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Calibration advice for Pana TH-42PV500A


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It is a bit on and off with DVB broadcasts from the built in tuner though - the quality seems to vary so much - on one supposedly HD source it looks great, but change channel to another HD source and it looks too grainy, or too many artifacts etc.

This can depend on the source broadcast too.

Anyway, I was wondering how to get the exact setting value adjustments using the menu system. All I see are vague bar graph sliders with no increment numbers - where am I going wrong here? or are the numbers in the settings detailed here just based on an estimate of the position of the control?

That is assuming the 600A has the same menu system as the 60V..

thanks alot again for all of the information here.

Looks like the 600V & 60V have different menu systems. 60V has numbers beneath the bar. This must be annoying for 600V owners! I don't know what Panasonic is thinking.

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Looks like the 600V & 60V have different menu systems. 60V has numbers beneath the bar. This must be annoying for 600V owners! I don't know what Panasonic is thinking.

Right - that would be a different menu system I am looking in the 600A at then.. :blink:

Oh well, out with the ruler, and recording the positions manually, I suppose.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Anyway, I was wondering how to get the exact setting value adjustments using the menu system. All I see are vague bar graph sliders with no increment numbers - where am I going wrong here? or are the numbers in the settings detailed here just based on an estimate of the position of the control?

That is assuming the 600A has the same menu system as the 60V..

Has anyone found a solution to get around this? I've no idea why Panasonic removed the numeric counters next to the values, it makes it so hard to calibrate :D

Also, how do you get into the service menu? I read on AVS forum to do the following:

Hold down {Vol -} on the TV

quickly press {RECALL} on the remote 3 times

Use {1 and 2} on the remote to move up and down and {OPTION} to select

To check times:

Press and hold {MUTE} on the remote for 3 seconds

But the remote doesn't have a RECALL button.... :blink:

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I think my HDMI settings are now final, and pretty much:

DVI->HDMI (HD STB)

Mode: Standard

Contrast: 78

Brightness: 43

Color: 40

Sharpness: 9

Color Temp: Standard

Color Management: Off

MPEG NR: Off

Color Matrix: HD

Ch Color Set: Middle

Component (DVD)

Mode: Standard

Contrast: 78

Brightness: 35

Color: 58

Sharpness: 9

Color Temp: Standard

Color Management: Off

D.PNR: Off

MPEG NR: Off

Color Matrix: HD

Ch Color Set: Middle

Important: I just noticed that for the Component source, in the TV main menu under the Setup sub menu are the options Ch Color Set and Color Matrix. I forgot to change these (or mention my settings for them), but they're very important when setting the color to look natural.

On my TV, I've now set the Ch Color Set to the mid point, and Color Matrix to HD and this has really helped the colors look better, and reduced the red saturation. That's why I've changed back my Color setting again for Component (still not 100% sure if it's right but it looks good so far).

If we're going to compare color settings, I guess people should also mention these settings. I also highly recommend people try the HD Color Matrix setting as it makes colors look much better on Component. I have no idea why mine was set to SD for component, I'm sure I'd changed it before.

Thanks for posting the settings: I'll be suggesting them to my friend whose getting a Panasonic 42PX600a soon.

However, I have seen mention that the PX600a doesn't have numbers next to the calibration settings. If this turns out to be the case, could you indicate the full range of adjustments available for each of the settings, so it is possible to put your recommended settings into a proportion of the slider context (eg Contrast 0 - 100 rec=78)?

The TV will be hooked to a Panasonic DMR-EX75 DVD Recorder via HDMI and probably everything from the EX75 will be set to upscale to 720p to match the TV. Do you know if this would change any of your settings? Obviously the internal HDTV tuner would require HD Color Matrix, but I'm not sure if the EX75 upscaling to 720p automatically changes the Color Matrix to HD as well.

I think only HDTV uses an HD colour matrix because it was designed for a wider colour gamut: SDTV uses a different matrix designed for the legacy phosphors etc.

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This page on the UK AV forums has instructions on how to access the service menu for the 600 series:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=364221

Thanks, that did it.

Just to clear something up, I read that email from Panasonic saying that they run in the plasmas as part of their testing process.. it seems thats not correct. I just checked my brand new panel and it says 7 hours, which is how long I've used it for.

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on one supposedly HD source it looks great, but change channel to another HD source and it looks too grainy, or too many artifacts etc.

For the benefit of newbies, not all programs on HD channels are HD quality. On forum 15 there's a TV guide you can check for "real" HD programs.

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Hiyas, just wondering if anyone has managed to work out the setting since the calibration bars have no numbers below them? or are u all basically just guessing hehe :blink:

I currently have all the settings below 50% for the first 100 hours, but after that I suppose I'll be guessing, unless some smart person wants to mock up some sort of online ruler we can all print out and use to set the values by holding it up against the TV :D

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Seems very odd to me that Panasonic would disable the display of numbers for the settings bars in these newer Pana sets. In fact some of the fine tuning I've done on my set involved tiny adjustments of only 2-3%.

In any case just get a piece of string, use a ruler to mark it off at the 25, 50 and 75% points, then hold it up against the TV while adjusting.

There's also probably a setting in the TV's service menus that enable numbers for these bars, or at least show the numeric values for the current levels?

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Seems very odd to me that Panasonic would disable the display of numbers for the settings bars in these newer Pana sets. In fact some of the fine tuning I've done on my set involved tiny adjustments of only 2-3%.

In any case just get a piece of string, use a ruler to mark it off at the 25, 50 and 75% points, then hold it up against the TV while adjusting.

There's also probably a setting in the TV's service menus that enable numbers for these bars, or at least show the numeric values for the current levels?

I emailed them (see here: http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=43934) and the response wasn't too promising :blink:

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Interesting. Their response is very strange. I understand that settings differ based on the environment a set is in, but it makes no sense at all to confuse individual users by not giving them a numerical scale.

When I was adjusting and tweaking my set, it took many months of fine tuning and recording exact numbers both to remember what settings I'd already tried, and to have a record in case my TV reset itself and I lost all the settings (or got a replacement set for example). It's a nonsense to remove the numbers. Their response indicates they won't do much about it. I wonder why they want to prevent users comparing numbers?

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Interesting. Their response is very strange. I understand that settings differ based on the environment a set is in, but it makes no sense at all to confuse individual users by not giving them a numerical scale.

When I was adjusting and tweaking my set, it took many months of fine tuning and recording exact numbers both to remember what settings I'd already tried, and to have a record in case my TV reset itself and I lost all the settings (or got a replacement set for example). It's a nonsense to remove the numbers. Their response indicates they won't do much about it. I wonder why they want to prevent users comparing numbers?

Seems to me it might just have been something that was overlooked. Now it's "oops, too late" :blink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there,

I got a Pana th-42pv600e witha Lg dvx-9900h player connected with hdmi at 720p, I must say thanks to Persian Immortal for his useful settings, I think I found the perfect combination with his latest:

Component (DVD)

Mode: Standard

Contrast: 78

Brightness: 29

Color: 63

Sharpness: 20

Color Temp: Standard

Color Management: Off

D.PNR: Off

MPEG NR: Off

Anyway I made some changes: I noticed (for my model) that with "auto mode" the picture is incredibly sharper with awesome black level, to test this I used a dvd of a japanese movie (Sukida, really good if anyone's interested) which is shot with natural light and got really dark scenes, using the same settings with standard, cinema and auto mode I noticed that the cinema mode is to avoid (too much grain with blacks) and the auto offers the best in sharpness and colours, it really looks more vivid.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've noticed everyone who tinkers with the Panasonic plamas settings turns all forms of post-processing off (ie D.PNR, MPEG, Colour management). Is this because it introduces all sorts of awful colour saturation and motion blur? I know I've got them all turned off too!

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The Noise Reduction options basically simply blur the picture more to reduce blockiness and artifacts, so they're not really a very useful option. They don't actually remove noise, they reduce it through blurring. It may be useful if you're often watching very blocky video sources/MPEGs (like poorly recorded DivX/Xvid).

The Color Management and other types of image processing also tend to result in inconsistent color reproduction depending on the source, dynamic contrast (light scenes go darker and dark scenes become lighter) and other annoying changes to the image which are not necessary and actually are more distracting than helpful.

Obviously some level of digital processing is necessary, and the set already seems to do that reasonably well. But these additional user-controlled processing options are just cheap tricks in my opinion and make things worse. Try them for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

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Hi there,

I got a Pana th-42pv600e witha Lg dvx-9900h player connected with hdmi at 720p, I must say thanks to Persian Immortal for his useful settings, I think I found the perfect combination with his latest:

Anyway I made some changes: I noticed (for my model) that with "auto mode" the picture is incredibly sharper with awesome black level, to test this I used a dvd of a japanese movie (Sukida, really good if anyone's interested) which is shot with natural light and got really dark scenes, using the same settings with standard, cinema and auto mode I noticed that the cinema mode is to avoid (too much grain with blacks) and the auto offers the best in sharpness and colours, it really looks more vivid.

The only problem with Auto mode is that the brightness levels will constantly change due to different ambient light conditions of your room. It is using the CATS sensor to make adjustments. Unless you cover the sensor

up somehow.

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Hey Guys,

I'm new to here and thought i'd post the calibration settings from http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmat...00u-review.html

converted to the Australian equivalent. I assumed that Picture, Brightness, Color, and Sharpness were out of +-30. Consequently, the following was found:

Contrast 55 increments

Brightness 40 increments

Color 30 increments

Sharpness 1 increment

Temperature Warm

Picture Mode Standard

Now, these settings from plasma buying guide are circulating US forum boards as a good standard. However, I could be wrong with the conversion to our Australian model (if indeed they are not +-30). Tell me what you guys think. Regards.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I know it sounds like I'm ranting but I really suggest people give these settings a try (at least as a starting point). Note they may only work for you if you're using Color Matrix = HD on each source:

DVI->HDMI (HD STB)

Mode: Standard

Contrast: 78

Brightness: 29

Color: 37

Sharpness: 20

Color Temp: Standard

Color Management: Off

MPEG NR: Off

Color Matrix: HD

Ch Color Set: Middle

Component (DVD)

Mode: Standard

Contrast: 78

Brightness: 29

Color: 63

Sharpness: 20

Color Temp: Standard

Color Management: Off

D.PNR: Off

MPEG NR: Off

Color Matrix: HD

Ch Color Set: Middle

I have a Foxtel IQ STB and the Color Matrix is set to SD and greyed out? How much difference will this make and has anyone managed to change it to HD? I am using component inputs to my 500A.

Edited by Narsil
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Is that 480i or 480p?
I believe either way it has to be greater than 480P for the HD Color Matrix to be available. What difference it makes is that basically it makes the colours slightly more realistic - less oversaturated colors, reduction in any color banding/gradation, more natural color. I notice it most on my DVD source.
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