Panasonic ST30 plasma - tips and info
Discussion
All,
I see some Panasonic plasma owners on here and wanted to tap into your knowledge and experience.
I've bought the ST30 in 46" (tx-p42st30b) and had it a couple of days now. I'll give my thoughts and please jump in with comments or tips.
My first thought is that I like the glassy screen and natural image. It's far closer to CRT (I have always loved the image of a good CRT) than LCD. Many LEDs seemed too bright and over the top which is why I chose Plasma. However I also feel that the image is quite dark. Only dynamic picture mode seems bright enough but that is quite contrasty and a bit over the top perhaps. It does seem to struggle to show all the detail in the blacks. I thought plasma TVs were better than LCD in this respect?
My sources are Freeview HD, Xbox 360 and ps3 both via hdmi. Any tips with these? Settings? Do hdmi cables make a difference?
As for the 3d - it's pretty good. With gran turismo 5 it adds a lot to the picture. There's a very slight amount of duplicate images which gets distracting in a night race so I may not actually use it much, but I'll see if I can tune it out somehow. Any tips? I have the Panasonic lightweight glasses.
I am being sent to get dinner now so must go but do have many more questions. For example, does anyone find the 'frame creation' feature's effect is a bit weird and unnatural? Does anyone else turn it off?
I see some Panasonic plasma owners on here and wanted to tap into your knowledge and experience.
I've bought the ST30 in 46" (tx-p42st30b) and had it a couple of days now. I'll give my thoughts and please jump in with comments or tips.
My first thought is that I like the glassy screen and natural image. It's far closer to CRT (I have always loved the image of a good CRT) than LCD. Many LEDs seemed too bright and over the top which is why I chose Plasma. However I also feel that the image is quite dark. Only dynamic picture mode seems bright enough but that is quite contrasty and a bit over the top perhaps. It does seem to struggle to show all the detail in the blacks. I thought plasma TVs were better than LCD in this respect?
My sources are Freeview HD, Xbox 360 and ps3 both via hdmi. Any tips with these? Settings? Do hdmi cables make a difference?
As for the 3d - it's pretty good. With gran turismo 5 it adds a lot to the picture. There's a very slight amount of duplicate images which gets distracting in a night race so I may not actually use it much, but I'll see if I can tune it out somehow. Any tips? I have the Panasonic lightweight glasses.
I am being sent to get dinner now so must go but do have many more questions. For example, does anyone find the 'frame creation' feature's effect is a bit weird and unnatural? Does anyone else turn it off?
If your set has the THX mode then use this, its about as good as you can get without spending some serious time tweaking, if not then you can download some test cards for setting up your brightness/contrast controls properly as this can really affect the dark and light scaling of any set. As a general rule I turn off all electronic picture gizmos as they usually make things worse. If you wish to see exactly what each one does then turn them all off then back on one at a time. Personally ive never been a big 3D fan so ill leave that one to others.
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