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CES Hands On - Samsung HW-Q990F review
Yes I hope all goes well my friend,I only watch films on the oppo in black out conditions,I removed the TiVo and gaming consoles and put them through in the living room.
As you know I already have a VERY good picture so I'm not expecting night and day.
As you know I already have a VERY good picture so I'm not expecting night and day.
Nice update, thanks SoSJ.
Wasp, I would be pretty confident in saying you are going to be blown away by your ZT once it's calibrated. It may take a few days to get used to the picture depending on what type of settings you currently have, particularly with broadcast TV (I know SoSJ found the same thing), but stick with it.
It can be quite unforgiving with poor quality source material but BluRays in particular should look stunning. I watched Prometheus last weekend and the picture was, so far as I can tell, simply flawless.
Make sure you post your thoughts once you've had chance to try a few discs? (And them we can all start nagging Gel again!
)
Wasp, I would be pretty confident in saying you are going to be blown away by your ZT once it's calibrated. It may take a few days to get used to the picture depending on what type of settings you currently have, particularly with broadcast TV (I know SoSJ found the same thing), but stick with it.
It can be quite unforgiving with poor quality source material but BluRays in particular should look stunning. I watched Prometheus last weekend and the picture was, so far as I can tell, simply flawless.
Make sure you post your thoughts once you've had chance to try a few discs? (And them we can all start nagging Gel again!
)Also thanks for your detailed review of your calibration son of sj .i really was 50 50 on this ,it's not cheap and with the quality I have already I knew not to expect a massive difference .
I'm not planning to upgrade for quite a while and even tho I can go bigger after this thing is calibrated I know I can't get better so I thought it was worth the investment.
I'm not planning to upgrade for quite a while and even tho I can go bigger after this thing is calibrated I know I can't get better so I thought it was worth the investment.
Son_of_SJ
Well-known member
theflyingwasp said:
Hello theflyingwasp, it's good that you are a bit cautious but I'm sure that that nice Mr Withers will be able to extract every last drop of quality from your ZT65, which as we all know gives the best image quality of all the Full HD (ie, non-4K sets). I think you should still be able to see a difference between pre-and post-calibration. Do allow yourself a few days to get used to the change though!
If he has time, perhaps you could get Mr Withers to read what I said in my interim update in post number 4 on this page (page 24) of this thread. I'm looking forward to doing the final update once I have a chance to look properly at the Pioneer LX5090, which is only 80% as good as your Panasonic ZT!
Son_of_SJ
Well-known member
Damn! I forgot to remind theflyingwasp to ask Steve Withers if the calibration of today's ZT matches Steve's calibration of Mr Malarky's ZT, because Steve referred to that earlier calibration as one of the best that he had ever done! So who wins the "Best calibration by Steve Withers of a forum member's TV" award, Mr Malarky or theflyingwasp??? (I do know that I myself, despite getting four TVs done, am out of the running, sob!)
(I do know that I myself, despite getting four TVs done, am out of the running, sob!)Son_of_SJ said:Damn! I forgot to remind theflyingwasp to ask Steve Withers if the calibration of today's ZT matches Steve's calibration of Mr Malarky's ZT, because Steve referred to that earlier calibration as one of the best that he had ever done! So who wins the "Best calibration by Steve Withers of a forum member's TV" award, Mr Malarky or theflyingwasp???
Unless Steve just says that to everyone? In which case I fell for it!
D'oh!! :doh:
Son_of_SJ
Well-known member
Son_of_SJ
Well-known member
Allow me to elaborate, sir. Mr Withers didn't say "That's one of the best calibrations I've ever done" to me, not even once, let alone four times, grrrr! Guess I gotta face facts, I've been inadvertently trying the quantity rather than quality approach with having four sets of varying abilities, but I lose out to you and theflyingwasp (and also to ellisdj's 65VT65, and strapped for cash's 50VT65) for the sheer quality of your ZT65s!!
Like me and one or two others, theflyingwasp has gone suspiciously quiet immediately after his calibration. He did say earlier that he would keep Steve Withers there until Steve said that his (theflyingwasp's) calibration was better than yours!
Like me and one or two others, theflyingwasp has gone suspiciously quiet immediately after his calibration. He did say earlier that he would keep Steve Withers there until Steve said that his (theflyingwasp's) calibration was better than yours!
bigboss
Moderator
Sorry gentlemen for the late reply
I was going to give decent size report last night but I wanted to watch a few films first .
Well all I can say is all those who are on the fence about calibration please reconsider (I'm talking to you gel ).yes it's expensive but the I'm sure you will be very pleased with the results.i got 2 sets calibrated yesterday my panasonic zt65 and panasonic gt30.i didn't bother with the 6old samsung in the spare room.the price for the ZT was £300 and the GT was £100 I got reimbursed for the 4 custard creams and tea .( I'm not made of money)
First off I would like to say that I would highly recommend mr steven withers ,arrived at 10am and left at roughly 5pm ,very nice bloke he took me through the whole calibration process ,explained all the equipment and answered ALL my questions and believe me there were a lot.he also checked the settings on my oppo aswell.there are a lot of knowledgeable people on these forums but if you're a newbie don't worry everything will be explained to you.
1- pansonic zt65
As many of you will know the zt65 is the current king of plasma at the moment so I wasn't expecting miracles with the picture improvement.i received it June 11th and after about a week I typed in David katzmeiers settings from cnet in America.i felt the results were so-so and to be honest I should have just stuck with the out of the box settings on thx mode they really were very good.
So at the end of august I got in touch with mr withers he was fully booked up till yesterday but he send his zt65 settings through by email ,I found a big jump in quality straight away and I been using them up until yesterday.
When he took readings yesterday they weren't way off but a lot could still be done,I won't receive my full calibration report until he emails me it Monday,I'm sure we got the red,green,blue virtually flawless ,I'm now running a gamma of 2.36 for nighttime and a gamma of 2.0 for daytime.the colour spectrum thingymabob is spot on and with all the fuss about oled with there absolute blacks he said later on he'd gotten the ZT down to a black level of 0.001!!
I watched the dark knight rises last night and I'm not going to lie the picture was already very good but I saw an immediate diffrence . the IMAX first scene and the stock exchange scene in particular very simply amazing.colours bursting and with a all round brighter image thanks to higher gamma but at the same time retaining a lower black level.
I've saved the best for last mr withers also calibrated my 3d aswell and I watched avatar last night and I can simply say it was without doubt the best home cinema experience I've ever had ,uncalibrated even with the ZT the 3d is WAY off .but after calibration,I could not concentrate on the movie for looking at the picture it was awesome,a lot of people do not like 3d but when your watching it on equipment of that quality tuned to perfection it's hard not defend 3d when it's done PROPERLY!
2-panasonic 50 gt30
I will not go into great detail with this as I do not watch it much,but again the benifets of calibration on this set were worth every penny.
I had it set to normal and it's in a very bright room.the settings were way off .mr withers did a day,night and 3d calibration best he could as I could not get the room dark enough during the day,
I do not have any readings for this set at the moment as I left him to it.i think I'd talked his ear off
But yet again flicking through the hd channels on tv and watching a bit of sport the picture look absolutely amazing I'd have no problem watching this more than I do now.he also put on his demo scenes and again I was blown away,I was watching ice age in 3d from 12feet way in a bright ish room and again everything looked stunning.
I will hopefully post a full report next week when I receive them.
So anyone out there who is 50/50 on calibration please do yourself the favour and get your panels performing to there best you should and will not be disappointed.your not going to spend that kind of money with a £500 tv but if you are lucky enough to own a high end panel or flagship model spend the extra money.
Strange thing happened at the end tho we embraced and did a jumping high five ......twice when he told me that my calibration was better than mr malarkys and son of sjs.only joking boys
I was going to give decent size report last night but I wanted to watch a few films first .
Well all I can say is all those who are on the fence about calibration please reconsider (I'm talking to you gel
).yes it's expensive but the I'm sure you will be very pleased with the results.i got 2 sets calibrated yesterday my panasonic zt65 and panasonic gt30.i didn't bother with the 6old samsung in the spare room.the price for the ZT was £300 and the GT was £100 I got reimbursed for the 4 custard creams and tea .( I'm not made of money)First off I would like to say that I would highly recommend mr steven withers ,arrived at 10am and left at roughly 5pm ,very nice bloke he took me through the whole calibration process ,explained all the equipment and answered ALL my questions and believe me there were a lot.he also checked the settings on my oppo aswell.there are a lot of knowledgeable people on these forums but if you're a newbie don't worry everything will be explained to you.
1- pansonic zt65
As many of you will know the zt65 is the current king of plasma at the moment so I wasn't expecting miracles with the picture improvement.i received it June 11th and after about a week I typed in David katzmeiers settings from cnet in America.i felt the results were so-so and to be honest I should have just stuck with the out of the box settings on thx mode they really were very good.
So at the end of august I got in touch with mr withers he was fully booked up till yesterday but he send his zt65 settings through by email ,I found a big jump in quality straight away and I been using them up until yesterday.
When he took readings yesterday they weren't way off but a lot could still be done,I won't receive my full calibration report until he emails me it Monday,I'm sure we got the red,green,blue virtually flawless ,I'm now running a gamma of 2.36 for nighttime and a gamma of 2.0 for daytime.the colour spectrum thingymabob is spot on and with all the fuss about oled with there absolute blacks he said later on he'd gotten the ZT down to a black level of 0.001!!
I watched the dark knight rises last night and I'm not going to lie the picture was already very good but I saw an immediate diffrence . the IMAX first scene and the stock exchange scene in particular very simply amazing.colours bursting and with a all round brighter image thanks to higher gamma but at the same time retaining a lower black level.
I've saved the best for last mr withers also calibrated my 3d aswell and I watched avatar last night and I can simply say it was without doubt the best home cinema experience I've ever had ,uncalibrated even with the ZT the 3d is WAY off .but after calibration,I could not concentrate on the movie for looking at the picture it was awesome,a lot of people do not like 3d but when your watching it on equipment of that quality tuned to perfection it's hard not defend 3d when it's done PROPERLY!
2-panasonic 50 gt30
I will not go into great detail with this as I do not watch it much,but again the benifets of calibration on this set were worth every penny.
I had it set to normal and it's in a very bright room.the settings were way off .mr withers did a day,night and 3d calibration best he could as I could not get the room dark enough during the day,
I do not have any readings for this set at the moment as I left him to it.i think I'd talked his ear off
But yet again flicking through the hd channels on tv and watching a bit of sport the picture look absolutely amazing I'd have no problem watching this more than I do now.he also put on his demo scenes and again I was blown away,I was watching ice age in 3d from 12feet way in a bright ish room and again everything looked stunning.
I will hopefully post a full report next week when I receive them.
So anyone out there who is 50/50 on calibration please do yourself the favour and get your panels performing to there best you should and will not be disappointed.your not going to spend that kind of money with a £500 tv but if you are lucky enough to own a high end panel or flagship model spend the extra money.
Strange thing happened at the end tho we embraced and did a jumping high five ......twice when he told me that my calibration was better than mr malarkys and son of sjs.only joking boys
Hey mr malarky to answer your question from yesterday sir,I think my amp and speaker dream bubble has burst.i was going for the pioneer lx87 and monitor audio silver package,but after a conversation about it with steve I think the room simply isn't big enough.he was very impressed with the yamaha ysp2200 soundbar tho .back to the drawing board :?
theflyingwasp said:Strange thing happened at the end tho we embraced and did a jumping high five ......twice when he told me that my calibration was better than mr malarkys and son of sjs.only joking boys
Dammit!! That's it, I'm throwing my ZT in the bin now - its dead to me!
Seriously, glad your pleased with the results mate, the step up in PQ you describe is very similar to what I saw post-calibration; BluRay's just look phenonemal, with every part if the picture just looking 'right' somehow.
Come on Gel!!!
Interesting to see Steve went for the higher gamma on the night time setting - I'm guessing you must have the option if near black-out conditions?
He only went for a 2.2 on mine as its a light room (white walls etc), though we have swapped emails about him stopping in next time he's passing near and doing a 2.4 setting as well (I'm curious to see the comparison having read Ellis' posts on the subject).
Dont completely rule out that speaker set up though, even if you decide on a lower spec'd amp; how about a LX57 with the RX silver range?
Do try and demo a full surround package before you make a final decision (I know that's tricky based on how far you are from a main dealer).
He only went for a 2.2 on mine as its a light room (white walls etc), though we have swapped emails about him stopping in next time he's passing near and doing a 2.4 setting as well (I'm curious to see the comparison having read Ellis' posts on the subject).
Dont completely rule out that speaker set up though, even if you decide on a lower spec'd amp; how about a LX57 with the RX silver range?
Do try and demo a full surround package before you make a final decision (I know that's tricky based on how far you are from a main dealer).
Oled and 4k oled are on the way but I'm in no rush for anything now.they will be better but unless by some miracle pansonic release a 70inch 4koled for £3000 I'm going to have this ZT for a very long time.
bigboss
Moderator
I think it's the speakers that's going to be a problem more than the amp due to the space I have ,had my heart set on floor standers and the rear RXFXs I may have to drop down to a style speaker package. In fact the apex might be top of the pile now.
I put on man of steel (French import) for a good 5 minutes with the noisey action scenes at the end ,mr withers seemed impressed with what he heard and with the passive sub .i am missing genuine rear sound effects but maybe the bar is enough,also the bar is just above the tv at around 5ft it really does fill my room with sound :?
The Apex could be a good compromise, as Boss says; lovely looking speakers as well, the black & silver finish will match the ZT nicely!
Night and day difference eveb on the zt... I am not surprised at all. Only been saying it for months. Best investment you can do
Also soundbar is never going to compete with proper 5.1.
If you want something similar but 2.1 dali kubik free with a sub is pretty good.
Still no comparison to proper kit like a top range pioneer and apex / ma silver etc
Also soundbar is never going to compete with proper 5.1.
If you want something similar but 2.1 dali kubik free with a sub is pretty good.
Still no comparison to proper kit like a top range pioneer and apex / ma silver etc
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