Panasonic VT20 Owners Thread

[khoj]

Congrats Khoj - click on the "First" link above or below

Thanks amol12, got it and the usage was 00000:06 & the count was 3 which should include my having gone in and out of the service menu twice. Every time we exit the service menu the tv reboots and the count climbs.

Now the picture was ok out of the box, as for the green tint I was not able to notice the same. The best channel to watch in SD is AXN. Have the set set up as

Viewing mode Professional 1
Contrast 17
Brightness 0
Colour 26
Sharpness 08
Color Balance Normal
Vivid colour Off
Eco Mode Off
P-NR Off
3D Comb On
Panel On
Aspect Ratio ZOOM3 so as not to get any channel and DTH logos. Trust this should be OK.


EDIT I am not able to see the 'TINT' adjustment option anywhere in the menu. What am I missing, any pointers guys.

 

[devh5]

I havent used breakin slides except to check if there is any IR and when the Panasonic guys visited for dead pixel.
I have seen no IR or any issues whatsoever. Sometimes I also watched content with bars for an hour or 2 and there wasnt any IR even after that. Total hours burnt till now is less than 100.

For me the best breakin slide is watching tv in tv mode white and black dots dancing..:clapping: suggested by one great advisorhyeah:

 

[Reds4ever]

Thanks amol12, got it and the usage was 00000:06 & the count was 3 which should include my having gone in and out of the service menu twice. Every time we exit the service menu the tv reboots and the count climbs.

Now the picture was ok out of the box, as for the green tint I was not able to notice the same. The best channel to watch in SD is AXN. Have the set set up as

Viewing mode Professional 1
Contrast 17
Brightness 0
Colour 26
Sharpness 08
Color Balance Normal
Vivid colour Off
Eco Mode Off
P-NR Off
3D Comb On
Panel On
Aspect Ratio ZOOM3 so as not to get any channel and DTH logos. Trust this should be OK.


EDIT I am not able to see the 'TINT' adjustment option anywhere in the menu. What am I missing, any pointers guys.

@khoj, i think the tint option is only available if the TV is getting an NTSC signal. Here's what the manual says.

Tint
With an NTSC signal source connected to the TV, the picture hue can be
adjusted to suit your taste.
? For NTSC or Component / HDMI input signal reception only
? Not valid when Viewing Mode for HDMI input is set to Photo

 

[satan]

Any of you that just got the TV, please do the brightness test as outlined by Blasto and Reds4ever (should be in the ST30 owners thread) before you upgrade your firmware and let us know the results.

 

[satan]

Guys, on my VT20, the brightness control does not seem to impact the black level from any value lower than +15. Essentially +15 is the same as -50.

Higher values than +15 result in big jumps in panel brightness with introduction of some colored pixels if i look very close. I saw them last night, will try to check again tonight.

Has anybody else also seen this behavior?

I'm also not able to use the AVD HD 709 avsforum disc to properly set black level using the brightness control so there's no clipping till reference black.

I can't seem to make out any difference below +12. I feel there might be some reduction in brigntness when I go lower than +12 but I can't be too sure of it.

You guys should be able to see some IR from the menu's while trying to reduce the brightness. See if you can focus on that while reducing the brightness to make out any differences under +12 / +15 like some of you have had.

For the record, I am already on the lastest firmware.

 

[BLASTO]

Hi Guys, Copied the below from ST30 thread to get the context of above discussion.
As of now, we have satan, reds4ever and myself facing this issue.
Naveen_Reloaded's ST30 works fine.

You have to do this in a perfectly dark room in the night.

Do the below.

Press PC button and change to PC mode. If you have not connected PC, It will show you completely black screen.

Reduce the brightness one step at a time from 50. If you dont see any change in brightness change for a step, that is the minimum black the TV can produce. It ranged from 0 to -5 to -15 at different times to me (which is wierd).

Yesterday, I noted the black level is high with much brigter gray. Did the above and observed that the brightness will not reduce for full black below +15!!

Something crazy is going on.. Can you guys post the numbers from your TV?

I did the firmware upgrade recently and Iam not sure if it has to anything with this.. Hold on for the moment and dont do the upgrade..

It's the same for me. No reduction in brightness from +15 down.. anything over it also introduces colored pixels if you look up close.

I also have the latest firmware, upgraded soon after i installed it. Was the black level much better for you before the upgrade?

I can't seem to make out any difference below +12. I feel there might be some reduction in brigntness when I go lower than +12 but I can't be too sure of it.

You guys should be able to see some IR from the menu's while trying to reduce the brightness. See if you can focus on that while reducing the brightness to make out any differences under +12 / +15 like some of you have had.

For the record, I am already on the lastest firmware.

I checked again with all blinds and doors closed. I am on firmware 2.113 , fir which the description read as "pal11's peaks soft update contents"

again the -5 is the lowest dark i can get , beyond that there is no considerable difference.

and around +15 I get something like static image.

The first post is the procedure, the second, third and fourth are wrong behaviour and last is expected behaviour.

I suppose the firmware upgrade has something to do with it.

Guys who haven't upgraded the firmware please post your values so that we can conclude.

Others, hold on for now without upgrading the firmware.

 

[BLASTO]

@Reds4Ever, How is the move from the LED to Plasma? I think you should pen down that good or bad in the LED vs Plasma thread.

 

[pawandeepalw]

Hi Friends

I am new to this thread . my TV just got delivered today thanks to Khoj and Sanjay for assisting me to get better deal

I have a query, Is it possible to play wmv . mp4 , and MKV files through USB?
I have HD content in that format only

Please advice...

I have update to latest firmware "P102_5606" is that corrct one ?
I also have to get HD box (have reliance hd but it does not have much channels)
Please Advice

Thanks

 

[satan]

I have a query, Is it possible to play wmv . mp4 , and MKV files through USB?
I have HD content in that format only

No, your TV does not play any of those formats natively. Divx and Xvid, nothing else.

You will need to get a dedicated media player or use your computer to run a DLNA server like PS3 Media Server and access your movies on your TV from your computer (Transcoding and Streaming across a Wired / Wireless LAN). Go through this thread, there is infomration poster about how to setup streaming for your TV.

I have update to latest firmware "P102_5606" is that corrct one ?

Yes that is the latest one.

 

[khoj]

I can't seem to make out any difference below +12. I feel there might be some reduction in brigntness when I go lower than +12 but I can't be too sure of it.

You guys should be able to see some IR from the menu's while trying to reduce the brightness. See if you can focus on that while reducing the brightness to make out any differences under +12 / +15 like some of you have had.

For the record, I am already on the lastest firmware.

Almost the same with my set. Up to +14 there is marked difference on every step down from +50. Observe closely at +14 and there is very fine pixelation which sort of converts to very very fine horizontal lines at +13 which reduce at +12 and then diffuse in to the back ground at +11. After that I could not observe any reduction whatsoever. -50 to me appeared the same as +11. No upgrade, running stock unit since installation earlier this evening. Pitch black room at this hour, so much so that the yellow of the menu table hurts.

Now what does this mean for a layman like me?

 

[BLASTO]

Almost the same with my set. Up to +14 there is marked difference on every step down from +50. Observe closely at +14 and there is very fine pixelation which sort of converts to very very fine horizontal lines at +13 which reduce at +12 and then diffuse in to the back ground at +11. After that I could not observe any reduction whatsoever. -50 to me appeared the same as +11. No upgrade, running stock unit since installation earlier this evening. Pitch black room at this hour, so much so that the yellow of the menu table hurts.

I tried and got the exactly same results.. Until 14 brightness decreases.. 14 to 13 'could be' a decrease but none after that.. Did factory recet and checked and it is same.

Good news is, the view time and switch on counts do not change with factory reset.

Now what does this mean for a layman like me?

The sets decreases actual light output from black areas till certain point which usually is 0 to -5. I remember seeing this before but now Iam not sure. The earlier settings I posted also show this as -5 and I usually adjust it to the minimum level where change cease to exist.

If you change the brightness in 'actual' content, the scene becomes darker because the TV reduces luminance of colours other than black to simulate a darker screen. This will lead to loss of detail.

What this actually means could be either of the two, i) The TV maintains black with minimum brightness even if you raise to 10 points above 0 which is good (or) ii) The black level of the TV itself reduced so that 0 produces same high brightness as +12.

What it means to a layman is that, in a >60% dark scene in a perfect dark room, the screen can appear brighter in the dark areas compared to the surroundings. You will probably not notice it.

Today I watched 2 movies in full dark with -5 brightness and it was brillient for 95% scenes and good for the other 5% which has mostly black in the screen probably because I was looking for it. You might not even notice otherwise.

 

[Reds4ever]

I tried and got the exactly same results.. Until 14 brightness decreases.. 14 to 13 'could be' a decrease but none after that.. Did factory recet and checked and it is same.

Good news is, the view time and switch on counts do not change with factory reset.




The sets decreases actual light output from black areas till certain point which usually is 0 to -5. I remember seeing this before but now Iam not sure. The earlier settings I posted also show this as -5 and I usually adjust it to the minimum level where change cease to exist.

If you change the brightness in 'actual' content, the scene becomes darker because the TV reduces luminance of colours other than black to simulate a darker screen. This will lead to loss of detail.

What this actually means could be either of the two, i) The TV maintains black with minimum brightness even if you raise to 10 points above 0 which is good (or) ii) The black level of the TV itself reduced so that 0 produces same high brightness as +12.

What it means to a layman is that, in a >60% dark scene in a perfect dark room, the screen can appear brighter in the dark areas compared to the surroundings. You will probably not notice it.

Today I watched 2 movies in full dark with -5 brightness and it was brillient for 95% scenes and good for the other 5% which has mostly black in the screen probably because I was looking for it. You might not even notice otherwise.

To be honest, I've quite underwhelmed with the nighttime pure black performance of my TV. I was expecting it to go much darker. :-(

Blasto, how does the VT20 compare against your Samsung plasma on a pure black screen? Is it as much darker as the MLL readings from reviews suggest?

Going by Naveen' comments on the ST30 thread, he sees an increase in the brightness from -5 to +15 and increase beyond +15 shows some static. In my TV, the ability to go to -5 level black is apparently lost. I just see the same black from -50 to +15 and then some static beyond +15.

If it' due to the firmware update, is there some way to reverse it? Do you guys think the Panasonic service guys can help if there's a potential tweak in the service menu?

 

[Reds4ever]

Almost the same with my set. Up to +14 there is marked difference on every step down from +50. Observe closely at +14 and there is very fine pixelation which sort of converts to very very fine horizontal lines at +13 which reduce at +12 and then diffuse in to the back ground at +11. After that I could not observe any reduction whatsoever. -50 to me appeared the same as +11. No upgrade, running stock unit since installation earlier this evening. Pitch black room at this hour, so much so that the yellow of the menu table hurts.

Now what does this mean for a layman like me?

@khoj, what's the firmware number for your set?

On D-Nice's settings for the VT20/25, there are a few controls related to black level/brightness which i could not find in our VT20Ds.

Pro Settings:
Black Extension: 0
Panel Brightness: Mid

Advance Options
Black Level: Light

Have anybody found these controls? Perhaps they could help improve the MLL.

 

[giddavr]

I tried and got the exactly same results.. Until 14 brightness decreases.. 14 to 13 'could be' a decrease but none after that.. Did factory recet and checked and it is same.

Good news is, the view time and switch on counts do not change with factory reset.




The sets decreases actual light output from black areas till certain point which usually is 0 to -5. I remember seeing this before but now Iam not sure. The earlier settings I posted also show this as -5 and I usually adjust it to the minimum level where change cease to exist.

If you change the brightness in 'actual' content, the scene becomes darker because the TV reduces luminance of colours other than black to simulate a darker screen. This will lead to loss of detail.

What this actually means could be either of the two, i) The TV maintains black with minimum brightness even if you raise to 10 points above 0 which is good (or) ii) The black level of the TV itself reduced so that 0 produces same high brightness as +12.

What it means to a layman is that, in a >60% dark scene in a perfect dark room, the screen can appear brighter in the dark areas compared to the surroundings. You will probably not notice it.

Today I watched 2 movies in full dark with -5 brightness and it was brillient for 95% scenes and good for the other 5% which has mostly black in the screen probably because I was looking for it. You might not even notice otherwise.

Ii it advisable to watch a plasma in complete darkness?
wit crts we used to have a diffused lighting behind the tv for best viewing experience.

 

[BLASTO]

To be honest, I've quite underwhelmed with the nighttime pure black performance of my TV. I was expecting it to go much darker. :-(

Blasto, how does the VT20 compare against your Samsung plasma on a pure black screen? Is it as much darker as the MLL readings from reviews suggest?

Going by Naveen' comments on the ST30 thread, he sees an increase in the brightness from -5 to +15 and increase beyond +15 shows some static. In my TV, the ability to go to -5 level black is apparently lost. I just see the same black from -50 to +15 and then some static beyond +15.

If it' due to the firmware update, is there some way to reverse it? Do you guys think the Panasonic service guys can help if there's a potential tweak in the service menu?

As I said, I remember the change going upto -15 also for pure black earlier. I did not keep that setting as I felt the shadow details were not adequate and kept it at -5. The current MLL is similar to my samsung plasma. I did not check it side by side though. I remember the change from samsung to panasonic to be quite sharp when I replaced the TV. Maybe I got used to this or the blacks went down considerably as in -5 to +15.
It is not a drastic change in areas other than black currently. Only if we see a ST30 in night, we can confirm anything.

Will compare with my samsung and post results tonight anyway.
If you get any leads from the service personal or service menu, let me know.

 

[amol12]

I did the test (during day time) and it does not appear to change below +13.
Did another test while watching content and there is a difference all the way to -50 in black levels.

 

[khoj]

@khoj, what's the firmware number for your set?

Software Version 5400-10300

If you are looking for some other information let me know.


Does this panel convert 2D content to 3D? If yes please post step wise instructions, the manual did not make any sense on this subject at least to me.

EDIT

This morning the sd STB was replaced with a HD PVR box. Needless to say the PQ is amazingly good even for the SD content and miles ahead of our old HD ready Hitachi LCD which also has a PVR STB attached to it. I again could not see any green cast. Both panels are connected to the STBs using the HDMI cables that were included in the Tata Sky+HD PVR boxes. Output resolution is set at 1080i.

Just had a power cut as I was typing this and the panel rebooted even as the inverter took over, seems my old APC UPS with a 400VA will have to be brought out. I am however unsure whether at 500VA rating it will be able to bear the panels current demand.

BTW What are the manufacturing dates on your panels. Mine is a July 2010 baby.

 

[amol12]

Software Version 5400-10300

If you are looking for some other information let me know.


Does this panel convert 2D content to 3D? If yes please post step wise instructions, the manual did not make any sense on this subject at least to me.

No it does not.

 

[sudhirkr]

Today i got additional 2 year warranty card from Croma. Since they did not have it when i had purchased it on 15th and panasonic sent it now.

I need to mention the Serial number of the TV in the copy that i have to mail to Panasonic. Where can i find it?

I have wall mounted the TV, so its difficult to get it from the back of the TV.

Is it mentioned somewhere on the Carton box of the TV or in any Menu of the TV? Thanks

 

[sudhirkr]

BTW What are the manufacturing dates on your panels. Mine is a July 2010 baby.

Where do i check manufacturing date?

Date of import though is Feb-2011 on the carton box of the TV.