[ask775]

Hi everyone,
A friend of mine introduced me to this site and now (as he predicted) Im addicted to it. I am a fairly newbie to the world of HD TV and in the market to look for a good value TV (plasma or LCD). Im looking at about £800 approx to spend and am already using a custom-PC based TV capture solution for myself-dual sat+Freeview+Analogue . My next adventure is to upgrade my old (but wonderful, bless) Panny CRT for a HD TV. Its time to switch.

I have been researching for a while now (I love to do that a lot!) and have narrowed down the results of the inferences (not that I want to bore anyone with the repeated comments)
1. Plasma have better contrast and colour reproduction compared to LCD (I have experienced this myself! ) but they suffer with their own problems over time (phosphor burn... blah blah) although now the chatter is that these problems are being eradicated by some manufacturers thanks to technology
2. LCDs are now becoming as good with blacks and colour depths (thanks to backlit LED tech ) and they tend to have longer life but suffer from their own problems (bleed, non-uniformity ... blah blah)

I aint too fussed about wireless connectivity, gaming or Internet on my HDTV. My biggest need is excellent SD upscaling and good colour reproduction/black depths and ability to view all screen formats (4:3, 14:9, 16:9).

I own a CRT at the mo, and must say the only reason the Plasma puts me off is for its 'aging' drawback (phosphor and burnin). Other wise I would love to consider it since I know just how good the visuals can be.
There are a lot of LCDs I have seen just as tempting on the market. My current selections have been narrowed down as follows:

1. Plasma - TX-P42V10; have read some great reviews about it and for now it is a bit too pricy for me, but I will keep it in mind.
2. LCD - Sony KDL40W5500, Toshiba 37/42" XV/ZV series seems tempting, Philips 9604H is very good indeed

My study includes the reviews from here and HDTVtest. I have closely studied their reports.

I have seen the Sammy UE series with Edge LED and I must say the report is true about the screen dimming when there is only little to display. And must say I found that unsatisfactory. I have looked at the other series also (LEB650) but they arent that different from the Sonys. More over Sammies do not know how to handle 14:9 and that is no good for me ( I watch a lot of Yesterday, documentaries and Virgin channels). I dont like the aspect ratio stretched. So the Sammys are out of the list.

Have looked at Sonys. OMG. The W5500 is great. The SD content is really good from about 1.5 mtrs. I dont know what stops me from walking home with one of those babies when I go window shopping for some viewings. They are seriously tempting. And very good value for money (well within my budget! ).has a brilliant review. My only dilema - what size to choose, 37 or 40 . I have read about a lot of people saying that bigger is better since after a while every TV seems smaller no matter how big the size was originally . I aint crazy about the new series coming out ZX1 (edge led) or the WE5W (HCFL-dont have long life as compared to CCFL), although I am tempted with the X4500 series (backlit LED) but it is only available in 46" at the mo. So will have to wait and see if it is out with 42 or 40" anytime till I decide to buy.

I want to have a TV which can upscale with brilliance. I have a lot of Freeview, Sat and Analogue (720x480) recordings and I watch Freeview and Freesat a lot. Have Virgin cable so I cannot sacrifice clarity for them. This made me think of Toshies, cause now they have the resolution+ feature in their XV/ZV series. They also have the new DVD upscaler XDE500. WOW . Seems nice on the paper at least. Anyone who has had any experience with it could help out and let me know.

Have looked at Philips 9000 series, 9603 in particular for research. Must say that they are very impressive and have a lot of good things about them going for it. I have seen them in action and they are really good. Dont know how much the Ambient light thing will work for me, cause of my room setup. But I have not found a lot of competition for prices and they seem a bit too high compared to the other 2 in my list. If anyone knows any good retailers do let me know.

Have looked at Pannies (my current CRT is a panny, bless! ) But apart from the Plasma - TX-P42V10, the reports have not made me delighted. So I wont be considering them. Plus they dont allow to change calibration setting without having to break in to service menu. That aint no good! So unless the plasma V10 comes down to about £900 I cant consider it. Will see cause I aint in no rush. I am hoping to buy around Oct-Nov 09. Till then I will be researching the market for info and prices!

If anyone would like to chip in any comments, WOW (words of wisdom ) and/or correct me if I have gone wrong somewhere, do feel free to post replies.

[Monarch]

Hi, welcome to the forums. You seem to have done plenty of research on the matter and you do have some of the best sets mentioned but there are a few areas where you've obviously been mislead or misinformed (which is likely considering the amount of rubbish on the net) and I'll just correct that and hopefully make things a little clearer.

they suffer with their own problems over time (phosphor burn... blah blah)

plasmas do suffer from their own problems but, for the most part, burn in isn't one of them, especially when you look at the Panasonics, the LGs and Samsungs are more prone but permenent damage still requires abuse. To start to get anything bad on a Panasonic plasma I would say that you would need to have a static image on screen for at least 10 hours, and that's with bright colours.

The problems plasmas suffer from are more related to bright lighting conditions, if the room is particularly bright then the light reflects inside the plasma cells causing colours to be washed out and blacks to look grey, so if the rooms bright then LCD would be for you. Power consumption is also slightly higher, but it's not that much and it depends on viewing to be honest. Colours are deeper and more natural, they also handle SD content better which seems like a plus point for you.

LCDs are now becoming as good with blacks and colour depths (thanks to backlit LED tech ) and they tend to have longer life but suffer from their own problems (bleed, non-uniformity ... blah blah)

High end LCDs (like the W5500 you're looking at) are reaching the same black levels as the entry level plasmas (like the Panasonic X10), the V10 you mentioned (and the G10 which is around £900) has much superior blacks, reaching pretty much the same levels as the 8G Kuros. The Samsung edge-lit LEDs are reaching deeper blacks but as you said this is by using dimming which is very annoying in my opinion. The plasmas do still have better shadow detail and depth of colour as well.

LCDs don't have a longer lifetime either, they used to but now it's very much the same. Plasmas are now boasting lifespans of 100,000 hours, that's over 27 years of use if you watch it for 10 hours every day.

As for backlight bleed on the LCDs it is common for a tiny amount, but it is still very rare to get bad backlight bleed on LCDs, the 40" Sonys are among the Sony models which aren't more prone than others (still a minority) so you shouldn't get anything too bad.

Overall I personally think (and this is backed up by a lot of people) that plasmas have the best SD picture, the Panasonic G10 and V10 are both very good, the scaling may be a little soft, but only a little, I would say that it's still better than the W5500 by a reasonable amount, HD is also very impressive. It might also be worth looking at the LG and Samsung plasmas, although neither make 1080p plasmas at 42" you can pick up their 42" 720p plasmas for well under budget and they have the best SD you could afford in my opinion, Panasonic also make the X10 which is also very good. You can also pick up some of LGs 1080p 50" plasmas in your budget.

I haven't seen the Phillips so I can't really say but Phillips do make some very good TVs, although reliability was a bit of an issue last year. You shouldn't discount the Panasonics either though, they don't reach the same black levels as the Sonys but they do have superior motion handling and viewing angles, I also think that the SD picture is a little better, only a little though. If you get a Sony then get a 40" model, the panels in the 37" models aren't as good. I would expect the V10 to come down a bit but the G10 has settled at around £900 so I wouldn't bank on it coming down that much, unless some sales come up, I would say that's the best 42" TV on the market though, although the 8G Kuros are the best SD sets.

Hope that helped

[ask775]

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

It is nice to know that Plasmas have improved much regrading their problems. But to confirm your comment about their burn in issue, I understand that they are more resilient and given what you have said, I probably dont need to worry about it - I wont be punishing them that way !

Originally Posted by Monarch08

plasmas do suffer from their own problems but, for the most part, burn in isn't one of them, especially when you look at the Panasonics, the LGs and Samsungs are more prone but permanent damage still requires abuse. To start to get anything bad on a Panasonic plasma I would say that you would need to have a static image on screen for at least 10 hours, and that's with bright colours.

But to add to the point, I have heard about phosphor ageing. That seems pretty serious since it needs the colour calibrations periodically. That is something that concerns me. And for that I would want to tread carefully regarding plasmas. I dont mind about the power consumptions (I hope the Green lobby aint listening on this!) and the NeoPDPs have lower consumptions anyway.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

The problems plasmas suffer from are more related to bright lighting conditions, if the room is particularly bright then the light reflects inside the plasma cells causing colours to be washed out and blacks to look grey, so if the rooms bright then LCD would be for you. Power consumption is also slightly higher, but it's not that much and it depends on viewing to be honest. Colours are deeper and more natural, they also handle SD content better which seems like a plus point for you.

My room is setup so that the panel would be in front of the window, so I wont get the bright reflection off it. In fact the curtains are drawn in the eve and so I dont think I would have the problem of punching up the brightness. Moreover, I am the kind of guy, if I know somethings not good, I wont do it. So if you say to me that it is 'healthy' for plasmas to have low brightness as default, I will just do that.

I know just how good the plasmas are in comparison with LCDs. So I am sold there already. But I am concerned about the plasma related problems. Thats all.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

High end LCDs (like the W5500 you're looking at) are reaching the same black levels as the entry level plasmas (like the Panasonic X10), the V10 you mentioned (and the G10 which is around £900) has much superior blacks, reaching pretty much the same levels as the 8G Kuros. The Samsung edge-lit LEDs are reaching deeper blacks but as you said this is by using dimming which is very annoying in my opinion. The plasmas do still have better shadow detail and depth of colour as well.

I have read a lot of people complain about bleeding in LCDs, in fact in particular about Sonys W5500. But then there were some saying that they didnt have any on their panel. so I get your point.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

As for backlight bleed on the LCDs it is common for a tiny amount, but it is still very rare to get bad backlight bleed on LCDs, the 40" Sonys are among the Sony models which aren't more prone than others (still a minority) so you shouldn't get anything too bad.

I will keep this in mind. thanks for your input. The friend who introduced me to all this (I have great respect for him) demonstrated his Panny 42PZ85B (it is not on the panny website now!) I must say, you are very correct. Plasmas do have a good SD upscaling. And you have rightly pointed out, it is soft at times, and that is what I have become used to. So I may feel 'at home' with them given that I have used CRT all this time.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

Overall I personally think (and this is backed up by a lot of people) that plasmas have the best SD picture, the Panasonic G10 and V10 are both very good, the scaling may be a little soft, but only a little, I would say that it's still better than the W5500 by a reasonable amount, HD is also very impressive.

I need 1080p. No adjustments there. I will be using this tv for a while. I wont be upgrading it soon (cant afford it!) So I am looking for 'future-proofed' product. And when I can have panny, why should I look elsewhere? Is there any point to it?

Originally Posted by Monarch08

It might also be worth looking at the LG and Samsung plasmas, although neither make 1080p plasmas at 42" you can pick up their 42" 720p plasmas for well under budget and they have the best SD you could afford in my opinion, Panasonic also make the X10 which is also very good. You can also pick up some of LGs 1080p 50" plasmas in your budget.

Now that I have heard from you about plasmas (and hope you will give more input about the phosphor ageing I mentioned earlier ) I think I will keep the LCDs as a second option now.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

I haven't seen the Phillips so I can't really say but Phillips do make some very good TVs, although reliability was a bit of an issue last year. You shouldn't discount the Panasonics either though, they don't reach the same black levels as the Sonys but they do have superior motion handling and viewing angles, I also think that the SD picture is a little better, only a little though.

I did notice in the HDTV test reports, that the results showed a marked difference in quality. Will keep your suggestion in mind. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

If you get a Sony then get a 40" model, the panels in the 37" models aren't as good.

I know I am tight on price. . But there are a lot of buy-now-pay-later 0% deals about. I will take advantage of them if I have to. But I always invest in something good and look forward to a good future (even if I have to stretch a bit) rather than buy something cheap just to get going for now. . So I will try to get the V10. The G10/15 series dont have good claibration results as per HDTV test. And I dont like the fact that pannys dont allow access to these settings except breaking into service menus. The V10 has THX calibrated setting which comes very close to the norm. Thats why I considered it.

I cant afford the Kuros!

Originally Posted by Monarch08

I would expect the V10 to come down a bit but the G10 has settled at around £900 so I wouldn't bank on it coming down that much, unless some sales come up, I would say that's the best 42" TV on the market though, although the 8G Kuros are the best SD sets.
Hope that helped

Thaks a bunch buddy. Much appreciated.

[alsina]

Originally Posted by ask775

I own a CRT at the mo, and must say the only reason the Plasma puts me off is for its 'aging' drawback (phosphor and burnin)

Over time plasma screens age and lose brightness which affects calibration, but the exact same thing happens with LCD screens as the backlights age and also lose brightness. So neither technology is immune from this 'drawback'.

[Monarch]

The general opinion on phosphor ageing is that the only real noticeable difference comes in the first 200 hours, it's recommended that you put off implementing your permanent settings over this period, afterwards you may want to re-shuffle the contrast and brightness after maybe 1000 hours or so, it depends on how picky you are with it, as mentioned by alsina though, LCDs backlights do age as well, although some people argue about the extent of this.

Just to add on the backlight bleed problem, it does appear to be more common in the Sonys than any others, there is always people who will argue but some have reported very bad bleed and Sony wont accept it as a fault. However, the bleed problems are more specific to the large screens (46"+), which is where backlight problems become more likely anyway, and in the 37" model due to the inferior panel.

Plasmas do have a good SD upscaling. And you have rightly pointed out, it is soft at times, and that is what I have become used to.

The SD scaling on the PZ85 was particularly soft, the newer models aren't quite as soft as that, but it is this softness which often comes to the advantage of the plasmas are some of the artefacts and things which appear in broadcast and in the de-interlacing/scaling process aren't as clear or obvious.

And when I can have panny, why should I look elsewhere? Is there any point to it?

Well the LGs for example have extensive picture calibration controls which the Panasonics obviously don't, if you read Phil Hinton's review of the 50PS8000 (this years top model) you will see that it performs very well, even next to their reference Kuro. Obviously they have their own problems, they're more prone to image retention and black levels/contrast aren't as good. The colour accuracy and arguably better SD quality (and lower price) allow the LGs to compete very well with the G10, obviously the V10 has the THX mode though, which impressed the AVF reviewers.

[Phil Hinton]

The G10/15 series dont have good claibration results as per HDTV test.

There are no calibration controls other than service menu. You can however get the greyscale calibrated by a pro (or buy the kit and learn yourself). In our review we managed to get the greyscale right and bring gamma closer to 2.2 in the process. You cannot do anything about the wide colour points, but you can't do anything about that with any Panasonic bar the V10. With the V10 in THX mode the colour points are closer to being correct with a fairly good looking greyscale out of the box - its why we recommend it. (also note that we use advanced meters and software for our reviews and always perform an ISF professional calibration (as we are certified) even if it means a service menu trip.

and must say the only reason the Plasma puts me off is for its 'aging' drawback (phosphor and burnin)

Do not mistake this with being a bad thing. Plasma has no issues with serious time dimming and I doubt you would notice any shifting over the life of the panel. Indeed, half life on most is around the 90,000 hours mark these days. Image retention is also not the same as image burn. Image burn is very rare these days and would require extreme abuse. Image retention is not a severe issue with any retained areas disappearing pretty quickly. LCD has more issues with uniformity and backlight bleed over time than a plasma with aging.
And there is no such thing as the perfect consumer TV, you need to try and find which technology suits you best.

Phil Hinton's review of the 50PS8000 (this years top model) you will see that it performs very well, even next to their reference Kuro. Obviously they have their own problems, they're more prone to image retention and black levels/contrast aren't as good. The colour accuracy and arguably better SD quality (and lower price) allow the LGs to compete very well with the G10, obviously the V10 has the THX mode though, which impressed the AVF reviewers.

Just to point out, the PS8000 also has a THX mode and 600Hz subfield like the Panny. But unlike the panny, it has full ISF controls for gamma, colour management and up to 20 point greyscale correction.

[ask775]

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated. I do concur that V10 seems a good choice for me because of the THX settings (since other models dont have faithful colour/temp reproduction)

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

With the V10 in THX mode the colour points are closer to being correct with a fairly good looking grey scale out of the box - its why we recommend it.

This insight is much appreciated. I know a lot of people respect plasma for some very keen points. So I know there is a lot to contend with for them.

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

Do not mistake this with being a bad thing. Plasma has no issues with serious time dimming and I doubt you would notice any shifting over the life of the panel. Indeed, half life on most is around the 90,000 hours mark these days. Image retention is also not the same as image burn. Image burn is very rare these days and would require extreme abuse. Image retention is not a severe issue with any retained areas disappearing pretty quickly. LCD has more issues with uniformity and backlight bleed over time than a plasma with aging.

Rightly said. I agree and that's why I am seeking your opinions in this forum. A bit of true technical know-how always goes a long way in helping make good decisions. So thank you all for your feedbacks.

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

And there is no such thing as the perfect consumer TV, you need to try and find which technology suits you best.

50"!!! I probably sit no more than 1.6 mtrs from the screen in my lounge. Do you really think a 50" would be a good size? I was trying for 40" but my friend (he is to blame for my addiction to this now!) suggested I select a 37" due to the short viewing distance. Thats another soar point for me cause I know a bigger screen size will reduce the clarity of SD that I so keenly wish to view for now. And I also know that eventually I will be watching a lot of HD content and at that time a bigger screen will be a blessing.(I would love the 'IMAX effect' at that time with that big a screen!) But 50" is stretching it a bit. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

Just to point out, the PS8000 also has a THX mode and 600Hz subfield like the Panny. But unlike the panny, it has full ISF controls for gamma, colour management and up to 20 point greyscale correction.

If you think the LG50PS8000 would be an OK deal for SD for now, and 50" wont be a lot, I dont mind considering it. The THX is very tempting indeed!.

Oman. I thought things would get easier. Now there are more temptations!

[Monarch]

50" would be too big for a 1.6m viewing distance in my opinion, espcially on SD feeds. You're better off getting a 37" or, if it means a better set, a 40"/42" set like the V10. I sit further than that away from the 32" in my bedroom though (granted, I could sit closer or get bigger). I sit around 2 metres from my 37" TV, again, I could sit closer or get a bit bigger, I think 42" would be the max size if you asked me

[ask775]

I thought that too.

Originally Posted by Monarch08

50" would be too big for a 1.6m viewing distance in my opinion, espcially on SD feeds. You're better off getting a 37" or, if it means a better set, a 40"/42" set like the V10. I sit further than that away from the 32" in my bedroom though (granted, I could sit closer or get bigger). I sit around 2 metres from my 37" TV, again, I could sit closer or get a bit bigger, I think 42" would be the max size if you asked me

I have been looking at the Toshies XV/ZV series in particular. I would like to know the better of the two. I have looked at the comparison for the two and the only difference I have notices was in the Active Vision M100. It is confusing since the manuf website shows specs with some bits not mentioned when you compare these together. But if you look as the specs individually, they are mentioned. Also the manuals a identical in most respects. Any clarification/verification would help.

I like their Resolution+ feature very much and the previous reports have been good. I have watched TVs in the store and have found them comparably good for upscaling SD. I wanted to ask if anyone has had any expecience with these TVs, the resolution+ feature or the XV/ZV series.

[ask775]

Having spent a year researching about HDTVs, and reading umpteen number of pages of forums and test reviews, I now am a very very pleased and pleasantly surprised customer of a Panny 42V10B.

I would like to thank AVForums.com and their expert reviews, all the contributors on the forum and my HDTV guru - the friend who introduced me to this new universe.

To comment on the TV, I cannot begin to describe just how good the panel is and how much I feel satisfied about the decision and choice I made to buy it. After umteen number of visits to different stores, I had taken a decision to go ahead with the V10 rather than the G10/15. The plasma has more pop and punch to the quality than LCD, and I agree that fully. Now I have come to appreciate the things that the experts talk about of what makes a good panel. They are so right!

I have not noticed any problems in the panel and I dont think I will spend any time trying to find them. I love it so much that I will now be spending time enjoying hrs of good viewing.

To tell you something fruitful about the TV - I have set it to THX for all the sources. I have not yet calibrated it, but will do as soon as I find a good DVD for it. I have made the basic brightness/contrast/colour adjustments. Overall the P-NR is set to Mid and the sharpness is 50%. These settings seems good enough for now. Any help and suggestions are always appreciated.

I have connected my Virgin box through Scart and it looks good enough from about 1.6mts. It doesnt have component connection so will have to wait till I decide to upgrade to +HD or Sky+HD. For now it seems good enough. I changed the Scart settings on the box from Composite to RGB output and I could see a good improvement. Also I think the box has upgraded itself to accomodate the now HDTV (had old CRT earlier) cause the cable 'looks' better now than the first time I had seen it.
I have also connected it to freesat. The reception ont he SD channels is so amazingly good, that I have to watch BBC HD to remind myself what true HD looks like. Watched new Doc Martin on ITV HD the other night!!! loved it in HD. Didnt have the 'dimming' effect.
I am not using DVB since I capture DVB and Freesat using TV capture cards on a custom built PC. Since I have connected the TV to Freesat, and I have set the TV to auto update on standby, I think it has updated itself too. Not using Viera Cast or anything like that.
I have also connected it to my old (bless it! ) Philips DVD player through Scart. Since it is progressive, even though it is just an SD output, my captured programs look awesome on the TV. I dont think I will get desperate for Blu ray player anytime soon with the quality I see on the screen at the mo. Truely said, the panel is very good in scaling a progressive signal. The only thing I am going to try now is connecting it using component to see if that makes any difference.
I have also connected the panel to my media capture PC through the PC port on the TV (D-sub 15). It is using 1028x786x85Hz (I think!) at the moment and that resolution appears crystal clear. I have tired other settings, but they arent that well suitable. Although the PC has a back panel HDMI port, the TV manual does not satify me to connect it that way. The motherboard has nVidia630i chipset and it has made it possible for me to calibrate the basic setups for brightness and even Gamma. So the WMP gives a very punchy quality.
For now I am trying to connect the Audio receiver to the TV using the Digital Out (its connected through LR analogue cables at the mo) so can enjoy some good Dolby surround. I did not bother testing the TV speakers. I have a surround system I have used for a while. The TV volume is set to 0

For the TV, I do see "jaggies" once in a while but not enough to be obvious or bad enough to bother me. I have noticed that the P-NR setting and the sharpness setting makes the diffeernce so if you set it right, the visual effect is quite good. Also the gamma and the THX has very worthy quality so anyone thinking of investing in a Panny should consider V10 for its gamma and THX over G10/15. I did notice that V10 panel has more punch to it than G10 when I was comparing the panels side by side in a shop. I had sensed a slight yellow tint on the THX but I think it is only obvious when comparing two panels side by side. Moreover since the upgrade of firmware, I think the tint has at least decreased if not completely gone. Moreover, when you are watching your TV on its own, after a few days you get used to the 'tint' and dont even notice it.

I was considering Sony W5500 but I soon realised the beauty of plasma and just how much better it was in dealing with contrast. I have seen W4500 in action and I can now see the difference in picture. Plasmas are lot more subtle and softer with a lot more punch and depth. I am definitely happy about the choice I have made.

Regarding the brightness issue, I have set eco and power save off. So my panel is sufficiently bright. In fact I had to lower it down a few knotches. Havent played much with the settings. There is not much to play with any way. Once THX is set, there is very little open to change. And believe me when I say this - the THX is worth every penny. I couldnt afford to enter service menu and ruin the warrenty (Ive got 5 yrs of it!) or call a pro to spend hrs and few hunderd £££. So instead I spent it on THX. And it works just fine.

I havent seen any phosper trails or any image burn/retention issues. But then I am using it responsibly and so I think the panel is good enough in that case to accomodate the normal usage. I aint going to wait for the 'burn in' period. I think the panel is sturdy enough and is capable to provide good viewing from day one. Also I have noticed that the TV doesnt get hot. Nor does it make any noise. I use it a few hrs during the evening and mostly during the weekend. But I have not noticed anything abnormal.

I did buy it from a panasonic store - got 12 months buy-now-pay-later and same day delivery with 5 yrs warrenty. So it worked out really fine for me. I look forward to watching the TV every day now!

[Monarch]

Glad you like it, and thanks for the opinions, it's always good to get another viewpoint (although it's always much the same - brilliant!)

Just on the settings - a bit of sharpness can help with SD sources, especially the low quality ones, but if you do go for blu-ray (which you should with a TV like this!) and high quality SD sources like DVDs etc...then sharpness should be set to 0 to see exactly what the director intended.

And as for the run in period, just stay out of vivid/dynamic mode (which you are) don't have static images on 24/7 and you'll be fine. When I got my PX80 last year I had a session on GTA IV the day after buying it, it had about 4 hours on the clock, just over 2 hours of GTA left a very faint ghost image of the HUD, since then I haven't seen any retention apart from once or twice when I've had a very long gaming session (over 4 hours, I don't really count though!)

[ask775]

To add to my comments from before,
I have noticed something interesting about the TV (I am sure I will be saying that for a long time to come! )
I have connected my Virgin box through my VCR Scart loop. Thats how I end up being able to watch Cable or VCR through a single scart. The other Scart ont he TV has DVD player connected to it (and it only has 1 scart). Now I need to have one Scart input coming out from the previous loop going to my Media center for analogue capture of cable programs. So while I was playing around the connections, I discovered that if I connected the TV straight to the VCR, the TV Menu gave me an option for 3D comb filter, but this option was not available (not even on the list!) if I connected the TV straight to the box. Interesting. Although the sharpness and picture quality is much better if I connected it as latter, since my box is now set to output the scart as RGB. What a difference that makes!

Although I have set the basic contrast and brightness, I am still waiting for my calibration disc to arrive. So far, no retention or phospher issues. I dont think this panel even suffers from those problems, cause I have tried very hard to see if there is any slightest indication and there is absolutely no trace for either. I feel that the panel is really good. I do see some jaggies but only if I am sitting close to the panel. From a viewing distance, I have hard time to tell SD from HD. One of my friends (who doesnt know much about HDTV) couldnt make out the difference when I showed the SD channel on freesat and the BBC HD.

Truely, truely, truely, a kick ass panel!

[Monarch]

Originally Posted by ask775

So far, no retention or phospher issues. I dont think this panel even suffers from those problems, cause I have tried very hard to see if there is any slightest indication and there is absolutely no trace for either.

The Panasonics are very resistant to image retention, you really do need to try to actually do anything to it, and it needs to be abused for actual burn in to occur! Any normal useage of anything wont give any problems with retention. Phosphor problems are also minimal as well as you said, again with sensible settings (watch sin city on dynamic mode and I'm sure you see some problems!), the odd person will have problems with it.

The occasional jaggy is also normal, it depends on the source really

[ask775]

some more comments to follow up:

got my calibration DVD and spent nearly 4 hrs the first time trying to "calibrate" the display. I dont have a 'sensing eye' as such so 'my eye' will do for now After a lot of back-and-forth with many changes, I have come to realise one thing:
This panel only needs the very basic Brightness+Contrast+Colour adjustments. If it is set on THX and Warm settings to start, there is very little you have to worry about.
I aint sure about anyone else, but the Contrast level makes very little difference whether it is 0 or Max. The gradient depth is very distinct through out the range of setting and so I have set it sensibly to a few clicks below 50% (the default is not 50% !) . I am quite happy with that.
The biggest difference is made by the Brightness setting and for now I had to set it 1 click below default (50%). This setting is crucial and makes a load of difference. But once it is set correctly, OMG
As for the colour, I think there is a small error in the RGB channels, cause if I set one, the others are a bit over/under saturated. So for now I have used the Blue filter technique and set the colour saturation a few clicks below the 'perceived' setting. At the correct saturation level through the filter, the colours apprear a bit too much saturated for my taste.

As usual, the Eco and Power save is off. The sharpness is now set to 50%. and the P-NR is at Min level.

I love this panel!