Panasonic VT30

Panasonic VT30

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  • #502
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Does anyone know when the VT30 firmware update will be released that enables IP control for CalMan?

Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 63 total)
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  • #2209
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I did my first VT30 last and all went well using Control Cal. Gamma below 50 was a problem. I ran out of adjustment and the best I could do was a range from 2.1 down to 1.9 at 20. Anyone else had this issue?

    #2211
    Gregg Loewen
    Keymaster

    The color will look very bad / wrong when using custom or ISF modes. Do not use either mode when performing a reference calibration. THX Mode looks very nice once the gray scale is adjusted.

    #2213
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Gregg Loewen 3053 wrote:

    The color will look very bad / wrong when using custom or ISF modes. Do not use either mode when performing a reference calibration. THX Mode looks very nice once the gray scale is adjusted.

    Did you calibrate a mode for 3D?

    #2219
    Gregg Loewen
    Keymaster

    yes, use the THX 3D mode and adjust the contrast and brightness controls.

    #2223
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Grayscale in 3D mode can be accomplished by reassigning normal or cool color temp for that purpose if needed.

    regards

    #2225
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Gregg Loewen 3053 wrote:

    The color will look very bad / wrong when using custom or ISF modes. Do not use either mode when performing a reference calibration. THX Mode looks very nice once the gray scale is adjusted.

    Gregg,

    Even using controlcal?

    #2226
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Color Decoding is incorrect on all Picture Modes for the North American Models. You can get the image to look right in Custom and ISFccc by by lowering the Color Control and adjusting the CMS. In THX, Panasonic has the Color preset/offset already lowered along with what they are doing with the Panel Brightness preset. The Preset Color Control is the internal Control that the external exposed Color Control is offset from and the value can only be viewed/adjusted with the proper code – actually, nearly all the exposed Controls have internal Presets.

    #2227
    Gregg Loewen
    Keymaster

    You can get the image to look right in Custom and ISFccc by by lowering the Color Control and adjusting the CMS. In THX, Panasonic has the Color preset/offset already lowered along with what they are doing with the Panel Brightness preset

    Shawn, this not not close to the same thing.

    Gregg,

    Even using controlcal?

    Yes, or CalMan for that matter.

    #2228
    Gregg Loewen
    Keymaster

    let me re state….

    THX mode has correct color decoding, after the gray scale is tweeked.

    Other modes will not have accurate color decoding no matter how you set the color control. (if not using the low panel brightness setting).

    The inaccurate color decoding seems to be linked to the panel brightness setting (there are 3 presets). The low minimum preset will have accurate color decoding but your light output will be limited to around 25-28 fL. You will be able to get accurate color decoding in the THX mode and should be able to get about 35 fL.

    #2229
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    here is what I discovered (on two vt30’s), THX’s Color Control’s internal offset is -7 on my VT30, it’s -9 on another one that I had tested with the help of an VT30 owner (this is converted, internally they are in Hex).. for the other Pictures Modes except the one for games, Color’s internal offset is +1 on mine (basically THX has a different offset). Tint’s internal offset is also different vs the other Picture Modes. You can’t see or adjust these offsets without serial access from the service menu/factory mode and the proper codes.. Panasonic uses these to bring each panel into the required spec(s).

    Panasonic should be able to correct the math for this, in 2011 it should be correct… but why isn’t it??! no answer needed, just venting – 🙂

    #2230
    Gregg Loewen
    Keymaster

    Panasonic should be able to correct the math for this, in 2011 it should be correct… but why isn’t it??! no answer needed, just venting

    Turbe, thanks for your endurance!!

    THX Mode, like in other models of Pannys, is using a different color gamut.

    #2245
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Gregg Loewen 3070 wrote:

    let me re state….

    THX mode has correct color decoding, after the gray scale is tweeked.

    Other modes will not have accurate color decoding no matter how you set the color control. (if not using the low panel brightness setting).

    The inaccurate color decoding seems to be linked to the panel brightness setting (there are 3 presets). The low minimum preset will have accurate color decoding but your light output will be limited to around 25-28 fL. You will be able to get accurate color decoding in the THX mode and should be able to get about 35 fL.

    Hi Gregg,

    Thanks for that useful info.

    I don’t beileve the UK models have any 3 level panel brightness setting though (maybe an eco power mode which you can switch on or off?). Although it seems there are ports that light output is limitied to up to 29-30fL in these modes, so I’m guessing it’s worth trying out the THX mode on these to hopefully more consistent colour decoding and brightness?

    Can anyone who has worked on a UK model comment?

    Shawn, as you know, I am thinking of getting ControlCal to work on these models, can you confirm if the THX mode is adjustable direct from your console as it is not from the user menu?

    Thanks

    Dean

    #2273
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    (A little background info – Calibrations are not my full time job, we took the THX course so we could offer more of a complete solution. With every calibration I get better and better and I’ve been able to get some pretty nice results with other displays.)

    I had a client call me up who just bought the VT30 (US model) and wanted us to calibrate it. He read a lot of forums and new the VT30 could be “auto-calibrated” using CALMan. I too use was curious to see how well this new feature would work and told him we would calibrate it for him. As usual, read the manual, read the threads on here. I knew i should use the THX mode because of the color gammuet concerns as Gregg pointed out.

    I was able to get the IP connection up and running with firmware (TV=2070-1000. Stat3=0.28.4) and CALMan 4.3.257. In order to accomplish this you need to goto “Custom” >> highlight “Pro settings” then hold the red button for 4+ seconds then click connect on CALMan. Upon doing so you will get communication and you can use CALMan to add the ISF Day Mode and ISF Night mode. Although THX mode is visible natively, you can not select it in the drop down menu to work with.

    Once the ISF day/night modes were added by the CALMan software it did not look like i could make any manual adjustments in the user menu or the service menu.

    Despite knowing the color issues i may/would come across i still wanted to see what it could do. So i proceeded. I used the “Advanced DDC” workflow (SpectraCal recommended) and started to get down to business. The first thing I noticed that the Advanced DDC workflow has you do the CMS before the grayscale. I thought this was a little strange, in class it was the other way around, but i followed the steps in the work flow. On the first HDMI input, it seemed to do an ok job. I tried to copy the settings to the other hdmi inputs but it seems it has discrete settings for each inputs and no easy way of copying ISF settings to other inputs. There is no way of adjusting the ISF modes through the user modes.

    So i ran the process again on the other two HDMI inputs (i wanted to see if i could streamline the process). The next two inputs went funky. The auto process seemed to get confused and couldn’t make the adjustments it needed. at 30IRE it dropped the Red channel and no amount of dragging it up or the Blue/Green/Luma down seemed to fix it. Despite it saying it was being cut in the graphs when i looked up on the screen it was over driving the red and maxing it out. I tried to go back and forth and adjust the CMS then re-try…. no luck.

    I did not see any way to adjust the white balance through the user menu for the THX mode? Or did i miss something? When i went into the service menu i found the WB-ADJ and cycled through the inputs. It had Vivid, standard, Cinema, Game, Custom. But no THX was listed.

    At one point i tried using the 10IRE levels in custom to see how well that would work, I would make adjustments on 30 and it seemed other levels would get effected. Not sure if there was an offset here. So i went back to adjusting the W/B High RGB and W/B Low RGB. After several hours of messing around with the TV, i calibrated the Custom mode as a temporary solution. It was better then out of the box but i know i can make major improvements on it. I know this TV can get some decent results, and I know i can improve my original calibration settings. Jennifer( aka the red head -pretty sure that’s her name) looked good in the sample material but the Delta E 1994 needed serious improvements.

    The manual states that 2D/3D modes will be retained independently. if you calibrate in 2D first does it use this as a starting platform or do you need to start from the beginning in 3D mode? My QD780 has 3D test patterns to I have to manually select those, throw the 3D glasses over top of the meter and start from scratch adjusting the Brightness, contrast, WB etc etc?

    Like i said before, my experience grows with each set, this one gave me some issues at first – but i want to go back and make it right. To add to my frustration the client wanted day/night modes calibrated for multiple inputs + 3D calibration on multiple modes.

    I’m curious to find out other people’s experiences. More to the point For those that used custom did you use the 10IRE (is there an offset by 10?) or did you stick with the High/low RGB. If you used the THX mode where did you make the settings, as i said earlier i did not see the THX color mode in the service menu. This isn’t a reference calibration but i would like to get it as good as i can get it. I would like to use the THX mode, but if all else fails I’ll try the custom mode and try to dial it in as much as possible. I don’t think i will waste anymore time trying the auto calibration with CALMan. I don’t like leaving it in the hands of the computer and not being able to make adjustments when it gets confused.

    I know there is a lot of info here, but i’d rather post here among professionals then have people rant at me on forums.

    Thanks for any input,
    Jeff.

    #2307
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Okies,

    I’d like to update everyone who has helped me regarding the VT30. First off, I greatly appreciate all the help that everyone offered.

    Since i’ve posted here last I have calibrated 3 VT30’s and know the menus and settings quite well. I also resolved some of the issues from the original calibration which I’d like to clear up.

    If you call SpectraCal regarding using CALMan 4.x to do this TV, they will inform you to use their “Advanced DDC” workflow. Do Not use this workflow, it does not follow proper calibration procedures, the workflow has the CMS before grayscale and will only cause you to run around in circles. – I Used the “New THX Day/Night” workflow.

    The following is information I gathered from other calibrators and personal experience with the VT30s.

    When you enter the SM it defaults back to Vivid, make sure you check which mode you are adjusting. There is no THX mode in the SM. The Cinema values get copied onto the THX.

    Inside the SM Cinema has Warm, Normal, Cool.. Yet when you are in the User Menu and select THX it allows you to select Warm1 or Warm2. (Not sure which one actually gets used during calibration and which one you’re basing your adjustments on)

    The SM Cinema mode is global for all HDMI inputs, once set you do not need to copy to other HDMI inputs. The User Menu THX mode is global for all HDMI inputs as well. There no Cinema 3D mode or adjustable settings in the SM. Inside the UM the only thing which can be adjust once the 3D mode is activated is Brightness, contrast, color, tint, sharpness this can be found in the THX setting in the UM.

    There is no CMS for Cinema in the UM, no gamma adjustments, no panel brightness in the SM.

    ISF day/night has individual settings for each input and individual settings for 3D too. None of the ISF settings can be done from the SM or UM. In order to adjust any ISF settings you will need to connect CALMan or another program to the TV to make the adjustments.

    In order to gain access to the ISF settings you will need to go to the UM, select Custom, scroll down to Pro Settings and hold down the red button for 4 seconds, then hit connect on your CALMan (or other) assuming you have either the RS232 or IP setup properly on the TV.

    I mentioned that some of the HDMI inputs went smoothly while others cause a lot of problems. I discoverd that HDMI 2 was not functioning correctly, I am not sure if the HDMI was faulty, it was a firmware issue or the TV, this was one of my issues from the original appointment.

    I’ve had quite a bit of time in front of this TV so i’ve tried a ton of stuff. I tried to calibrate Custom but found i was running in circles again. Gamma was bad, color wasn’t right. 10IRE didn’t seem to work reliably, my recommendation, stay away from it.

    I calibrated both THX and ISF modes for the customer as i wanted to gain as much experience from this set as possible. I personally liked results from the ISF modes better then the THX, I know gregg has stated THX is the best one to use. But i found more flexibility in the ISF modes and allowed me to dial it in.

    Much of my issues from the original calibration were caused by what I am calling the “oooh shiny object” distraction. Once i got down to business and relied on my training I was able to get good results with 2 point (THX) and better results with 10IRE by using the ISF mode.

    When i was done with the calibration it was a relief to here the customer go “wow, that’s incredible!” I knew i had vindicated myself heh.

    Outta the box – VT30-01.pdf
    THX Mode (2point) – VT30-02.pdf
    ISF Mode (10point) – VT30-03.pdf

    #2331
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I’m having issues with the VT30 too – primarily the 65″ model. The light output is a rather gloomy 17fL, have tried two TVs and both the same.
    Am using an EyeOne meter, any ideas? Is there a panel brightness setting?
    I have one client who is very unhappy with picture quality 🙁

    Edited to add that the picture, particularly in daylight is pretty lifeless (this is the TV in our demo room).

    Further edited to say Panasonic UK say that the light ouput is down due to reduction in power consumption from 2010! Suggested adjusting VSUS in the service menu, but t his has made little difference.

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