Picked up a 50" Panasonic Plasma last week

[TheDrake]

Well I just picked up this tv last weekend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1169512771911

I had it sitting in front of the fireplace below my Westinghouse 47" 1080p monitor just for comparison sake to see the difference in contast and color. Used both the HDMI and component inputs for both TV's using same sources from HTPC and also tested out with Time Warner HD cable box. I dont know if this is just a crappy plasma or what because I thought the plasma looked like crap compared to a low-end brand of LCD such as westinghouse. Colors looked terrible even with HD, I had to adjust them lower just to make it look acceptable. The westinghouse LCD just looked by far better in pretty much everyway and the difference in contrast was negligible, I couldn't even tell just between the two with the same inputs and picture adjustments made optimized for both. The Panasonic looked pretty crappy at angles too, meaning colors seemed to run together and there was a "ghost" or whatever you call it of the picture when at extreme angles. And also these is this loud high pitched sound coming from the Panasonic when there is a bright picture on the screen, it is quiet when the picture is very dark. Did I just get a defective plasma with all these issues or is that to be expected with this brand of plasma? I thought the panasonic's were supposed to be pretty decent.

Another thing I saw was the whole burn in issue, I didnt have the menu up for 5 seconds when I first got it and you could still see it for a while afterwards. I took everyones suggestion and had a dvd repeating that took up the whole screen for 4-5 days straight and its not as bad, but playing a game on the PS2 through it you can clearly tell how there still is a remnant of the screen just before, I personally cant stand that, bothers the crap out of me. Luckily this isnt mine

Any input on if this is typical behavior of this brand and plasma's in general would be apprciated. I have experience with older plasma's but wanted to check out a newer one as many on here have said that they have gotten better... but so far it seems they still have a long way to go...

 

[BigJ]

Don't know why you're having such problems with it. I have the 4275PXU and it's a beauty. I don't have any problems with image angles. My settings are the following:

Picture Mode: Vivid
Picture: +30
Brightness: 0
Color: +6
Tint: 0
Sharpness: +17
Color temp.: Cool
Color mgmt: On

Under other adjust:
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Black Level: Light

And it's image retention, not burn-in. They're two separate things. Didn't notice either on my set, even leaving the same channel with the same logo on for over an hour.

I have a Westinghouse 32" and the difference is night and day. The colors, sharpness, and blacks put the Westinghouse to shame.

You may have received a bad set.

 

[TheDrake]

I mean everything works just fine on it, I did the vivid mode and oh my gosh, on HD/non-HD channels and through the PC it is absolutely terrible! I couldnt describe a worse picture, I had to custom set it and turn off color mgmt, color, turned up brightness just to keep up with the LCD. I mean dont get me wrong, you can read it and see it just fine, but compared to the LCD its crap. I mean the blacks are a little darker on the plasma but its so little difference I consider it negligible. I would think that a 1300:1 on the westy (I think?) compared to the 10,000:1 on the panasonic would be very noticeable, but that was disappointing. I guess it will take the 100,000:1 for My eyes to notice the difference.

the image retention is very annoying, I would rather deal with the possiblity of stuck pixels and black light bleeding in a cheap brand then deal with that in a plasma if this is the type of quality I can expect on plasma's anyway. I may try a higher end model in the future and hopefully that will change my mind about plasma's.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: TheDrake

the image retention is very annoying, I would rather deal with the possiblity of stuck pixels and black light bleeding in a cheap brand then deal with that in a plasma if this is the type of quality I can expect on plasma's anyway. I may try a higher end model in the future and hopefully that will change my mind about plasma's.

Image retention really only noticeably occurs for the first couple of weeks of usage (first 200 hours or so) and after that it's really a non-issue.

As for your other problems, is it really only evident when hooking it up through a HTPC? 1080p on your LCD is going to look better (especially on text) than the 720p on a plasma.

 

[TheDrake]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: TheDrake

the image retention is very annoying, I would rather deal with the possiblity of stuck pixels and black light bleeding in a cheap brand then deal with that in a plasma if this is the type of quality I can expect on plasma's anyway. I may try a higher end model in the future and hopefully that will change my mind about plasma's.

Image retention really only noticeably occurs for the first couple of weeks of usage (first 200 hours or so) and after that it's really a non-issue.

As for your other problems, is it really only evident when hooking it up through a HTPC? 1080p on your LCD is going to look better (especially on text) than the 720p on a plasma.

Well I expected as much with the text and obvious resolution through the HTPC, but I was just playing some HD content through it (HD-DVD movie). Just watched several different ones through both TV's during the 120 hour run I left it on for. And its the same through the HD Cable box as well with non-HD and HD content via component on both sets just to even things up in terms of signal quality. And I hope no one misunderstands me, I dont mean to say that the plasma looks like crap in general, cause it looks very good! Its just when comparing it directly to the LCD in the environment that the living room is in its not as good. (maybe saying crap is too much of an exaggeration, just like when others say "night and day" difference when its really not that extreme).

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: BigJ
Don't know why you're having such problems with it. I have the 4275PXU and it's a beauty. I don't have any problems with image angles. My settings are the following:

Picture Mode: Vivid
Picture: +30
Brightness: 0
Color: +6
Tint: 0
Sharpness: +17
Color temp.: Cool
Color mgmt: On

Under other adjust:
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Black Level: Light

And it's image retention, not burn-in. They're two separate things. Didn't notice either on my set, even leaving the same channel with the same logo on for over an hour.

I have a Westinghouse 32" and the difference is night and day. The colors, sharpness, and blacks put the Westinghouse to shame.

You may have received a bad set.

Get that TV off VIVID damnit!

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: BigJ
Don't know why you're having such problems with it. I have the 4275PXU and it's a beauty. I don't have any problems with image angles. My settings are the following:

Picture Mode: Vivid
Picture: +30
Brightness: 0
Color: +6
Tint: 0
Sharpness: +17
Color temp.: Cool
Color mgmt: On

Under other adjust:
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Black Level: Light

And it's image retention, not burn-in. They're two separate things. Didn't notice either on my set, even leaving the same channel with the same logo on for over an hour.

I have a Westinghouse 32" and the difference is night and day. The colors, sharpness, and blacks put the Westinghouse to shame.

You may have received a bad set.

Get that TV off VIVID damnit!

It actually is off Vivid during normal TV use. My PS2 looks better with it on and I forgot to turn it off.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: BigJ
Don't know why you're having such problems with it. I have the 4275PXU and it's a beauty. I don't have any problems with image angles. My settings are the following:

Picture Mode: Vivid
Picture: +30
Brightness: 0
Color: +6
Tint: 0
Sharpness: +17
Color temp.: Cool
Color mgmt: On

Under other adjust:
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: Off
Black Level: Light

And it's image retention, not burn-in. They're two separate things. Didn't notice either on my set, even leaving the same channel with the same logo on for over an hour.

I have a Westinghouse 32" and the difference is night and day. The colors, sharpness, and blacks put the Westinghouse to shame.

You may have received a bad set.

Get that TV off VIVID damnit!

It actually is off Vivid during normal TV use. My PS2 looks better with it on and I forgot to turn it off.

I'll let you off with a warning this time...but make sure next time you check your settings before taking your TV out for a spin.


Wait....you're the cop....oops!

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: TheDrake
Well I just picked up this tv last weekend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1169512771911

I had it sitting in front of the fireplace below my Westinghouse 47" 1080p monitor just for comparison sake to see the difference in contast and color. Used both the HDMI and component inputs for both TV's using same sources from HTPC and also tested out with Time Warner HD cable box. I dont know if this is just a crappy plasma or what because I thought the plasma looked like crap compared to a low-end brand of LCD such as westinghouse. Colors looked terrible even with HD, I had to adjust them lower just to make it look acceptable. The westinghouse LCD just looked by far better in pretty much everyway and the difference in contrast was negligible, I couldn't even tell just between the two with the same inputs and picture adjustments made optimized for both. The Panasonic looked pretty crappy at angles too, meaning colors seemed to run together and there was a "ghost" or whatever you call it of the picture when at extreme angles. And also these is this loud high pitched sound coming from the Panasonic when there is a bright picture on the screen, it is quiet when the picture is very dark. Did I just get a defective plasma with all these issues or is that to be expected with this brand of plasma? I thought the panasonic's were supposed to be pretty decent.

Another thing I saw was the whole burn in issue, I didnt have the menu up for 5 seconds when I first got it and you could still see it for a while afterwards. I took everyones suggestion and had a dvd repeating that took up the whole screen for 4-5 days straight and its not as bad, but playing a game on the PS2 through it you can clearly tell how there still is a remnant of the screen just before, I personally cant stand that, bothers the crap out of me. Luckily this isnt mine

Any input on if this is typical behavior of this brand and plasma's in general would be apprciated. I have experience with older plasma's but wanted to check out a newer one as many on here have said that they have gotten better... but so far it seems they still have a long way to go...

I just bought the Costco version of this Plasma last night. I LOVE it....it looks amazing...I fell into the 1080p hype until I saw my brother's 42" Panasonic Plasma...then costco was running a sale on the 50". I'm doing the burn-in disc thing right now...once that's done I'll calibrate and be off to the races.

I don't know...maybe you got a bad one? Everyone who has seen mine has been in awe...and we have a 60" 60A3000 SXRD downstairs. Or maybe you should take some time and calibrate it???

 

[TheDrake]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Originally posted by: TheDrake
Well I just picked up this tv last weekend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1169512771911

I had it sitting in front of the fireplace below my Westinghouse 47" 1080p monitor just for comparison sake to see the difference in contast and color. Used both the HDMI and component inputs for both TV's using same sources from HTPC and also tested out with Time Warner HD cable box. I dont know if this is just a crappy plasma or what because I thought the plasma looked like crap compared to a low-end brand of LCD such as westinghouse. Colors looked terrible even with HD, I had to adjust them lower just to make it look acceptable. The westinghouse LCD just looked by far better in pretty much everyway and the difference in contrast was negligible, I couldn't even tell just between the two with the same inputs and picture adjustments made optimized for both. The Panasonic looked pretty crappy at angles too, meaning colors seemed to run together and there was a "ghost" or whatever you call it of the picture when at extreme angles. And also these is this loud high pitched sound coming from the Panasonic when there is a bright picture on the screen, it is quiet when the picture is very dark. Did I just get a defective plasma with all these issues or is that to be expected with this brand of plasma? I thought the panasonic's were supposed to be pretty decent.

Another thing I saw was the whole burn in issue, I didnt have the menu up for 5 seconds when I first got it and you could still see it for a while afterwards. I took everyones suggestion and had a dvd repeating that took up the whole screen for 4-5 days straight and its not as bad, but playing a game on the PS2 through it you can clearly tell how there still is a remnant of the screen just before, I personally cant stand that, bothers the crap out of me. Luckily this isnt mine

Any input on if this is typical behavior of this brand and plasma's in general would be apprciated. I have experience with older plasma's but wanted to check out a newer one as many on here have said that they have gotten better... but so far it seems they still have a long way to go...

I just bought the Costco version of this Plasma last night. I LOVE it....it looks amazing...I fell into the 1080p hype until I saw my brother's 42" Panasonic Plasma...then costco was running a sale on the 50". I'm doing the burn-in disc thing right now...once that's done I'll calibrate and be off to the races.

I don't know...maybe you got a bad one? Everyone who has seen mine has been in awe...and we have a 60" 60A3000 SXRD downstairs. Or maybe you should take some time and calibrate it???

Yeah, I continue to calibrate it as needed through the whole break in period. And dont get me wrong, it doesnt look bad, as I stated before it looks good and anyone would love it. But just in comparison to the wesy 47" I got it clearly shows that the LCD is a winner in this case in many areas except maybe the black levels, but even this as I said its negligible to my eyes. I will give it another week before I decide if its a bad one or not. So far it seems to be running just as it should, but quality just isnt what I expected from what people say about plasma's on this site.

 

[spidey07]

There are so many factors you see what you see. My first guess is processing. Second guess is 1080p.
The year is 2008.

1080p > 720p.

Can you describe in detail what you are seeing and what is your viewing distance?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: TheDrake

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Originally posted by: TheDrake
Well I just picked up this tv last weekend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...&cp=1&id=1169512771911

I had it sitting in front of the fireplace below my Westinghouse 47" 1080p monitor just for comparison sake to see the difference in contast and color. Used both the HDMI and component inputs for both TV's using same sources from HTPC and also tested out with Time Warner HD cable box. I dont know if this is just a crappy plasma or what because I thought the plasma looked like crap compared to a low-end brand of LCD such as westinghouse. Colors looked terrible even with HD, I had to adjust them lower just to make it look acceptable. The westinghouse LCD just looked by far better in pretty much everyway and the difference in contrast was negligible, I couldn't even tell just between the two with the same inputs and picture adjustments made optimized for both. The Panasonic looked pretty crappy at angles too, meaning colors seemed to run together and there was a "ghost" or whatever you call it of the picture when at extreme angles. And also these is this loud high pitched sound coming from the Panasonic when there is a bright picture on the screen, it is quiet when the picture is very dark. Did I just get a defective plasma with all these issues or is that to be expected with this brand of plasma? I thought the panasonic's were supposed to be pretty decent.

Another thing I saw was the whole burn in issue, I didnt have the menu up for 5 seconds when I first got it and you could still see it for a while afterwards. I took everyones suggestion and had a dvd repeating that took up the whole screen for 4-5 days straight and its not as bad, but playing a game on the PS2 through it you can clearly tell how there still is a remnant of the screen just before, I personally cant stand that, bothers the crap out of me. Luckily this isnt mine

Any input on if this is typical behavior of this brand and plasma's in general would be apprciated. I have experience with older plasma's but wanted to check out a newer one as many on here have said that they have gotten better... but so far it seems they still have a long way to go...

I just bought the Costco version of this Plasma last night. I LOVE it....it looks amazing...I fell into the 1080p hype until I saw my brother's 42" Panasonic Plasma...then costco was running a sale on the 50". I'm doing the burn-in disc thing right now...once that's done I'll calibrate and be off to the races.

I don't know...maybe you got a bad one? Everyone who has seen mine has been in awe...and we have a 60" 60A3000 SXRD downstairs. Or maybe you should take some time and calibrate it???

Yeah, I continue to calibrate it as needed through the whole break in period. And dont get me wrong, it doesnt look bad, as I stated before it looks good and anyone would love it. But just in comparison to the wesy 47" I got it clearly shows that the LCD is a winner in this case in many areas except maybe the black levels, but even this as I said its negligible to my eyes. I will give it another week before I decide if its a bad one or not. So far it seems to be running just as it should, but quality just isnt what I expected from what people say about plasma's on this site.

Can you take a picture of them both? I mean, after all, if it looks "terrible" with HD and you had to adjust it just to make it look "acceptable" we should be able to see how bad it is even in a picture right?

Oh and turn it to normal video mode for the pic.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: spidey07
There are so many factors you see what you see. My first guess is processing. Second guess is 1080p.
The year is 2008.

1080p > 720p.

Can you describe in detail what you are seeing and what is your viewing distance?

:roll:

This is 2008

10000:1>>>>>>1000:1

 

[KeithP]

It sounds to me like you are running too bright with too much contrast. How did you calibrate the set? Do you have a calibration disc?

 

[TheDrake]

Well I dont have a good enough camera to be able to take pictures of each and show the quality of it. And yes I am using the Digital Video Essentials HD-DVD disc to calibrate through the HDMI. When I calibrated the bright was too much, I ended up turning it down, contrast was to 0 along with most every other setting.

Apparently I am exaggerating too much when I say terrible because everyone seems to blow it out of proportion. Just think of it like the difference between blacks in a LCD and a Plasma is not "night and day" as everyone on here says, thats a huge exaggeration IMO, just like how I say that this particular plasma compared to the particular LCD I have is "terrible". Obviously its not, thats an exaggeration, I am just saying it doesn't look as good by maybe 5-10% if even that. To some thats completely negligible too.

 

[ryema22]

Originally posted by: spidey07
There are so many factors you see what you see. My first guess is processing. Second guess is 1080p.
The year is 2008.

1080p > 720p.

Can you describe in detail what you are seeing and what is your viewing distance?

Is 1080p > 720p the only thing you write in these threads?

There is absolutely no way a Westinghouse LCD (1080 or otherwise) is keeping up with a non-defective properly calibrated Panasonic plasma.

It sounds like you've either got the LCD in torch mode and it's fooling your eyes into thinking it looks better (like the tv's on display at best buy) or there's something wrong with your Panny. I have the 42" model and it's absolutely stunning, 2 of my friends have recently bought the same model after watching mine.

 

[TheDrake]

Nope, the westy has all settings down pretty low, no where near "torch" modes as everyone likes to call. Its over a year and a half old LCD btw.

Now that I have been messing with it I seriously doubt its a defective unit, maybe the panasonic's just vary in quality with each set you get one could be better than another? Thats my only explaination I can think of based on what everyone here says about plasma's. But either way I have not bought a LCD that is as bad as this plasma. The only real upside to this over my current LCD is the black levels are a smidge better but not noticeable to my eyes during a movie.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: ryema22

Originally posted by: spidey07
There are so many factors you see what you see. My first guess is processing. Second guess is 1080p.
The year is 2008.

1080p > 720p.

Can you describe in detail what you are seeing and what is your viewing distance?

Is 1080p > 720p the only thing you write in these threads?

There is absolutely no way a Westinghouse LCD (1080 or otherwise) is keeping up with a non-defective properly calibrated Panasonic plasma.

It sounds like you've either got the LCD in torch mode and it's fooling your eyes into thinking it looks better (like the tv's on display at best buy) or there's something wrong with your Panny. I have the 42" model and it's absolutely stunning, 2 of my friends have recently bought the same model after watching mine.

It's a VERY valid concern to the OPs question. There is still no real description of what he's seeing. No test patterns thrown up on each display, no description of sources and what they're running though, no nothing. No mention of viewing distance.

Seeing good video to people that aren't used to or don't know what to look for can sometimes be described as "bad". Same with audio.

I keep trying to help people here to become more informed on HD and HDTV.

If the color/contrast of the panny is not mind blowingly better than the westy then something is severely wrong.

 

[TheDrake]

I have been in the HD game for the past two years and certainly know more than the average person as far as sources and testing. I would never describe the color/contrast of this plasma mind blowing in anyway. I mentioned already of the sources and connections above, viewing distance I did not say because I was testing at all distances, anywhere from 2 feet to 15 feet, just about every angle. I guess if you need a specific description I said colors running together and everything just isnt as crisp and clean compared to the westy. sure, blacks may be a little better on the plasma, but it just doesnt compare to the actual Detail that my LCD gives when comparing HDMI connections anyway. Its harder to tell with component comparison.

And believe me I have thrown up Many test patterns even through the Nvidia control panel on my HTPC as well as the calibration disc.

 

[spidey07]

Then it's most likely scaling/processing differences. the difference between 1080 and 720 where 1080 wins.

 

[TheDrake]

I am in the market for a new TV anyway so hopefully after the superbowl and prices drop a little on 1080p plasma's I will see if I can pick on up and compare.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Then it's most likely scaling/processing differences. the difference between 1080 and 720 where 1080 wins.

Somehow, I doubt your logic.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: spidey07
Then it's most likely scaling/processing differences. the difference between 1080 and 720 where 1080 wins.

Somehow, I doubt your logic.

It's been posted many times before so try reading it again. Shows specifically why 1080p is better for all sources. OP specifically spoke about edge detail which can be directly attributed to scaling, where it's well known that 1080p has the advantage.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com...ould-be-concerned.html

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: spidey07
Then it's most likely scaling/processing differences. the difference between 1080 and 720 where 1080 wins.

Somehow, I doubt your logic.

It's been posted many times before so try reading it again. Shows specifically why 1080p is better for all sources. OP specifically spoke about edge detail which can be directly attributed to scaling, where it's well known that 1080p has the advantage.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com...ould-be-concerned.html

If your logic was correct then everybody would be running out to get the westinghouse over the Panasonic. Are you suggesting that the westinghouse has better processing?

OP I assume you have tried feeding the TV's a 720p source? If so, does the Westinghouse still appear better?

 

[TheDrake]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: spidey07
Then it's most likely scaling/processing differences. the difference between 1080 and 720 where 1080 wins.

Somehow, I doubt your logic.

It's been posted many times before so try reading it again. Shows specifically why 1080p is better for all sources. OP specifically spoke about edge detail which can be directly attributed to scaling, where it's well known that 1080p has the advantage.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com...ould-be-concerned.html

If your logic was correct then everybody would be running out to get the westinghouse over the Panasonic. Are you suggesting that the westinghouse has better processing?

OP I assume you have tried feeding the TV's a 720p source? If so, does the Westinghouse still appear better?

Yeah, through HDMI setting resolution to 1280x720 the LCD still has the advantage there, but if your talking through component connection its more difficult to see that the LCD still has the win there as far as detail goes, of course plasma has the better blacks, but as far as whites and brightness the LCD wins in this comparison. I need a brighter screen as we have 4 windows in the living room so middle of the day its bright in there.

I also just noticed that in a blank screen (meaning a black screen or no input) you can see this grid on the Plasma, dont really know what it is. If I could describe it its like diagonal lines all over the screen going both top left to bottom right and top right to bottom left. Not that easy to tell unless you are 4 feet or less from it, what is that?