slop101

Welcome to the forum?

K&AJones

That disc is excellent and I have it and our 55" Panny GT30 still produces a great picture. I used settings off AVS at first but plasma panels can age with the white not as bright as first so you do have to go back and re-check the contrast. Plus it does have the Pixel Obiter that has no timer and really good.

Josh-da-man

Who's Jim?

hanshotfirst1138

I've tried using it on my LED, albeit rudimentarily, but I think I've been doing it wrong, I wasn't as struck by the difference as I hoped. I've mostly tweaked by eye when watching movies since then, I figure it's because I don't know the disc very well, so I'll have to read through the little booklet which comes with it. I'm sitting too close or too far away or at the wrong angle or something.

Spiky

Distance shouldn't matter, maybe a little for the sharpness setting, depending on your eyes. It's always possible that your TV came with decent settings, so there isn't much to change. But it may not be blatantly obvious, anyway. (lots of people don't even care about accurate color, contrast, etc) If you want to compare, look at things like skin color or artifacts like halos/mosquito noise around objects.

Why So Blu?

A rule of thumb, and it has been for about as long as I've been calibrating sets: the sharpness levels on a TV (plasma, etc.) should be turned all the way down. If it's a great looking Blu-ray then it should be sharp enough as it is without making the television set work harder for it. Everything else should be calibrated accordingly. Also, it will take a bit before your eyes get used to the new calibrated levels.

hanshotfirst1138

I calibrated my dad's HDTV downstairs and I admit, I don't notice much difference. Something is up with mine, every scene I watch with solid colored lights looks artificial and odd. I'll turn the sharpness all the way down, but there is a whole section for programming it on my calibration disc. The black level and contrast adjustments are fairly simple, though I personally prefer my set a little bit brighter than they say. The color is what's odd, I can't tell when it goes B&W and when it's too saturated, but the subtleties in the middle are hard for me to see.

JoeySeven

Maybe this Jim?

hanshotfirst1138

Bit the bullet and bought a Samsung PN64F5300. Got it just in time, it's out of stock on Amazon now. It's a nice set, though the way it is set up in my bedroom has me too close to it or too far from it, on an angle, and probably generally defeating the purpose of it, but it's the only place to put it at the moment. In any case, you don't realize how big it is until you see it in person. Won't fit on my damn stand, so there's more money to spend .

Still fiddling with my vain attempts to calibrate it. The preset "movie" mode actually looks pretty good. Has the contrast jacked all the way up, but even when I calibrate it, it's still at like 93. Don't know if that's how things should be, or just a limitation of the set. I wish there was list of ideal number settings for calibrating it. It would make things so much easier . Don't know what the hell the point of the "dynamic" mode is, it blows everything out all to hell. Can't imagine anyone think it looks good, but whatever, someone at Samsung must've. The black level and contrast calibrations are fairly easy with my Disney WOW disc since they have a baseline of what should and shouldn't be visible, though I haven't looked at the more complicated ones yet. The color is where I'm struggling a bit, they don't technically have a "right" setting, and I'm having difficulty. It seems like "movie" mode is slightly warmer than what I had things calibrated to, especially flesh tones. I assume color space, white balance, etc.are the more complex stuff. I've been told to just drop the sharpness all the way down, is this accurate? I know that it's a better HDTV than my old one (at least I hope it is ), but watching DVDs is really somewhat eyesore now, tons of noise and grain. Is something screwy with the settings, or is it just the higher quality of the TV, supposedly? I've heard this isn't a super HDTV plasma anyway ? Haven't even gotten into the audio setting yet. Luckily, it's in a small room, so haven't had problems with glare or reflections at the current angle, at least not yet.

Still figuring out what half of the stuff on my old LED was-graphic vs. video HDMI, how high to set noise reduction, PCM, none, or raw, AVL, or half of the other stuff .

PhantomStranger

Here are some recommended settings for your new Samsung PN64F5300 plasma:

Picture Mode: Movie
Cell Light 18
Contrast 100
Brightness 48
Sharpness 12
Color 52
Tint G51/R49
Color Tone Warm1
Digital Noise Filter OFF
MPEG Noise Filter OFF
HDMI Black Level Normal
Film Mode OFF
Black Tone OFF
Dynamic Contrast OFF
GAMMA -1
Expert Pattern OFF
RGB Only Mode OFF
Color Space Auto
Flesh Tone 0
Edge Enhancement OFF
Motion Lighting OFF
Energy Saving OFF
ECO Sensor OFF
Auto Power OFF OFF

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/samsu...000-a-1417205/

Read this thread for more technical data:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/167-pl...-settings.html

Spiky

That's what the point is.
Welcome to the club. Considering your username and this comment, your friends will be calling you Elitist in no time.

K&AJones

Well it finally happened...the Panny GT30 bit the dust. Turned on last night and a nice "pop" and then nothing but a blank screen. I unplugged and let sit for about 10 minutes, plugged back in and got the dreaded "7 Red Blinks of Death" on the power LED. Found information on it could be one of three boards with the probability of it being the "SU Board". I found one place that was recommended for parts and wouldn't you know it....all the SD and SU Boards are backordered.

Wife said pretty much....Merry Christmas, go get another TV and I'm temped to do just that. Right now it's between a Samsung 65" UN65H6400 or a Epson Powerlite 3500 projector....both are almost the same price....$1500-$1600

slop101

Oh no! I have a GT30 too - how long did your's last?

K&AJones

I got mine a few months after they came out. It's done this in the past and I just unhooked the power, waited awhile, plugged back in and it came on. I even tried disconnecting the HDMI as some suggested and still nothing. I even gave it a thought on replacing the board9s) myself since I found a Youtube video on someone who had the back off a GT30 and how they took the board out and all. Sad part is...the place everyone said to go online for the board(s) shows every one of them Sold Out and Back-ordered.

If you're concerned just do a search for "Pannasonic Plasma Blinking Red Light". The amount of blinks is an error code. I was surprised by the amount of posts. It's sad in a way because the TV really did perform great and the picture was outstanding. I haven't made up my mind if I want to just toss it or hang on an see if some replacement boards pop up. One board was $136.00 and the upper & lower scan boards were under $50.00 each.

I spent a lot of yesterday just checking new sets, LED, 4K and projectors. I really hate looking at TV's at Best Buy. They treat everyone as idiot clueless about TV's and act as if they've got 10 years in the HiFi & video Department with some tech degree. I was ready to actually get a 65" Sony 4K set but found one serious issue...I might have to replace my Yamaha AVR because it might not support 4K pass-thru. So I've actually decided on a Sony Projector VPL-HW40ES. The HiFi store I've always turned to and can trust being straight shooters told me they can go ahead and give a $500 rebate even though it's not scheduled to come out the first of the year. So for around $2600.00 I'll have a Sony Projector and 94" screen from Screen Innovations.

I think I'm done with TV's itself. At least with a Projector I can change the bulb out myself and if it goes bad, I can pack it up and take it to the HiFi store without any help to. Plus the Sony has a "Three year Warranty".

hanshotfirst1138

Thank you! I'll fiddle with it on my next day off. If there are idealized settings for all HDTVs you can find online, that's cool . Wanted a Panasonic, but I guess this will do. Can't find many reviews for it online, hopefully it's not a weird set that's an off one or something .

And someone would want to watch television like this because?

I tend to like my sets a little big brighter than average. The entire reason I discovered the settings menu on cheap old CRT at all was because I was going nuts because the picture wasn't bright enough. I get that people like it a little brighter, but dynamic mode looks like the set is broken or something. Movie mode looks warmer, but a little too dark.

Oh, incidentally, many of my DVDs are looking particularly bad on the new set. I get that they're SD, but is it just that with a new higher-resolution set, the flaws stand out more than ever? DVDs obviously look inferior to Blu-ray, but these have been looking remarkably weak.

They already do .

Spiky

Probably. I'm pretty happy with my Oppo's noise reduction abilities for DVD, but it isn't going to be all that great, regardless.

Why So Blu?

What BD player do you have? If you run it through and Oppo, PS3, or PS4 then they should look remarkably well through a plasma.

hanshotfirst1138

Sony S3100 with a region-free mod. I'm sure video scaling abilities vary from player to player, no doubt this isn't one of the ones which does it particularly well . I understand what most important in scaling in the graphics chip, so I suppose it stands to reason that video game consoles would do it particularly well. DVDs looked better on my old HDTV, but it was half the size and an LED. I suppose it's depend on the DVD transfer too, though this was a fairly high-profile DVD release. I'd love an Oppo, but the prices are a little insane, and region-free mods are even more.

PhantomStranger

Those settings will get you in the ballpark of a professional calibration, though every set will be slightly different. Yes, most tv models have calibrated settings that can be found online. They don't replace a pro calibration if you are a picky videophile, but for everyone else they do fine.

hanshotfirst1138

OK, I'll do that, and see if I can find them for my other sets as well. Somehow wound up with 3 Samsungs . Was streaming at 12-15 Mbps on my SMART TV downstairs and was more enamored of how it looked than I was on my Plasma . Hopefully just sitting too far away or something, and my $1,500 purchase wasn't a mistake .

PhantomStranger

Professional calibration settings aim for accurate color rendition. If you are used to the punchy standard settings, it might take a little getting used to at first.

hanshotfirst1138

Did the small adjustment previously mention, overall I'm liking how HD content looks pretty well. Now to find the adjustment settings for my Samsung UN40E5330 and UN32EH4003FXZA. A quick Google search shows that at least one seems to have dominant settings in dynamic mode :screwy:. I'll keep looking . Wonder if there are any for my old Samsung TXJ2060 CRT . Not sure how I wound up with so many Samsungs.

The biggest problem is still SD content now. I knew it'd look inferior, but I was watching the DVD of the BSG miniseries last night, and it was borderline unwatchable. I actually took it down to my smaller LED set. I wonder if there's a way to fix it at least somewhat in settings? I know I don't have the best scaler, but it shouldn't look this bad.

Oh, and then I'll have to calibrate the audio...

Music

IS this crappy "digital noise" normal for Plasma TVs, I only notice it on certain colors like the one shown

hanshotfirst1138

I only see that from certain angles on my set, it's odd.

It's a 5000, not a 5300. Explains a lot. Now I have to find settings for THAT .

Why So Blu?

No. Is your set properly calibrated? I'd turn the sharpness all the way down to zero.