don't want noise added. To that point you also lose sharpness when the display is trying to remove noise from the source. Most purists agree that they want their image as unaltered as possible. That is to say show me the grain in the image but don't add something that isn't there.

:edit:
I find that panel brightness on high ads noise that med and low don't.


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## gdstupak

Gotcha,
thank you.
So the THX Cinema mode has more noise than the Cinema mode. I wonder if there is some filter that is turned off in THX Cinema, but is turned on in Cinema mode ( I believe the panel brightness was set to 'mid' in both modes).
Thanks for adding that bit about high panel brightness may cause more noise. I watched part of the 2012 shoot out and heard them say panel brightness was good on low and mid, but was unacceptable on high.... I didn't understand why they said that until now.


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## gdstupak

*impressions: Panasonic TX-P55VT50*

I apologize for not giving my viewing impressions sooner. 

This is my first flat panel ever so I can’t compare it to any others. I waited many years to replace my very good CRT RPTV. The rave reviews about the VT50’s black levels and overall picture quality finally won me over. I must agree with them but this Panasonic plasma has other side effects that are very annoying to someone not used to seeing them. I was well aware of all these negative side effects but was not really ready for how obvious they are. 
As I describe these side effects, they will appear to be very negative, but remember that I am still very content with this purchase and it is a very beautiful picture.

(Photos will soon follow)

SETTINGS: Up until recently, I have mostly been using the THX Cinema mode with panel brightness on mid, Contrast ~70, and Brightness ~42. These last few days I’ve been using more of the THX Bright mode. I have Bright mode set so the brightest whites are not any more brighter than in regular THX Cinema mode, and the darkest blacks are still as dark as in THX Cinema mode. The difference in picture is that it comes out of ‘blacker than black’ a little faster. If that sounded confusing, I can explain more (maybe even with photos).

TEMPORARY IR: This lasts only a few seconds and does not happen often but anytime it happens it does bother the out of me because it is very obvious. It usually happens at the end of a scene when the picture fades out. This hardly ever happens when watching movies from BluRay disc. During cable tv shows it has happened at least once that I can clearly recall (i.e. Hell on Wheels), and several other times that I can’t recall specifically. 

LONG TERM IR: I’ve read many comments saying that (permanent) Burn In is no longer an issue so I won’t use that term, I’ll make up my own term, Long Term IR, hoping that I don’t have Burn In. 
The wife and I don’t watch the Fox News Channel for many hours at a time, but it is the channel that was our go-to channel . We watch almost everything DVR’d, but in between shows, the FNC is what we would always go to to catch up on a few minutes of news (Fair & Balanced I must add). Even though I could see no IR/Burn In I would still run the white scrolling bar once every few nights. 
But after several weeks I did start to notice the FNC logo IR very clearly. FNC is no longer our go-to channel anymore but once a day we watch 1 hour of The Five (at five). 
Lately I have been using a video downloaded from the internet to scrub the screen. This video looks like a lot of noise with small blocks of color blinking. 
I have been playing this video approximately 2 hours during the day and 5 hours every night for the past 2 weeks. The FNC logo isn’t as distinct as before but it still is a noticeable smudge on the screen. Very disappointing!!!

COLOR BANDING: This is when colors don’t blend together well and create lines between bunches of color (or between gradations of color). I notice this several times every day. It happens a lot in very dark scenes involving smaller patches of brighter light (i.e. flashlights, headlights, underwater scenes). Also happens often while watching movie trailers because there are many scenes fading in and out in a short time.

VIDEO NOISE: I’ve read several articles saying this is caused by ‘dithering,’ Panasonics process of creating certain shades of colors. With a 55” screen and viewing distance of 11’, this is still very annoying to me. Makes me glad I didn’t get a bigger screen. It’s very distracting seeing most of an image that has solid and flawless coloring, with areas containing obvious noise.

BUZZING: There is practically no buzzing that comes out the front of the screen, but it is loud behind the tv. My tv is approximately 18” away from the wall, the buzzing must go out the back of the tv and bounce off the wall so I can hear it. 
Obviously with 99% of movies, the movies background audio is continuous and loud enough to drown out the buzzing. But when my AC/heating and refrigerator are not running, and it is a show with no background audio (i.e. news programs), the buzzing is very evident. And what makes the buzzing more noticeable is that the tone and volume change with screen content.

SCREEN REFLECTIONS: Even though my screen supposedly has some kind of filter and coloring, the reflections are very noticeable. And there is a halo effect that happens vertically up and down the screen. Thankfully I have ceiling lighting that is completely out of the way and does not cause reflections, but there are 2 windows behind the viewing area that cast noticeable reflections until late afternoon. This is especially annoying to me because my last CRT RPTV had no reflections because I removed the highly reflective protection screen (wish I could just remove the outer glass from this Plasma).


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## JimP

Regarding banding.

I've found that calibrating gamma helps reduce it. 

Now the next question is how does one calibrate it without buying software, equipment and spend a lot of time getting up to speed. The answer is you don't.....you hire it done.


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## gdstupak

Yes, I've saved a link for someone that supposedly travels to WV, hopefully I can get calibrated for Christmas.

....To expound slightly on IR...
the short term IR and longer term IR is rarely noticeable while watching normal viewing content. I have the colored break-in slides still plugged into my tv, and every day I run through these slides which shows up any IR.
Sometimes at bedtime my wife will leave the tv on as background noise to help sleep. Since I've warned her about the FNC logo retention, last night she had CNN running (a channel we've almost never had on). It was on for approximately 1-1/2 hours before I got home from work. The CNN logo was highly visible while running a white screen. I ran the scrolling white bar for 15min which reduced it to a smudge. Then had to run the other video noise scrubber for 20min before it completely went away. To me, this is unacceptable (**EDIT** 'unacceptable' might be a bit too harsh, I'll just say again that it is 'very disappointing'). But of course I will have to accept it since I have no other choice.


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## mechman

JimP said:


> Regarding banding.
> 
> I've found that calibrating gamma helps reduce it.
> 
> Now the next question is how does one calibrate it without buying software, equipment and spend a lot of time getting up to speed. The answer is you don't.....you hire it done.


Or if you're the type that just has to do it yourself...


Get this kit from Spectracal - $349


Purchase and watch these videos from Michael Chen - $100


After that you should be able to do any display in your house. :T


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## gdstupak

Thank you mech for the links.
I really haven't kept up on the self calibration kits because when they first came out I understood that they weren't much better than setting up with a DVD and our eyeball, and nowhere near as good as a pro coming to the house.

I don't want to divert this thread away from it's main topic, so I won't ask about calibration software here, I'll search it out in the other threads.


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## sportgen

*Panasonic red light of death*

Hi Everyone,

So I finally pulled the trigger after over 4 years of research, in store demos, tinkering with picture settings, etc for a 65vt50 at Best Buy. I get it home last night, mount it, turn it on and go through the initial settings and start watching tv (att uverse hd).

4 minutes later...the screen goes blank and I get 7 blinks of the red power light...I search google and it turns out this is a known issue on Panasonic plasmas..some say its a few different boards but I see most point to the SC board needing replacement and a firmware update.

Needless to say, I am pretty disappointed that a brand new $3200 television malfunctions after 4 minutes of use. This problem is repeatable. I leave it on for 4 minutes on any input (including a slide show on usb) and the screen blacks out and the red light flashes 7 times over and over.

Has anyone else experienced this as well? I am now second guessing my decision to go with a Panny since I was looking at the $5k Sharp....or should I swap it out and hope for the best?

The mfg date is July 2012 / model TC-P65vt50 / serial starts with MJ2213XXXX

Any input is appreciated!


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## lcaillo

Just swap it out. Every manufacturer has some sets break. The research and decision making you went through is still valid.


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## gdstupak

Finally uploaded photos of my 55"....


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