Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Panasonic TC-P50VT25 Viera 50" 3D monitor

Jeff Kilgroe said:
I'm still fiddling with it. I'm using an X-Rite i1 Pro with CalMan software and I'm having a little trouble getting consistent results with it. It's no $5K Hubble probe, that's for sure, but oh well. I think I'm close to having the display calibration dialed in where I feel comfortable with it. Black levels seem to be holding consistent ~ about 200 hours on the panel now.

This is a great monitor for 2D work, or so it seems thus far. 24fps run at 96Hz isn't too hard on the eyes, but 48Hz is pretty bad at times. The phosphor latency on this panel is really low (good), which it needs to be for 3D and to avoid pixel trails and latent images. But this does lead to some noticeable flickering or strobing, especially if the monitor is in your peripheral vision while looking at other things.

I'll get it dialed in here soon and when I'm happy, I'll post my overall findings. I initially didn't buy the monitor for 3D now, but it seems everything is progressing in that direction really fast, so I'm going to be doing some more work with 3D calibrations, workflow practices, etc.. later this week and into next week. I'm going to try and put some sort of 3D rig together to shoot with, probably this weekend. Going to have to build something and decide which cameras to use. I won't have a RED One to work with for a few weeks, let alone two of them -- most all my gear is out working. Hoping and praying for Stage-2 to start tomorrow! I picked up a second RED One a couple months ago in order to get my hands on another Stage-2 Epic-X. Now it turns out, I'll have two perfect cameras for shooting awesome 3D. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff. I appreciate your wisdom! I'm thinking this is the best monitor for the price and will suit my needs.
 
Jeff or Mark or anyone for that matter! Just wondering how the results turned out?
 
I'm looking into the VT20 (euro version I guess). I'm happy about the pricing, it's just unbelievable compared to a broadcast HD-SDI LCD. I have a 26" Panasonic BT-LH2600w in my suite now - it's simply too.. well.. It's better than the 17" BT-LH1700w I used earlier, but I'm not satisfied. :)

How is the calibration of the Panasonic plasma? How is the progress?
 
I have my monitor calibrated fairly well, but ended up having someone come in and do it. The I1 probe just couldn't hack it as it gave a different reading every time. Really need a good probe like the Hubble. This makes it very costly for small operations like me who don't really have it in the budget to spend $8K or more on a probe and color software for in-house calibration just to keep one or two plasma monitors in check. The I1 is solid and great for calibrating LCDs. So far the monitor seems to be holding blacks and colors very well. My eyes are usually pretty good at seeing drift over time between displays and I'm not seeing any yet between my two 30" LCDs and this plasma in the same work area.

All things considered I really like the monitor. There is some noticeable flickering with 24fps material, which has been reported in several reviews over these new plasmas, but it's no big deal. It's a trade-off as the phosphor decay rate is so fast now on the 3D plasmas -- it has to be to switch images at 120Hz for 3D. So to mostly eliminate the flicker, 24fps can be set to run at 96Hz and that mostly gets rid of it.

I'm happy with the display and the calibration tech left me with some info, but not a whole lot in terms of gamut info to share, etc.. He's going to come back here the first week of november and do a follow-up. I'll see if I can generate some more specifics then. I will have either a new Kona 3G or Decklink Extreme 3D also connected to the display by then too, so possibly more to share on that front.
 
Kilgroe tout

Kilgroe tout

Big shout out to Jeff and the other members of this forum who share valuable technical information with the community. There are plenty of well deserved props for Jim and the Red Team when they accomplish milestones but I think its important that we also raise a toast to the many people who contribute real world notes that improve our skill sets.

Thanks.

Cheers - #19
 
Blair S. Paulsen said:
Big shout out to Jeff and the other members of this forum who share valuable technical information with the community. There are plenty of well deserved props for Jim and the Red Team when they accomplish milestones but I think its important that we also raise a toast to the many people who contribute real world notes that improve our skill sets.

Thanks.

Cheers - #19
Click to expand...

I couldn`t agree more .I learn a ton here at Reduser in threads like this one,and i`m also grateful for the answers i get when i post a `beginners` question.
So i`ll join the toast with you Blair,many thanks Jeff,Mark,Peter and all who contribute to making this community such a valuable and friendly place.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I have my monitor calibrated fairly well, but ended up having someone come in and do it. The I1 probe just couldn't hack it as it gave a different reading every time. Really need a good probe like the Hubble. This makes it very costly for small operations like me who don't really have it in the budget to spend $8K or more on a probe and color software for in-house calibration just to keep one or two plasma monitors in check. The I1 is solid and great for calibrating LCDs. So far the monitor seems to be holding blacks and colors very well. My eyes are usually pretty good at seeing drift over time between displays and I'm not seeing any yet between my two 30" LCDs and this plasma in the same work area.

All things considered I really like the monitor. There is some noticeable flickering with 24fps material, which has been reported in several reviews over these new plasmas, but it's no big deal. It's a trade-off as the phosphor decay rate is so fast now on the 3D plasmas -- it has to be to switch images at 120Hz for 3D. So to mostly eliminate the flicker, 24fps can be set to run at 96Hz and that mostly gets rid of it.

I'm happy with the display and the calibration tech left me with some info, but not a whole lot in terms of gamut info to share, etc.. He's going to come back here the first week of november and do a follow-up. I'll see if I can generate some more specifics then. I will have either a new Kona 3G or Decklink Extreme 3D also connected to the display by then too, so possibly more to share on that front.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff, totally agree with Blair. I call you the PLASMA MASTER :)

Quick question. Have you done the 150 hours of "seating" or break in of the Plasma before grading? If not, it really makes a huge difference as the Plasmas take that long to settle down.

Once its broken in, we find we only have had to calibrate our 12 Series every couple months. It holds really well. Before that we found it really hard to keep it calibrated. For break in BTW. we simply played DVD's not stop for a couple days. (got to credit Cioni for this) makes a world of difference.
 
Yes, the plasma is well broken-in. I probably had around 250 hours on it before I attempted to calibrate with the I1 and CALMAN software. I ran slides on it -- actually picture slide show and photo screensaver from AppleTV as well as running movies non-stop or even general TV watching. Close to 400 hours on the plasma by the time I had an ISF tech with a Hubble probe come out and calibrate it.

Plasmas these days don't suffer from the latent images or burn-in of previous generations, so we at least don't need to run them at lower brightness or anything like that initially like we used to. But you're correct at least 150 hours or so of usage on them to break them in helps them settle and become more stable.

I've had my 50" VT25 since the last week of May. so almost 4 months now. It was calibrated by an ISF technician on 8/23 and he's doing a follow-up on 11/5.

I'm thinking of offloading the I1 probe and getting the Hubble. I believe they're about $4500, but I think it will pay for itself in the long run. I'm still planning to build a screening/coloring room with a projector, but I've been holding off anything somewhat big until my Epic cameras are here and well kitted out. I also haven't found a projector that I like that fits into my budget. Haha... So I guess I'll do the Hubble probe and probably better software (CineSpace or similar) when I do settle on a projector and set that up. I think the only big purchase I have left for this year, maybe, other than Epic cameras (hopefully), is DaVinci Resolve and the necessary hardware to get it up and running well.

I'm no longer tracking hours on the plasma, but I'm guessing I have about 500 hours on it at this point. We're going to shoot the Hubble probe through the 3D glasses when the ISF tech comes back and calibrate one of the HDMI inputs for 3D use -- hopefully I'll have a Kona 3G or Decklink Extreme 3D by then. I'm wanting the Kona, but waiting to see if Resolve will actually support it in the near future.
 
I'll put in my thanks and kudos to you, Jeff, and all who contribute here. This is a very valuable forum with a ton of personal testing and sharing. I have gleaned a lot over the months I've been here, and as I learn more I'll be sure to share too.
 
I went to a shop that has the VT20 on display and asked them about calibration and manual settings. None of them seemed to have any idea what I was talking about and started talking about "so many tuners, so many HDMI inputs, bla bla bla"..

I ended up getting LOADS of info on a NAD 46" plasma instead, where they had more experience and had some guys who knew how to calibrate it after ISF standards or something. I'm in this unique (double sense!) situation that the guys who install cinema projectors and calibrate them is down the hall (named Unique Cinema Systems) and I'll have them take a look at it to probe a Christie Projector and adjust the plasma accordingly - or we make a custom 3D LUT I can use for output in DaVinci Resolve. Either way, the NAD plasma was crystal sharp compared to the VT20, both showing Aatar from Blu-Ray!

EDITED
I correct them, and myself - the NAD is an LCD with Samsung panel. Yet, it was the best experience of any flat panel display I've ever seen.
 
I1 pro and plasma?

I1 pro and plasma?

Thank you all for the valuable info in this thread.

I have been struggling with the eye1 pro and our panasonic series 11 plasma as well.

I could not find anyone around with a better probe and buying the Hubble is not an option now.

Any one with an advice as how to set it up?

I have put the eye one about 3cm away from the plasma and got much mure consistant results in blacks. What do I compromise by doing so?

Thanks.
 
I've been checking out specs for these displays to replace our 11 series for 3D work, please could any one offer advice who has one.

Any idea the difference between the TX-P50VT20B and TX-P50VT25 ? We do not appear to have the 25 series available in the UK.

Is 'studio gain' mode available on the TX-P50VT20B or TX-P50VT25

thanks,

Dave
 
The difference between VT20 and VT25 (I can't see the VT25 available anywhere in Europe!! :( ) is ISFccc calibration. Even though I think I saw something about ISF in the menu at the shop, nobody there knew what it was, and activating it didn't do anything.

I've come to this: I'll get the Panasonic P50G20. It's the same panel and features as the VT20 and VT25, but it doesn't have 3D. And it's half the price.. I don't see myself doing 3D any time soon anyway.
 
One thing to keep in mind with these panels - you need to "burn" them in before you use them. Display 18% gray - and leave them on. How long depends on who you ask. If you ask me - I'll tell you a solid two weeks, 24/7.
 
Mark L. Pederson said:
One thing to keep in mind with these panels - you need to "burn" them in before you use them. Display 18% gray - and leave them on. How long depends on who you ask. If you ask me - I'll tell you a solid two weeks, 24/7.
Click to expand...

Mark, can you give an idea of what you use to get 18% gray? do you run a chart off of fcp or something? or what do you suggest running into the plasma for 18% gray?
thanks....
 
Or maybe its the CIE XYZ equivalent of 18% grey what we should be running for 2 week?

(of course, this requires you to have some color calibration tools to achieve.)
 
If I could divert the topic away from burn in for the moment, is there a consensus on the glasses that come with the VT25? Mine have some irregularities in the LCD that give minor distortions. Are there other compatible glasses? I tried the Nvidias but couldn't get them to work.

Thanks,

Phil
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top