Advice please on Pana TH-50PV500A

[Spooky1503559511]

I note that this Plasma is well regarded by many on this forum so I have been researching it and getting some prices. I admit I was pretty close to buying one.

I just visited a local retailer and took 2 DVDs down to give the Pana TH-50PV500A a spin.

TV was connected to a LG DVD player via HDMI.

The first DVD was the Corrs Unplugged.

The girls in the band looked terrible due to the "Clay faces" look. Is there a reason why this TV would look so terrible in this regard? It appears whenever a face was reasonably well lit it looked like they had clay all over their faces. I noted when the light was more muted the problem was not nearly as evident.

Would it be a setup issue? Can people with this TV advise if this is what I should expect or can the set be adjusted to fix this? Other than the clay faces the picture was pretty good I thought.

The Corrs DVD looks fantastic on my current 76cm CRT so spending $6K on a TV to get a clay faces picture sort of knocks me back a bit.

The second DVD was Gladiator. The first scenes are quite dim and I was impressed with the overall picture quality. The levels of shade were good and I couldn't see any banding or other artifacts. I couldn't check scenes with stonger lighting in Gladiator because there was no remote for the DVD player to fast forward to another scene.

So I guess I am asking whether the clay faces issue is something you just have to put up with if you own a plasma, or whether it can be overcome with settings in the TV.

All advice appreciated.

[Thornton Melon]

I note that this Plasma is well regarded by many on this forum so I have been researching it and getting some prices. I admit I was pretty close to buying one.

I just visited a local retailer and took 2 DVDs down to give the Pana TH-50PV500A a spin.

TV was connected to a LG DVD player via HDMI.

The first DVD was the Corrs Unplugged.

The girls in the band looked terrible due to the "Clay faces" look. Is there a reason why this TV would look so terrible in this regard? It appears whenever a face was reasonably well lit it looked like they had clay all over their faces. I noted when the light was more muted the problem was not nearly as evident.

Would it be a setup issue? Can people with this TV advise if this is what I should expect or can the set be adjusted to fix this? Other than the clay faces the picture was pretty good I thought.

The Corrs DVD looks fantastic on my current 76cm CRT so spending $6K on a TV to get a clay faces picture sort of knocks me back a bit.

The second DVD was Gladiator. The first scenes are quite dim and I was impressed with the overall picture quality. The levels of shade were good and I couldn't see any banding or other artifacts. I couldn't check scenes with stonger lighting in Gladiator because there was no remote for the DVD player to fast forward to another scene.

So I guess I am asking whether the clay faces issue is something you just have to put up with if you own a plasma, or whether it can be overcome with settings in the TV.

All advice appreciated.

Hi Spooky, I'm reasonably sure the bad picture is due to set-up, I inspected the Panny 500, Pioneer and Hitachi 8800 and I thought the Panny had better blacks and skintones than the others, I'm interested in the hitachi 8800, but I want to see it adjusted better or I will buy the panny 500

Just my impression, cheers thornton

[Spooky1503559511]

Thanks Thornton

Any owners of this TV that could comment thanks?

[bigg]

perhaps try and get it hooked up to a different DVD player

If you can find the Panasonic S97

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=21396

I have this and the 50'' and DVDs look stunning

I have never seen a clay face on any dvd played and ive seen about 60 so far

[Typhoon]

Hi,

I have this plasma, and have noticed the clay faces too. I thought nothing of it as the picture is generally mesmerising.

Really notice it with the news (Sandra Sully) and Sunrise (Mel Doyle). Combination of fair skin, a light foundation (make up) and lighting.

Anyone, have I stuffed my settings?

Someone once posted some good settings for this telly (once run in), Persian Immortal I think. Tried those, but found I needed more tweaking.

P.S. I have crap cable. I am going to upgrade but can't decide what to buy.

Thanks in advance.

[Curious]

Hi,

I have this plasma, and have noticed the clay faces too. I thought nothing of it as the picture is generally mesmerising.

Really notice it with the news (Sandra Sully) and Sunrise (Mel Doyle). Combination of fair skin, a light foundation (make up) and lighting.

Anyone, have I stuffed my settings?

Someone once posted some good settings for this telly (once run in), Persian Immortal I think. Tried those, but found I needed more tweaking.

P.S. I have crap cable. I am going to upgrade but can't decide what to buy.

Thanks in advance.

Ok, now we are getting into it (at last!)

I have noticed this from day one with 2 of these models (both 50PV500A), many requests for a fix through this forum has resulted in 1: Lots of great tips and info and 2: None of which have made a difference to the skin smear/clay face issue!

My cables are CinemaCables Kordz, my DVD player is a flagship Denon unit built just prior to progressive technology being availble to the masses and my STB is a Strong Standard Definition unit.

I have only seen it on a couple of DVDs that appear to be poorly mastered (they are retail discs not burnt) and it happens often when watching free to air channels.

Best as I can tell, it is an issue with poor source material being fed into the Plasma, then the plasma does it's best to create an acceptable picture from it. (as you can tell technobabble is not my strong point )

Further to this I have questioned the retailer and his resident expert explained to me that I have purchased a very high quality HD plasma and this is the down side of having a TV that shows everything up so brilliantly, we literally have to take the good with the bad. Oh, and I would not get any improvement on the picture by swapping cables or upgrading DVD players, it is actually related to the quality of the cameras used during filming (hence you can see the problem in one shot yet it is not there from a different angle/camera). His advice was: until better quality cameras are used for filming movies/TV shows, the issue will persist!

As for gadgets that clean the picture up prior to feeding into the plasma, the jury is out until one of us can get hold of one and see what difference there is when watching one of the suspect DVDs in our collection.

If I have made this sound too simplistic I apologise, all comment are as given to me by the various people I have questioned about the phenomenon (sounds better than 'problem' eh!)

Having said all that, if anyone has an improvement strategy SPEAK UP pleeeease...

Curious

[Typhoon]

Thanks for that. My theory was along the same lines, quality of the camera rather than the plasma. You are right in saying in the same show, different angles (camera's) result in very different skin tones.

Everyone on TV should fake tan

[Guest EZYHD]

I have the Panny 500A, picture once adjusted is beautiful. Just bought new S97 Panasonic DVD player with HDMI its simply supurb. My wife is over the moon with these too.

[Typhoon]

Hi Foxy,

Do you mean you had a professional calibration?

Do you find you don't have people with very white washed out faces? A classic example is Sandra Sully on the Ten Late News.

I think it's my settings. I started noticing this after I re-jigged my settings. When I was running in and had Contrast, Brightness etc at half, I don't remember it being an issue.

Do you mind posting (or PM'ing) your Contrast, Brightness, Colour etc settings?

Thanks.

[Curious]

Hi Foxy,

Do you mean you had a professional calibration?

Do you find you don't have people with very white washed out faces? A classic example is Sandra Sully on the Ten Late News.

I think it's my settings. I started noticing this after I re-jigged my settings. When I was running in and had Contrast, Brightness etc at half, I don't remember it being an issue.

Do you mind posting (or PM'ing) your Contrast, Brightness, Colour etc settings?

Thanks.

I second the motion, gives us everything you got Foxtail!

Curious

[Guest EZYHD]

Hi Foxy,

Do you mean you had a professional calibration?

Do you find you don't have people with very white washed out faces? A classic example is Sandra Sully on the Ten Late News.

I think it's my settings. I started noticing this after I re-jigged my settings. When I was running in and had Contrast, Brightness etc at half, I don't remember it being an issue.

Do you mind posting (or PM'ing) your Contrast, Brightness, Colour etc settings?

Thanks.

Nah, just adjusted it to our liking, no washed out faces on it. I'll have a look tonight what my settings are guys and post back.

[Guest EZYHD]

Well guys here are my colour settings. Keep in mind I'm using Scart from Topfield to Component to Panny 500A, input to AV2). I don't use the inbuilt tuner nor have I set it up for that. While these work for me I hope they work for you, if not go have a play!.

Menu: Dynamic

Contrast: 79

Bright: 64

Colour: 30

Sharp 61

Col Temp: Standard

Col. Management: On

D. PNR Auto

[Thornton Melon]

Well guys here are my colour settings. Keep in mind I'm using Scart from Topfield to Component to Panny 500A, input to AV2). I don't use the inbuilt tuner nor have I set it up for that. While these work for me I hope they work for you, if not go have a play!.

Menu: Dynamic

Contrast: 79

Bright: 64

Colour: 30

Sharp 61

Col Temp: Standard

Col. Management: On

D. PNR Auto

Thanks Foxtail, I'll write them down just in case i end up with the Panny.

Cheers.

[Spooky1503559511]

Come on guys

Did you get those clay faces to go using Foxtails settings?

[plasmafreak]

Well guys here are my colour settings. Keep in mind I'm using Scart from Topfield to Component to Panny 500A, input to AV2). I don't use the inbuilt tuner nor have I set it up for that. While these work for me I hope they work for you, if not go have a play!.

Menu: Dynamic

Contrast: 79

Bright: 64

Colour: 30

Sharp 61

Col Temp: Standard

Col. Management: On

D. PNR Auto

Take into consideration that all the Pana Plasma's have different Sub-Contrast settings in the Service Menu. Therefore the COntrast in the normal menu will vary on different sets.

[Typhoon]

Hi Foxy,

Thanks for taking the time to send those through.

From memory, my setting are pretty close. My picture has actually taken a nose dive, it's fizzy and undefined.

I think it's because we finally hooked up our new amp and there is a fair bit of cable criss crossing behind the entertainment unit. We have the out of the box component cable which was pretty clear before, but I think now is suffering from interference. We have been meaning to upgrade our cable anyway, so hopefully this will help.

Thanks again.

[Spooky1503559511]

Okay has anyone managed to get rid of their clay faces?

I am looking to buy this panel, but the clay faces issue is a bit of a showstopper for me.

[Jace]

Okay has anyone managed to get rid of their clay faces?

I am looking to buy this panel, but the clay faces issue is a bit of a showstopper for me.

Well, I've never seen clay faces on my 50PV500A. If you calibrate the set correctly, it's not an issue.

[bigg]

agreed. I have mine for 3 months now and never seen a clay face.

go and buy the plasma. buy a good quality DVD player and settop box.

take home and set it up.. if you still get clay faces take it back..

simple

[Guest EZYHD]

Hi Foxy,

Thanks for taking the time to send those through.

From memory, my setting are pretty close. My picture has actually taken a nose dive, it's fizzy and undefined.

I think it's because we finally hooked up our new amp and there is a fair bit of cable criss crossing behind the entertainment unit. We have the out of the box component cable which was pretty clear before, but I think now is suffering from interference. We have been meaning to upgrade our cable anyway, so hopefully this will help.

Thanks again.

In the Panny book it says to keep electrical cable away from the input ones, there should have been clips in the box to do this, good quality cables are a must with this upmarket gear.

Many of us have purchased from here, all top quality shielded.

EDIT: The only clay face I had was when I got of the operating table recently after 2.5 hours of surgery, on the table awake!, bloody deading needles stung like hell too.

http://www.htcustomcables.com/home.htm

[Spooky1503559511]

Today I looked at the HD 50" Pana TH-50PV500A and tried it out again with "The Corrs Unplugged" DVD.

It was connected to a panasonic DVD player via component.

I noticed quite a bit of noise in the picture and the clay faces problem was quite evident. The TV was on originally on Dynamic picture and even fiddling with other settings for a while the salesmen couldn't get rid of the clay faces. For example, you couldn't see the blush on the girls cheeks, their faces were just the one overexposed clay colour.

We tried the 50" LG 50PX5D just nearby for another reference on the DVD. This was connected to an LG DVD player via HDMI. Choosing a custom setting on the panel surprisingly the clay faces were almost completely gone and the general noise in the picture was less. The picture was perhaps a tad softer and colours were a bit more subdued than the Pana but overall the picture quality was a lot more pleasing given less noise and no clay faces. Skin tones were more natural and you could see the blush on their cheeks for example.

We then tried a 50" pioneer panel (the old model) and after a little tweaking the clay faces problem and noise was reduced but not down to the level of the LG putting the Pioneer probably about in the middle of the previous two to my eye.

Given the Pana seems to be the "better" panel based on what I have read, what could explain my observations and its tendency to display clay faces compared to the LG?

Any comments on this and whether this issue can be remedied in the setup is welcome.

I was on the verge of buying the Pana but the clay faces issue is a bit of a showstopper for me.

Also any comments generally on the LG?

Thanks

[PersianImmortal]

99% of the Panasonics I've seen have the picture set up incorrectly.

Firstly, make sure it is not on Dynamic mode. Each of the modes have different image quality impacts - they're not just saved presets for the Brightness/Contrast etc. I.e. the same brightness and contrast settings on Dynamic do not look the same as the same settings on Dynamic.

Dynamic is rubbish, simply set up for dazzling buyers from a distance. At no time can Dynamic be tuned to look normal.

Standard is the correct mode to start with. Check my signature for the settings used for a DVD player on Standard mode (with Standard color temp), write them down and apply them to the Pana in-store. You will like what you see, even if it's not spot on.

Also, the obvious thing to note is that you MUST have the DVD player connected via Component or higher. Composite is pure rubbish, and cannot be used to judge image quality. If the salesman won't show you a DVD player running via Component to the panel, move along to another store.

/EDIT - whoops, noticed that you say it was connected via Component. Then the issue you're facing is the crappy Dynamic mode, which you need to set to Standard, and also turn off any MPEG/NR management options as they blur the image to reduce blocking and artifacts.

Edited December 3, 2005 by PersianImmortal

[Spooky1503559511]

Cheers

I will head back down and try that out.

[PersianImmortal]

Cheers

I will head back down and try that out.

Also take along another DVD (or ask for another one at the store), preferably one which is know to have a good source image, e.g. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Batman Begins - any recently made big budget movie. That way you can see how good it can look using the best DVDs, and if it still looks bad to you then there's not much to be done.

Note that you may have to change the color settings I provide slightly, since not all DVD players will have the same quality output. The DVD player itself may be doing some sort of image processing to enhance sharpness or brighten colors for example, and these also need to be disabled.

The beauty of the Pana panel is that it has such good quality, it doesn't need any of these tricks and indeed all these additional processing options only serve to decrease image quality.

[Spooky1503559511]

Went down again and took another look and applied your settings and yes, made a big difference to the clay faces, much more natural now. The salesman was also impressed with the difference.

Thanks heaps.

Now to get my best price available in Brisbane and I am in.

Cheers and thanks for the help.