Topic: Panasonic 42V20 Review

[comitatus]

Hello FrancisS...
with the settings you've set...
can I also apply that to my Pana42C10? 
Thanks 

you can but since there is a difference in the base contrast ratio between the two units...it may not be as optimal as it should be.

[FrancisS]

mrclark,
Try it then tell us the resulting PQ is good.

[Carlo777]

Our calibrated settings:

Picture mode: Normal

Contrast 87
Brightness +4
Color 59
Temp Warm
Tint -4

Sharpness at 50

The Spyder calibration from Sights and Sounds was surprisingly very good, the setting above is simply a baseline. Lighting environment has a lot to do with your final settings.

[FrancisS]

nice carlo, aside from color, our calibrated settings are almost the same.

[Carlo777]

nice carlo, aside from color, our calibrated settings are almost the same.

Yeah, I noticed!

The difference was probably drawn from your room environment. And the Sights and Sounds calibration was beyond what I hoped for, it was tailored for my place.

It's what I'm using now.

[Carlo777]

A lot of PM's I get about the V20, is why I don't recommend the 24p smooth film to be "on". I'll try to shoot a video of the "tearing" issue whenever I get to free up some time.

[FrancisS]

A lot of PM's I get about the V20, is why I don't recommend the 24p smooth film to be "on". I'll try to shoot a video of the "tearing" issue whenever I get to free up some time.

I'm not sure if its Tearing that i see when 24p smooth film is ON. Try the Dark Knight, the first IMAX shot of the buildings, check the white building on the leftside of the glass building, the image tears up, but when 24p is off, all is OK.

[comitatus]

I'm not sure if its Tearing that i see when 24p smooth film is ON. Try the Dark Knight, the first IMAX shot of the buildings, check the white building on the leftside of the glass building, the image tears up, but when 24p is off, all is OK.

that's the prob carlo saw when he received the v20! this "smoothing" thing does not work really well...anyway, with clear pro 100 on sa tosh led it gave off the same issue! it's not confined to the panny...thank goodness

[FrancisS]

that's the prob carlo saw when he received the v20! this "smoothing" thing does not work really well...anyway, with clear pro 100 on sa tosh led it gave off the same issue! it's not confined to the panny...thank goodness

Might as well kee it OFF. /)

[FrancisS]

V20 + BARAKA BD = Beautiful.

pictures so clear, you could almost touch the faces of the people.

[Carlo777]

Might as well kee it OFF. /)

Yes, keep them off

[Wins2010]

Nice review Carlo.

I'm planning to buy my first flat screen TV and decided for the plasma because I love watching football games.  I'm almost decided with 42V20 but when I saw 46U20 medyo nagdadalawang isip na ako lalo na ang screen size is 4" apart but prices are almost the same.  

I've done an actual comparison between 46U20 and 46V20 and I can't see any difference.

Nasa budget ko ang 42V20 or 46U20 but not the 46V20.

What can you say about the U series?

[Carlo777]

Nice review Carlo.

I'm planning to buy my first flat screen TV and decided for the plasma because I love watching football games.  I'm almost decided with 42V20 but when I saw 46U20 medyo nagdadalawang isip na ako lalo na ang screen size is 4" apart but prices are almost the same. 

I've done an actual comparison between 46V20 and 46V20 and I can't see any difference.

Nasa budget ko ang 42V20 or 46U20 but not the 46V20.

What can you say about the U series?

The U series I believe is an LCD T.V, and due to the "slower" pixel response nature of LCD you may experience a slight picture smear during fast scenes and it may include football games.

Cheers!

[Wins2010]

The U series I believe is an LCD T.V, and due to the "slower" pixel response nature of LCD you may experience a slight picture smear during fast scenes and it may include football games.

Cheers!

It's definitely a plasma.  The model is TH-P46U20S and here's the spec:
TV Tuner
Integrated Tuners World 17-System (Analogue)/DVB-T (Digital)
Teletext Reception 1000P Level 2.5, FASTEXT/LIST/TOP
Display
Screen Size 46" (116 cm) diagonal
Panel G13 Progressive Full-HD Plasma Display Panel
Resolution Full-HD 1,920 x 1,080 (16:9)
Applicable PC signals VGA, WVGA, SVGA, XGA, WXGA, SXGA 60Hz, 1920 x 1080
Applicable Scanning Format  
Full-HD 1125 (1080)/50i, 1125 (1080)/60i, 1125 (1080)/24p (HDMI only), 1125 (1080)/50p (HDMI only), 1125 (1080)/60p (HDMI only)
HD 750 (720)/50p, 750 (720)/60p
SD 525 (480)/60i, 525 (480)/60p, 625 (576)/50i, 625 (576)/50p
Contrast Ratio (in dark surroundings) Dynamic: 2,000,000:1
Moving Picture Resolution 900 lines
600 Hz Sub-Field Drive yes
24p Smooth Film/Playback no/ yes
Shades of Gradation 6,144 equivalent steps of gradation
x.v. Colour yes
3D Colour Management yes
Picture Mode Dynamic/Normal/Cinema/True Cinema/Game
Sound
Speakers 10 W x 2, 1-Way 2 Speakers
Sound Mode Music/Speech/User
Virtual Surround V-Audio
Input/Output
VIERA Image Viewer (SD Card Input) yes (AVCHD*/SD-VIDEO*/JPEG/MP3 playback) (SDXC/SDHC compatible)
HDMI Input/ Support Feature 3 (1 side, 2 rear)/ Audio Return Channel (Input 2)
Composite Video Input AV1/2/3: RCA phono type (2 rear, 1 side)
Audio Input (for Video) AV1/2/3: RCA phono type connectors [L, R] (2 sets rear, 1 side)
Component Video Input RCA phono type [Y , PB/CB, PR/CR] (1 set rear)
PC Input Mini D-sub 15-pin x 1 (rear)
Monitor Out RCA phono type (1 rear)
Digital Audio Output (Optical) yes
Headphone Jack 1 (side)
Features
EPG (7days) yes
VIERA Tools yes
VIERA Link yes (HDAVI Control 5)
Multi Window PAT
Eco Mode** yes
Game Mode yes
Off Timer yes
Child Lock yes
General
Power Save Mode yes
Power Supply AC 220 - 240 V, 50/60Hz
Rated Power Consumption 300 W
Standby Power Consumption 0.4 W
Dimensions (W x H x D) (w/o stand) 1,132 x 722 x 93 mm
Dimensions (W x H x D) (with stand) 1,132 x 767 x 401 mm
Weight (w/o stand) 26.0 kg
Weight (with stand) 29.0 kg

Thanks in advance.

[typericey]

The first 15 pages of this is a great read. Really learned a lot.

I hope I can seek advise from the gurus here.

I'm not a videophile. I'm looking into upgrading my 4-year old Philips 32" HD Ready LCD. My TV usage is 60% cable, 20% DVD or Blu Ray and 20% PS3. I'm definitely settled on a 40-42" flat panel as my next TV. But I'm undecided whether to go LCD or Plasma.

My main question would be: there is roughly a Php20k price difference between a 42" LCD and the 42V20, would my "untrained" eyes appreciate the difference and say that it's worth the extra cost?

[abcerase]

The first 15 pages of this is a great read. Really learned a lot.

I hope I can seek advise from the gurus here.

I'm not a videophile. I'm looking into upgrading my 4-year old Philips 32" HD Ready LCD. My TV usage is 60% cable, 20% DVD or Blu Ray and 20% PS3. I'm definitely settled on a 40-42" flat panel as my next TV. But I'm undecided whether to go LCD or Plasma.

My main question would be: there is roughly a Php20k price difference between a 42" LCD and the 42V20, would my "untrained" eyes appreciate the difference and say that it's worth the extra cost?

Hi Sir, I also have an untrained eye but I was able to notice the difference (just on showrooms since I don't own this) Just make sure you don't play much on the V20 because it is very susceptible to Image Retention, primarily due to the high contrast ratio.

[Jaybats]

The first 15 pages of this is a great read. Really learned a lot.

I hope I can seek advise from the gurus here.

I'm not a videophile. I'm looking into upgrading my 4-year old Philips 32" HD Ready LCD. My TV usage is 60% cable, 20% DVD or Blu Ray and 20% PS3. I'm definitely settled on a 40-42" flat panel as my next TV. But I'm undecided whether to go LCD or Plasma.

My main question would be: there is roughly a Php20k price difference between a 42" LCD and the 42V20, would my "untrained" eyes appreciate the difference and say that it's worth the extra cost?

Given your usage you will probably be better off with LCD.

[Carlo777]

Up the thread...

Any more calibrated settings for this model?

Thanks.

[Billabong]

If you watch TV channels like National Geographic or Discovery Channel with the black horizontal bars and channel logo for a couple of hours, will this cause permanent image retention/burn in?

[Clondalkin]

If you watch TV channels like National Geographic or Discovery Channel with the black horizontal bars and channel logo for a couple of hours, will this cause permanent image retention/burn in?

SO FAR, hindi permanent.  Pero annoying yung channel logo especially yung malalaki like that of CNN at the right bottom corner.   Black bars are not so much of a bother.  Yung bright static images ang mas mabilis mag-IR - like the filenames contained in an HDD when you browse through an NMT for instance, or, yung digital clock ng TV stations.  Yung bright and very sharp station ID ng The Golf Network - yun ang sample ng matinding mag-IR.

[comfoosed]

Our calibrated settings:

Picture mode: Normal

Contrast 87
Brightness +4
Color 59
Temp Warm
Tint -4

Sharpness at 50

The Spyder calibration from Sights and Sounds was surprisingly very good, the setting above is simply a baseline. Lighting environment has a lot to do with your final settings.

Hi Carlo,

1.  What was the ambient lighting when this calibration was made?

2.  Were the test patterns played through your DVD player?  Did you do a separate calibration for patterns played through the NMT?

3.  How many hours have you used the display before you had it calibrated?

Thanks for any help.

[Carlo777]

@comfoosed

I was not there when guys from Sights and Sounds did the calibration. As far as I know, the panel was beyond 100 hours before calibration was done and they used a Spyder colormeter.

[otogi]

Pls check if the Asian Version is equipped with optical audio out - very convenient for those not happy with the built-in sound system of the V2/V20.  

Is the optical out can be the same from the source (i.e. dts,dolby 5.1)? or only and will always be 2.1?

[Clondalkin]

Is the optical out can be the same from the source (i.e. dts,dolby 5.1)? or only and will always be 2.1?

Good question.   If you are watching a regular TV programs, it would already be such a huge improvement if the TV program sound is in stereo with fuller bass coming from the main speakers and the subs.  But if I connect a DTS/DD capable player to play a source file or a source disk, I would simply connect the optical cable between that media player and the HT system, thus bypassing the TV.

I have seen proprietary TV stands with 2.1 speakers and they sound "TV-nice"  Perhaps an HT-In-A-Box or a soundbar would be quite satisfactory as well, that is, for regular TV program viewing.

Oh, to answer your question straight, Im not sure about multi-channel audio, but it should be possible if the source TV program is in fact multi-channel too (some programs are in DD5.1 WHERE AVAILABLE; I haven't seen one with DTS).   Or, kahit stereo ang output ng TV, just set your AVR to multi-channel stereo mode - I think this is a standard feature among new AVR models na.

[Carlo777]

Been reading reviews for the V20 and most often they advise owners to switch off the 16:9 Overscan. Do you guys have your 16:9 overscan on or off?

[doogz]

Got my 50v20s last December 30 and I am very happy with the purchase.  I was lurking here in the site for sometime and saw the pros and cons of the product.  I then realized that I will not be ending up with any TV at all if I decide to give weight to everything I read.  So I looked around to see the difference for myself.  The difference is very noticeable by my standards and pulled the trigger with the purchase.  This is my first experience with Plasma TV's and it is safe to say that for the next 2-3 years, I will be happily viewing wonderful images from this TV.   

[barrister]

Been reading reviews for the V20 and most often they advise owners to switch off the 16:9 Overscan. Do you guys have your 16:9 overscan on or off?

I have a different Panny plasma, but it's overscan on for me.

[Lancito]

Been reading reviews for the V20 and most often they advise owners to switch off the 16:9 Overscan. Do you guys have your 16:9 overscan on or off?

Mine is off on the 50v20.

[Carlo777]

Thanks guys! Any advantages when we do switch off over-scan?

Mine is set to "on" per default.

[Clondalkin]

My 50V2 will be a year old by the end of this month.  

One thing I observed recently is that it is no longer as sensitive to IR as it was last year.  Very good!   I can now watch Golf Network (and other channels with huge fixed logo)  in their native high resolution aspect ratio without bothering too much about their bright and sharp channel ID. And I didnt even do any break-in at all.

The key is simply to use it regularly and normally as you would any other TV.    Such a waste of energy and time to be overly concerned about burn-in stuff - I think.