Either on this board or over at AVS someone mentioned Tweaktv.com . Out of curiosity I went on it to compare it's recommended settings compared to my settings I did with the old video setup disc. It's an older style but has the patterns with the blue filter for color and tint.

I was pleased to learn that 3 of my settings were remarkably similiar to their recommendations with 2 notable exceptions:

My contrast was set at 4, theirs 18 (out of 30)
My sharpness was set to 6, theirs 0

Color, Tint and brightness were all within a couple marks

I made the changes to see how I liked it. It does seem to pop a little more but looked a bit less natural. I made notes of my settings so I can go back if I want.

I get the impression from recent threads that most of us turn the contrast way down. Was I overdoing it?

How about some of the other Panasonic owners, where are your settings compared with some of the industry recommended?

Although I can't answer your question, I will say thanks for posting that link. That site is fantastic and I can also find a professional if needed from their site. Very cool.

I had not heard of that site, thanks for posting the link.

I'll be checking out my Panny tonight and see how far I'm off.

^ Yes, I used that site to set my Panny plasma. I am very happy with the results of my current settings (mimic'd what TweakTV advised). Debating whether or not to even pursue with prof. calibration.

I've been using certain custom settings that someone posted on avsforum a while back and have been very pleased. I couldn't improve it if I tried. That said....I'll write down my current settings (for my reference) and try the ones listed above to see if there's an improvement. I do not remember whether the person whose settings I used had theirs professionally calibrated or not.

Never heard of the site before, thanks for posting as I'll look at what they recommend for my Sharp.

I had used a calibration disc to set up my TV (Panny Plasma TH-50PX75U). Here's how the site compares to what I had (Tweak first, mine second).

Picture/Contrast 15 15
Brightness 3 7
Color 0 2
Tint -2 -2
Sharpness 0 0

Only two were different and not really by much.

I checked my settings versus those listed on the site. They were almost the exact same, although they have the color management was "warm" whereas I had it at normal. Warm makes everything look yellow-ish, so I think I'll stick with my original settings.

My model is: Panasonic TH-50PHD8UK

Same here I used the settings posted at AvsForums. I was told to use the from the Samsung LN-46A550 since I have the Samsung LN-46A580 model.

I tried to find the recommended setting at AVS but the Panasonic thread was more than a 1000 posts long with well over a million views. I couldn't find what I needed somewhere in the 1000.

Haven't those people heard of Part II?

Yup...I used AVS for my Samsung (4661). The setting were very, very good. I tweaked two things very minor based on personal preference.

One thing I recommend is to live with a change for a bit before making additional changes. You flick quickly and just about any change looks good because it is different.

Also you may need multiple settings based on each of our sources.