Total noob to plasmas, 2 simple questions...

Durzel · 13 May 2008 at 15:58

Taking delivery of my first ever plasma (Panasonic TH42PZ85B 42") this weekend, previously only had CRTs for a variety of reasons.

Two things I need to know before I unwrap it:

1) I've heard people talking about using "50% settings" for the first 200 hours. Is this a universal practice or does it only apply to certain models/brands? If it's the former what's the reason for doing this?

2) HDMI cables - planning to get a HDMI cable for my PS3, and at some point one for my Sky box when I upgrade to Sky HD. Are the cables much of a muchness in terms of quality? I've seen prices for them varying from £15 to £1000 and beyond...

Thanks!

Bill101 · 13 May 2008 at 16:05

I got a 32 inch plasma last month and set it up to just below 50% and cinema mode. The picture is fine at these levels and most people recommend them for the first 200 hours or so. Have a look on av forums(or google panasonic plasma+settings)
I bought a 1.8mt HDMI cable for £8 and it does the job, being digital they either work or not and 99.9% of the time they do work. Again have a look here for cable recommendations

Corasik · 13 May 2008 at 21:37

My Panny plasma is still on 50% settings after over a year.. Why.. because anything more than that is artifically bright. It looks far better at the 50% mark on both contrast and brightness. Its just the same with LCD monitors, maximum brightness is way to harsh for everyday use, my monitor is only running at 40% brightness!.

I believe its the starwars DVD that has a THX optimizer on it (several dvd's do), and with the panny set at 50%, the tests on the optimizer were perfect, no further adjustments were required.

To be honest, there are two possible reasons why the sets can go so bright, 1) stats, and to look "good" in brightly lit shops.
2) as the TV gets older the plasmas dont burn as brightly, but if your not running at full brightness/contrast there should be plenty of scope to increase the settings as the TV gets older.

Sky HD comes with an HDMI cable, and its fine, no need to upgrade it to a "better" cable. I would spend between £15 and £30 on an hdmi cable for the PS3. The main differences between a £15-30 cable, and something costing a couple of quid, is generally better build quality. The ultra cheap cables will work, but the connectors are often flimsy, and poor shielding on the cables can cause biterrors. The errors dont matter too much unless there are lots of them, or the cable is 10+ meters long, but I prefer a cable that will last a few years and several insertions before its worn out.

-Ad- · 14 May 2008 at 10:02

1.) Yup just turn brightness and contrast down to 50% and turn off dynamic picture setting mode and all the DNIe noise reduction crap. These setting will probably look the best anyway, I certainly haven't touch them since day one, but tweaked some of the other ones.

2. Firstly how long a HDMI cable do you need ??? If under 5m then pickup a cheap one from 'cheap german supermarkets' or the 'bay of auction' for under a fiver. No real difference between them except the outer sleeving colour, so just get the cheapest. If it is broken you will know about it, as the picture will be a mess of errors or there won't be a picture at all.

Save the monies for something else like a new film to watch on the tv, or lots and lots of popcorn

Durzel · 14 May 2008 at 10:32

I only need a 0.5m one, tops - the equipment will be underneath the TV on a stand.

Thanks for the tips about 50%-ness, will adhere to this when I start using it

SS-89 · 14 May 2008 at 11:02

I have a pz85 set up perfectly to my taste. Took me a while to settle on the settings I liked the most.

These are all from the default position (which is dead center as the pz85 doesn't have any numbering or percentage to indicate the settings.):

Viewing Mode- Cinema (Provides the most natural picture, Dynamic is just horrid)
5 clicks right on the contrast
4 clicks left on the brightness
Default postion on the sharpness
5 clicks right on the colour
Colour Balance- Warm (Hdtv test said it gives the closest colours to D65 Standard, it may seem a bit yellow but stick with it as its the most natural since normal colour balance has a blue shift)
P-NR Off
Colour Management Off
3d-Comb Off

Give it a try, as I said it's tailored to my tastes (Planet earth looks truly stunning) so it may not be to your liking but it should give you a good platform to tweak it as you like.

-Ad- · 14 May 2008 at 11:35

Durzel said:
I only need a 0.5m one, tops - the equipment will be underneath the TV on a stand.

Cool cool, then get a 1m one off 'the bay' for a fiver, waste of money spending more. Plug in and enjoy

Take SS-89s advice and play with the settings, and of course turn off all the fancy DNR crap like he has done.

Durzel · 14 May 2008 at 12:05

SS-89s settings would presumably have to be done after the 200-hour burn-in period? "5 clicks right" on contrast, if it defaults to middle (50%?) would be greater than that.

SS-89 · 14 May 2008 at 12:30

Durzel said:
SS-89s settings would presumably have to be done after the 200-hour burn-in period? "5 clicks right" on contrast, if it defaults to middle (50%?) would be greater than that.

Those are the settings I used right off the bat and have had no problems. The reason they say to avoid upping above 50% is because plasma pixels burn at a greater intensity and non-uniformly within the first 200 hours thus there is a possibility of screenburn. I have used these settings since day one and having watched lord of the rings extended (which is 3 hours plus) which has letterboxing I can safely say these pannys are pretty bullet proof with regards screenburn. You're more likely to get screen burn from the ridiculous bbc three logo if you were to leave that on for about 5 hours. Vincent at hdtvtest accidently left the pz85 he tested on all night on Channel 4 and there was no screenburn when he saw it in the morning. As long as you dont leave the set on a bright static logo (bbc three for example) for a few hours at a time screenburn within the first 200 hours is highly unlikely.

craptakular · 15 May 2008 at 07:18

I had a PX80 briefly and used similar settings to SS-89.

I would suggest searching avforums for the official Thread for your TV.

PS: -AD- my sammy PS-42A457 is ace! Just as good as the PX80. Infact the design is better & the backports are offset to tge right, enabling me to easy connect the cables on my wallmount.

Full review to follow.