ok thanks guys ive turned the contrast down to approx 75 and brightness around 60 ish. is that more like the right settings.
thanks for the link ive just checked and there is no firmware update as yet ill keep checking it.
If it looks better and more natural to you then it's right mate. Also give the plasma screens time to break in they get better after the 1st 100-200 hours of normal use.
Don't go crazy on the contrast with a new TV, I normally have the contrast set to 50% with a new screen for the 1st 100 hours and after will never need to raise it more then 65-70%..
The best way to adjust a t.v is to set all the settings 1st to 50% (TURN C.A.T.S OFF at this point). Then wait about 5mins so your eyes settle too, then watch something you like and remember sort of how you like it to look. Use something with black bars that way you can keep the black bars BLACK (anytime they go grey or a light black you have gone over the top with contrast and brightness). I normally have it one click down from where I see the black change to a lighter shade (Now you are at good starting point to adjust the colour). Adjust colour by making sure you are on gamma 2.2 and all the RGB settings are on 50%. Then go back to colour/saturation and adjust it to the point the image looks natural, look at grass, trees, the sky and peoples skin tones. Things that you see everyday in the real word and try match it to look like them. (Make sure if you have a setting called Vivid in any of the setting modes, turn it off it makes greens shout, it's not needed on that setting and a pointless setting to have in the 1st place in my opinion, you will only notice it kicks in when there is lots of green on screen, so sometimes turning it on and off you see no change to the image but dear god when it does kick in you will notice it, green grass meadows look neon green or a forrest for example).
Doing this will make the image more real and it will seem like it has depth too when you get it right.
REMEMBER this part...
1. Always give your eyes time to settle to the changes and watch normal TV on BBC HD channel (Best quality HD channel by far). Look at the people and things you see in the real world and ask yourself does it look real ? Remember in the real world we don't all glow bright red for skin tones or the sky is so blue it looks like a dark blue biro. Be real when you look and don't have an image in your head that is too punchy and over saturated. Some people think plasma is a dull image ... you know why ? because they have never seen correct colours/brightness/contrast settings on a TV. Some people just like neon colours that shout out and really bright image eg like some LCD screens do. That's not why you buy a plasma screen, you buy a plasma screen so you can make the image as real as possible. You will be amazed once your eyes settle to it, watch a BBC HD wildlife program, the animals and backgrounds will feel like you are looking threw a window when its set right and not a TV.
Make 2 settings (TURN C.A.T.S & VIVID OFF ):- 1 for day time viewing (setup around midday time) and 1 for night time viewing (setup when it's dark outside) you will probably laugh I said what seems obvious but sunlight and artificial light makes your eyes work in different ways to how they pickup colour,contast and brightness. The settings will be different as you will see once you set them both to look the same at the different times of day and night. Night time viewing should be lower contrast and brightness for starters or you will find the image too bright and burns the back of your eyes. Anytime you feel the image is hurting your eyes it's too bright/too much contrast. Always give your eyes time to settle between the changes you make (don't keep flicking to dynamic setting and your settings for example because your eyes will have to shut out more light when you have dynamic setting kicking in and if you flick back to your setting after that the image will seem dark and dull, so wait a few mins for your eyes to settle down again.
ALSO FINAL POINT... it takes time to adjust a new plasma TV and give it time to break in evenly (100-200 hours normal use). Use the true cinema setting on that T.V it is basically THX setting for that set without the THX costs added to it
. Make sure it has the gamma set to 2.2 in that setting just to confirm it is the correct setting. Also sometimes you fiddle so much with a set it is best to click restore to factory settings for the image setting (reset at the bottom of the setting you are in) and again give your eyes time to settle and watch normal HD TV for a while and see if your eyes settle to a point it likes the image if not knock up the true cinema setting contrast up maybe 2-5 clicks and then again watch TV for a while and see if it is any better now if not again adjust what you think is off. BUT dont have contrast set any higher then 50-75% settings for daytime viewing and night time viewing it should not really need to be any higher then 50-65% settings.
How new is the TV by the way and how many hours have you had it switched on do you think ?
Yikes contrast full and brightness 75 ?