Panasonic 37/42 PX80 Series Owners thread - Part 2

[Tellyfiend]

Originally Posted by Sebastalona

Hi, just a quick couple of questions if I may!

1) Overscan - Is there any way of setting it on or off per source i.e not having to manually change it everytime I watch HD & SD material?

2) Does anyone have an HD DVD player linked up to this set (42PX80). If so, what is the best output resolution to have it on, as all this upscaling and downscaling talk has got me rather confused?!

Thanks in advance.

Mine's set to 1080p/24fps and is superb

[Franco50]

I have a 37PX80 and love the set. A couple of times recently I have had the on-screen notice about new DVB channels being available and have run the automatic scan - however when this is complete I notice that one or two established channels, which I previously had, have now disappeared off the EPG - QVC being the prime candidate. Now some people may say that not having QVC is a bonus but all joking aside, this is annoying as I don't know how many other channels may have also dropped off the radar. If I go into the menu and run another automatic setup, QVC usually comes back although sometimes it may take a couple of attempts for this to happen but I get there in the end. I just wondered if any other owners had come across this problem.

[MZan]

Hi guys, my 37PX80 is getting delivered today and I have a couple of questions:

Firstly, there is a lot of talk about image retention and burn-in time, don't display static images for too long, etc, however I found this on HDTVtest:
Plasma Screen Burn Prevention

"Display a pure white image covering the whole of the plasma screen....do this for 2 hours then switch the TV off for one hour; then 4 hours on, 2 hours off; then 5 hours on, 2 hours off; and so on and so forth"

now this pretty much goes against all advice I have seen, but logically seems to make sense, has anyone else done this and can they report yay/nay?

I don't want to permanently burn my screen white after only just getting it!

Secondly is there any new firmware I should know about?

Finally what is this like plugging in a PC with HDMI to be used for playing video files? I had a Samsung 1080p LCD but it had to go back due to an apparently common fault.

Sorry if this has been answered before!

[blue1159]

does 37 support hdmi 1.3 ?

[speedsurfer]

Originally Posted by blue1159

does 37 support hdmi 1.3 ?

It's in the FAQ: Panasonic 37/42 PX80 Series Owners thread - Part 1

Version 1.2

[branstylad]

I've had my 42" PX80 for three weeks now and I'm delighted with the picture in SD. Looking to buy a bluray player soon to test out the HD picture.
I have one slight niggle which I'm sure has been mentioned before. However I can't find it in the forums.
Every few days when the TV is switched on I get the message, do I want to scan for new digital channels. Press exit or ok.
Is there a way to stop this message appearing as I am quite happy with the channels I have and have deleted those I don't require (bid up tv, etc).

Sorry if this question has been addressed elsewhere

[BYF]

Originally Posted by FireOnTheWater

Does anyone else have the problem I am having? I can see motion blur on everything. Whenever the camera pans or watching snooker it is apparent (balls leave a slight trail behind them). This is through the Freeview supplied with the TV and through my component fed XBOX 360. I can't play FAR CRY 2 or FIFA with the amount of blur going on. In your opinion is it just my eyes that are the problem. Am I too used to a CRT set and can't get over the difference?

Anyway, the Panasonic shop have agreed to send me another one. I'm just worried that they won't give me a refund if I have the same problem. If this is the case and I can get a refund then I won't buy another HD set until I am confident this won't happen again.

That maybe the case, if you have got use to CRT and have a keen eye for motion resolution, then you will notice a slight blur during camera pans and during fast scrollong credits/text. CRT's look very clear during motion mainly due to how they work.

Unfortunatly this is not a manufacturing fault, but a trait of all flat panel TV's, there is not one Flat panel HDTV available that displays HD resolutions when things start moving fast. It makes a bit of a mockery of HDTV really, because as soon as the picture moves at any rate the detail becomes lost. Then when the picture becomes still again, out pops the HD resolution again.

I have a PX70 and PX80 and have sampled many TV's, and I noticed the same thing, you do get use to the blur over the time but it is still happening, some people won't even notice it though.

I notice it on games that have lots of panning like footy games, for instance when a goal kick occurs and the camera follows the ball up the picth there is a noticeable loss of detail and slight blurring of the players, and advert billboards. On a CRT this doesn't happen and remains clear.

Regarding FARCRY2 this game also uses lots of added motion blur by the game developers, so thats why you notice it alot on that game, although the TV will be adding a little as well. I'm personally not a fan of lots of added motion blur in games, in some scenes it's a good feature but not all the time, it's not realistic.

[alsina]

Originally Posted by branstylad

I've had my 42" PX80 for three weeks now and I'm delighted with the picture in SD. Looking to buy a bluray player soon to test out the HD picture.
I have one slight niggle which I'm sure has been mentioned before. However I can't find it in the forums.
Every few days when the TV is switched on I get the message, do I want to scan for new digital channels. Press exit or ok.
Is there a way to stop this message appearing as I am quite happy with the channels I have and have deleted those I don't require (bid up tv, etc).

Sorry if this question has been addressed elsewhere

The option to turn this off is, from memory, in the Setup menu, then Tuning menu and then into New Service Message option where you can turn it off.

[ChorleyMatt]

Originally Posted by MZan

"Display a pure white image covering the whole of the plasma screen....do this for 2 hours then switch the TV off for one hour; then 4 hours on, 2 hours off; then 5 hours on, 2 hours off; and so on and so forth"

I wouldn't worry about screenburn too much - you'd have to be seriously abusing the set to cause any permanent damage. The action described above is a way of speeding up the running in process but it isn't really necessary unless you're in a hurry to get the first 200 hours out of the way. Normal TV viewing, avoiding lengthy periods of 4:3 format and/or static images, is perfectly sufficient for running in your new TV.

[Pulse1]

Has anyone adjusted the Primaries and Secondaries colours in the service menu on the 42inch set and if so how do you adjust and store them?

[MZan]

Right I've had my 37PX80 a few hours and here are my very first impressions:

(Previously I had a Samsung 1080p LCD 37A686)

Baring in mind I mostly watched Freeview + ITV4 + Escape from New York (1981), probably the worst combo ever to test a HDTV but good also because that film is very black throughout!

The Good:
•Very nice black levels. Very close to CRT, much better than the samsung, great viewing angle too, my samsung would wash out the blacks even at narrow angles (35 degrees!).

•Reassuringly weighty. Call me crazy but I like the fact its quite heavy and got lots of metal, its about 12kg more than the samsung - which felt a bit flimsy and plasticcy for my liking (the tv would wobble on the stand if you pushed the top of the frame!!) Granted its probably not so good for wall-mounting but I don't really want to do that right now.

•Better TV Tuner. This is a bit of a wildcard as nobody has ever compared this, but I have found personally to get better reception on the Panasonic, I constantly had to move my aerial around for different channels on the samsung! (I have an amplified indoor aerial).

•Overscan can be switched off in Freeview. This may not sound like much but makes a difference when watching films! Great feature, surprised this wasn't really mentioned anywhere and I have not seen another tv that lets you do this.

•Easy to set up. Took me minutes out of the box to get a good picture, the samsung took me a good hour of tweaking.

•Less input lag. The samsung I measured at .03ms-.04ms or a lot more depending on the resolution, the Panasonic is around .02-3ms.

•Screen Burn. I got very paranoid about the itv4 logo in the top corner of the film, but it didn't seem to make a dent .

•EPG. I like the Sky-style on the fly channel selecting.

The Bad:
•Sharpness. Its certainly not as pin-sharp as the 1080p sammy, but that was to be expected, from normal viewing distance you can't really tell tho.

•Aesthetics. The Samsung looked a lot more modern, and very stylish, the OSD menus too looked very nice (transparency too!), the Panasonic looks very 90s to me, and the menus are a bit fugly to be honest but hey, its functional and thats what counts! I won't lose any sleep over it.

Ghosting. At sharp viewing angles I can clearly see ghosting due to the dual-glass, however you are extremely unlikely to sit in this position when watching so no big deal.

•EPG. What? no preview when you are browsing channels? My 5 year old Sony CRT can do that!!

•Timer. I know you can set it to record but does the Panasonic have a way to switch on the TV when you set a timer??!??!? I need this as my alarm clock!!!

[yuki71]

got my plasma 42" px80BA delivered yesterday morning.
managed to get 8 solid hours in after setting it up using the settings of cinema mode in thread 1.using virgin sd as main source
i am very impressed to say the least

i watched Doom on xbox hddvd great film to test as it's dark and WOW stunning very clear and very detailed

also got 30mins on COD4 and that was so clear was getting killed more than usuall as not paying attention,to busy looking at the detail


thanks for everyone who put me in the right direction for this tv

[audiphile76]

Originally Posted by blue1159

does 37 support hdmi 1.3 ?

Although PX80 has HDMI 1.2, i am sure(though i havent tested them) that it should be able to support external devices having HDMI 1.3 as these protocols should be backward compatible.

[MZan]

Right, I have calibrated my 37PX80 using the THX feature from The Incredibles DVD, is this a good way to go??

I am currently using Cinema mode for all my DVD & HD stuff, and Normal mode for Freeview, as I found it looked too washed out for telly stuff.

[stratts]

They are getting like rocking horse poo round here. Currys got a few in today and I got my folks to pick one up.

Roll on 4.30pm when I get home from work, it's like xmas again

Now, where's that settings thread gone