New plasma image seems soft?

I was just going to try the settings on here but that sounds like a better idea to me.

I like the picture on Plasma's alot better than LCDs, but this image seems a little softer than the older model Panasonic I had and just doesn't seem like it is quite as good, so I wasn't sure what I should tweak to make it a little better.

Thanks again!

I am shocked that anything older than 2 yrs from this new one could possible appear less soft. Or is the input source different now (cable vs satellite)?

cheers,
Pedro

The Panasonic Vierra TH-42PD50U... I believe it is from around 2005, but I don't remember the exact date of it. I was always pleased with the TV, but never overly impressed with it, so I really didn't have any intentions to get another panasonic when shopping, I was just looking into all the brands. However, I just moved and when I had the old TV hooked up again the picture quality was noticebly better than before. I am still using a cable subscription going thrugh a DVR from the cable company. Only difference is that I went from Road Runner to BrightHouse, however, they are nearly identical so I'm not sure if they are actually even the same company. Also, the really weird thing is that at the moment I don't have an HD box because they gave me the wrong one when they set everything up, but I had an HD box before (HDMI and Optical inputs)But anyway, the picture seemed much better.

So, back to the new TV. The image seems a little softer. For example, I was playing Wii tonight, the same game I had played on the other TV and the image looked soft around the edges and things were not as defined as before. The colors also seem a little off, the whites seem to have a dark tone to them and all the colors don't seem to have as much pop as the old panasonic had.

I actually had a couple other TVs that I was wanting to get of the S1 series, but they were unable to be delivered for a while and some didn't even have an estimate, so I decided on this model, but the other S1 series get pretty good reviews, I've only found one for the 54" model and they gave it a perfect rating.

Thanks again for all the help.

Is this technically the case w/ PDP since it's going through glass(?) I was always under the impression that you couldn't call either LCD or Plasma flat panel 'projection' due to the fact that it wasn't any sort of significant distance vs. DLP or RP.

Agreed that plasma generally is capable of a nicer looking image.

cheers,
Pedro

I just remembered on the page about calibration here they said there is a Blu-Ray and DVD calibration kit, which one should I get? I have Blu-Ray but I don't watch those nearly as much because I'm usually watching regular TV and the majority of my movies are still DVDs. I wasn't sure if the Blu-Ray settings wouldn't be right since I won't be watching Blu-Rays as often.

Thanks!

That came with my Circuit City Warranty on an older Plasma TV. Is this something that would work for my new Plasma, or should I get a new one.

I got kind of busy since my last post and haven't really been able to look into the calibration DVD or anything. I was going through some things and found this, so I didn't know if it was good enough to use or not. It is from around 2005, so I don't know if that would be a problem either.

Thanks again!

There are apparently a couple of ways we regard the picture. From my experience I prefer the "softness" of a plasma picture over a pixelated style picture when viewed at close range. Maybe just a personal preference.

But give the calibration DVD a chance. Although many store showrooms seem to think they are better impressing customers by having their display models adjusted to highest levels of color intensity & contrast, that is not the way intended by the makers.

as well. I even went with Plasma over LCD when I should have went with Plasma because I think the picture is so much better. But to me it just seems like this TV doesn't have as good of quality as my Panasonic Plasma from 2005. The picture looks okay, but it doesn't blow me away, even on Blu-Ray, and I was expecting a big improvement over my older TV.

I will give the calibration DVD a try and see what happens. I also have the settings from the forum for this model and will see if that works better.

Thanks for your reply

For PQ to pop, you have to be at the right viewing distance for the size of screen. Of course your old 42" looked better (=brighter & sharper). Technical specs and eyes don't always convey the same impression. Go compare the pop-ness of different size sets in stores. Even lower quality smaller screens will appear better than larger screens, on still and slow moving scenes. Where the low quality screens lose in those scenes are color tone range and blackness.

I don't have the chart anymore and I don't know the exact distances, but I actually think my 42" screen was too small for the distance I was from the TV. I'm not within 4 or so feet of the screen and I think it still looks great. The main reason I went with this size was because the 42" really seemed too small for the distance from the TV. But it definitely makes sense, so that is probably what the issue is.

Thanks again!

but if you place the 42" next to the 54" at any distance, the smaller one will always look sharper and more colorful at the same resolution setting. The pixels are closer to each other on the smaller screen.

I guess I was just assuming several years later the technology would have gotten quite a bit better, especially since I went from 720p to 1080p. It makes a lot more sense now and makes me feel a little better now. When I get back there I'm going to try the calibration DVD and see if that doesn't help as well.