The Plasma TV Owners Thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by jriems, Nov 24, 2012.

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  1. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident



    To me its an obvious answer. The new panasonic. ( mainly I would never buy a used LCD or Plasma, unless it was really low priced...)

    Does runco still make plasma?

    I really dont think anything beats the Recent Panasonics.
     
    sound chaser and xilef regnu like this.
  2. jh901

    jh901 Forum Resident

    Location:
    PARRISH FL USA
    60" ST60 at $1,500 is ridiculous and will be better than all but maybe 3 TVs on the market today. Only the VT60, ZT60 and maybe the Sammy F8500 are better. The ST60 would have been the #1 panel of 2012 since it's more or less as good as the VT50.
     
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  3. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    The picture on the Runco is stunning. Haven't seen the new Panny. Have you looked at the Runco?
     
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  4. xilef regnu

    xilef regnu Senior Member

    Location:
    PNW
    I did see it, but in less than ideal conditions and, unfortunately, the ship has sailed on on it.
     
  5. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan Thread Starter

    Well, if it's any comfort, it does seem to get less distracting over time. I've been viewing our 55GT50 for six months now, and the number of times I'm conscious of the rainbow effect grow fewer and far between. If I take the time to look for it, however, I can still see it clearly. I've chosen to try to ignore it, and that's helped me cope a lot better.

    Of course neither my wife, nor my brother (who recently got a 55VT50) have any idea what I'm talking about, and remain blissfully unaware of the effect.

    Some of us are just super-lucky, I suppose! :shake:
     
  6. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    I have a Panasonic Plasma (60GT50) and I've never noticed any rainbow effect, though I have had my set professionally calibrated, and it has a wonderful picture.

    Remember that all types of television displays have faults. Even our venerable old CRTs had their share of distortions and inaccuracies, but the human eye can be amazingly forgiving. After all, we aren't seeing "true" motion: the images we see are a series of static images shown in rapid succession that gives the appearance of movement. It is an optical illusion, plain and simple, but that's ok by me.
     
  7. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan Thread Starter

    Then count yourself as one of the lucky majority that either can't see it, or aren't affected by it. I also don't think that this is something that can be removed by proper monitor calibration - it is what it is.
     
  8. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    I suppose so, but I have to tell you that I'm very sensitive to picture flaws, and I do see a lot on SD programming on the plasma set, but as I said before, I haven't noticed a "rainbow" effect, unless by that you mean a moire pattern, and I do see that. There is also a possibility that my set is actually free of the rainbow effect, believe it or not. Calibration improved all aspects of the picture, not just color temperature, black level, and color fidelity. I'm also bugged by what I call matte boxes around moving objects in movies set in space, and most people never see them.
     
  9. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan Thread Starter

    A really quick test is to put on some material that's very contrast-y - like Sin City, or something similar. Then move your eyes from the left side of the screen to the right side and back again several times. If you see flashes of color along the edges of the image where black meets white, you're seeing what I'm talking about.

    I can't for certain say it's not limited to my actual panel, because I haven't checked it out on other plasmas - yet. I hope to do this in the near future and report back. I've read several discussions on other forums where folks who CAN see it can see it on almost any plasma, however.
     
  10. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    Aha! I used to be able to see that on any old CRT color set that was showing a black & white program: lots of "rainbows" on the edges of where white met black. Of course that was most likely a convergence problem.

    The set is on now, and I've just tried doing what you said, and nope, no rainbows, but I will say that it's a good thing I don't watch TV like that because it made me dizzy. :) What I really like about this plasma set is how natural the colors look. Blacks are truly black and detail is superb.
     
  11. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    How much should a proper calibration cost?
     
  12. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    When I had it done on a couple of my systems here in LA, the front projector was $350 for a couple of hours' work, and the monitor was $275. The technician agreed to come back if I felt anything had drifted in the next three months for a $100 "touch-up" fee. I was impressed that he had all the generators and the factory manuals for the devices, plus he had the experience to know exactly how to tweak everything to the Nth degree. I think he actually took over 3 hours to set up the projector, and I was very impressed by how good it looked when he finished.
     
  13. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident


    I dont think that is what is called a rainbow, thats a deviation along a slanted line where color meets black, that is where several pixels are alternating between the color and the black section, but it is not a defect with a tv, its simply part of reproducing a moving picture with fixed pixels.

    Ive seen this effect, but its not bothersome at all, Its more an effect of motion between dark and light parts of images, where the pixels momentarily change from dark to light, if the image even mildly jitters or moves ( which all images do to some small extent)

    There is a name for this effect. Moire effect or pattern I believe. I think all TVs produce this effect, and some people dont so much see it more, but they visually look for it, or blink a lot or move their head, and it appears they "see" it more.
     
  14. jh901

    jh901 Forum Resident

    Location:
    PARRISH FL USA
    The Value Electronics HDTV shootout is this weekend, so by Sunday we'll have a pretty good idea whether or not Panasonic plasma remains on top (with the ZT60 or VT60).
     
  15. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    The guy I spoke to, who is quite well known in this area and has been in this business for many years, says it will take 3 hours.

    $425, which sounds steep to me.
    I need to think about this, maybe take his suggestion and try some of the settings posted at various places on-line.
    He figures the test discs can actually get you fairly close.

    Seems to think the GT line is good, says it's extremely close to the VT if set-up properly.

    Interestingly I asked him about the "rainbow" effect people here are talking about.
    He was unfamiliar with it and this is coming from a guy with TONS of experience.
    Strangely enough I haven't noticed the effect even once this week which is kind of weird.
    The sales guy told me to keep the HDMI cable away from any power cords.
     
  16. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    I think the rainbow effect pertains to people's physiology. Some see it , most don 't
     
  17. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    Not sure if the guy I spoke with is your guy but the price is the same.
     
  18. ToTo Man

    ToTo Man the band not the dog

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
    Just placed an order for a TX-P50GT50. Price matched at £720.00 GBP with 5-yr extended warranty included it was a no brainer. :) Just hope my set is plagued as little as possible by the plethora of faults reported over on AVForums....
     
  19. DragonQ

    DragonQ Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Moon
    Nice. Where from? When I looked I couldn't see it for less than £800.
     
  20. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    Plethora of faults?
    Maybe I need to head over there and take a look, though it's too late either way, the money is spent
     
  21. ToTo Man

    ToTo Man the band not the dog

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
  22. ToTo Man

    ToTo Man the band not the dog

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
  23. DragonQ

    DragonQ Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Moon
  24. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
  25. ToTo Man

    ToTo Man the band not the dog

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
    :righton:
     
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