Panasonic TX-P46GT30 - Ideal settings please

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Hi Guys,

It must be all of 4 years now since I took your advice before purchasing my last Panasonic 42" Plasma - it was great. I forget the model now but it is still going strong and has been passed on to my son who's just got his first own home. Anyway, when I got the last plasma someone on this forum recommended the ideal settings and it was spot on.

Now, once again I have taken your advice and purchased the TX-P46GT30 and I've found more setting to contend with than I've ever seen on a TV. The dealer did set it up for me so I have my Bluray and the Internet all working fine but would like to have the best set up picture wise.

I know that some might say it's up to individual taste but if someone has gone to the trouble to get a great picture, :clap: I'd love to have the settings please. :dance: :dance:

Thanks

Peter R

 

[strapped for cash]

The responses to questions of this kind are always the same: no two televisions are identical, so copying someone else's picture settings is no guarantee that yours will be optimised.

I'd start by selecting the THX picture preset on the GT30, load a DVD/Blu-ray with the THX Optimiser function, and use this to adjust contrast, brightness, sharpness and, if you own the appropriate glasses, colour balance.

That's as good as it'll get, unless you want to spend money on a professional calibration (usually £300). Without a colorimeter and calibration software, you can't adjust the advanced colour settings to achieve optimal greyscale tracking and colour balance (you can't do either of these by eye).

Hope that helps, and enjoy your new TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Peter_R,

Great choice in TV!

As already stated the settings can depend on lighting environment and personal taste, but I use the Normal setting with Contrast around 75%, Brightness 50%, Colour 45%, Colour Balance = Cool, Sharpness 35%. I have everything else switched off. I didn't mess with any of the advance settings as I am satisfied with using the Normal (rather than Cinema or THX) view.

Picture looks fantastic for both day and night viewing.

Hope this helps.

Paul.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

[edited by mods - House Rules]

I have myself just bought a TX-P50VT30Y and find it must enjoyable. The only remark I have is that there is a bit too much green tone in white areas like snow etc. This was still there after adjusting the settings.. But I was able to reduce this to a minimum by decreasing green colour a few steps more in adjustment of the white balance

Best regards

Thomas

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Guys,

All comments are much appreciated. At £300 I think I'll give the pro calibration a miss this time round. :O

Cheers pauled51 I'll give these setting a try and let you know. Just noticed that its set to professional 1 - is ths correct?

For those that are interested my previous set was the old TH42PX80B. A bit basic compared to todays tv's but as I said still going strong. Anyone out there still using this beast :cheer: and it was more like 6 years ago when I purchased it not 4 so the 5 year warrenty I got with it, is well out - time flies.

While I'm on, to record films etc do I just buy a 1TB external hard drive and plug it into the USB port? and does it need to have its own power supply.

Peter_R

 

[Anonymous]

Peter_R,

There is no 'correct' setting. You said previously that the TV was already set up, so they probably used Professional 1 and enabled advanced settings and played with some of the colour / gamma management controls. Personally, I didn't get into that as I was satisfied with the basic settings used in the 'Normal' setting.

Why not try the Normal setting and adjust the basic settings and then switch to Professional 1 and see which you prefer. Again, there is no correct setting apart from the one that is correct to your eyes.

I have no interest in recording to USB, so cannot help.

Paul.

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

The most accurate out of the box settings are the THX and Cinema (with colour balance set to warm). They're the closest to the industry standard Rec709 and are definitely worth using for the first few hundred hours. I'd leave contrast, brightness and colour at default and dial down the sharpness. Make sure Gamma is set to 2.2 under the advanced settings. If you're watching in a dark screening room or if you like watching films at night with the lights off, you could see if you prefer 2.4.

Having talked to to a calibrator on one of the other forums, I was told that there wasn't any point doing any kind of advanced calibration until the set has clocked up around 500 hours. On this generation of Panasonic panels, it takes a while longer for the plasma cells to calm down than it did with previous generations. In the few months I've had my set, I have noticed a change in performance between now and when I first got it out of the box. It's probably a combination of the panel aging and firmware updates that might have subtly improved picture processing. Either way, colours and motion handling have definitely improved and I no longer see any posterization on faces.

Just to confirm what Strapped For Cash said above, I've been around the internet and have dialled a few different 'calibrated settings' from reviews into my set now and no two give the same results. I have absolutely no doubt that they are calibrated setting for the sets that are being tested, but without an accurate color sensor (the faulty IR filter on my EyeOne Display means that the red readings are inaccurate) I can't know, for sure, whether they are accurate for mine. I like some better than others but that's hardly scientific.