MrPressStart
Member
Dumb question... but if I am trying to cheaply calibrate my W900A... is the Disney disc the way to go?
Plasma, LCD, OLED, LED, best tv for next gen
- Thread starter spannicus
- Start date
FrankNitty
Member
Calibration is nice and all and for $200+ is might be worth it until you realize that the latest firmware update has some random line like "Improves picture quality". Calibration gone bye-bye.
Another reason to go to a real freelance calibrator. Most will keep up to date with this to let you know how it effects their calibration. many also will do 1 free touch up.
Even better is the beauty of being able to do it yourself if you have the equipment and knowledge. I touch mine up every now and then or to get some practice if I havent calibrated anything in a while.
IHaveCandy
Banned
Is calibrating really that much of an improvement?
Mistakenly said my ST50 was a 65 inch, it's 60 and I updated my post
Yes, I used D-nice's settings from HighDefJunkies/CalibrationForums and the only issue we've run into is with really late night viewing (in pitch black room) the brightness can be too much and hurt our eyes, so we occasionally knock it down to about 20. Contrast at 87 is too high and once you break the panel in with slides (like I did for the recommended 100 hours), the D-Nice settings will really blow you away - there is also a separate batch of settings for using immediately out of the box and before breaking in, which you can find at the link above.
Thanks, i really appreciate you taking the time to post this. i will give these a chance tonight. i get a calibration disc in the mail tomorrow. i will try that out and see how they compare.
FrankNitty
Member
It will allow you to do the basics. you will not be able to do a White Balance or full CMS calibration but it will do you pretty good.
I think so. It may not be fore everyone though. I have had people come over to my place watch a movie and repeatedly say how good it looks and then start saying how bad theirs looks lol.
Or when me and my wife come from someone else's place and have watched a movie and then when we leave she says damn their tv looked like shit lol so funny I have turned my wife into a PQ snob. yay go me!
What's WoW in relation to Disney?
As for calibration, it's definitely worth doing, but don't expect it to immediately look better. It may result in a picture that initially looks dull and lifeless, especially if you've had your TVs in general or even vivid for a while. So you need to give it time, to calibrate your eyes if you like.
As for calibration, it's definitely worth doing, but don't expect it to immediately look better. It may result in a picture that initially looks dull and lifeless, especially if you've had your TVs in general or even vivid for a while. So you need to give it time, to calibrate your eyes if you like.
So you are only good for one firmware update If they offer a free touch-up as each change would probably affect each display slightly differently.
I'll stick to using posted settings and tweaking until I like what I see.
FrankNitty
Member
You are assuming though that the firmware update is going to change it though. In many cases it doesn't and shouldn't. Now sometimes it does. Ex. the F8500 has some firmware changes where it affected the black level in order to stop floating blacks. Most calibrations held true so it actually made it better. Then on the VT30 at one point iirc they did a firmware update that had an impact on the CMS menu. That did through them off. The thing is though if you already had your display calibrated you didn't need it if the calibrator knew how to work around it. It was more for those that didn't have it calibrated where it had the most impact because you didn't have to manipulate the CMS in order to get the results you wanted.
If you were really concerned about it though why would you just update the firmware. Ask the calibrator "hey this new firmware came out that says to do this. do you know what it does. do I need this?" You might not even need it for all you know.
Every calibrator is different though some may come out as many times as it takes if they are local. Who knows.
In the end though you are right. you have to like what you see.
Yep, I've had similar conversations with my wife. She used to make fun of me for "fiddle fucking" as she calls it with our TVs when I am calibrating them... but now she just comments about how much better our old 720p plasma looks compared to their new 1080p LED sets.
FrankNitty
Member
world of wonder. That is the disney disc I have always just called it wow
I never bothered with any special "break in". Used his settings on my Pio 5010FD right away, and it has looked good since 2008.
how much more do yall think the Sony w900a could drop? If there ever was a price reduction.
I know someone who will give me a good deal on their used one with a Fry's warranty.
I hear Fry's warranties can be a bitch to deal with..but I guess it's better than nothing.
I'm just looking at this deal as if it were an "open box" item at Fry's or something.... I would usually get a store warranty with an open box item.
I know someone who will give me a good deal on their used one with a Fry's warranty.
I hear Fry's warranties can be a bitch to deal with..but I guess it's better than nothing.
I'm just looking at this deal as if it were an "open box" item at Fry's or something.... I would usually get a store warranty with an open box item.
I had the Geek Squad ISF agent do my Panasonic GT, and he was at my house for 2-3 hours. And I also got all the files in case I ever had to get it redone. I have them loaded on my thumbdrive.
Do you also go into the service menus to change colors, or just do it with the menus available?
I really need to start doing them myself, but between my freelancer and my Geek Squad ISF cali, they both ran the same slides and did the same type of cali. The good calibration software/hardware was fairly expensive last time I looked.
Witchfinder General
punched Wheelchair Mike
I don't have my W900A connected to the internet and thus have not done any firmware updates. Should I remedy this? Will updating the firmware improve the picture quality or anything else?
FrankNitty
Member
It depends on the display and mode they want calibrated.
Ex. If I were doing a panasonic with ISF controls I would just calibrate the ISF/Professional Modes. (VT50 and higher), if it was a 30 and lower I would use controlcal to enable ISF modes (VT series), 30 and lower non VT I would do custom. If they wanted THX modes calibrated I have to go through the service menu as you cannot control the WB in the menus for THX that is all series.
Samsung I would go through service menu to turn on CAL modes then do it through the menu.
Sony's depending on the model 2pt wb through menu.
LG I would adjust the cuts and drive in service menu first then calibrate with ISF menu depending on the model. Sometimes you can do both. Sometime only need to do one. Elites I go through the service menu essentially since I use control cal.
Usually by going through the service menu and adjusting the WB it is because it is for adjusting the color temp itself Ex. Warm, Normal, Cool etc
It really all comes down to the model and what will give you the best results.
Got my ST60.
- 3D on w802a is better
- Glasses are uncomfortable and smudge my prescription glasses
- w802a is brighter but harder on my eyes
- My component cable doesn't work well on the plasma, it shows up grainy things
- Haven't noticed any input lag yet (but just got it)
- It does buzz almost as bad as the S60, maybe the same, don't know yet
- PQ is a lot better than w802a
- I wish I got a 55"
Weirdly it does crush blacks compared to my Dell ultrasharp 2709w, unless you set it to "non-standard." Haven't calibrated yet.
I transported it on its side and nothing broke.
I'll do an input lag test compared to my dell 2709w monitor. For reference it is about 40 ms slower than the w802a.
- 3D on w802a is better
- Glasses are uncomfortable and smudge my prescription glasses
- w802a is brighter but harder on my eyes
- My component cable doesn't work well on the plasma, it shows up grainy things
- Haven't noticed any input lag yet (but just got it)
- It does buzz almost as bad as the S60, maybe the same, don't know yet
- PQ is a lot better than w802a
- I wish I got a 55"
Weirdly it does crush blacks compared to my Dell ultrasharp 2709w, unless you set it to "non-standard." Haven't calibrated yet.
I transported it on its side and nothing broke.
I'll do an input lag test compared to my dell 2709w monitor. For reference it is about 40 ms slower than the w802a.
I personally think you should. FWs can fix a multitude of things like bugs and menu stuff etc.
My 65VT60 is finally on the stand.
Lovely
Applesauce
Boom! Bitch-slapped!
Was it everything you hoped it would be?
Scheduled for delivery this Sat. Fingers crossed.
I have a current model Vizio and I have to say it is quite nice.
It completely opened my eyes to 1080p. It's only a 42 inch TV, but the difference between it and my old 32 inch 720p TV is astounding.
I think Vizio makes a good TV for the money. Obviously, if you're willing to spend over $1,000, you probably should to get the perfect TV for you.
It completely opened my eyes to 1080p. It's only a 42 inch TV, but the difference between it and my old 32 inch 720p TV is astounding.
I think Vizio makes a good TV for the money. Obviously, if you're willing to spend over $1,000, you probably should to get the perfect TV for you.
SkyMasterson
Member
My 65VT60 is finally on the stand.
Gorgeous!
I just got the 60VT60 and thinking maybe I should have just gotten the 65 lol.
For those with the VT, how is your personal experience with input lag when gaming?
I've read it's pretty decent from reviews. Just curious what you all think?
1080p Pure Direct I take it?
TVs and monitors produce images from RGB signals. Video is stored in a different format called YCbCr. This format has to be converted before transmitted to the TV, then converted again to be processed, before finally converted to RGB. That is a great deal of converting going on, and the original intended image might not be fully preserved.
As far as I understand, 1080p Pure Direct upconverts the transmitted signal to high depth and also cuts out the processing. This way you preserve more of the transmitted signal.
Consoles transmits a RGB signal that can be directly produced on the screen. It's much faster because the TV does not have to spend time converting or processing the signal. Turning on 1080p Pure Direct should only introduce converting, and so it takes a longer time for the image to be produced.
Please correct me if my understand of it is wrong.
Pegasos123
Member
are there calibration settings for the panasonic plasma TX-P42GT20E (europe model)?
unfortunately i dont know the US name of this TV ...
unfortunately i dont know the US name of this TV ...
Myoclonic Jerk
Member
Hi Guys,
I might be going for the Samsun 55" Series 8 Middle East version (if that's different) The thing is around $3,400
Series 9 is arriving in few days but thats around $5,000 so not really worth it I would say..
Any suggestions? comments? Is it a good choice?
I might be going for the Samsun 55" Series 8 Middle East version (if that's different) The thing is around $3,400
Series 9 is arriving in few days but thats around $5,000 so not really worth it I would say..
Any suggestions? comments? Is it a good choice?
After a few days with the UE46F8000 I can say that I'm very happy with my purchase.
I've now set everything up the way I like it and calibrated it (though I guess I'll have to re-do that after a while).
- black levels are excellent for an LCD. A good bit better than my old Panasonic plasma, so I'm very pleased with that
- once calibrated colours are really nice and not over-saturated
- after some initial problems with TV (motion blur with football, random ghosting etc.), it seems to have fixed itself and is now very crisp and smooth at almost all times
- gaming is just brilliant on it, the games look so much better than on my old TV. I wasn't impressed with the graphics of Forza until I saw it on this TV. It looks gorgeous.
- 3d is a lot better than I expected. Watched a bit of football on Sky 3D yesterday and was very impressed. I still think that 3d is a gimmick that I will almost never use, though.
-SD performance is very impressive, apart from on certain channels. When you watch the SD channel and then switch to the same HD channel showing SD content (news reports etc.), you can hardly tell a difference between the two. On the other hand, I was watching some football on the red button and it's so bad, it's unwatchable. Not that that was good on my old TV, but you can see the flaws even clearer now.
- sound isn't too great. I guess they figured that when you spend almost a grand and a half on a TV you can also afford a decent sound system. It's ok, but not great. I guess it's to be expected considering how incredibly flat it is though, to be fair.
- the UI is a bit slow, but nothing I can't live with
I've now set everything up the way I like it and calibrated it (though I guess I'll have to re-do that after a while).
- black levels are excellent for an LCD. A good bit better than my old Panasonic plasma, so I'm very pleased with that
- once calibrated colours are really nice and not over-saturated
- after some initial problems with TV (motion blur with football, random ghosting etc.), it seems to have fixed itself and is now very crisp and smooth at almost all times
- gaming is just brilliant on it, the games look so much better than on my old TV. I wasn't impressed with the graphics of Forza until I saw it on this TV. It looks gorgeous.
- 3d is a lot better than I expected. Watched a bit of football on Sky 3D yesterday and was very impressed. I still think that 3d is a gimmick that I will almost never use, though.
-SD performance is very impressive, apart from on certain channels. When you watch the SD channel and then switch to the same HD channel showing SD content (news reports etc.), you can hardly tell a difference between the two. On the other hand, I was watching some football on the red button and it's so bad, it's unwatchable. Not that that was good on my old TV, but you can see the flaws even clearer now.
- sound isn't too great. I guess they figured that when you spend almost a grand and a half on a TV you can also afford a decent sound system. It's ok, but not great. I guess it's to be expected considering how incredibly flat it is though, to be fair.
- the UI is a bit slow, but nothing I can't live with
AndyMoogle
Member
Make sure that 16:9 overscan is turned off under screen settings.
Pegasos123
Member
which TV was your old panasonic plasma?
I'm not a big fan of sound bars, but I strongly suggest you go somewhere to try them out and find which one is for you, some are tinny, some are boomy, and people like different types of audio. I personally liked the Sony when testing them out, and I was very surprised, the old Sony speakers used to sound like utter crap.
ProjectGemini07
Banned
My 65VT60 is finally on the stand.
dat inky black! Wonderful.
for a quick start for movies, slap it in cinema mode and maybe put the colour at 'warm 1'. That'll be a big improvement over the standard which I think is 'vivid' on bravias. I quite like motionflow 'clear' which doesn't interpolate but does improve motion resolution. I turn most other processing off.
For games, put it in the game scene and then turn off as much of the processing as possible.
other than that, grab a disney or Sony bluray and use their built in calibration options to dial things in a little better. Or try reading the review of the set on hdtvtest to see what settings they used - but bear in mind your viewing environment will mean you can't literally copy/paste settings (but its a good start). review
DJ Lushious
Member
If it were me, I would only accept the VT60/ZT60 as my only replacement for a Pioneer Plasma. I have a Pro-111FD and I firmly stand by that this last round of Panasonic plasmas are the only things worth of challenging the throne that Pioneer has held for so long.
Yeah I am there with you...even at 720p the tv still outshines most I have seen. I love my pioneer and I just want to make sure to grab a panasonic since the are stepping down from plasma development
Unknown Soldier
Member
Plasmas sure suck down the power. I have left the TV on basically the entire month since I have gotten it because I run the break in slides and the pixel jogger all the time when I'm not using it. My power bill went from $50 last month to $150 this month.
The good news is that IR from long gaming sessions is improved and persists for shorter periods of time now.
The good news is that IR from long gaming sessions is improved and persists for shorter periods of time now.
Escape Goat
Member
Did you use your heat more in the past month?
They do. But it should be fine again during normal use.