2010 Panasonic launch

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16 posts

Geek

#342134 16-Jun-2010 00:12

Dunnersfella: Calm down - The U20 is a $1300 plasma (advertised in a couple of stores last week... don't know if the specials are still on?) not a $4000 TV.
Have you seen the TV in a home? Properly calibrated?

When you say calibrated, is this different from just adjusting the contrast, colour etc in the picture menu ?
My old CRT has finally died (it is 18 years old) and I now need a new TV. I'd rather pay $1300 for a new TV than $2300, so if it is possible to get a good image out of a U20, it would be good. How would one go about this ?

fahrenheit

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#342208 16-Jun-2010 09:59

How much bright to moderately lit viewing do you do?

Jaxson

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#342211 16-Jun-2010 10:13

I'm over that conversation.

Does anyone know if there has been any developments in the line of 3D projectors?
Seems this device may fall behind the times with the advent of 3D in mainstream TV's now. Panasonics way up there on the home theatre projector market, so any news on this?

Hammersfan

16 posts

Geek

#342275 16-Jun-2010 11:58

fahrenheit: How much bright to moderately lit viewing do you do?

Most of my viewing is in low natural light/a bit of artificial light/or darkness

fahrenheit

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#342277 16-Jun-2010 12:04

You might not be bothered by the lack of filter then.

huxtable

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#342352 16-Jun-2010 15:39

Hammersfan, IMHO don't bother getting too caught up in thinking you need calibration.

I know I'll get scolded for saying this on here, but you'll be very unlikely to need to bother.

A couple of months back I finally bought a new TV, after months of research. I purchased a 50" Panasonic S-series Full HD Plasma TV.

Even upon purchasing, I still had severe reservations with my purchase; firstly, our lounge has a LOT of windows, and has a lot of all-day sun, meaning it is immensely bright - most people would say absolute no-no in getting a large-screen glossy plasma in these viewing conditions.

Also, the S-series was the "basic Full HD" model; I would have loved to have got the better specced G or V series, but would have had to sacrifice size, and get a 42" instead of the 50", if I wanted those models.

And then, when doing such in-depth research, everyone recommended that I would "need" to perform a calibration to make the TV watchable.

And this is all before I even start on the reduced black levels issue ... ...

... ANYWAY, the TV is brilliant, and this is in our super-bright lounge, and without any calibration. Yes, of course perhaps a trained eye is going to see imperfections, but I have had dozens of people over to our house, and they have all been blown away by the picture and performance of the TV.

Yes, the TV has noticable glare when watching in daylight with the curtains open, but the eyes quickly ignore this and you won't notice it - or just shut the curtains!

Picture on myskyHDi and Bluray is fantastic.

Our lounge isn't particuarly big, and to start with the 50" looked ridiculous (especially as we were used to our 21"!), but even the wife doesn't regret getting the big fella, in fact she loves it.

I genuinely could not be any happier with my purchase, and am actually glad I didn't get caught up in the hype and get one of the more expensive models, for what would realistically be virtually indistinguishable differences. And seriously 99% of people are never going to need to bother with calibration - it's just that the other 1% is well represented on geekzone ;) ;)

Anyway, hope this helps - moral of my story is that if you get a decent-specced TV these days from a top brand such as Panasonic, you really can't go wrong.

Cheers.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

#342391 16-Jun-2010 17:10

If you want to define calibrating I guess it is changing picture settings like contrast etc to give the best picture for your environment, though that is the most basic level of calibration and some people have equipment worth more than most tvs to aid in calibration.
I believe the u20 is capable of giving a nice image, and my settings were obtained through the most inaccurate method, relying on your eyes. Next step up is getting a THX DVD or one of the calibration discs you can buy and using their test patterns. After that you start getting into colirometers and other very expensive sensors.

On the subject of to calibrate or to not calibrate... There are diminishing returns as with most things on your expenditure but I'm all for a $20 DVD of test patterns and ten minutes of remote fiddling that will make a $1300 tv look as good as a $2500 tv.

Desktop: i7 920, GTX 275, asus P6T, antec 1200, 6gb ram, 1tb spinpoint f1, 1tb spinpoint f3, Logitech Z2300, Zero DAC, Shure SRH440
Laptop: Toshiba satellite, T5300, Go 7300
Home Theatre: 32" loewe CRT, Harmon kardon amp, dvd player, image 418 speakers, rega planar 25 turntable :)

Hammersfan

16 posts

Geek

#342503 16-Jun-2010 23:32

Jaxson: I'm over that conversation.

Sounds like you need to get over yourself too.

Hammersfan

16 posts

Geek

#342504 16-Jun-2010 23:35

huxtable: Hammersfan, IMHO don't bother getting too caught up in thinking you need calibration.

I know I'll get scolded for saying this on here, but you'll be very unlikely to need to bother.

A couple of months back I finally bought a new TV, after months of research. I purchased a 50" Panasonic S-series Full HD Plasma TV.

Even upon purchasing, I still had severe reservations with my purchase; firstly, our lounge has a LOT of windows, and has a lot of all-day sun, meaning it is immensely bright - most people would say absolute no-no in getting a large-screen glossy plasma in these viewing conditions.

Also, the S-series was the "basic Full HD" model; I would have loved to have got the better specced G or V series, but would have had to sacrifice size, and get a 42" instead of the 50", if I wanted those models.

And then, when doing such in-depth research, everyone recommended that I would "need" to perform a calibration to make the TV watchable.

And this is all before I even start on the reduced black levels issue ... ...

... ANYWAY, the TV is brilliant, and this is in our super-bright lounge, and without any calibration. Yes, of course perhaps a trained eye is going to see imperfections, but I have had dozens of people over to our house, and they have all been blown away by the picture and performance of the TV.

Yes, the TV has noticable glare when watching in daylight with the curtains open, but the eyes quickly ignore this and you won't notice it - or just shut the curtains!

Picture on myskyHDi and Bluray is fantastic.

Our lounge isn't particuarly big, and to start with the 50" looked ridiculous (especially as we were used to our 21"!), but even the wife doesn't regret getting the big fella, in fact she loves it.

I genuinely could not be any happier with my purchase, and am actually glad I didn't get caught up in the hype and get one of the more expensive models, for what would realistically be virtually indistinguishable differences. And seriously 99% of people are never going to need to bother with calibration - it's just that the other 1% is well represented on geekzone ;) ;)

Anyway, hope this helps - moral of my story is that if you get a decent-specced TV these days from a top brand such as Panasonic, you really can't go wrong.

Cheers.

Thank you huxtable, this was a very helpful post. Very refreshing.

mentalinc

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#342529 17-Jun-2010 07:05

Free callibration "discs" - AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray, HD DVD, & MP4 Calibration

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB: Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX

Jaxson

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#342559 17-Jun-2010 09:42

Hammersfan:
Jaxson: I'm over that conversation.

Sounds like you need to get over yourself too.

Why thanks for the advice. My comments were based on reading yours. 5 posts and you're calling good people nerds and keyboard warriors. We're a friendly lot here who try to help where we can. Might pay to take that on board.

Dunnersfella: Calm down - The U20 is a $1300 plasma (advertised in a couple of stores last week... don't know if the specials are still on?) not a $4000 TV.

There's a reason the cheaper TV's are cheaper. That said even the base model Panasonics are pretty good. Plus you get the good menus and build quality you might not get in a cheaper no name brand TV. If you require a better quality TV to satisfy yourself then you will need to pay more for a better model. No point complaining that the cheaper models aren't as good as the more expensive ones, which is what Dunnersfella was alluding to.

There may be some differences between the models year to year, but that's the way the cookie crumbles when you are ready to buy. Any non 3D TV purchased now may be a stop gap for 2 - 3 years until 3D content arrives and 3D prices drop.

*disclaimer, I have the cheaper S10 Panasonic Plasma and have obtained a good picture from it, and for me it definitely did require some calibration to suit my viewing environment. The more expensive the model in Panasonics range, the more calibration options you get as well. Masterpiece would be the one to talk to about this as he does it for a job.

Dyson

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Hammersfan

16 posts

Geek

#342566 17-Jun-2010 09:55

Jaxson:
Hammersfan:
Jaxson: I'm over that conversation.

Sounds like you need to get over yourself too.

Why thanks for the advice. My comments were based on reading yours. 5 posts and you're calling good people nerds and keyboard warriors. We're a friendly lot here who try to help where we can. Might pay to take that on board.

Dunnersfella: Calm down - The U20 is a $1300 plasma (advertised in a couple of stores last week... don't know if the specials are still on?) not a $4000 TV.

There's a reason the cheaper TV's are cheaper. That said even the base model Panasonics are pretty good. Plus you get the good menus and build quality you might not get in a cheaper no name brand TV. If you require a better quality TV to satisfy yourself then you will need to pay more for a better model. No point complaining that the cheaper models aren't as good as the more expensive ones, which is what Dunnersfella was alluding to.

There may be some differences between the models year to year, but that's the way the cookie crumbles when you are ready to buy. Any non 3D TV purchased now may be a stop gap for 2 - 3 years until 3D content arrives and 3D prices drop.

*disclaimer, I have the cheaper S10 Panasonic Plasma and have obtained a good picture from it, and for me it definitely did require some calibration to suit my viewing environment. The more expensive the model in Panasonics range, the more calibration options you get as well. Masterpiece would be the one to talk to about this as he does it for a job.

Your words were friendly ?? Really ?? Wow. Your kind of 'friendly' I can live with out. This is not the only forum I'm a member of, I frequent archery forums worldwide too, and have never encountered your kind of 'friendly'.

I consider huxtable's post a friendly and helpful one, in case you need an example of one. Perhaps you could read it and learn from it.

Yes, calling the other 2 people 'nerds' was a bit rough, and I suppose I should say sorry to them, so sorry you two if you're reading this, but I was a bit peed off at being told to calm down, when I had not done anything. Keyboard Warrior on the other hand is an amusing term really.

fahrenheit

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#342568 17-Jun-2010 09:59

mentalinc: Free callibration "discs" - AVS HD 709 - Blu-ray, HD DVD, & MP4 Calibration

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

I'm not sure how much use someone can get from AVS HD without a meter. It could be handy for setting basic black level and eye tuning greyscale but I think something like DVD Essentials would be more friendly to first timers who haven't got the necessary gear.

Jaxson

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#342579 17-Jun-2010 10:23

Yeah I have the AVS HD calibration files/disc. It's not very user friendly at all and requires a big help document to step you through it.

The THX optimiser is a good start, very basic and clear.

As I understand it the spears and munsil disk is the easier out of the more formal offerings.

Past that it's onto a proper calibration that uses test equipment and not your eyes. Masterpiece will probably have experience with how each model of the Panasonic range can calibrate up.

Hammersfan

16 posts

Geek

#343694 21-Jun-2010 10:57

An update: I bought a 42" V20 from The Good Guys in Link Drive, Wairau Park. I wasn't looking at this model previously as it was out of my price range. However, The Good Guys had a promotion during which they dropped the price down to $1687, and that was too good to pass up, so I bought it. It is a very nice TV, and I'm well pleased.

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