Just got my first Plasma! Just a few ???

[ObiWanShinobi]

So this Saturday I bought a 55" Panasonic Viera (TC-P55GT31) and WOW! Already love it.

I have a few questions being a first time Plasma owner only because I wanna do it right with this set.

- What should I put the display settings on during the break-in period? So far I have put Contrast at 50 and the brightness at 48, is that acceptable enough or should I go lower?

- Should I be gaming on this set during the break-in period? I played a little bit of Skyrim and Killzone 3 last night. I turned off all the HUD options for Killzone 3 so only the crosshairs remained. With Skyrim the only object that stays on screen the entire time is a compass of sorts at the top but with that game I switch in and out of menus often so its never on screen for longer than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Even when its broken in should I be wary of gaming for more than a hour or two at a time?

- Without having to hire someone to come and calibrate my TV. Are there any direct links to pages on websites that have good calibration settings specifically for Panasonic Plasma TVs? Of course I will tweak it to my taste but it would be nice to have a "jump off" point.

Anyway. I love how this set looks and performs (even at the low settings for break-in) and can only imagine how good it will look when the dust settles. Any help would be great guys and if there are some threads already made for this sort of thing if someone could direct me to them I'll just close this one down and get my read on.

[fredreed]

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

[ObiWanShinobi]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's.

I want advice on my TV not my decision to buy it and for as many people out there that say that there are just as many if not MORE that say completely otherwise.

I made my decision based off of comparisons and the model of Plasma I bought was actually right next to a top of the line Samsung LED of the same size...and guess what? The Plasma looked better in a variety of ways to me so I made my decision. And Plasmas only lasting 2 years?...I believe thats been proven wrong so many times its a wonder anyone even has the balls to say it.

Thanks for chiming in but please refrain from posting THIS sort of advice. The thread title isn't "I bought a Plasma, did I make a bad decision?"

[kpkelley]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

Sorry Obiwan, I'm not familiar enough with that model to give you any specific advice.

[Glacialpath]

Thats great you have cut the contrast and brightness. Nice to see someone wanting everything to be right. I just got a Kuro but its 2 years old so thankfully I don't need to worry too much about breaking it in. There should be a gaming mode for the AV input you are using, that might be worth activating even when the display has settled in try it on or off to see what you like.

If you can afford to have full ISF calibration (about £350) and the TV can have this done then get it done and see the picture really pop off the screen. The TV will work better and consune less electricity. Do you have a mains conditioner as this improves picture also. Maplins do one at £40

Some settings you can do you're self are take off all Sharpness as this is only adding things to the picture that are not coming from the source. If you have a Bluray and DVD with a THX optimizer on then use it to help set things up once the break in period is over. Do this at night for best result and try to get rid of as much light from the room as possible. If you don't have acess to the THX blue glass's for setting the colour then I found the colour setting tended to be between 35 and 45 (about 1/3 up on the slide bar on the Panasonic set up menu) when I used to set TVs up with a calibration disc.

You should be able to turn Overscan off too which I think is in the advance settings menu. This will give you 100% picture. Turn it on and off on the aspect ration test pattern when using the THX optimzer and see how much more picture you gain.

All settings should be indipendent for each AV input so you will need to do it for each source you have connected to the TV.

Sorry this is so long but I hope it helps. Enjoy

GP

[Gempulse]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

Why do you even bother posting if you're going to post this ignorant, uneducated garbage?

[volcomsocal]

Congrats on a great purchase! I have the 50" ST30

You should have sharpness very low... around 5-10. You can always keep that setting for the life of the tv. (which will be longer than 2 years)

I would play 1.78:1 movies for a while before anything else. You say you've been playing some games on there. There's nothing wrong with that, just don't keep a fixed image there for too long in the early stages of this tv. From what I've heard and gathered through different forums and websites, it seems that 100 hours is the general amount of time that is good to "break in" your plasma. Your setting of contrast at 50 sounds good and will help break it in rather than have it at 90-100.

Oh, go into your picture settings and take Motion Smoother off, unless you like the plasticky soap-opera look.

Good luck and enjoy your Panny!!

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

What a bunch of worthless FUD. You are the most uninformed troll I've seen around here in a LONG time. Please stay out of the forums with this rubbish.

[ObiWanShinobi]

Thanks guys! Thats exactly what I needed to hear. So far the only movie I've watched has been Jurassic Park (1:85 ratio I believe) and holy crap the crisp clarity on this set blows away any TV I've owned before it.

The motion smoother is on "Weak" right now, I believe. Not sure yet if I like it or not. At times I enjoyed how it kept the picture smooth and crisp but there were other times when it seemed too smooth...almost like it was ever so slightly fast-forwarding the image, if that makes any sense.

anyway. I'll keep my current settings since they are at or near what they should be for the break-in. I'm just shocked at how incredible the picture looks even with these "break-in" settings.

As for old whats his name up there spouting off garbage. That was trolling at its worst.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

He asked a simple question wanting advice, NOT YOUR STUPID INPUT ON IGNORANT THINGS YOU HAVE HEARD. I hope you are grown up enough to know that you do not believe everything you hear. Unless you know for a fact what you are talking about it is best if you just keep your comments to yourself.

[Pantallicarox]

Good purchase. I got the 50GT30 about 3 months ago. Amazing picture. There is really no set thing to do just try not to leave anything still image on the display for more than 5-10 mins at least in the first 100 hours or so. Just figure out how often you use it to no when the hours are up. It only took me a couple of days lol. If you decide to do break-in slides, don't half-ass em or it won't work just leave em on for the whole time.

Oh and the TV model is 55GT30 the reason Best Buy calls it a 31 is to tell the difference between the just the TV and the bundle of the TV with the Glasses

[ObiWanShinobi]

One thing that is good about the lifespan of this TV is that it won't be getting used on a daily basis.

This beauty is in my mini-mancave (one of the two bedrooms in my condo) and it will ONLY be used for movie watching and gaming. So it will get used about 3-4 days out of the week for only 2-4 hours at a time. No cable-TV-watching will take place on this set. I have LCDs for my regular daily TV watching.

[ObiWanShinobi]

Originally Posted by Pantallicarox

Good purchase. I got the 50GT30 about 3 months ago. Amazing picture. There is really no set thing to do just try not to leave anything still image on the display for more than 5-10 mins at least in the first 100 hours or so. Just figure out how often you use it to no when the hours are up. It only took me a couple of days lol. If you decide to do break-in slides, don't half-ass em or it won't work just leave em on for the whole time.

Where can I find some break-in slides? Is this a DVD I can burn myself or something store bought?

Ha, thanks for the heads up about the GT30/31 bit. Love how this thing looks, its only 5" bigger than the set I had before it (a 50" Samsung DLP with LED engine) but it seems to dwarf it in size. Looks bigger than it is.

[Grif32]

Originally Posted by ObiWanShinobi

One thing that is good about the lifespan of this TV is that it won't be getting used on a daily basis.

This beauty is in my mini-mancave (one of the two bedrooms in my condo) and it will ONLY be used for movie watching and gaming. So it will get used about 3-4 days out of the week for only 2-4 hours at a time. No cable-TV-watching will take place on this set. I have LCDs for my regular daily TV watching.

I wouldn't worry to much about life span, my one panny plasma is going on 8 years old and still going strong.. Contrast..

[ElliesDad]

Good purchase! You're going to love it. I've had my 50" Viera for two and-a-half years and have never stopped being amazed at the PQ, especially on some of the better-looking blu-rays. My wife is probably just a little tired of hearing the comment, "holy crap, look at the quality of this picture!"

I'm not even sure a break-in period is of any great importance on the newer models. I am pretty sure that you can live without a 350 quid 'ISF calibration'. I, too, was going to respond to the tripe posted by 'fredreed' but clearly don't have to at this point. Enjoy!

Addendum: Why wouldn't you watch cable programming on your Viera? Very view channels now maintain a logo on-screen (for obvious reasons). Even having a cable music service on for extended periods (with song identifiers popping up) isn't a concern if you turn down your contrast...

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

not very informative advice.

a plasma only lasts two years??

[Pantallicarox]

You can find the slides on the second line in the link.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1371710

Lots of good advice in that thread too. Good for a read through especially since this is your first plasma.

Have fun.

Also another good thread to read through is this one.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/plasma-tvs...gt30-st30.html

[kris achar]

Originally Posted by fredreed

I have heard nothing but bad things on plasma's. I would have stayed away from buying a plasma and would buy a Led TV instead. The plasma inside the tv will only last about 2 years and then you will end up buying another tv. My advice return the plasma and go with The Led.

Iam very surprised by the way you have pointed out your point.And iam sure you are a led tv fan nothing wrong in that but discouraging a person from using a product which he has brought since he had liked it is.....
If you knew anything about plasma tv settings or calibration then speak your mind,he did not ask for any advice on wheather plasma tv's were the best available product & wheather to buy or not.
Iam sorry to say your words are very discouraging.

love,
kris.

[Glacialpath]

Your setting of contrast at 50 sounds good and will help break it in rather than have it at 90-100.

Not to offend anyone or say you are wrong as I know the Quote was not stating what setting to put the contrast at. I would just like to explane a couple of things about contrast though. Never put it up to 100% unless with a test pattern on screen there is still enough difference between the different levels of white without the whitest looking to glary otherwise you just wash the picture out. I was setting up my Kuro LX5090 with a THX bluray callibration disc and the contrast only got up to about 45 out of 60 before the 8 white box's washed out. Its currently set to 39. This was best for my TV and my viewing room and of course it will be different for all TVs.

Contrast is one of the main reasons you get depth in the picture and things can look 3D on a 2D screen so I guess you could set it to what gives you most depth and detail in the bright areas of the picture but bare in mind some movies are meant to have that washed out look in places.

I only mentioned the ISF callibration if you can afford it and want the best picture possible from your TV/Projector

Happy viewing.

GP

[LOTR07]

Congrats on your purchase you will love it.......here is a good site to get settings information and will help you tweak your TV.....
http://www.tweaktv.com/

I agree 100% with the ISF calibration but only after 200 hours which is recommended....there is break in slide shows that you cvan download on avs and this site that will help in that....that is what i did for mine and it works great......did the ISF cal and its night and day picture wise......
enjoy your purchase......