Panasonic V20 Owners Thread (Settings, Problems, Impressions, Questions)

[arun_chak]

Yes, it's a good idea to know what to expect from this TV. Someone in this forum was very disappointed after upgrading from LG LH90.

BTW, I have a question for V20 owners.

Have you tried playing movies through USB? I tried but I couldn't play video files through USB. The manual isn't of much help either.

I also tried encoding a file in DIVX format and tried it. But it never played

 

[KiranB]

I also tried encoding a file in DIVX format and tried it. But it never played

I have faced no problem playing various divx files upto 4gb in size.

Just check that you are converting with the right codec.

 

[Modsy]

I also tried encoding a file in DIVX format and tried it. But it never played

Connect the USB and click on Viera tools on ur remote . It will show the video file on the USB . Click on the same . I have played a movie - Clash of the Titans and it i must say watching the movie was a great experience on the plasma.

 

[vramak]

I am seeing a lot of dithering as well as banding on my panasonic v20.

I got rid of the green pixels by adjusting my brightness and contrast but this dithering is way too distractive.

You can notice the dithering in the pics below on the face and the background too.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There is also some banding visible around the actors neck.

Are any of the other V20 owners facing this issue.

I want to be sure if this is an inherent problem or is my panel bad.

The source is 1080p brrip and I have also tried more uncompressed sources. All have this problem.

The dithering is not very prominent in animated movies (including avatar). It is more visible in areas where there are few colors like the sky or the skin.

I am playing it through my PC with the DVI -> HDMI converter.

The still pics dont look that bad but the moving picture is very distractive as you can see the pixels dancing where dithering happens.

From beyond 7 feet its hardly visible but I sit at a distance of 5 feet.

Buddy, the shots you've posted honestly don't look like 1080p BR quality at all - not even close. I use a PS3 and I sit at 5.5 feet and I can confirm that my upscaled DVDs look better than what you've posted. Looking at the lack of detail in those shots and also at the compression artifacts, I can say that the video file you're using is of low quality and your TV is making the defects more apparent.

By the way, make sure you are not mistaking film noise for dithering. If you pause the movie and the pixels stop dancing, then it's film noise inherently present in the source. Dithered pixels will not stop dancing even when the film is paused. I'm suggesting you this because you said you don't notice much dithering in animated movies.

But one thing - I have to say that even with the best quality sources, I do see some colour banding. The main reason for colour banding is that the grayscale isn't correct with default settings in Cinema/True Cinema/Pro modes. Ironically, in dynamic/normal modes, grayscale is more linear though it has a bluish cast. So, I think the grayscale inaccuracy and colour banding can be corrected by adjusting colour. I'll be calibrating colour after a friend of mine brings DVE discs. Till then I think I'll be living with default colour settings, incorrect grayscale and minor color banding.

 

[KiranB]

These shots are from a full hd brrip by the ps3-team

I agree with you when you say they dont look like full hd brrips. Thats what I am trying to say too.

 

[frankmehta]

BDRips are sometimes compressed due to space constraints. I would suggest going in for a good bluray player if you are going to do such critical watching.
Besides, it's all about data. If the quality of the data you are throwing at the TV is going to be less than perfect, do not expect that the algorithms of the processing software or all the hardware clout of the TV is going to make it any better. Worse, maybe.
Garbage in, Garbage out, as the wise put it.

 

[KiranB]

BDRips are sometimes compressed due to space constraints. I would suggest going in for a good bluray player if you are going to do such critical watching.
Besides, it's all about data. If the quality of the data you are throwing at the TV is going to be less than perfect, do not expect that the algorithms of the processing software or all the hardware clout of the TV is going to make it any better. Worse, maybe.
Garbage in, Garbage out, as the wise put it.

I have heard of the GIGO principal, several times and agree with it.

But i think how good a display is, is judged by how good it is at producing the picture. Even if its of low quality.

95% of time, I watch what you define as Garbage(non bluray). My 24" dell LCD is better at displaying most of it.

But the picture quality is not the actual issue that I mentioned about in the previous post.

I am talking about dithering which I can see happens all the time with all sources compressed or uncompressed. Including on DVDs(uncompressed and not Indian)

What i learned after searching on the net is that a lot of people decribe this dithering as 'fluctuating pixels' or 'snow pixels' or ' dancing pixels' and all plasmas do this because of a limited color pallete.

My point is that its very prominent with this display than with LG and Samsung plasmas. I could hardly notice any dithering on the Samsung c450 plasma.

@ vramak, I believe you had samsung c450 prior to the V20, do you feel there is more dithering on Panasonic?

 

[borg]

i have 50c550 and i see alot of dithering/dotcrawl/green,especially in dth(i have big tv connected thru component),

 

[vramak]

@ vramak, I believe you had samsung c450 prior to the V20, do you feel there is more dithering on Panasonic?

I had a B450 before. I found that V20 has significantly more 'dynamic range' and 'gradation steps' than B450. The PS3 idling screen is an easy way to check for banding. On the B450 I noticed 3-4 uniform bands for the PS3 idling screen but on the V20 I see 10-12 uniform bands. This is because of better dynamic range and more gradations. The plus side of this is that there will be more details in blu ray movies. But more details means that even defects of lower quality sources will become obvious. On the C450 and your dell monitor you won't notice these defects because the panel itself isn't capable of resolving much detail.

The best way to take care of this is - sit closer for blu ray and enjoy the extra details. Sit farther for lower quality sources and become oblivious to the defects.

 

[Aditya]

could anybody tell what should be or is the price for 42" V20 in delhi somebody said 60K..whr is it available for 60k ..or it could go even lower then that

 

[tapmal5]

i bought v20 from Panasonic Brandshop for 62k without much bargaining in Delhi

 

[frankmehta]

Some more photos guys. I know you'll are starved of good images of the V20, so here goes.
NOTE That these images have been taken in the last few stages of finishing my new house. So all surfaces might not be as clean as I would want them to be. TV was just mounted for a few seconds to see how it looks on the console, and to decide the position of the other stuff (front speakers, center channel, Tata Sky HD Receiver etc)

ALSO, something very intriguing. The sliding windows in my Hall have a gunmetal coating on them which looks like the TV has actually been matched to the surroundings. have a look, it's pretty amusing!

 

[pseudophile]

Thanks for the pics Frank.:thumbsup:

I may be wrong but i think they belong here My Audio/Video Setup in the showcase post instead. (especially since they are off)

Also dont forget to clean your lens for the next dose of shots we get.

 

[frankmehta]

I thought this was a V20 owners' thread where we could even post pictures of our tv :-(

About the lens, yes, there was lots of dust there due to all the carpentry work going on there.

Also, I will be posting my AV setup pics in that section once everything is in place and the house is ready.

Cheers!

 

[Atul12]

Thanks for the pictures.
Please do post more pictures once the woddwork is complete and the system is installed for good.

 

[sim_forgotten]

Can anyone confirm the prices of V series, G series and S series full hd plasmas? All are of 42 inchers.

 

[pseudophile]

Panasonics v20 600 mhz is nothing but a marketing gimmick.

It is not the same as LCD 100/200 mhz. Do not be fooled by this.

I am seeing major motion issues with my v20.

I see motion blur when theres a fast panning shot and when the panning shot is slow the video judders. :annoyed:

 

[frankmehta]

a. Name the source.
b. Name the source file.
c. Is this playing off the USB port?
d. Are you saying an LCD is better than a Plasma when it comes to motion?
e. Have you tried watching the same on an LCD.

 

[karmapilots]

Frankmehta, you haven't revealed how much you paid for this coz I'm contemplating to pick one up.

 

[saisrujan]

I have a question on the wireless capabilities of 42V20. I can see the ethernet port, but cannot extend the LAN cable messing up my living room, so I need a way to connect the TV to the wifi setup in my house.

Can I use a standard USB Wifi adapter? How can I configure network settings and enter WPA2 password into the tv?