Thoughts on Panny TC-P42S1?

Looking to (finally) replace the old CRT TV in my living room by January. Based on some reading at cnet, and some threads here, I'm heavily considering Plasma, specifically the Panny in the thread title. It will be probably 80% DVDs and 20% video games at this point.

My biggest concern is probably whether my room is too bright. I have deck doors sharing a wall of my small (approx 11x11) living room, but they are eastern exposure and most of my viewing will be afternoon (30%)/evening (70%).

Part of the cnet review I read http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-tc-p42s1/4505-6482_7-33490462.html?tag=mncol;txt indicates that it doesn't do real well on SD content, does that mean my DVDs will look bad?

Thanks guys!

Light control is important but today's screens are much better with glare then in the past. If you like the way it looks in the store with all the lights on then you will like it more at home once you get it all set up. On the std content it would matter more on how your dvd player performs on upscaling the video. If you have a blu ray player it should be fine if not I would suggest you put either that or a good upscaling player like the Oppo. You won't be able to do much about the OTA std content so that would have to enter into your decision.

Hi. I have a G10 model, which has the same scaler (I believe) and screen anti-reflective coating as the S1 series.

My 50" Panny directly faces two southern-facing windows, and there is an eastern-facing large patio door to the right of it. I was also quite concerned about reflections - which is why I bought the Panny. I suggest that you go to a store and compare these to other TVs. The Samsungs with the matte screen finish have low glare, but the standard glossy screens are horrific (IMO) for reflections. The Panasonics have a nice, muted screen finish that cuts way down on glare and reflections. I've been very pleased with mine.

As for SD material, I've been fine with mine. High definition TV broadcasts and blu-rays are better, of course, but standard definition doesn't look horrible. If you have an upscaling DVD player or are planning on getting a blu-ray player (which will upscale), then it might not be an issue at all when you watch DVDs.

Thanks for the info so far guys. Keep it coming!

I don't currently have an upscaling DVD player that I know of. It has component outputs, but I don't recall it being labeled "upscaling." If a blue ray player is in my future, it will come by way of a PS3. Will that upscale SD DVD?

The Ps3 is one of the best Blu ray and upscaling players out there so you will love it.

On sale at Amazon

The S 1 42 inch Panasonic plasma is available now at Amazon for a really low price: 650 plus 65 shipping. Go to

ErnieM said:

The S 1 42 inch Panasonic plasma is available now at Amazon for a really low price: 650 plus 65 shipping. Go to

HTML:

http://dealnews.com/Panasonic-VIERA-42-600-Hz-1080-p-Widescreen-Plasma-HDTV-for-650-65-s-h/332183.html?ref=alert

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, that sale price is at Sears. If you can pick it up in-store, you can save the shipping costs. You still have to pay tax there, though.

Good announcement, though, Ernie! I saw that yesterday, but I had forgotten about this thread.

Opps, yes, Sears, not Amazon

I guess I've got Amazon on my mind since my G10 46 inch is due to arrive from them Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks for correcting my error! And, as it is Sears, one can usually avoid the $65 ship charge by ordering it to be picked up at the nearest store.

Wow, thanks for the heads up! I'll probably be picking up one of those today!

ErnieM said:

I guess I've got Amazon on my mind since my G10 46 inch is due to arrive from them Monday or Tuesday.

Click to expand...

Excellent! I got my 50" G10 from them over the summer. Awesome TV.

timmay8612 said:

Wow, thanks for the heads up! I'll probably be picking up one of those today!

Click to expand...

Congrats, in advance! Be sure to let us know if you get it.

Picked it up yesterday! Got it physically set up, but only got to play with it for a few minutes. Next I'll be doing the break in slideshow using the SD card port. Is it ok to watch widescreen movies with the black bars on the top and bottom or do I need to figure out how to zoom in so there are no bars?

I was watching shows on mine that didn't fill the screen (widescreen and 4:3) right after buying it. I'd recommend that you change the picture mode to "STANDARD" or something that isn't the default torch mode first, though. I also would try to make sure that I didn't just watch a certain format all day, and I ran the image retention scroll bar - perhaps overkill.

I believe that the idea is to get a universal break-in of the pixels so that certain parts of the screen don't look brighter/dimmer than others after a few hours of use, but I sure can't tell any issues with my screen. I didn't even download the break-in images for about a week after I started using it, either.

I'd say enjoy it right now, but do the extra step of running the break-in images.

Sounds great Adam. Love this forum. The first thing I did when I turned it on was change it from torch mode to settings more conservative.

Sounds like 2-4 hours/day of widescreen DVDs won't bother it for a while?

I'll start with break-in images when I get a chance.

Anybody still reading this thread have thoughts about how much fan noise is normal for a plasma? Sometimes I can slightly hear the fans if the sound is off. There is a moving air sound and a slight buzzing component to it. Do I have a defect? Should I exchange it?

timmay8612 said:

Anybody still reading this thread have thoughts about how much fan noise is normal for a plasma? Sometimes I can slightly hear the fans if the sound is off. There is a moving air sound and a slight buzzing component to it. Do I have a defect? Should I exchange it?

Click to expand...

Hm, I don't think I have EVER heard the fan on a plasma. I would consider exchanging it, but then again, just how many hours in a row did you run break in for?

I've even once checked out the back of a +100" Pana plasma, with multiple fans, and I don't think I could even hear those when directly behind the display.

+1 to Jostenmeat

I am going to have to agree with meat’s assessment of the situation, as both of my PDPs run dead silent.

I would just make sure that it is defiantly your display that you are hearing. After reading your post, I dropped the noise floor in my living room to the lowest achievable level and did hear a fan like noise. But after further investigation I found that the source was the hard drive in the cable company issued DVR. So, it might be worth your time to double check what you are hearing.

timmay8612

After you have at least 120 hrs of break-in slides ran I would suggest you give these settings a try:

Service Menu Adjustments
Hold down the "Volume -" key on the side of the panel and press the "Info" button on the remote 3 times. You are on your own from that point. Write down all settings before changing any values.

OFFSET values for “WARM” temp:
R-CUT: 0
G-CUT: 0
B-CUT: -1
R-DRV: -15
G-DRV: -14
B-DRV: +4

User Menu adjustments:

CINEMA (Night) Settings:
Contrast: 76
Brightness: 49
Color: 39
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 60
Color Temp: WARM
CATS: OFF
Video NR:OFF
MPEG NR:OFF
Black Level: Light

CUSTOM (Day) Settings
Contrast: 78
Brightness: 56
Color: 43
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 75
Color Temp: WARM
CATS: OFF
Video NR: OFF
MPEG NR: OFF
Black Level: Light

nibhaz said:

timmay8612

After you have at least 120 hrs of break-in slides ran I would suggest you give these settings a try:

Service Menu Adjustments
Hold down the "Volume -" key on the side of the panel and press the "Info" button on the remote 3 times. You are on your own from that point. Write down all settings before changing any values.

OFFSET values for “WARM” temp:
R-CUT: 0
G-CUT: 0
B-CUT: -1
R-DRV: -15
G-DRV: -14
B-DRV: +4

User Menu adjustments:

CINEMA (Night) Settings:
Contrast: 76
Brightness: 49
Color: 39
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 60
Color Temp: WARM
CATS: OFF
Video NR:OFF
MPEG NR:OFF
Black Level: Light

CUSTOM (Day) Settings
Contrast: 78
Brightness: 56
Color: 43
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 75
Color Temp: WARM
CATS: OFF
Video NR: OFF
MPEG NR: OFF
Black Level: Light

Click to expand...

That is a nice distillation of mistah_g's guide. 7 pages down to less than one.

Would you be so kind to share your overall experiences, and particularly how you perceived any particular improvements? There are at least a few regulars here who are soon getting these . . .

edit: oh yeah, welcome back. Again.

I'm interested in these responses about fan noise. From day one, my G10 has had a noticeable fan noise to it. I thought that was normal.

Adam said:

I'm interested in these responses about fan noise. From day one, my G10 has had a noticeable fan noise to it. I thought that was normal.

Click to expand...

Maybe there normally is a noticeable fan noise, but that the noise floor was high enough, and/or I was far enough that I could never notice it. Heck, if you lived with a PJ too, you'd understand me when I say I'll take the loudest plasma here as far as audible noise. Or that Nikki is playing tricks on you by quietly whining when you put the tv on.

When it's audible, is that only when you put your ear right next to it, or can you actually hear it at the LP with a movie playing?