Panasonic ST30 Owners Thread

[manpreetsingh212003]

Hi Van Congrats a mile for the set.

Do post ur views on 3D(when u get the glasses) , till they keep enjoying the magic of plasma tv,

 

[Naveen_Reloaded]

Issues so far ::sad:
1.) the audio output to HT is not working as expected...i.e., the volume is very low...need to turn up the volume in HT to the max...(at first I thought it is a defect as no audio was comming out over the HT...was facing same issue with my previous TV...the volume in HT had to be pumped up...so i think it is normal...yet to test this properly)
2.) not playing audio for mkv files...(will upgrade the firmware and recheck)
3.) seeing some kannada channels are gettign cut off on right of the scree...but all other channels (english/hindi)...seem to be fine...

Overall happy with the buy...will post some pice in the comming weekend.

now need to start planning for couple additions in near future
1.) PS3/XBOx
2.) a proper HT
(now feeling should have gone for 50" ....lets see...ahem...next year maybe for my room...the latest one...)

let me know if you have any specific questions...

Congrats on yours purchase.

1.) TV passes the audio to HT and doesnt interfere much with volume. So its upto HT and its volume controller now to decide. thats why i am stuck with TV audio for regular TV viewing . I have given optical audio out from ps3 to HT. So all HD contents i watch have 5.1 . and normal viewing just the TV speakers , which imo itself is very good

2.) Do upgrade your firmware, I havent played much with mkv on tv. I use ps3mediaserver + ps3 to stream all my contents .. comfortable for me ..

3.) do check if pixel orbitor isnt switched on , it will move the entire screen side to side to prevent burn-in

 

[Moviela]

yet to upgrade the firmware 2113...still shows as 2011

Issues so far ::sad:
1.) the audio output to HT is not working as expected...i.e., the volume is very low...need to turn up the volume in HT to the max...(at first I thought it is a defect as no audio was comming out over the HT...was facing same issue with my previous TV...the volume in HT had to be pumped up...so i think it is normal...yet to test this properly)

let me know if you have any specific questions...

Hi Van,

I am glad you liked King Kong. May I ask how you are sending audio to your HT receiver? Using the TV optical output or on what I like to call "coppertone" using the RCA jacks?

I used the optical out and had no issue with volume. The optical out carries 5.1 sound from broadcasts fine, but when playing from a Panny 210 Blu-Ray player via HDMI to the TV, the audio out of the optical jack of the TV is only stereo.

I had to connect an optical cable from the BD player to the HT receiver to hear the Dolby of DTS sound from the disc or from my laptop via the BD player.

 

[notep]

Hope someone can share their views. When viewing normal movie or video on the ST30 plasma where does the picture start on the glass with respect to the bezel. Is there a small gap on all four sides where the bezel meets the glass when viewing videos.

How does the left and right side of the glass look where it meets the bezel when the tv is turned off

Do you see a film like glass (maybe I am not using the correct word) on the left and right side?

Thanks for your response

 

[van]

Hope someone can share their views. When viewing normal movie or video on the ST30 plasma where does the picture start on the glass with respect to the bezel. Is there a small gap on all four sides where the bezel meets the glass when viewing videos.

How does the left and right side of the glass look where it meets the bezel when the tv is turned off

Do you see a film like glass (maybe I am not using the correct word) on the left and right side?

Thanks for your response

Hi,

(if you can share some pics...it will be more clear on what you are saying above...)

Even i have observed similar to what you mention....this is not the case when playing movies but in normal cable channels...

few channels like Ztv (hindi), and english channels...come out properly no gaps anywhere

few channels have gap on the left of the screen (to your right side)..but meet up the edge on the right of the screen (to your left)
for such channels...if i change the aspect ratio to 4:3...it shows up in a small box on the screen...with more black/blueish bar on the left of the screen (within the display box for aspect ratio)

few channels have even gaps on both sides...

Movies...the ones i hav watched so far...are displayed full screen...no gaps anywhere...

i think this is nothing to worry...if you want you can have a service guy visit and take a look...
(FYI: I am using normal cable with STB...)

hope this helps...

 

[jpmlore]

@notep
i agree with Van. i have not seen anything on the sides. i am using tatasky HD. the black bar depends on channel to channel and also on the aspect ratio. i have played mkv movie directly from the usb pendrive and 500gb pocket drive. both ntfs and fat32 are recognized. audio was no issue.i had problem with one mkv (blue ray from internet) till now and i am still researching whats wrong with it.i have played movie from a hdmi enabled dvd player's usb and the movie was fullscreen with gaps. use vlc player and read the codec info (CNTRL + J ) if you have doubt.

 

[notep]

Thank you Van and jpmlore.

I will try to take a picture of what it looks like. Also the gap that I see between Bezel and the Screen while watching normal HD over cable which is 1080i and is not the same as 4:3 big bars on the left and right or the black bars we see on top and bottom on some 16:9 material.

This one is hardly 1 pixel of width and to give some example if you look at the image (2 & 3) uploaded by Naveen on the first page you would see the gap that I am talking about if you look closely.

I just want to make sure if its normal and not a defect. Thank you.

 

[notep]

@notep
i agree with Van. i have not seen anything on the sides. i am using tatasky HD. the black bar depends on channel to channel and also on the aspect ratio. i have played mkv movie directly from the usb pendrive and 500gb pocket drive. both ntfs and fat32 are recognized. audio was no issue.i had problem with one mkv (blue ray from internet) till now and i am still researching whats wrong with it.i have played movie from a hdmi enabled dvd player's usb and the movie was fullscreen with gaps. use vlc player and read the codec info (CNTRL + J ) if you have doubt.

jpmlore, Can you please share what kind of mkv was it? 720p or 1080p? also the audio format? DD or DTS.

I have not been able play MKV and would like to know if its the source that is the issue. Thanks.

 

[jpmlore]

here are the codec information of the movie i played. hope this helps.

 

[notep]

here are the codec information of the movie i played. hope this helps.

Thank you jpmlore. Did you play from the USB drive or did you use DLNA to stream to the TV. Thanks.

 

[jpmlore]

i have not yet set up dlna. i used the usb pocket hdd. glad to help. i tried 2d to 3d using the same file. it was ok too

 

[vinipana]

Yesterday I got my Pana ST30 delivered.
I downloaded a MKV file, but it didnt play. I tried it on the PC and it didnt work too.
So I downloaded a Blu ray MP4, AAC codec movie ( Real Steel ). The video was amazing. But there was no audio for the movie.
I was playing it via USB.

Do you guys have any idea why video is not working?

Thanks

 

[jpmlore]

i have faced the problem with only one file till now. i used format factory and changed the mkv to mp4. after that video played but conversation audio was not audible rest of the background audio was loud and clear. i guess the problem was with audio decoding after conversion. i have seen green lantern in mkv format it worked without any problem .i had updated to the latest firmware even before using for regular watching. so i am not sure if that helps. mkv in PC should be straight forward.hope u are using VLC player.

 

[jpmlore]

has anyone tried using HDMI out from PC to play games or videos ? if yes, what are the settings to be followed ?

 

[van]

Yesterday I got my Pana ST30 delivered.
I downloaded a MKV file, but it didnt play. I tried it on the PC and it didnt work too.
So I downloaded a Blu ray MP4, AAC codec movie ( Real Steel ). The video was amazing. But there was no audio for the movie.
I was playing it via USB.

Do you guys have any idea why video is not working?

Thanks

Hey,

congrads on the buy...what deal did you get (price+ # 3d glasss)? and which dealer did you buy?

the MKV file...if it did not play on the PC then something really wrong with the file...check the codecs it is on and on the PC.

The mp4 file with audio issue....I think the issue is with the audio codec is not supported on the TV. Even i faced the same issue. One option i used to make it work was...play the movie on my laptop connected to TV over HDMI...came out really good.

 

[vinipana]

Hey,

congrads on the buy...what deal did you get (price+ # 3d glasss)? and which dealer did you buy?

the MKV file...if it did not play on the PC then something really wrong with the file...check the codecs it is on and on the PC.

The mp4 file with audio issue....I think the issue is with the audio codec is not supported on the TV. Even i faced the same issue. One option i used to make it work was...play the movie on my laptop connected to TV over HDMI...came out really good.

Hey Van

Thanks for the quick response.
I got the TV from Brandshop at Koramanagala, Bangalore. It cost me 60k with wall mount and a pair of 3d glasses.
I was looking for UT30, but when I compared both, ST30 had a better screen.

Connecting the laptop to TV would work, but will the picture quality be the same when it is played via laptop compared to playing it by connecting the USB to TV?

Thanks

 

[vinipana]

hi folks...finally took the plunge...bought 42ST30 over the weekend...hyeah:

42ST30 + 2pairs of 3D glasses for 62k @ Devi. Yet to recieve the glasses (dealer has promised 3rd generation 2011 medium sized glasses the light weight ones...lets see how it goes)

currently TV is stand mounted & connected to cable(youSCOD18) STB...PQ is comming out good. Checked pretty much all the channels...all channels are comming out pretty good in terms of PQ.
(except for few local channels offered by the cable operator...the source quality itself is bad )
(to be honest...the PQ is beating my expectation...was worried it would be bad...and might have to go for a DTH STB...but it is good)

wathced a few movies...king kong(KK)...man KK looked huge...(50" would have been better...)

got a fresh piece...checked the usage in service menu...it showed up 27mins and on/off count as 1...:yahoo:

Aug11 manufacturing date...(need to double check...)

Not going in for any break in...just using like a normal TV ...

seating distance is 4 to 10ft

using below settings
Mode : cinema
color : Warm (when set to cool or normal...the whites look bit greyish rather than pure white...)
contrast : 45
brightness : -5
color : 45

True cinema mode looks like a joke on this set (or i did not set it properly)...it increases the brightness a lot...even the black bars (top/bottom)...loose the blackness with this setting.

yet to upgrade the firmware 2113...still shows as 2011

Issues so far ::sad:
1.) the audio output to HT is not working as expected...i.e., the volume is very low...need to turn up the volume in HT to the max...(at first I thought it is a defect as no audio was comming out over the HT...was facing same issue with my previous TV...the volume in HT had to be pumped up...so i think it is normal...yet to test this properly)
2.) not playing audio for mkv files...(will upgrade the firmware and recheck)
3.) seeing some kannada channels are gettign cut off on right of the scree...but all other channels (english/hindi)...seem to be fine...

Overall happy with the buy...will post some pice in the comming weekend.

now need to start planning for couple additions in near future
1.) PS3/XBOx
2.) a proper HT
(now feeling should have gone for 50" ....lets see...ahem...next year maybe for my room...the latest one...)

let me know if you have any specific questions...

Van
I upgraded the firmware to the latest one, but still have issues playing MKV or MP4 with audio. Video is not a problem.
Need to still hook up with the PS3 Media server, which will probably resolve that issue.

 

[jpmlore]

@Van,

did you try playing games on TV using using laptop's HDMI out ? can i do the same from gaming desktop with HDMI out ? is there anything that needs to be taken care of to do this ??

 

[notep]

Hey Van

Connecting the laptop to TV would work, but will the picture quality be the same when it is played via laptop compared to playing it by connecting the USB to TV?

I didn't see any difference (Iam not a videophile) in playing it from my laptop via HDMI cable. The picture quality was good for full 1080p resolution movies . It doesn't transfer the audio so you have to output the audio from your laptop to your receiver or speakers.

 

[notep]

Van
I upgraded the firmware to the latest one, but still have issues playing MKV or MP4 with audio. Video is not a problem.
Need to still hook up with the PS3 Media server, which will probably resolve that issue.

I have the same issue and found few mkv's play no problem but some with high reference rates seems to have issues. also haven't been able to play DTS audio and found it only supports AC3 audio.