Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Read Here! Important Setup Info to ensure you don't ruin the screen, picture calibration (default is for energy savings, not good pic), $19 Active 3D glasses, $30 wall mounts, removing ads & youtube settings. Hey all, if you are reading this, means you already want this plasma, or started off like I did, confident that you were looking for a new edge-lit LED tv, but after days of research shocked to see yourself purchasing a plasma! The better picture, for 1/2 the cost, with plasma-ish issues (heat, burn-in, etc) now mostly a thing of the past, makes you wonder why people are snapping up LED's (I got this for $699 at a local box shop, would've done Amazon at same price but didn't want to wait). Note: *3D GLASSES* You do NOT need to spend $50 each on glasses. Last year the major brands agreed on a universal active 3d standard via bluetooth. You can buy the new $19 Samsung SSG-4100GB glasses here on Amazon(Samsung SSG-4100GB 3D Active Glasses 2012 Models - Black), and they work great on this TV (I have 2 pairs). If you don't believe this, google "3D active glasses CNET" and find their article confirming this. I'm sure other active glasses will soon be available as well. CNET has a good article on the difference between Active & Passive pros & cons as well if you're still on the fence; IMO, the 3D on this TV with the $20 Samsung's is awesome. Anyways, you know the pros/cons already of this TV (if not, I put my PROS/CONS as a comment/reply below); this article is to save you 10 hours of reading on how to set it up and enjoy it. The following suggestions should apply to any UT50 or Panny Viera plasma (except the calibrations are only for the 50" I would assume). 1. BREAK-IN PERIOD: Even though this is mostly a thing of the past with newer plamas, you'll see everyone with an opinion on this topic, yet its clear that plasmas are still *NOT* yet IDIOT PROOF (just use easy rules below & you'll be fine). You'll see the plasma gurus of years past insist that you need to run a video file of "slides" repeatedly for 100 hours minimum to evenly break-in the screen, or you'll end up with "IR" (image retention) & "burn in" images on your display. Even though newer plasma tech is now much more forgiving, for the first couple weeks (100 hours) you should *not* play the same video game (fixed icons/menu), or watch TV in a 4:3 format (that has black bars on the side) or wide-screen(black bars on top) or the same TV station (NBC with their logo on the bottom right). There's a pretty good chance you'll end up with something burned into the screen, and you won't be happy, and your dog or wife will hate you. You'll hate yourself. Google "Cnet Do I Need to Break In New Plasma" for a more informed article on this, but basically, stick to 16:9 video (fills the entire screen), if it doesn't, hit the "FORMAT" button on the remote to FILL the screen so you don't have black bars, and don't stick on channels with static logos (ESPN with the news ticker! NG with their logo, etc) for hours on end. ALSO, apparently a good idea to keep your CONTRAST settings below 100% for the first 100 hours or so (80 or below is the word, I'm a risk taker, think I'm at 85). Just watch full-screen content without stationary logos during the break-in period as much as possible, or don't stay stuck on any one channel/logo/ticker. Me, I just put a DVD/on-demand movie on repeatedly when I was doing other stuff around the house (find the longest movie you've got). If you are reading this after the fact & already hate yourself, go to Youtube and google "fix plasma" etc there are some videos that may be able to burn it out, or apparently Disney made some "WOW CD" that is a plasma staple, google it, lots of people useit, I can't comment on it not having used it. 2. BREAK-IN PERIOD (2nd): There is a built in "Anti-Image Retention" scrolling bar (under Menu>>Setup>>Anti Image Retention). I run this after watching a movie or say at halftime & afterwards of watching an NFL game (just being paranoid probably, but its easy so why not). At least initially...if you go onto Youtube there is a 5 minute video clip called "Plasma HDTV Burn-In Clip" (starts with pink spirals). There's a link on that page you can download the video & put it on a USB stick and then tell your TV to run it in a loop overnight for a few nights (if you were motivated) as others suggest, I decided I'd just run the scrolling bars in between viewings, from what I've read the new plasma tech is forgiving enough as long as you don't push it too far. 3. CALIBRATION: I would put this 1st, but figure its more important not to screw up the screen. The TV comes in an "Eco" friendly setting so they can get that $21/year energy cost sticker. This is a garbage picture. You'll end up spending $46/year or so according to CNET in reality once you adjust the TV for a good picture (and I'm assuming your getting the plasma for a good picture, not to save $25/year on electricity). You can google "CNET TC-P50UT50 CALIBRATION" and find their suggested calibration settings, or if you really want to get into it, google "AVSFORUM TC-P50UT50 CALIBRATION" and there's a 20 page thread titled "The Official Panasonic UT50 Settings/Issues Thread", and the 2 main contributors (PathofNeo & anikun07) suggest similar but slightly different settings than CNET. If you jump to Page 9 (post 250) of that thread, you'll find anikun07's settings for both CINEMA mode and also 3D MODE. If you want to know "why" these settings are best (including why you should use CINEMA mode, not CUSTOM mode for better blacks), read the first 9 pages. I'll cheat & post anikun07's current settings below for you, but if he changes them in the future I wouldn't know, you'd have to check the thread. I didn't bother getting into the custom RGB color settings, just the main easy-access settings. 4. REMOVE ADVERTISEMENTS / DISABLE ADS (seen on startup & in the Internet menu): For the ads displayed on startup, go to MENU>>SETUP>>ADVANCED SETTINGS>>VIERA CONNECT BANNER (and set to OFF). For the ads displayed as one of the apps, just unselect that app from being displayed in the app/store settings (uncheck it). If you are confused how to move an app from the 1st screen to the 3rd, there's a FAQ on Panasonic's site for this TV that explains the steps in detail. 5. YOUTUBE: The app allows you to link your phone or tablet to your TV (so you don't have to painfully type in search terms using that remote from the 90's). It gives you a PIN to enter into your device, then whatever you type into the device & hit play, ends up playing on your TV, pretty neat. 6. VIDEO SETTINGS FOR 3D, NORMAL TV & INTERNET APPS (NETFLIX ETC) ARE ALL SEPARATE: These are all controlled separately, so once you find the right settings for your cinema mode, you have to play a 3D movie, then open up the picture menu again and make the settings per below, and same for Internet Apps, go into youtube or netflix & edit the picture settings there as well (I used same settings for both TV & internet apps). I guess each input has its own setting, so HDMI1 & HDMI2 you have to make the different picture settings (see comments below page 3) 7. MOTION SMOOTHER (Soap Opera Effect): Everyone will tell you the first thing you need to do is disable the digital manipulation of the video, turn off the "Motion Smoother" (see full settings below). Basically, you'll turn off all digital manipulation, as they (according to the experts) just bog down the picture quality. This is confusing to me; why would *all* of the TV manufacturers spend money adding digital manipulations of the picture that no experts want? Perhaps the features fluff up some settings/images, while ruining others, I don't know enough to speculate, however even on LED's everyone says to turn off these digital "enhancements" as well. 8. WALL MOUNTS: You do *not* need to spend $100-200 for a wall mount! Only $28! Check out "Cheetah Mounts APTMM2B Flush Tilt Dual Hook (1.3" from wall) Flat Screen TV Wall Mount Bracket for 32-65 inch Plasma, LED, and LCD TVs Up To VESA 700x400 and 165lbs, Including 10' Braided High Speed with Ethernet HDMI Cable and 3-Axis Magnetic Bubble Level" here on Amazon, $27.99 (Prime) and its 1.5" from the wall & includes tilt (my old mount had swivel but I never used it). Holds up to 165lbs, nearly 5 stars from 2,000+ reviews, nice (remember to drill into a stud!). Also, if you tilt the TV downwards a smidgen, then the overhead room light doesn't reflect on the screen when you are sitting down, if glare's an issue at night, cheap fix. 1/21/13 Updates: 9. Android App: There is a Viera droid app in the Play store (can't comment on Apple IOS), works on tablets & phones. However, as of 1/21/13 its pretty annoying that you can't use the app to "type" into the search bars on Netflix or Hulu (why else would I use the app over the remote?). Youtube's sync let's you type in the search bar, hopefully they fix this bug. I note that there are bluetooth mini-keyboards that you can buy for ~$40, I haven't looked into this yet though. For now I'll probably make due with the clunky non-qwerty remote. 10. I really wish the remote could be programmed to control my cable box as well; I'm not sure I want to spend $100 for a Harmony remote, and I'm not sure if a Harmony remote would handle all the custom internet functions anyways (navigating the Viera Netflix & Hulu apps etc), looks like I might be stuck with a few remotes for now at least; the Android app & non-programmable remote are really my only (minor) complaints on this TV, which is still a 5-star bargain at the price I got it at though. 1/23/13 Update: 11. Wireless Dongle: if you don't have an ethernet cable nearby, instead of buying the Panny wireless adapter Panasonic TY-WL20U Wireless Adapter for Panasonic 2012 Internet Ready TVs, something to consider instead would be one of these "Powerline" adapters that are slightly less in cost, but something you could use for other purposes later on, and/or be able to add other adapters to your house for other internet devices (I did a very QUICK search, these ZyXEL adapters seemed the best bang for the buck (Logitech's HD Powerline 200a is $105), there could be a better brand/price you'd have to check but these are $43 on Prime currentlyZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units): Here are Anikun07's 2D & 3D calibration settings from the AVSforum thread I mentioned above (apparently these settings target a neutral D65 coloring, you may find you like TV's with unnatural heavy red hues, to each their own?): ***2D CINEMA MODE*** (not custom, not vivid, not standard) ______________ Contrast: +90 Brightness: +49 Color: +48 Tint: 0 Sharpness: 0 Color Temp: Warm 2 Color Mgmt.: Off C.A.T.S.: Off Video NR: Off ______________ Aspect Adjustments Screen Format: Full HD Size: Size 2 H Size: Size 1 ______________ HDMI Settings (*edit, CNET says the following, which is what I did as well: -- HDMI settings: [no change from default]. Don't change to 16-235 or the other option unless you are positive which color settings your video source sends the signal in, example if you know your PS3 sends in 16-235 then sure you can select that, but otherwise just leave it at default) HDMI/DVI RGB Range- HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Standard 16-235 Content Type - HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Off ______________ Advanced Picture 3D Y/C Filter: Off (Grayed Out) Color Matrix: HD (Grayed Out) Block NR: Off (Grayed Out) Mosquito NR: Off Motion Smoother: Off Black Level: Light 3:2 Pulldown: Off 24p Direct In: 60 Hz (edit, you won't be able to edit the 24p unless you are using a video source sending a 24p signal) ***3D CINEMA MODE*** ______________ Basic Settings Contrast: +85 Brightness: +57 Color: +48 Tint: 0 Sharpness: 0 Color Temp: Warm 2 (Calibrated to D65) Color Mgmt.: Off C.A.T.S.: Off Video NR: Off ______________ Aspect Adjustments Screen Format: Full HD Size: Size 2 H Size: Size 1 ______________ HDMI Settings (*edit, CNET says the following, which is what I did as well: -- HDMI settings: [no change from default]. Don't change to 16-235 or the other option unless you are positive which color settings your video source sends the signal in, example if you know your PS3 sends in 16-235 then sure you can select that, but otherwise just leave it at default) HDMI/DVI RGB Range- HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Standard 16-235 Content Type - HDMI 1 & HDMI 2: Off ______________ Advanced Picture 3D Y/C Filter: Off (Grayed Out) Color Matrix: HD (Grayed Out) Block NR: Off (Grayed Out) Mosquito NR: Off Motion Smoother: Off Black Level: Light 3:2 Pulldown: Off 24p Direct In: 60 Hz (edit, you won't be able to edit the 24p unless you are using a video source sending a 24p signal) ______________ System Menu Settings =>3D Settings Auto Detect 3D: Auto 1 3d Signal Notification: On 2D => 3D Depth: Medium 3D Adjustment: 0 Left/Right Swap: Normal Diagonal Line Filter: Off I'm sure I missed something, but tried to condense hours of reading for others, or at least a jumping off point. Google is your friend if you have any other questions. Enjoy! PS, hit "Yes" if this review was helpful, "No" if not. Pros/Cons of the TV are below in the comments.