Got it...Hell yea!

Mal X · 27 Dec 2012 at 16:37

hi Guys

i got the Panny P50ST50 today from purewells, cost £ 889 plus an extra 10 quid to take away my existing tv, free 5 year warranty.

i walked in and saw the 55'' VT and the 55'' ST side by side on HD, beside it was the cheap LG 60'' PLASMA. Both the Pannys looked exactly the same, in fact it looked a bit silly having the same tv side by side..... make no mistake they look exactly the same, the VT is therefore a waste of money.

both these tvs made the LG beside it look totally Krap, as well as all the other LEDs, now these LEDs were set up correctly, not like Currys and they still looked awfall.

i saw a 42'' ST Panny that looked brilliant too, man you should see the blacks, they're as black as the bezel/ black paint, not only that the black contains loads of detail, it's not solid black like an LED.

the image is of course 2D but due to the massive contrast/ rich shadows it looks quite 3D....

The LG beside it was on Vivid/ full contrast and quite bright, it looked washed out in comparison, but when he downgraded the LG 60 to average normal everyday mode it looked even worst, it looked smoked over and grey tinted.

the Panny looked perfect on default mode, i checked the settings, and yet it's still the best screen image i've seen all year, sorry ever seen :eek:

do i have a criticism ? yes, i couldn't afford the 55'', he wouldn't accept a thousand quid

Mal X · 27 Dec 2012 at 19:21

i dont get the tv till tomorrow, yes it's darker than a LED but i'd say it's realistic and true to life, the image definitely didn't look dull in the shop and the shop was very well lit....the menu was only on 50% for everything, so this can be adjusted up or down.

the Panasonic has rich colours and very deep blacks that make it look quite 3D, the LG looked lifeless beside it and so did the Sammy i saw yesterday

when i first saw the Panny i was shocked to see the deep blacks/ shadows, the rest of the image just looks like a normal high quality PLASMA.

the screen isn't shiny but the bezel is, the screen is like silk/ semi-matt, but the LG was glary and reflected everything, the Sammy did too !

i was standing side on to the panny looking along the tvs and i could still see it's pitch black shadows in the video.... most odd, it really stands out, it's way blacker than out 42'' G20.

Is the black too black?.. no because it has detail in the black, but by God it looks strange, i'm not used to it i guess.

Mal X · 28 Dec 2012 at 14:05

thanks, i got the picture settings yesterday off another forum, i've just been using the new tv for the past 2 hours.

good points:-

1..... very good screen image on SD tv, BBC1 looks fine
2..... really good blacks
4..... Bright image, they say plasmas are too dull.... it's too bright on 75%, i've got it on about 60% and this is with the lights on ( so i could read the manual)
5....colours are too bright as well, mine is on 40 %
5....Whites? perfect, same as brightness
6....easy menu with razor sharp text
7....Gaming is excellent, no lag and Borderlands 2/ crysis 2 looks terrific, razor sharp and very rich colours
8....no screen reflection

bad points:-
1.... the Audio is Krap, it sounds as if it's coming from 10ft behind the tv and man it's tinny/ quiet..... only any good on 90%, this is the Panny's worst fault
2....audio is ok in gaming because i have external speakers that i brought a year ago, thank God
3.....50'' is too small at 8ft away, it's miles smaller than my 55'', but i'm getting used to it now.
4......slight buzzing noise, but only noticeable when the Audio is off
5.......TV GETS HOT :eek:

it's like a radiator and this is from the front!
6.......i gave him my old tv to take away, he liked the Sony, i should have sold it :mad:

the bad points aren't that bad at all; but must be said, the good points are that the screen image whilst gaming looks brilliant, i never new Borderlands 2 looked this good.... it actually looks better than Crysis 2

Mal X · 28 Dec 2012 at 14:23

it has two tv modes, the 2nd mode is used for gaming, but mine is on ``true cinema`` for gaming too.......because the recommended ``gaming mode`` doesn't look as good, because i think ``gaming mode`` is for consoles !!!!!

but ``true cinema`` for pc is adjusted differently to what it is in tv mode....the Sharpness in on 100% and by God it looks Brilliant, but on tv it's only at 10%.

i noticed all of this because Crysis 2 at first looked dreadful, even on Ultra :eek:

so i tried ``true cinema`` instead and whacked up the sharpness/ colour and contrast......WOW, this did not effect response rates at all.

i then checked that these adjustments were still as they originally were on BBC1, GOOD, it had only adjusted AV on HDMI1

Mal X · 28 Dec 2012 at 23:04

imginy said:
Hey Mal,

The tv will only be hot for the first 200 hours while it breaks in so that's one of the bad points that will go away.

It depends what your used to but true cinema definitely has a little input lag and that is why I use game mode for fast online games such as bf3 and sf4 and then true cinema for games like borderlands.
If in game mode you put colour balance warm and vivid colour off cats off it shouldn't be too far off true cinema but agreed it will never be quite as good.

The only thing that will give you any major input lag is intelligent frame creation

I'm not sure why you like sharpness 100? I always use 0 for anything that is hd like pc games or movies but each to there own

I think most tv's have bad audio that is why I bought a panasonic home cinema to go with it

Borderlands 2 was also the first game I played on my st50 and agreed it is stunning graphics and colours

the screen image on Crysis 2 looked dreadful until i adjusted the sharpness, it was on zero and as i moved the cursor up it got sharper and sharper, it looks amazing now, especially the skyscrapers..... but for normal tv the sharpness is on Zero.

i've noticed no gaming lag, but Crysis 2 has slower frame rates than Borderlands 2 anyway.

all games look way better on the Panny, i think i'll get FAR CRY 3 this week

Mal X · 29 Dec 2012 at 09:27

the trouble is at zero it's very out of focus.

i might have to get another cheap front stereo, i'll open a tread tonight, something for less than a £100

Mal X · 29 Dec 2012 at 20:51

side by side the ST and VT looked exactly the same, and definitely not £500 quid better, this isn't currys, both of these were on full HD.....i stared at both tvs for ages, turned to the salesman and said ``good grief both tvs are the same``

i would have noticed if the VT had better blacks, because the only tv that looked different was the LG right beside these two

Mal X · 30 Dec 2012 at 20:28

i'm not sure how to game in 3D, i'll have to take a look at the manual, my TV had no glasses with it, maybe why it's £ 100 cheaper

Mal X · 2 Jan 2013 at 14:50

i used the tv for the first time yesterday..... previously for gaming only

it's excellent, the quality on HD is perfect, it looks miles better than in the shop and that was on HD too, it's so damn sharp, the colours/ Whites/ Brightness perfect..... no screen retention, motion blur, no artifacts at all.

i saw that kids animation ``up`` on BBC1 HD yesterday, it looked awesome.

PLASMA gets bad reviews from these LED Guys, it's all rubbish, this is the best screen image i've ever seen before and well worth 900 quid.

PLASMA is supposed to be too dark/ whites not white enough etc, no if anything it's too bright, it's deffo brighter than CRT.

Audio is bad, but i'm getting used to it, i can hear it ok on 50% so it cant be that bad, the tv also has a slight buzzing noise, but only on white screens and if the Audio goes quiet, but it aint exactly too loud, it's the sound of Capacitor Whine, so it's similar to my AMD 7970 CARD.

The tv's contrast is flipping excellent so it makes viewing at night a real pleasure, it looks so 3D... The screen image to me looks real.

we already have the 42'' G20 and that's good on HD too, but the ST 50 is miles better, anyone that wants a smaller screen forget the LEDs, i mean just forget them, get the ST42'' instead; it'll amaze you :cool: