Panasonic TH-50PZ77U can't get that 3D pop look???

[Junkmale]

It's been bothering me for a long time that I can't seem to get that 3D "pop" look to my Panasonic TH-50PZ77U. I see newer TV's at stores these days and always feel that my tv doesn't look as good. Is this all to do with the newer 120hz technology? I also read some places that the "anti-glare" screen on my TV can actually make the picture look softer/grainier hence not being able to obtain the 3D pop. Don't get me wrong...it's a nice TV and some movies look great, but they never look as good as what I see in stores. People raved how Iron Man is reference quality, but I really only found the "really" bright daytime scenes looked really good then any other scenes (not just dark night scenes) look kinda grainy or don't have any pop. I know stores setup their TV's with "vibrant" settings to fool customers, but I'm sure there's something about this TV that stops it from getting that pop other than the user settings. I think it's the "anti-glare" screen. Anyone else who has it think so?

[aramis109]

When people say "3d pop" I instantly think Motionflow technology that's present on 120hz LCD sets. If you're looking for that overly-smooth motion, that's what that is.

My father-in-law has the bigger version of that set and it looks great (with the exception of his colors). Calibration can do so much to the image. Try looking up and seeing what others have done, or getting a calibration disc and doing it yourself, or getting it ISO calibrated. I personally don't think the anti-glare screen is hurting anything but the glare. That set produces good enough colors that a shiny screen won't help contrast on it all that much.

[Junkmale]

Thanks for the feedback, but it's not really the motion I was thinking of. I was thinking more of the picture looking almost crystal clear having a 3D look to it whether there's motion in the scene or not. It just seems like this TV looks grainier than others. People keep saying how they're blown away at how some movies look. I have some of those same movies and find them really good, but they don't blow me away. When I see the TV's in store I can see what people mean. I'll see the same movie I have, but it looks clearer on those TV's and almost 3D. I have the DVE HD Basics disc and tried calibrating with that and found I liked my previous settings better. An ISO calibration is out of the question for 2 reasons. No one anywhere close to where I live does it and it's very expensive for something not guaranteed to make any dramatic difference. I wish there was some way of removing the "anti-glare" screen, so I could prove once and for all that it doesn't or does effect the picture quality.

[LUkassZ]

Originally Posted by Junkmale

Thanks for the feedback, but it's not really the motion I was thinking of. I was thinking more of the picture looking almost crystal clear having a 3D look to it whether there's motion in the scene or not. It just seems like this TV looks grainier than others. People keep saying how they're blown away at how some movies look. I have some of those same movies and find them really good, but they don't blow me away. When I see the TV's in store I can see what people mean. I'll see the same movie I have, but it looks clearer on those TV's and almost 3D. I have the DVE HD Basics disc and tried calibrating with that and found I liked my previous settings better. An ISO calibration is out of the question for 2 reasons. No one anywhere close to where I live does it and it's very expensive for something not guaranteed to make any dramatic difference. I wish there was some way of removing the "anti-glare" screen, so I could prove once and for all that it doesn't or does effect the picture quality.

No it is the 120Hz motionflow causing this. The first time I saw it in circuit city I almost shit myself it looked so real/3d/popped out of the tv. As much as this might fool u as looking good, it is not how the film was intended to look.

[KCLARK]

Is this with regular HD or is your image issue with blu-ray?
There is alot of hidden picture punch that is based upon your settings. Little changes can make big difference in picture output and many times some things are just overlooked when deep inside menus. It happened to me when I first got HD. I had bone head mistakes thruout my entire system and took me a while to go thru them all and land a bullzeye picture. For example, had my box set to 480p when it should have been 1080p. Had picture output set to 16:9 and watching cropped shows and didnt even realize there was another 16:9 Full. Change it to that, whallah, full screen. Viewing in cinema mode to me is too dark, changing to to vivid pumped the colors. On my blu ray player, there is alot of setting you can pick "auto" and just leave it alone, I found that manually changing some of these selections allowed me to make the picture look even better. Take the time out and be anal about digging into your box settings, tv setting, and blu ray settings, and write down what you have and take notes as you go. You should be able to fine tune everything down to a tee without the need of purchasing a calibrator.

[aramis109]

Watched the superbowl on pretty much the same set with the new anti-glare screen.



...yeah, it's not that. It's either your settings or expectations about Motionflow you see in stores.

[KCLARK]

Originally Posted by aramis109

It's either your settings or expectations about Motionflow you see in stores.

I 100% agree with aramis, that its your settings. Really need to go thru all the menus with a fine toothed comb and UNDERSTAND what changes your are making is doing to the picture.

[Junkmale]

I find that my issues are mainly with blu-ray mainly. Believe me I have tried everything in my TV menu's and blu-ray settings (have a PS3 player) and I can never get that same store 3D pop look. All the basic settings on my TV and Blu-ray are set for 1080P viewing. I'm really starting to feel that the motionflow 120hz technology is the reason for the difference. LukassZ...your reaction to the how in store TV's was the same as mine.

I have The Dark Knight for example on blu-ray and it looks very nice. It's just that extra punch that motionflow 120hz technology seems to give that appears to make the difference. Maybe I'm just not a fan of the original vision that directors have for movies by including grain naturally and prefer the smoother look as if a movie were filmed entirely digital

[Panos]

Junkmale, I have the same exact plasma. Like the others said, you'll need to make some changes to your settings and not just the settings in the "Picture menu" You'll need to go into the service menu. There is a huge thread over at avsforum.com just for the PZ77U. Lot's of good info for our tv's. I'm currently using these settings and i have been since i got the TV last April.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post13501857

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post13055953


I use these settings for watching blu-rays. For satellite HD and Standard channels i've made a few adjustments in Custom mode, based on some of the recommendations on that thread. Since the calibrated settings in Cinema mode are a little dark for sports and standard tv. I plan on getting an ISF calibration in a few months. The current settings look great, but i'm sure it can look even better. That 3d pop is the motion flow 120Hz that the new LCD's have. Plasma's don't have that feature. Instead you get a more natural cinema look from plasma.

[DavidAg02]

I have a TH-42PZ77U, and a good calibration seems to do wonders for this generation of Panasonics. I don't think that the anti-glare screen hinders the picture quality as long as the calibration takes account for it.

With that being said, I did a self calibration with Avia after owning the TV for just a few months and noticed a nice difference just from doing that. Then several months after that I discover the AVS forum posts that Panos mentioned and decided to do those service menu changes. The difference from those was slight, but it was a change for the better. Most notably was the improvement of whites.

At the very least, get an Avia or DVE disk and do a self calibration. It is very worth it and you will learn a lot in the process. Don't be too intimidated to do the service menu changes either. The forum threads are very detailed, and will walk you through the whole process.

Even if you do the above mentioned calibrations, it WILL NOT look like what you are experiencing in the stores. The demonstration models in stores are almost always set to make TV's look extremely bright and vibrant, and while it looks flashy and fancy in the store it is not the best setting for at home viewing. Calibration is designed to give your TV a very natural "as the director intended" viewing experience. Colors will not "pop". Instead, you will get closer to that ideal "looking out of a window" viewing experience. It's so much better, but it will take some getting used to.

[Panos]

Originally Posted by DavidAg02

I have a TH-42PZ77U, and a good calibration seems to do wonders for this generation of Panasonics. I don't think that the anti-glare screen hinders the picture quality as long as the calibration takes account for it.

With that being said, I did a self calibration with Avia after owning the TV for just a few months and noticed a nice difference just from doing that. Then several months after that I discover the AVS forum posts that Panos mentioned and decided to do those service menu changes. The difference from those was slight, but it was a change for the better. Most notably was the improvement of whites.

At the very least, get an Avia or DVE disk and do a self calibration. It is very worth it and you will learn a lot in the process. Don't be too intimidated to do the service menu changes either. The forum threads are very detailed, and will walk you through the whole process.

Even if you do the above mentioned calibrations, it WILL NOT look like what you are experiencing in the stores. The demonstration models in stores are almost always set to make TV's look extremely bright and vibrant, and while it looks flashy and fancy in the store it is not the best setting for at home viewing. Calibration is designed to give your TV a very natural "as the director intended" viewing experience. Colors will not "pop". Instead, you will get closer to that ideal "looking out of a window" viewing experience. It's so much better, but it will take some getting used to.

I was lucky to find that thread before the tv was delivered, so i just went straight from the factory settings to these settings posted on AVS. It was much better then the factory settings. It does take a little time getting used to it.

Like you said, those display tv's are set in torch mode to attract buyers and make it look great under all those bright lights. My local best buy had a calibrated Pioneer Kuro and the picture on that tv was amazing, non of those 120Hz could compare to how realistic and natural the picture looked. They were demoing The Dark Knight...they also had that same movie playing on a Samsung 120Hz lcd and it looked like CGI compared to the pioneer plasma...some prefer that "3D pop" look.

[LUkassZ]

Originally Posted by Junkmale

I find that my issues are mainly with blu-ray mainly. Believe me I have tried everything in my TV menu's and blu-ray settings (have a PS3 player) and I can never get that same store 3D pop look.

When I first got into the world of HD, I got an HD tv and HD cable and was mesmerized by the quality of primetime lives feeds such as american idol, saturday night live, the grammies, late night show, etc. The people literally jumped off the screen.

I then got a PS3 a while later expecting the blu-rays to look the same and they were far different. I was pissed. I later found out the live shows are shot with digital HD and thats what gives them that 1000% contrast look. Blurays, using film were meant to look they way they do.

Then I saw a properly setup mitsubishi in circuit city playing from a single bluray direct feed and the picture was, albeit a little different, MUCH more similar to the HD digital picture you get from certain cable broadcasts. Initially I was blown away. I dug into things and figured out it was the motion flow causing it. I later realized that that is not how the film is intended to look. I'm sure your panasonic is doing an amazing job at displaying. FYI, many parts of Iron Man looked a bit "hazy" to me as well.

[Junkmale]

With blu-ray aside I also find that shows like American Idol look great as a HD broadcast. Actually this year it seems to me it looks even better than last year. Maybe they're using even better HD cameras?

Thanks for all the replies. I think you've helped me realize that my TV is probably fine the way it is. I have a DVE calibration disc, so I may try that again and also look into the menu settings to fine tune it a bit.

[LUkassZ]

Originally Posted by Junkmale

With blu-ray aside I also find that shows like American Idol look great as a HD broadcast. Actually this year it seems to me it looks even better than last year. Maybe they're using even better HD cameras?

Thanks for all the replies. I think you've helped me realize that my TV is probably fine the way it is. I have a DVE calibration disc, so I may try that again and also look into the menu settings to fine tune it a bit.

The DVE calibration is pretty much the best calibration you will get one under a professional calibration. Do it up. Just don't expect that much of a change.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by Panos

Junkmale, I have the same exact plasma. Like the others said, you'll need to make some changes to your settings and not just the settings in the "Picture menu" You'll need to go into the service menu. There is a huge thread over at avsforum.com just for the PZ77U. Lot's of good info for our tv's. I'm currently using these settings and i have been since i got the TV last April.

Bad advice, my friend. You mess int he service menu without knowing EXACTLY what you are doing, and you can brick your TV. Once this happens, your warranty is also void.

It's obvious to me that the OP is a lover of the fake, overly-processed motionator picture. He's just going to need to buy a new set, which is a shame as he has a VERY good plasma right now.