GC?

Thing about home theater fans is that they have very specific wants/needs, and might not appreciate many HT gadgets if it's not the exact one they want. You may want to find out which format he has (DVD, HD DVD, or Blu-Ray) and get him a nice box set in that format. The Matrix HD DVD set gets raves. Besides the Planet Earth Blu-Ray box set, I don't know what other Blu Ray sets are highly regarded, but I'm sure there are plenty.

Where you get that stand? I really like it and need one for this place im living in short term. Dont want to wallmount my TV

I've been looking at a number of units like the phillips hts6500 and the sony davx1. none of them come with a headphone jack, my wife primarily watches TV through headphones. will any of these work for me, or do I need to find something with a headphone jack? seems like I could just hook the headphones up into an rca out, but I know very little about this kind of stuff. anyone know?

Hey all,

I just bought a Panasonic 42" 1080p Plasma TV TH42PZ77 and am looking for some general advice about setting it up. I've read some very lengthy threads at the avsforum, but I can't seem to get my question answered there.

At avs, there are countless suggestions from people about tweaking the settings for color, tint, brightness,sound, HD size and countless other settings. Apparently, many selected their settings after running some kind of DVD calibrator. Others just experimented endlessly.

Anyway, this particular unit (and I'm assuming many others) offers three different "modes": standard, custom and cinema. Once you select that mode, then you can alter the individual settings. What I'm trying to figure out is whether I can save settings for each mode, so that it is simple to go back and forth, as the environment changes (i.e., day to night, DVD or cable, HD feed or not).

So far, the only change I made was to switch from a "vivid" picture to "normal." Things actually look pretty darn good to me, but it is hard for me to evaluate the effect of each changing each individual setting. Evidently, there is no way of "previewing" these kinds of changes, like there is when you change a setting on a computer.

Do you guys also tinker with these settings a lot? Does anyone just accept the settings on their unit as they come out of the factory?

(By the way, my unit comes with an anti-glare coating that I heartily endorse, though not all agree about that.)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=938089

tweaks and settings for your tv.

As I said in my post, I reviewed that site and tried to get information there. In fact, I asked my question in that lengthy thread, but got no response.

edit: I think I just figured most of this out by experimenting. The thing that bedevils me is how to account for changes in the source programs or channels, when evaluating whether the changes are good. I guess the only way is to leave the changes for an extended evaluation period.

there are special video-calibration dvds you can get that have test patterns and such. probably worth it if you're serious enough to actually fiddle with the settings.

Quickly seached AVS forum and found these calibration settings in the Panny thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...n#post12453696

As I said before, I have read those threads and the problem is that there are literally dozens of different setting recommendations from different people regarding this particular unit.

I really wasn't asking for specific settings, but about a methodology for selecting them. I understand now that some are just using a disc. But most people seem to be experimenting and adjusting just based on personal taste. In light of all the different recommendations, I guess I just find it somewhat overwhelming.

I'm still curious, though, whether people here really use multiple settings for different purposes (like day viewing, night viewing, HD channels, non-HD channels), or do you just use one setting for everything?

The discs do not adjust the settings. The discs run tests that you use to correctly adjust the settings. So the disc basically does provide the methodology that you are looking for.

I have only one set of settings for my Samsung Plasma taken from an AVS forum thread, but my room has dark curtains. If I was in a brighter room I would have a day and night setting. I like the natural look that well calibrated TV's provide, but I do know that some people prefer the vibrant and unrealistic color for sports.

Wynton - you can of course have it professionally calibrated by those certified travelling calibrators that take reservations months in advance. $400 or so - supposedly they are worth every penny. Many, many threads on AVS about them.

Isn't there an element of subjectivity, even if one uses the calibration discs?

Are the calibration discs for color alone, perhaps leaving up to the individual the settings for brightness and contrast?

Do the calibration discs allow for different viewing environments?

1. Watch TV
2. Get annoyed at color and tweak settings
3. Watch more TV
4. Get annoyed at color and tweak settings again
5. ???
6. Profit

It's your TV, tune it they way you like. If you notice the color, change it. Eventually you will find a setting that is right for you. You aren't being graded on this.

how big of a difference is there between upconverting dvd players and regular ones? should I def go upconverting?

This varies by person. Some people see a difference, some don't. Personally, I didn't see a difference, so I returned my upconverting player. (Caveat, it was a relatively cheap upconverter, not the Oppo that is so highly regarded.)

For those that don't know, the purpose of an unconverting player is to change the 480i signal from the disc to a 720p (or 1080p) signal that your TV can natively display. Thing is, your TV also can convert 480i signals to 720p (or 1080p). So the only benefit of an upconverting player is if the DVD player's upconverter is better than your TV's.

I have an Oppo upconverting dvd player and for what it's worth, the picture quality for dvds seems noticably better than for non-HD channels that my TV (a Sony) upconverts to 1080p itself.

For me, DVDs always look better than broadcast SD TV (which looks pretty bad at 61"). The testis whether your DVD player looks betting in 480i mode (letting the TV upconvert) or in 1080p mode.

I'm talking about a professional calibration where a pro comes with seriously insanely expensive equipment and spends 3-6 hours tweaking settings that are accessed through the service menus. It's waaaaay different than using those calibration discs.

Some of the pro calibration settings are becoming more and more available on consumer TV's. New Samsungs along with most of the Pioneer Kuros have opened up a ton more settings without going into the service menus.

Any thoughts on Warner Brothers' switch to Blu-ray? Is this the beginning of the end to format war? Blu-ray committed studios own the rights to 70% of movie titles, and the price differential between blu-ray and hd-dvd players is dropping.

I have another question - why isn't 1080p on plasma TVs a bigger deal? I would think everyone would go that route. But it doesn't seem to be a big deal. Why is 720 OK for high end plasma TVs, but most top LCD TVs are 1080p? Aren't I missing something with a 720 plasma relatively speaking?

With respect to trusting my own eyes and just looking, I've looked at a number of TVs to compare by now, but it seems almost impossible to really isolate the variables - there are so many other things different in showroom displays - so I'm not really sure what I'm looking at.

lack of 1080p sources. right now it is limited to blu-ray, HD-DVD and video games.

No, I mean relative to LCD at least. If there is a lack of source (which I think is debatable), then why are there so many 1080p LCDs? Also, HD DVDs doesn't really sound like lack of sources, does it?