KevinO Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Thanks B,not at all interested in gaming or web surfing- isn't that what this bloody annoying Mac thing is for?? Just want to watch the occasional bit of telly , footy when the season starts again and movies. I'm not in a hurry and the $ aren't a major issue. I guess it's probably the 65"VT30 or the 60"GT50 ( I'm told will be in Welly in v limited quantities in a week or so, according to the dudes at HN, but that may not of course be true). And no , 3d isn't a biggie at all. Thanks for advice
Guest Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Boris;167773 wrote: Haven't heard bias lighting mentioned for ages. Was a big thing years ago when panels needed a lot more 'help' to achieve satisfying black levels. Technology has largely resolved that issue, but subdued lighting still gives a subjectively better picture than a completely dark room IME. Even a well placed lamp with dimmer can be used to good effect. Having said that, the family still insists on all lights off for movies. Bias lighting was actually to reduce eye strain, not assist with black levels. In a totally dark room your eye's iris is wide open to receive maximum light. Along comes a bright scene and wham, optic nerve overload. Your eye responds by rapidly shutting down the iris. If this happens often enough you get eye strain.
Boris1553552671 Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Michael Wong;167778 wrote: Bias lighting was actually to reduce eye strain, not assist with black levels. In a totally dark room your eye's iris is wide open to receive maximum light. Along comes a bright scene and wham, optic nerve overload. Your eye responds by rapidly shutting down the iris. If this happens often enough you get eye strain. Reducing eye strain may have been the primary reason, but it can also enhance the perception of contrast levels and colour accuracy. The eyes are easily fooled, as in the picture in Nigel Beale's (Masterpiece) signature. Viewing environment has a big influence, but of course most everybody is severely limited by real world constraints on home decorating. We both agree that viewing in a dark room is not ideal at least. Link to an article below for anyone interested. The link to the Lotto Lab Brightness illusions is a bit of fun. http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ive.htm http://www.lottolab.org/articles/illusionsoflight.asp Cheers, B
fahrenheit Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 With my V10, bias lighting makes its pathetic black levels a bit more palatable. With my GT50, I'm hoping that it can acheive a sense of absolute black.
Squid1553552671 Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Popped in to the local HN (Wairau Park) on the way home yesterday and they have a 65VT50 on display with a sticker price of $5,597. It was placed right next to a 65VT30 and looks significantly smaller than it with the reduced bezel. Can't say I'm a fan of the silver trim around the outside but I'd happily tolerate that for the greater good. The salesman said they've allready sold 3 of them (all their stock) but are expected more stock soon. He did also say that the price will likely come down a bit in a few months once the excitement has settled down but there isn't much margin offered by Panasonic on them. Suits me fine as I won't have finished building the house 'til at least the end of the year.
Nigel Beale Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Michael is right regarding eye strain, but there is more to background luminance than that. Most of the history is based on our old legacy friend the CRT monitor, most notably the reference monitors like the Sony BVM for grading the image signals. These are noteably quite low in output luminance, the base reason is because the signals typically clipped when trying to push the BVM drive curcuits. The result is the environment had to be designed around the monitor limitation and human perception. Hence low, but not blackout, luminance. There is actual specs to this based on studies, however the new replacement technologies in both consumer grade capability and reference monitiors are changing the playing fields. Anywhoo....waffle dribble excluded, setting up your Tv for blackout, you really need to measure the fl/cm^2 emitting from the screen to be accurate. However a simple way to get a measure of how bright should it be, find the brightest scene in a movie you can find, pause it, set the input selct to an input with no image so it is black, then allow your eyes to adjust to dark, set the input back to the scene. If you get a feeling of over whelmed, strain...the contrast is too high. Adjust the contrast until the strain feeling is low. The trick is to balance the peak average picture level so that is feels comfy and still achieve pop on the big bang scenes. This is very much akin to setting listening levels without a db meter. For whats it's worth most watch TV's set to bright(contrast setting) for blackout conditions.
kiwizig Posted July 6, 2012 Posted July 6, 2012 I received my 55VT50 today and I have to say I am very pleased with it the picture quality is awesome! and it looks a lot bigger in my lounge than it did in the shop! I have left all the picture settings at the factory default of 50% for Brightness, Contrast, Colour, Sharpness etc. Should I change any of these settings while the TV runs in or leave then where they are? I did change the viewing mode to THX Cinema it just looked better!
fahrenheit Posted July 7, 2012 Posted July 7, 2012 Personally, I wouldn't put up with 50 for Contrast for any period of time. On my friend's ST50, I set it to 60. When I calibrate it (after 100-200 hrs), I expect it will end up in the mid-70's.
kiwizig Posted July 7, 2012 Posted July 7, 2012 fahrenheit;167933 wrote: Personally, I wouldn't put up with 50 for Contrast for any period of time. On my friend's ST50, I set it to 60. When I calibrate it (after 100-200 hrs), I expect it will end up in the mid-70's. I thought you had to leave the brightness and contrast down low for the first 100-200hrs?
fahrenheit Posted July 7, 2012 Posted July 7, 2012 The bedding-in period is longer if you use conservative contrast settings. If are watching a disproportionate amount of letterbox/pillarbox content or lots of static imagery, then low contrast settings won't help you any more than high contrast settings will. It will just take longer to get the same end result. An unevenly aged panel.
kiwizig Posted July 7, 2012 Posted July 7, 2012 fahrenheit;167938 wrote: The bedding-in period is longer if you use conservative contrast settings. If are watching a disproportionate amount of letterbox/pillarbox content or lots of static imagery, then low contrast settings won't help you any more than high contrast settings will. It will just take longer to get the same end result. An unevenly aged panel. Ok thanks, I'll adjust them back up.
curiousgeorgenz Posted July 7, 2012 Posted July 7, 2012 FWIW, JB Hifi is selling 55VT50 for $3211 ($3777 less 15%).
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted July 8, 2012 Posted July 8, 2012 I've seen it cheaper... I think it's in limited supply though (VT's typically are first up), meaning there's not much incentive for anyone to put dumb pricing out there.
crtlover Posted July 8, 2012 Posted July 8, 2012 Hi Guys, I have a question related to my ST50. I'm in communication with customer service at Panasonic via email but it's a bit of a slow process. When I first purchased and set up my TV a couple of months back I was able to access the HD clips on Youtube via wireless and the built in app in the TV. Then, one day, I went to take another look at Youtube and no matter what I do I can't get them to screen in HD anymore. They are viewable only on pixelated low rez. This is the same whether I use the built in Youtube app or web browser. I've also tried wired internet access but again - no luck. I've made no changes to the TV setup. There have been a couple of automatic firmware upgrades since purchase. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be? Thanks, Mark.
fahrenheit Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Finally have my GT50! The first surprise was that it has an April build date. I know I missed the first shipment of these, so I expected a much later build. Where it has been sitting since April is anyones guess. The second surprise is that it is passively cooled like the ST models. Suits me, I hate fan noise, no matter how quiet. Have so far turned it on and looked at some colour slides just to check uniformity. There is a bit too much daylight and dithering to contend with at the moment, but so far so good as nothing jumps out as problematic. The room this is going in isn't ready (still being painted), so for now I'll just be taking things slow. For anyone looking at the 60" GT50, it isn't going to be a model that you can simply walk in off the street and buy. I've mentioned earlier in this thread that we are the only territory outside of North and Latin America who are getting the GT's in a size larger than 50". As such, they are probably only running a small (maybe temporary) assembly line at the Thai factory and only small numbers of units will come with each shipment. August 24th is when the next lot are due and once again, they will be most likely spoken for before they even arrive in the country. If you are on the fence, then you'll probably out of luck.
Nathan1553552747 Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Nice looking TV. Given my budget when I bought my panel last year I went with the P50ST30 which while having a nice enough picture for my needs, does look a little dated in terms of design. Looks great from side-on (still very slim) but a bit naff from front on (big bezel). Overall though, Panasonic Plasma is still the way to go. Haven't seen an LCD yet which is better.
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Sharp make one... The Elite is a truly stunning set. Pity it has never made its way into NZ.
Nathan1553552747 Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Dunnersfella;168281 wrote: Sharp make one... The Elite is a truly stunning set. Pity it has never made its way into NZ. I should have qualified, "in my price range". There is no doubt technology is rolling forward. I just can't afford the new stuff
Panman Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 So who did you get yours through ? How about the price --- any better than RRP ? I am interested in the 60" GT also --- so might have to do some phoning around. Looks a nice panel from what I can see.
fahrenheit Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Panman;168313 wrote: So who did you get yours through ? How about the price --- any better than RRP ? I am interested in the 60" GT also --- so might have to do some phoning around. Looks a nice panel from what I can see. I'm uncertain whether there is any forum policy against posting those details here, but a mod can clean that up... I waited for NL to have one of their all too common 20% off sales and so the price was $3359.20 The whole thing was a bit of a debacle. I had to chase them up after I knew the stock had arrived in the country and they told me that delivery was earmarked for yesterday (despite the fact that I had only paid a deposit and still needed to pay the remainder). The delivery was $65, which is a fairly standard rate. What is not standard is having the box spun around, upside down like a kitset table tennis table and then having the guys wanting to haul arse out of there as soon as the cardboard touched the carpet. No way was I letting them go that easily. Simple fact of the matter is that they can't leave without a signature, so we took the top off the box and I inspected the glass for cracks. If there had of been any damage, it would have gone straight back. To put things in perspective, my friend with the 65" ST50 lives out in the sticks. He paid the same for delivery (different company) and the guy that came out hung around till we were happy. Oh well, lesson learned for next time... Otherwise I've enjoyed my first 5 hours with it. Its early days and there are a few niggles which might clear up once I get a few miles on the clock, but otherwise, its a massive improvement on my old 2009 V10.
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 Rumour has it... a limited run of the 55GT50's will be making its way into NZ! No idea on prices / when... but yeah, it could be worth having a look at?
fahrenheit Posted July 14, 2012 Posted July 14, 2012 Mines buzzing. I'm going to wait until I've move it into the room it is going to live in (still being painted) and then I'll decide where to go from there. Its generally accepted that hearing buzzing on bright scenes on a big pdp is common at 2ft or closer but this I can hear well back at 10ft and I suspect well beyond that too. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to isolate the sound at one location on the back, so it seems unlikely a board-swap will solve the problem. I don't really want to play the panel lottery game as this is otherwise a very good panel with decent uniformity.
minimoke Posted July 15, 2012 Posted July 15, 2012 crtlover;168025 wrote: Hi Guys, I have a question related to my ST50. I'm in communication with customer service at Panasonic via email but it's a bit of a slow process. When I first purchased and set up my TV a couple of months back I was able to access the HD clips on Youtube via wireless and the built in app in the TV. Then, one day, I went to take another look at Youtube and no matter what I do I can't get them to screen in HD anymore. They are viewable only on pixelated low rez. This is the same whether I use the built in Youtube app or web browser. I've also tried wired internet access but again - no luck. I've made no changes to the TV setup. There have been a couple of automatic firmware upgrades since purchase. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be? Thanks, Mark. Sorry - not much help. I've tried to replicate but I can play you tube with no problems. No idea if it is HD though - the clips say they are so I presume that is the case. I used teh YouTube App and stream wireless through an old g network router- hope to go wireless n soon but current router seems to do the job. Surprised they played in full screen - last time I looked I'm sure they just played in a smaller picture in picture. Will need to make more use of youtube now. Will try Youtube through the browser later.
Adam1553552670 Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 I picked up a 65ST50 this afternoon, to replace my 2011 Samsung PS59D6900 which decided to kick the bucket on Sunday after 13 months. I'm sure Samsung will fix it, but after having a few issues with this model (first returned for screen defects and a few niggly bugs that continued to annoy me) I want to try something else, and go up in size at the same time. At Harvey Norman they had the ST50, VT30 and the new Samsung PS64E8000 set up along a wall which allowed them to be compared easily. The Samsung had a great picture (looked essentially the same as last year's to me), but was nearly $4900 and had a lot of silly features I didn't want to pay for (voice/motion control, a second touch/voice activated remote etc). The 65" VT30 was $4300, but the contouring on faces was just unbearable to me, and the black border made it look huge (wife would hate that). The ST50 had a really excellent picture (better than the VT30 IMO, but blacks not as deep as the GT50 a few feet away). I'm not too wild about the design (looks like a Samsung knock-off with the same transparent border) and the bezel is a reflective grey, but I'm sure I can live with it. The year's range is a heck of a lot better looking than last year's hideous designs though, I have to say. The price, $3598, was just too good to pass up so I took it. This is my first Panasonic plasma in years after a straight run of three Samsungs (42Q91, 50B850, 59D6900), so I'm hoping for a positive experience.
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 Adam : Do you have plans to get the panel calibrated? Are you planning on any particular bed-in procedure?
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