Panasonic 42PW5B Screen settings

[mark raeburn]

I have just got my shinny new Panny 42PW5B, although am pleased with the screen, I was wondering what picture settings other people had set their screen to.

Also what do the settings in the advanced menu do? Gamma etc??

Finally I am connected via s-vhs from my pioneer NS DV55 DVD player (which does not offer component or RGB out), currently during dark scenes I am experiencing solarisation, especially when torches are shining. Is this to do with my picture settings, or is this the s-vhs connection?

Is it worth me replacing my DVD player to one that has component output - should this get rid of the solarisation problem? On this topic would I be better off getting a progressive player (or is this not required as the screen is already progressive)?

Thanks for your help.

Mark

 

[JamesTapp]

Mark,

I've got a Panny, version 4. I have contrast set to -18 and Brightness to 0. Just used the THX optimiser on Monsters Inc... I don't have any of the other discs.

There is no doubt that the better the source, the less artifacts that you will see, the difference between cable and DVD is very distinct, although there will always be something I guess, nature of the technology and size of the screen.

Regarding DVD players and Progressive Scan take a look at

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54473

Which covers this. If you want to make the most of Progressive Scan, there are only a couple of players that do PAL Progressive at the moment, so unless you have a huge R1 NTSC library (or intend getting one) PAL PS is going to cost around £1000 for an Arcam DV88. Might be worth holding on for a little while...

Hope this helps.

James

 

[sirjohnofbalham]

Having spent a fortune on a new screen, it is well worth having it professionally calibrated. Give Gordon at Covergent a call. It is not really possible to set the advanced menu by eye - you need proper equipment to do it. Probably cost you another £200 - money well spent as far as I was concerned.

 

[DaveCheltenham]

Mark – I also have just got the same model as you. I assume you have the Panasonic BNC terminal board on which the S-VHS input is very good but not quite as good as the same source but RGB input.

Interestingly I did not have the Panasonic BNC terminal board to start with but a Progressive Scan unit which was terrible in all respects. While waiting, I tried S-VHS through my computer which has an ATI 128 Pro graphics/multimedia card. The results from the same source were better than through the Panasonic board with cleaner colours and less ring; in fact approaching the RGB quality.

I am critical of picture quality and the only settings I have had to change have been brightness and contrast + colour on S-VHS. It certainly is a terrific panel.

 

[mark raeburn]

Dave,

Thanks for your help, however I am a little confused by your reply.

I have the RCA board fitted and not the BNC board. What do you mean "with a progressive scan unit fitted"? I didn't think that you could change this - isn't it built into the screen?

Have you replaced the board? With what?

You say the screen in now terriffic, but what exactly did you to to make it so - since you say that the prog scan unit was terrible.

Thanks for your help

Mark

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Guys,

Factory default menu settings are different for ver4 and ver5 models so don't use anyone with D4/B4 settings. I have had limited time with D5. I can say it is better at de-interlacing NTSC film source material than the D4 as it has 2:3 detection which seems OK. My new analyser should be with me sometime this week at which point I'll be able to carry out calibnration of this unit.

I have an article about calibration in HCC's bi-yearly new publication, HiLife (only available at WH Smith). Unfortunately the main AFTER picture didn't print out too well....

Cheers,

Gordon

 

[DaveCheltenham]

Originally posted by mark raeburn
Dave,

Thanks for your help, however I am a little confused by your reply.

I have the RCA board fitted and not the BNC board. What do you mean "with a progressive scan unit fitted"? I didn't think that you could change this - isn't it built into the screen?

Have you replaced the board? With what?

You say the screen in now terrific, but what exactly did you do to make it so - since you say that the prog scan unit was terrible.

Thanks for your help

Mark

Sorry Mark if I confused you. The Panasonic RCA (Phono) board I believe is the same as the BNC one circuit wise but just different connectors.

The progressive scan unit I originally used did not need the Panasonic connection board as that fed straight into the Plasma PC input. Basically forget it as its performance was atrocious and a big mistake to even try it in the first place. I now use the Panasonic connection board.

The rest of what I said was to make full use of the BNC (in my case) board facilities and get RGB quality without having to buy a relatively expensive and unnecessary converter. All sources (5) are selected by my AV amp and the output fed to the S-VHS (could equally be video) input of the Plasma. To recap; for the RGB source(s), the sync is derived from the S-VHS (or video) and the RGB input selected on the Plasma.

I made up a high quality SCART to BNC lead for the separate R, G and B signals. To make selection easy, I use macros on my universal remote control to set up sound and display (S-VHS/video or RGB) in one press for each input.

Trust this has clarified things.