SD/HD on Panasonic TH-50PX60U Plasma

[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

 

[downriver]

I have a 42PX60U and I think you have made a good choice. At this time all I am using on this TV is an up-converting DVD player and mainly playing home recorded DVD's and I am very impressed with the bang for the buck

C-net reviewed the 42PX60U and here is the review, the 50 should perform in a similar manner. http://reviews.cnet.com/Panasonic_TH_42PX60U/4505-6482_7-31788615.html?tag=also

 

[Lee H.]

I have a 50PX60U and love it...I am useing HDMI to the TV and Opitical to a Amp and its great!!.
I have HD set to Normal and SD to Partial Zoom and seems to work the best.
You should be very happy with it.

 

[naccoachbob]

Thanks Lee H. That helps so much. Do you do anything special to prevent burn-in? image retention? Does the Partial Zoom make it full screen for SD?
What exactly is "Partial Zoom"?

 

[navy8ball]

i have the 42PX60U also and i love it i have 3 508 and one 510 running through it and plan on upgrading to the 622 soon. for burn in i turn the tv off if i am not actually watching it and i never pause a show for more than a few seconds.

 

[RandallA]

I recommended the 42PX60U to a friend of mine. Even the analog cable channels look decent on this set and of course HD looks awesome.

 

[ScooterS]

I have the 50PX60U and love it!
The HD Voom package looks great.
SD will be just fine. Some content will be better than other, depending on the source. You know "garbage in- garbage out."

 

[gbjbany]

i answered your post in the TV's section. i have the 50px6u which i assume is the same.
Agree with everybody here. As i mentioned here, i did mess up the stand install, ahd it back to front. But that was a quick fix.

 

[Snake Plissken]

to answer your question about partial zoom, naccoachbob
it is a way to show SD content streched out to fill the entire widescreen of your plasma. It is the best option, IMHO, becasue it tries to maintain the middle of the image while doing more stretching to the outer parts of the image. thus making the image less distorted.

normal "cable" channels (CNN, HGTV, Travel channel) look pretty good this way. when it comes to sports, though, i usually switch back to "normal". any type of stretching just makes it unbearable to watch fast moving content like basketball, football, etc...

 

[Lee H.]

I prevented burn in by keeping the screen "Full" in other words no black bars for at least the first 100 hours.

 

[naccoachbob]

Thanks everyone for the inputs. I've got great ideas on how and what to do. TV on Fri or Sat, and 622 install on Tue.

 

[SRust]

I have a 50PX60U, a 42PX60U & a 37PX50U ALL on Dish HD. They are fabulous displays! You will be very happy with yours. Burn-in is a VERY over stated problem with these new plasmas. It's not unusual to get a little image retention now & then, but this is temporary whereas burn-in is permanent. Just keep the black bars to a minimum & don't pause your image for long & you will be fine. These Panny plasmas are rated for 60,000 hours, so you will probably want the latest & greatest new technology before your plasma wears out!

 

[Cyclone]

I have had my Panny 42" Plasma since Jan of 2003 (Thats right a 4 yr old Plasma) and no Burn in. Just make sure to stretch the SD using your stretchy method of preference. Also I was shocked at how crappy Dish SD looked on my Plasma. I thought it was a Plasma problem until I saw OTA SD which looked normal on it.

 

[griz_fan]

Thanks Lee H. That helps so much. Do you do anything special to prevent burn-in? image retention? Does the Partial Zoom make it full screen for SD?
What exactly is "Partial Zoom"?

As far as burn in is concerned, that really shouldn't be a problem, as long as you properly adjust your TV. Typically, out of the box, the contrast setting will be set way too high. Makes the TV look good on the showroom floor, but is probably the single biggest contributer to burn in.

I would recommend a a calibration DVD, such as Digital Video Essentials. But, lacking that, any THX DVD has a basic calibration section under set up that will help you do a rough job of dialing in the settings. Worse case scenario, just make sure to dial your contrast back below 50%. The AVS forum has several large threads dedicated to this model of TV, I'm sure you'll find lots of info on the specific settings for your TV.

With a new, properly adjusted plasma, the risk of burn-in is tiny.

 

[naccoachbob]

griz_fan, thanks -- and all others, THANKS ---
I've been looking at the AVS forums, and at some of the reviews of this tv. Someone on one of them gave the settings they used to get the picture as close to D6500 (is that the number?) or as close to "perfect" as possible. I'll use those, reducing contrast and black level some in the initial 100 hours or so. Will report to this spot after I get the tv (fri?) (praying!!) and the HD DVR receiver on Wednesday next.
Again, everyone has been so helpful and given me a lot to look forward to. I'll try to repay it down the line.
Thanks

 

[emtownsend]

Just gotta throw in my two cents. I have the 58" Panny plasma and the Dish 622. SD looks terrific and HD is out of this world! Get an upconverting DVD player and you will just add to that terrific setup. (I have the matching Panasonic DVD-S97; even the awful kids DVDs look good).
Hopefully all goes well for you naccoachbob & you'll be enjoying one terrific setup.

 

[naccoachbob]

emtownsend, I just picked up the tv this morning and it's installed with the 322 right now, changing to 622 on Wed. Haven't tweaked yet, but dvd looks good (progressive), and was going to get the Sony s75, but will now look at the s-97 based on your advice. LOL I read before getting this that the tv would look larger when I got it home, but I was not ready for how HUGE it actually looks. WOW! This afternoon is dragging........gonna sneak home early and get to playing.

 

[Trek2000]

opps

 

[Trek2000]

I also have a 50PX60U and I have an OPPO 971H upcoverting DVD player it looks great. They have the best score of all upconverting players. They have a new 981 out now.

 

[naccoachbob]

I went with the Sony DVP-NS75H dvd player and the picture looks great. Using HDMI cable and letting it upscale the picture in Auto. This is the 1st I've been able to use HDMI (E* installer due Wednesday with the 622) and the settings from http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th50px60u-review.html are spot on. At least for the 1st dvd I've watched.
Thanks to everyone for their input. You've all been so helpful.