just4kix
Well-Known Member
Updates after one week
The TV has been running for almost a week now. I may be able to add some personal observations at this point.
Picture Settings:
Picture settings are very personal in nature. My wife for instance prefers the neutral tones of the "natural" setting - even when watching movies on BD. I prefer the "Cinema" mode, especially while watching movies. I felt that the "True Cinema" adds too much yellowish tinge to the whole picture. Apparently the engineers at Panasonic feel that, that is the correct colour and contrast setting for having the real cinema like experience.
As stated in my previous post, the contrast for all settings was 50 except for "Dynamic" where it was 100. I reduced the contrast for each setting to 30~35 during the break-in period. After that, I shall reset the factory setting and then tune each setting to our liking. I have adjusted the sharpness to +3 in "Normal" mode so that now SD picture appears sharper than before.
I do not have any recommendation here and would ask everyone to fiddle around with contrast, colour, sharpness, etc., till you arrive at a setting that you prefer most. The ST50 also gives control over gamma and other such aspects but I am a novice at that and did not touch those. My wife and I were unanimous on the "Dynamic" mode - we did not like it at all.
Aspect Ratio Settings:
There are no tweaks possible here. The ST50 offers 16:9, 14:9, 4:3, Just, Zoom1, Zoom2 and Zoom3. The "Just" setting works well universally but because I wish to avoid letterbox bars at top and bottom during the breakin period, I am using one of the appropriate Zoom ratios. The Zoom makes the picture too large for the liking but I guess I will have to live with that for another 60 hours or so (as of date). I recommend Zoom setting for all plasma owners during breakin period.
Sound Settings:
The sound of this TV is very unimpressive and disappointing. I was not expecting a lot and knew the drawbacks of the tiny speakers of a typical flat panel. But this was worse that expected. I have to raise the volume to 35 so that dialogues are better audible. I have turned off all surround sound effects - they make the whole sound more attrocious. I am not going to use this TV in my HT room and I am comtemplating whether a decent sound bar will be a good investment.
Reflections and the role of "Infinite Black Pro Filter":
Before buying the TV, I was quite worried on this aspect mainly. I did not want to end up with a new mirror. I am happy to report that because of the infinite black pro filter in the ST50, the reflections are minimal and quite tolerable. My large window is 90 to the TV and when I pull the drapes across, the hall light during day can be reduced to a huge extent; in fact it appears like late evening in the hall when this is done. This makes the TV viewing very pleasureable. The infinite black pro filter reduces the brightness of the TV, increases black levels and this works very well for me.
50" Size:
After a week, I am wondering whether 50" is too big. Because after extended viewing (3+ hours continuous), my eyes feel fatigued.Or maybe, I am not used to it as yet. Currently, I am forced to rethink that perhaps this size TV is better for 10'+ viewing distance.
X-Factor:
As stated in my earlier post, when some friends came home last Saturday, they were simply blown away. I had to send a NASA rocket to collect them back from earthly orbit.
The TV has been running for almost a week now. I may be able to add some personal observations at this point.
Picture Settings:
Picture settings are very personal in nature. My wife for instance prefers the neutral tones of the "natural" setting - even when watching movies on BD. I prefer the "Cinema" mode, especially while watching movies. I felt that the "True Cinema" adds too much yellowish tinge to the whole picture. Apparently the engineers at Panasonic feel that, that is the correct colour and contrast setting for having the real cinema like experience.
As stated in my previous post, the contrast for all settings was 50 except for "Dynamic" where it was 100. I reduced the contrast for each setting to 30~35 during the break-in period. After that, I shall reset the factory setting and then tune each setting to our liking. I have adjusted the sharpness to +3 in "Normal" mode so that now SD picture appears sharper than before.
I do not have any recommendation here and would ask everyone to fiddle around with contrast, colour, sharpness, etc., till you arrive at a setting that you prefer most. The ST50 also gives control over gamma and other such aspects but I am a novice at that and did not touch those. My wife and I were unanimous on the "Dynamic" mode - we did not like it at all.
Aspect Ratio Settings:
There are no tweaks possible here. The ST50 offers 16:9, 14:9, 4:3, Just, Zoom1, Zoom2 and Zoom3. The "Just" setting works well universally but because I wish to avoid letterbox bars at top and bottom during the breakin period, I am using one of the appropriate Zoom ratios. The Zoom makes the picture too large for the liking but I guess I will have to live with that for another 60 hours or so (as of date). I recommend Zoom setting for all plasma owners during breakin period.
Sound Settings:
The sound of this TV is very unimpressive and disappointing. I was not expecting a lot and knew the drawbacks of the tiny speakers of a typical flat panel. But this was worse that expected. I have to raise the volume to 35 so that dialogues are better audible. I have turned off all surround sound effects - they make the whole sound more attrocious. I am not going to use this TV in my HT room and I am comtemplating whether a decent sound bar will be a good investment.
Reflections and the role of "Infinite Black Pro Filter":
Before buying the TV, I was quite worried on this aspect mainly. I did not want to end up with a new mirror. I am happy to report that because of the infinite black pro filter in the ST50, the reflections are minimal and quite tolerable. My large window is 90 to the TV and when I pull the drapes across, the hall light during day can be reduced to a huge extent; in fact it appears like late evening in the hall when this is done. This makes the TV viewing very pleasureable. The infinite black pro filter reduces the brightness of the TV, increases black levels and this works very well for me.
50" Size:
After a week, I am wondering whether 50" is too big. Because after extended viewing (3+ hours continuous), my eyes feel fatigued.Or maybe, I am not used to it as yet. Currently, I am forced to rethink that perhaps this size TV is better for 10'+ viewing distance.
X-Factor:
As stated in my earlier post, when some friends came home last Saturday, they were simply blown away. I had to send a NASA rocket to collect them back from earthly orbit.
