Panasonic 42'' ST50 - Good choice ?

[Paul_cz]

My 55ST50 got delievered on saturday and I assembled it yesterday.

Fantastic god damn picture. I did zero calibration and configuration, just selected cinema mode and turned off overscan, connected it to PC and went off testing games:
Sleeping Dogs
Skyrim
Dark Souls
Mafia 2
Bioshock Infinite
Tomb Raider
Hitman 5
etc etc

The games are fantastic on it. Great colors, great movement, no blur, no perceivable input lag.

I am very considering taking vacation from work so I can play Bioshock Infinite on it immediately

Tried few 1080p movies (Avengers, Lockout), looked great too.

Only issue I have is that I have both this TV and my NEC 24" LCD connected to PC, and Windows have horrible support for multiscreen setup. No taskbar on secondary monitor, for example. So I have to get some applications to give me some of the functionality I need.

As a bonus, my TV has been made in my home country "Assembled in Czech Republic"

 

[Psycho Sonny]

My 55ST50 got delievered on saturday and I assembled it yesterday.

Fantastic god damn picture. I did zero calibration and configuration, just selected cinema mode and turned off overscan, connected it to PC and went off testing games:
Sleeping Dogs
Skyrim
Dark Souls
Mafia 2
Bioshock Infinite
Tomb Raider
Hitman 5
etc etc

The games are fantastic on it. Great colors, great movement, no blur, no perceivable input lag.

I am very considering taking vacation from work so I can play Bioshock Infinite on it immediately

Tried few 1080p movies (Avengers, Lockout), looked great too.

Only issue I have is that I have both this TV and my NEC 24" LCD connected to PC, and Windows have horrible support for multiscreen setup. No taskbar on secondary monitor, for example. So I have to get some applications to give me some of the functionality I need.

As a bonus, my TV has been made in my home country "Assembled in Czech Republic"

i have a 50" GT50 and i have to say the input lagg is highly noticeable on anything other than "game" mode.

i suggest you try out game mode, because the difference is night and day imo.

on the gt50 game mode is around 30ms and the other options can increase this to 80-90 ms, so a huge difference.

 

[Somnambulist]

You have the TV calibrated so you have settings for daytime viewing and night-time w/bias lighting - multiple user presets are there for a reason. As long as the wall behind the TV is a neutral colour it's all gravy.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

yeah but i am saying you do not need to have a 6500k light.

it can be any light as the calibration will tuned to the environment.

therefore if you had the same tv with a 6500k light and then calibrated it using a non 6500k light the settings would be different as it has been adjusted to suit the different environment.

imo professional calibration is not worth it, neither is buying a specialised BIAS lighting setup.

i'm going to tweak my set using guides over at avforums cost is £0 and i got myself an LED kit off ebay for less than £25. imo spending £500 for a calibration and proper 6500k setup is madness. it's like me spending £5K to tune up a £9K car.

 

[Paul_cz]

i have a 50" GT50 and i have to say the input lagg is highly noticeable on anything other than "game" mode.

i suggest you try out game mode, because the difference is night and day imo.

on the gt50 game mode is around 30ms and the other options can increase this to 80-90 ms, so a huge difference.

You are right, I played a lot of Bioshock Infinite and the input lag difference here is quite noticeable.
I selected game mode, tweaked it a bit and now use it exclusively, for games and movies alike.

The only flaw the TV has is the CRT-like flicker. It is not horrible, but sometimes it is noticeable by my eyes and I do wish the TV did not have it. But the picture quality, motion and no input lag is worth the flicker.

 

[Somnambulist]

Lol@£500, it's nothing near that cost. Also every TV is slightly different out of the factory so copying other people's settings yields different results. Also it's small change next to the cost of the TV itself if you're getting something like the VT/ZT65.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Lol@£500, it's nothing near that cost. Also every TV is slightly different out of the factory so copying other people's settings yields different results. Also it's small change next to the cost of the TV itself if you're getting something like the VT/ZT65.

is it not £300 for a calibration

and £200 for a proper 6500K lighting setup from america?

i spent £25 on a white light led setup with remote dimming on ebay and zero on tuning my tv using guides on avforums.

therefore i spent 1/20th of the price and got not the exact same thing, but a lot more for my money.

also it is not copying other peoples settings its using the tweaking guides to adjust contrast and brightness, etc to get a better picture.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

What is this lighting setup you speak off, behind tv lighting?

 

[MAllen]

Don't you just turn the lights off when you watch a film? I know I do.

But then I ain't all fancy tuned up and high tech. I just love my TX-P50ST50B as it is. Cinema mode (Or Game mode for the PC) is pretty darn fine quality without the extra spend on tweaking.

I totally understand your chase for perfection there. To get those last bits of perfection into place. For me there is a point when I'd rather take that £500 and spend it on more important extra features like beer, babes and blu-rays.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

What is this lighting setup you speak off, behind tv lighting?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=24033359&postcount=59

Don't you just turn the lights off when you watch a film? I know I do.

But then I ain't all fancy tuned up and high tech. I just love my TX-P50ST50B as it is. Cinema mode (Or Game mode for the PC) is pretty darn fine quality without the extra spend on tweaking.

I totally understand your chase for perfection there. To get those last bits of perfection into place. For me there is a point when I'd rather take that £500 and spend it on more important extra features like beer, babes and blu-rays.

this is why you need a BIAS lighting setup.

by turning the lights off you are straining your eyes watching a screen in a dark environment, therefore you would definitely benefit from spending the £25 i did.

i cannot believe that guy thinks it's justifiable for me to spend £300 on a calibration and £200 on lighting when i can tweak it for free and spend £25 on a kit which does the same job.

imo i have saved myself £475 and got a really nice picture over stock.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

Ahhh what I expected, I fancy some of the stuff that chap on avforums sells for my floating wall.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Ahhh what I expected, I fancy some of the stuff that chap on avforums sells for my floating wall.

you got a link?

is the kit in the post i linked to not suitable?

imo it's a really good way of improving your viewing experience, i have seen some people on here buy coloured kits, like ones which turns, pink, purple, green, red, blue, yellow, etc. but white is best for PQ.

the kit i have is not 6500K like the ebay advert suggests, it is slightly blue in colour, so not perfect light, but imo you cannot complain for £19 for the rope + power supply. had i spend £200 though yes i would expect it to be bang on 6500K

 

[Hank_Marvin]

Oh no I wasn't suggesting that, just I know he is well regarded for his components being good quality and he will help you get the ideal kit of bits.

http://www.4326chris.talktalk.net/index.html

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home...ity-climate-control/1478852-led-lighting.html - basically his thread.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

that stuff he sells can be found on ebay for cheaper, he is basically buying from asia and then selling it on. i dont think his kit is any different in quality to what you get on ebay im pretty sure its the same stuff.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

Yeah there probly isn't a lot of difference I guess you just know 100% what you are getting as it's tried and tested and lots of feedback.

One thing I did read was some ebay kits came with plugs and other power bits that don't meet UK standards but that will be some not all.


You might know, can you add extra cable to a 5meter length, most seem to stop at 5m, I'd need about 6m at least.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Yeah there probly isn't a lot of difference I guess you just know 100% what you are getting as it's tried and tested and lots of feedback.

One thing I did read was some ebay kits came with plugs and other power bits that don't meet UK standards but that will be some not all.


You might know, can you add extra cable to a 5meter length, most seem to stop at 5m, I'd need about 6m at least.

i dont think you can add more, also i don't think plugs are an issue tbh, mine is going into an belkin surge protected extension.

im pretty sure if these plugs were unsafe one of the 6,000 buyers from my seller would have had an issue by now and informed ebay or the seller.

it could be a scare tactic used by the seller in order to sell his which are most likely using the same thing.

i bought mine from a uk seller btw, who also bought it from china in bulk. he kept it in the packet it was sent in and placed it inside another one.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

I'll have a look around, certainly a lot of choice on ebay.

I didn't know if you could add a second power feed further down the line.

 

[MAllen]

To be fair to that seller, there are some truly horrendous power supplies out there. Not just for lights. Testing of PSUs is down to the supplier... which means the dodgy ones just print the CE stickers and whack them on any old tat. Just look at the PC PSU market when lumps of concrete show up inside PSUs to make them seem "quality".

A bad PSU is usually easy to spot. Not just from looks, but it will get hot, buzz, and interfere with other electronics. Not what you need near your expensive HiFi kit. So if this guy is claiming to have truly tested quality PSUs it makes sense to grab them from him if they are only a few quid dearer.

I know how many hours I have wasted on EBay trying to save a couple of quid.... and the forgot to take into account the value of my own personal time.