Grainy plasma advice please

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I have just purchased a Panasonic 50" plasma (TH-50PZ81B) and would like some advice please.

I have setup the TV for my room (brightness, contract, colour etc) yet
the TV appears to have a grainy "film" to it. On moving pictures its
not so bad but on still images (such as the computer screen or viewing
pictures) I can see a visibly grain effect.

It is the same whether running at 720p or 1080p and no difference between the PS3, XBOX360 or PC as sources.

Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this please? Ive prevsiouly
used a 40" LCD, is this grainy effect just something to expect from
plasmas?

Tom.

 

[bigboss]

How far are you sitting from the TV? It's not something you would expect from a plasma TV........rather it's something you may expect from a 50" TV (whether plasma or LCD). You should get used to it in a few days, then you won't notice the grain. Ofcourse, it depends on the viewing distance as well.

 

[drummerman]

A degree of 'Crawling Dot' noise is something associated with plasma technology. Some are better than others. Perhaps this is what you mean by 'grain'?

 

[aliEnRIK]

Switch off all the extra 'processing' cr*p

(DNR, Contrast Enhance and whatever else it has)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Ive sitting around 10 foot away from the screen.

Ive turned off all the extra features, which in my case are "Colour management" and "Intelligent Frame Creation" but no difference to the grain.

Do you have any details of this "Crawling Dot" problem, ive not heard of it?

Thanks,

Tom.

 

[drummerman]

I haven't I'm afraid TomBowyer. As far as I know it's just the plasma technology/ditthering used. As different manufacturers use different approaches the results probably vary. I can see it on my Kuro very close up but not from about 2 or 3 foot away. I always thought that Panasonics are usally fairly reticent to this dot crawl side effect.

 

[bretty]

Hey,

My samsung used to suffer from that 'grainy' effect'. The culprit for my tvs problems were the settings, especially contrast, which were too high.

Once i'd had a fiddle, the problem went completely.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Have you used a THX setup disc or similar? or simply 'guessed'?

 

[Frank Harvey]

You'll find that in grain, there is detail. Those that are used to LCD TV's will be used to a 'smoothed' picture - various digital filters that get rid of picture noise. These filters have the effect of 'smearing' the picture, making a picture look a little like a spatula painting. I'd rather watch a grainy plasma than a DNR'd LCD. Plasmas also have these digital filters, but as already mentioned, they rarely have a beneficial effect.