LG 50PK350

[Anonymous]

Hendy00:First post in ages and i've come across exactly what i needed to see. (Also glad my account hasn't been deleted.

Cheers for the settings Max.

So is this a keeper for you?
I had a good look (but not a demo) at both this and the 590 today and my 1st thought was Huge beasts!!! but pretty. I plan to get a proper demo on saturday so hopefully i could be sitting in front of one of these this time next week

Don.hi don, i intend keeping the tv till next summer, when ill probably sell it and money allowing, buy a high end plasma, probably a panasonic or maybe another lg..

i think its a brilliant tv for the money, ive not demoed a panasonic g20, but some say this lg is at least on a par with that, and im sure its better than my old g10 with hd, not so sure about sd, but its at least as good. considering this pk350 is so much cheaper than the g20, its a no brainer between the two for me..

 

[Anonymous]

grahampc:
Also first post in ages. I have just received my new LG50PK350 TV and first viewing it looks very good. I have noticed that on the Expert1&2 modes, contrast is set to 80. I seem to remember that it is wise to run in the TV for around 200 hours at a lower contrast. When I put it down to 50, the picture seems a bit washed out. I haven't tried it with BluRay yet, but will do later. Do I have to persevere with 200 hours of washed-out pictures before upping everything to some of the numbers posted by AEJim and maxflinn or should I just go straight ahead with them. I do not want screen burn on my new TV!! Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Graham
ive not bothered reducing the contrast, so far i see no problems, there is some image retention, but it goes away very fast, i dont consider it a problem at all..

 

[Anonymous]

I think its great that LG have such an amazing set at this price, I wish I could see it side by side my VT20 to see the difference. there has been a lot of talk about the VT20 and its problems, I continue to be blown away by it.

Would love to see how closed the LGPK350 comes

 

[Anonymous]

johnb1966:
I think its great that LG have such an amazing set at this price, I wish I could see it side by side my VT20 to see the difference. there has been a lot of talk about the VT20 and its problems, I continue to be blown away by it.

Would love to see how closed the LGPK350 comes

taken from whfi's kuro 6090 review..

you'll be awestruck by the vibrancy of the colours and the sharpness of
the detail. It's the kind of image quality that has you reaching for
Blu-ray after Blu-ray, just to see how good each disc can look when
displayed at its best.

thats exactly how it was for me with the v20, its difficult to describe the differences with the lg, the v20 just had that wow factor, even after a few weeks id be watching a blu-ray and see images so good that id rewind and watch them again, friends that seen it were the same, one in particular said i was mad to change my g10, saying the v20 wouldnt be much better, that was until he came over and seen it working, and he was speechless..

the same friend also thinks the lg is great, but both of us agree the v20 is significantly better, but on a performance per pound basis, the lg cant be beaten imo..

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks Max. I will try upping the contrast to the levels described in this thread and see how it is.

I have just watched Taken on BluRay and the picture whilst quite good, has, I'm sure, a long way to go yet. Unfortunately, it is very bright outside and so that isn't helping at all. When it gets dark, I'll have another go.

Graham

 

[Anonymous]

grahampc:
Many thanks Max. I will try upping the contrast to the levels described in this thread and see how it is.

I have just watched Taken on BluRay and the picture whilst quite good, has, I'm sure, a long way to go yet. Unfortunately, it is very bright outside and so that isn't helping at all. When it gets dark, I'll have another go.

Graham

graham, just bear in mind that the settings i posted are just some that i found that look good on my tv, they are probably going to look different on another, you could try them by all means, but you're probably better off in the long term using a calibration disc, or even getting a calibration done..

as regards the contrast setting, id be careful for a while, again, each tv is different, what doesnt give mine issues may cause you'res some...

 

[Anonymous]

Max,
I'd love to get the TV calibrated, but unfortunately (or fortunately where the weather is concerned) I live south of Alicante, Spain, and there's about as much chance of finding a calibrator around here as there is of £1 = ?2!!
I'll go careful with the contrast adjustment.
Watched a BluRay last night (when it was dark) with the contrast set to 50 and it looked very good. I'm sure there is room for improvement, but it's not at all bad, and I'm sure, will only get better.
Graham

 

[Anonymous]

hey jim..

hows the calibrating going? finished yet?

 

[AEJim]

maxflinn:
hey jim..

hows the calibrating going? finished yet?

Long story short - lack of time (as much to do with available darkness in my curtain free living room as anything) means I'm struggling on the 20-point. I have got some decent 2-point results I'm sticking with now (need to just finish the colour settings - gamma, greyscale and colour temp all acceptable).

The 20-point results I'm getting seem to be getting more and more difficult to nail down though, not sure what I've changed in what I'm trying to do (after much conflicting advice) but there is one area in particular that is causing me problems. Between 80-95% there are massive red/green swings which are almost impossible to dial out without affecting other areas too much (as in I'm having to go +50 red at one point then -50 at the next) - when adjusted as best I can get it I have a lovely picture but get artefacting on bright skin tones in particular (mainly on SD content).

Rather than getting better at this with time I seem to be getting worse results than I was initially - I've been trying to find the best starting point but I really need a free day (or preferably night - daylight creeping in seems to shift green results in particular way off) to work through things properly. It's a long process even for the very experienced on 20-point!

I still think it's well worth getting a sensor and software, for Hi-Fi tweaker types it's certainly a fun side-hobby learning all this.

If it helps, on my panel a good setting which gives decent ftl output (foot lamberts) and fairly correct gamma level is 68 contrast, 55 Brightness on Expert setting. It seems a solid base for calibration at least.

I still intend to do a thorough posting on the subject with results but I either need to buy curtains or work through the night to get it all right!

 

[Anonymous]

im actually the opposite jim, in that ive got loads of spare time, nice big wooden blinds that block out most light, but a lack of the kind of patience needed for doing what you're trying to do

, ive read all the info supplied on my tv calibration thread, as useful as it all is im not sure im cut out for applying it all, id need a meter too which costs money

..

i guess i was hoping that you were sorted and would post the settings

, i know every tv is different and they may not work etc, but id give it a lash

.. im loving this tv anyway which is the main thing, it just seems to get better, sd in particular is looking very good now, what a steal at the money, unbelievable value

..

anyways hopefully you get an opportunity to get yours sorted, it sure is handy knowing how to calibrate a tv, although as dj said you may just get a little more popular with your friends than per usual

 

[AEJim]

Will post up my 2-point settings in the morning Max, can see what they do for you...

 

[Anonymous]

AEJim:Will post up my 2-point settings in the morning Max, can see what they do for you...

i thought you might

, thanks jim

 

[Anonymous]

AEJim:maxflinn:
hey jim..

hows the calibrating going? finished yet?

Long story short - lack of time (as much to do with available darkness in my curtain free living room as anything) means I'm struggling on the 20-point. I have got some decent 2-point results I'm sticking with now (need to just finish the colour settings - gamma, greyscale and colour temp all acceptable).

The 20-point results I'm getting seem to be getting more and more difficult to nail down though, not sure what I've changed in what I'm trying to do (after much conflicting advice) but there is one area in particular that is causing me problems. Between 80-95% there are massive red/green swings which are almost impossible to dial out without affecting other areas too much (as in I'm having to go +50 red at one point then -50 at the next) - when adjusted as best I can get it I have a lovely picture but get artefacting on bright skin tones in particular (mainly on SD content).

Rather than getting better at this with time I seem to be getting worse results than I was initially - I've been trying to find the best starting point but I really need a free day (or preferably night - daylight creeping in seems to shift green results in particular way off) to work through things properly. It's a long process even for the very experienced on 20-point!

I still think it's well worth getting a sensor and software, for Hi-Fi tweaker types it's certainly a fun side-hobby learning all this.

If it helps, on my panel a good setting which gives decent ftl output (foot lamberts) and fairly correct gamma level is 68 contrast, 55 Brightness on Expert setting. It seems a solid base for calibration at least.

I still intend to do a thorough posting on the subject with results but I either need to buy curtains or work through the night to get it all right!

I haven't read all the stuff yet but do you have to do this stuff in the evening then because of sunlight, reflections etc ?

 

[AEJim]

Yeah, well not technically evening, but certainly in a light controlled room! The outside light will seep in from the sides of the glass despite the sensor being flush with the screen, thus affecting results. Since daylight has an inherent colour temperature (it's not pure white) it will mess with your RGB set up as well as brightness levels. If you always have set light in your room then this may not be an issue, if daylight is on the screen it will be as it's variable.

I noticed this morning when trying my 20-point that by 8:30am or so I was having to put more green into the RGB than usual, when I measured my 2-point settings again I noticed that green levels were showing as far lower (15+ on the settings) than they were in darkness, hence not much good for calibrating...

 

[AEJim]

Ok Max, give this a try, all standard settings unless stated -

Expert 1 (or 2)

Brightness: 55

Contrast: 68

H Sharpness: 45

V Sharpness: 35

Colour Temp: Medium

Red Contrast: 12

Green Contrast: -6

Blue Contrast: -50

Red Brightness: 17

Green Brightness: -4

Blue Brightness: 14

If you went for the "Warm" colour balance you'd basically be dialling out red instead of blue, I find medium generally has less issues at this contrast level. This should give you a reasonable balance of all the factors though not perfect - I haven't gone into the CMS adjustments yet and these would probably be more specific to your own set anyway, the settings above should be reasonably generic (though still might not work for you!)

The pic might look a bit toned down compared to what you're used to but this gives around 38ftl (the light output of the screen on bright white): 30-40 is where a plasma should be so this is near the top, I did try a brief go this morning at 75 contrast as this looks best on the white balance charts but the outcome is 50ftl so a little strong in a darkened room.

Use some good source material and this should look great, at the same time it won't help the weaker SD channels as their lack of deep colour and blacks becomes more apparent than with high contrast settings. You will probably notice a mild blue cast to the those channels. Technically this is set to a highish gamma (over 2.4) but this is only fixed by upping brightness further and I think that harms the picture more than helps. 2.2 gamma is the accepted standard but this was always for CRT monitors - plasma's and LCD's don't behave in the same way and there is much debate that using a higher gamma suits modern screens better, it does by eye for me (2.2 may work better on screens with exceptional black levels at a guess - the higher the gamma the more "contrasty" the image, lower has more shadow detail but can also look more washed out).

Overall your shadow detail should improve markedly over the settings you had and the colour will be far more neutral (between "Warm" and "Medium"). Let me know!

 

[Anonymous]

top man jim thanks

, ill close the blinds and get down to business, i actually thought a higher gamma looked better, but i thought best to leave as is, ill put gladiator in the bdp and have a gander

 

[Anonymous]

WOAH Max..........Close the blinds and get down to business????????? Well if that what effect Gladiator has on you then each to their own!!!!

Must be RussellCrow...

I will stick to the fantastic four or GI Joe( the baroness)

thanx.

 

[Anonymous]

AVstu:
WOAH Max..........Close the blinds and get down to business????????? Well if that what effect Gladiator has on you then each to their own!!!!

Must be RussellCrow...

I will stick to the fantastic four or GI Joe( the baroness)

thanx.

Brilliant !

 

[se7en]

Hi

Question for any lg 50pk350 owners do any of you play games consoles on your screens, how is the screen holding up? Would you say 2-3 hours max at any one time etc. Ive established that the screen is excellent for HD/Blu ray and standard def just wanted thoughts on gaming side.

 

[se7en]

Hi AEJim,

I took the plunge bought the 50Pk350 got it arriving in the next few days....... Cant wait.

What would you recommend settings wise for the first few 200 hrs of its life etc??? Im going to wait until after the first 200 hrs until games are played on it. Thanks in advance on your advice.

Se7en

 

[AEJim]

Hi Se7en,

I've not tried it for gaming but I'd say for most plasma's stick to a couple of hours at most then at least give it a few minutes on the IR white/colour wash mode as a break, maybe even a little more frequently (easy enough to just stick it on when you go for a drink, bathroom break etc..

)

I didn't notice any massive problems in the running in period, IR was a little more evident over the first couple of hundred hours certainly but it all faded quickly. Best settings I'd recommend would be to stick to Expert 1 (or 2, both the same), drop the contrast from 80 to around 70-75, whichever looks better in your room conditions, and put brightness up to 52-53. These settings will give you decent results all round and be pretty good in terms of colour accuracy and gamma based on all the results I've seen from quite a few owners!

I was just going to make a separate point actually - I use HDMI 2 as I have the screen wall-mounted so this may be different than HDMI 1, but in another thread people were commenting on using the "Automatic" resolution on their Sky HD boxes. I would NOT do this for the PK350, the 1080i setting looks a hundred times better and I can watch SD from 6 feet and it still looks good. The internal scaler seems to be really poor, leaving a very average picture on the automatic setting and this could well be how the set looks with its own freeview as well - I noticed the review of the PK590 that WHF did commented on poor SD, this could be why. SD through the HD box on 1080i setting is as good as I could hope for on a 50".

 

[se7en]

Hi AEJim

Thanks for your answers as usual. Cant wait to see this tv in action and to throw a few Blu rays (district 9, road to perdition,) in its direction, i shall apply the settings you have said and get back to you.

 

[AEJim]

se7en:
Hi AEJim

Thanks for your answers as usual. Cant wait to see this tv in action and to throw a few Blu rays (district 9, road to perdition,) in its direction, i shall apply the settings you have said and get back to you.

Hope it all goes well Se7en! Blu-Rays look superb on this set and it handles 24p motion perfectly!

 

[Anonymous]

i cant get over the value of this tv, watching the chelski game on itvhd and the picture is just sublime, perfect motion too

 

[6th.replicant]

Cheers for sharing your latest settings, AE Jim

Tried 'em in an unlit room - at 11pm, no streetlights outside - and skin tones had a yellowish hue and the overall image seemed flat

Horses for...

FWIW, here're my current settings (which probably break all the rules

):

Expert 1

Aspect: Just Scan

Energy: Off

Contrast: 95

Brightness: 53

H Sharp': 35

V Sharp': 35

Colour: 56

Tint: 0

Dynamic contrast: Low

Gamma: Med'

Black level: Low

Colour Gamut: Standard

Edge enhancer: Off

Colour Temp': Warm

All other settings: 0

With the above, IMO skin tones are natural while other colours are punchy; blacks are deep(ish); shadows/contrast appropriately dramatic; there's a decent sense of depth/3D; motion is impressive. However, I'm not getting the best from shadow detail.