SD/HD on Panasonic TH-50PX60U Plasma TV

[naccoachbob]

I'm buying the Panasonic plasma on Friday and will upgrade to HD programming. There are no HD locals in my area, and a lot of what I watch will be SD. Does anyone have this Panasonic TV? What success are you having with watching SD and HD? Do you have any tweaks you can pass on? I hope to be using HDMI for both Satellite and DVD. I assume the Receiver will be the 622.
TIA

 

[gbjbany]

well I have the TH-50PX6U, i assume that's the same.
I have had it about 1 month. I do have some local HD, but also watch SD.
I also have a 622, used HDMI and Component cant really say it's any different on HD or SD.

My wife likes using the vivid settings (more brightness) i prefer the standard picture mode.

One small thing i did mess up when i started and that was i put the stand on the wrong way round, but that was a quick fix.

 

[naccoachbob]

gbjbany, thanks for the input. With yours and those from others on the HD thread, I've got some great ideas. Can't wait. Getting tv on Fri or Sat, and 622 install on Tue. Very exciting.

 

[Kb Cool]

I also have a th-50px6u. I have it hooked up to a DISH 211 via HDMI. Also have a 4DTV and hdd-200 going to it through component and a PS3 via HDMI . All I can really say is the TV works great with all sources as I had alot of trouble with a VIZIO that i returned and bought the panasonic instead. I use the standard picture setting with 4DTV and PS3. I use the VIVID setting with DISH 211 but with the PICTURE cranked down to about 20. At the default 30 it's just blazing and the clayface is annoying. PS3 blueray looks the best, followed by the 4DTV and HDD-200 and then DISHNET.

 

[LJALLEN97]

I have had one since Feb 2007. It is outstanding on both Hd and Sd.
Local HD broadcasts are all on satellite. All others are equally as good.
DVD's play just like the theater. This may be the best HD around, glad
I didn't buy the Vizio I was looking at. Below I will post a web site for
HD reviews and also settings for the 50" panasonic-they are listed in the
reviews for the 42" but will work equally as well.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

Panasonic TH-42PX60U Optimal Picture Settings (ISF Calibration) Once I set them they have not been altered. HD picture is just awsome.
Picture Mode Standard
Picture +22
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm
Enhanced Black Level Off

Larry/Oregon

 

[naccoachbob]

LJALLEN97, thanks. I had seen those settings at the site you quoted, and put them on one of the sets at BestBuy the other day and they were great. Now I've gotta find a DVD player. Looking at the Sony DVP-NS75H, which is an upconverting dvd. It has limitations/faults, but haven't seen any dvd players that don't. I'm not convinced that upconverting dvd's are worth it, but I have a 5-disk player that's very slow and my wife wants to take it and the current CRT (RCA 36") into a spare room to watch stuff. So I'll buy a new one.
Anyone have suggestions on a good DVD player at $100-$150?
How about 5.1 speakers for about $200-$300?

 

[gbjbany]

BTW, i bought mine at costco anbout 4 weeks ago, they had 300 bucks off. Might want to check it out.

 

[Digital Dude]

It's a beautiful TV. If anyone needs the Costco coupon let me know. We have the coupon book but haven't used any.

 

[naccoachbob]

It'd be great to go to Costco, but there's not one within 150 mi of me
However, BB has it for $1999, so I don't feel too bad.
Anyone have opinions on the Extended Warranty for these tv's?
I think BB's is $300 for a 4 year warranty.

 

[Digital Dude]

A 5 yr warranty is $194 from TED.

 

[LJALLEN97]

Best Buy

NaccoachBob:

Just make sure the $1999 Pansonic at best buy is not refurbished. They are
famous for this and you must really study the fine print.

Larry

 

[naccoachbob]

Ted?
Also, Best Buy and Circuit City both have the 50" panny on sale for $1999.

 

[quizzer]

I have had one since Feb 2007. It is outstanding on both Hd and Sd.
Local HD broadcasts are all on satellite. All others are equally as good.
DVD's play just like the theater. This may be the best HD around, glad
I didn't buy the Vizio I was looking at. Below I will post a web site for
HD reviews and also settings for the 50" panasonic-they are listed in the
reviews for the 42" but will work equally as well.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

Panasonic TH-42PX60U Optimal Picture Settings (ISF Calibration) Once I set them they have not been altered. HD picture is just awsome.
Picture Mode Standard
Picture +22
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm
Enhanced Black Level Off

Larry/Oregon

I got the Panasonic TH-42PX600U last week. I have some questions here and will be greatful if some experts advise me on this:

What should be the settings for the initial burn-in period (100 hours):

Should the picture mode be left in VIVID default or changed to STANDARD mode?

Also I dont have HD feed from satellite. i have the normal SD feed.

What do i do for some channels which does not fit the screen (black bars in the top and bottom of the screen)?

Pls advise.

Thanks

 

[naccoachbob]

Quizzer, I changed to Standard mode, the Vivid was just that, too Vivid for my taste.
I've been watching shows which leave the black bars at the top and bottom. Some I've been able to use the Aspect button and select Zoom to get rid of. But some of the dvd's did not eliminate those bars (I did think the picture was better in zoom than Full or Just in those cases).
I'm using those settings you copied from LJALLEN97.
I am noticing that picture quality varies from channel to channel, from program to program. I'll probably tweak them to shows that I watch most often. When I have HDMI set up on the new 622 receiver, some of that may go away, don't know yet.
I may have brightness and black level set too high on mine for "burn-in", but I haven't seen one bit of image retention since I got the TV on Friday, and we've had it on for 40-50 hours. Guess I'm halfway there.
I'm not really happy with SD from my satellite (again, the new receiver might change that) since I've been stretching the picture to fit the screen and there are many channels that just don't look that good. Plus the faces and bodies seem squished. Once the break-in period is over, maybe I'll watch more with the picture in 4:3 mode like it is broadcast. I might watch some 4:3 content for an hour or so in normal mode even before break-in is over.
Gawd I hope one of these days to get HD Locals.

 

[quizzer]

Quizzer, I changed to Standard mode, the Vivid was just that, too Vivid for my taste.
I've been watching shows which leave the black bars at the top and bottom. Some I've been able to use the Aspect button and select Zoom to get rid of. But some of the dvd's did not eliminate those bars (I did think the picture was better in zoom than Full or Just in those cases).
I'm using those settings you copied from LJALLEN97.
I am noticing that picture quality varies from channel to channel, from program to program. I'll probably tweak them to shows that I watch most often. When I have HDMI set up on the new 622 receiver, some of that may go away, don't know yet.
I may have brightness and black level set too high on mine for "burn-in", but I haven't seen one bit of image retention since I got the TV on Friday, and we've had it on for 40-50 hours. Guess I'm halfway there.
I'm not really happy with SD from my satellite (again, the new receiver might change that) since I've been stretching the picture to fit the screen and there are many channels that just don't look that good. Plus the faces and bodies seem squished. Once the break-in period is over, maybe I'll watch more with the picture in 4:3 mode like it is broadcast. I might watch some 4:3 content for an hour or so in normal mode even before break-in is over.
Gawd I hope one of these days to get HD Locals.

Bob,

This is what I have done set for the burn-in period (first 100 hours):

Picture Mode Standard
Picture 0
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm
Enhanced Black Level Off

Also Iam changing the Aspect mode from the default JUST to FULL/ZOOM as needed so that the picture is there on the complete screen with no bars whatsoever.

Let me know if am doing right?

P.S:
I have the SD feed from DirecTV and no HD feed as of now.

Thanks

 

[fiddysheqel]

might be a little late but i have a few questions:
a) what is the difference between 600U, 60U, and 6U?
b) is there a setting that will automatically make it full to the screen (i.e. on philips tv's its "automatic" and it stretches or uinstretches to make the showing program fill the screen regardless of it being widescreen or 4:3)
c) i heard there is an SD-card slot. can u fill that with a movie and watch it or it only sees pictures? What about the USB-slot, can you plug that in directly to a PC and watch videos and whatnot?

 

[fasteddie99]

I have a TH-50PX60U and am looking at the settings again.
They are close to the settings I see here.
However, I don't see an "Enhanced Black Level" setting anywhere.
Where is this?
I have a "Color mgn." setting which is currently "on".
Is this the "Enhanced Black Level" setting?
Thanks