Looks to me as an serious (but not uncommon) PSP board problem with Panasonic plasmas. Contact a Panasonic service center.
What problems have people had with quality control on these displays? Are they covered under warranty?
- Certain displays emitted an extremely loud buzz. This was covered by warranty repair.
- Certain displays had a problem with the Y/C delay on their S-video input. This was also correctable.
- One person reported red vertical lines on his display.Was this covered by warranty? Was it an input problem or a pixelproblem?
- Afew bad pixels here and there are not covered underwarranty. Largeclusters are generally covered. It's up to Panasonic'sdiscretion. Onthe plus side, however, bad pixels are becomingincreasingly rare. Mostpeople are reporting no bad pixels at all!
CALIBRATINGWhat needs to be calibrated on a plasma?
You needto calibrate most of the same things that need to be calibratedonother displays. About the only things that don't need to be doneareconvergence and geometry. You can usually tinker with picture sizeandposition, but there's no need to deal with keystone orpincushionadjustments, etc.What is white level? What is black level?How are they adjusted?
Theadjustment for white level is usuallylabeled "Picture" (as onPanasonics) or "Contrast". "Brightness", on theother hand, refers tothe black level. Yes, this is apallinglycounterintuitive. This FAQuses the terms "white level" and "blacklevel", since they betterdescribe what you're actually adjusting, andthey're the terms used byAvia and Video Essentials.
How do I adjust hue and saturation?
In anothermysterious choice of terms, hue is controlled by the "Tint"setting,and saturation is controlled by the "Color" setting. This FAQuses theterms "hue" and "saturation", since they're the terms used byAvia andVideo Essentials.
How do I set the white level on a plasma?
Youset the white level by adjusting the "Picture" setting. You willneedto use a different test pattern than you would for a CRT. Forbothplasma displays and LCD displays, you should use the 10 IREgrayscalestep pattern. There are two criteria you want to match on yourplasma.
First,you need to make sure the white level is low enoughthat your displayisn't thresholding (or clamping) bright levels. Youshould set thewhite level low enough that you can see each of the 10IRE stepsdistinctly. The Panasonics seem not to exhibit clamping (in mylimitedexperience), even at factory defaults, so this criterion may notbeterribly useful.
Second, for the health of your display (e.g.to avoid burn-in), you should turn down the white level. Just becauseyour display
can display blindingly bright pictures doesn't mean that it
should.Plasma displays should be set between 21 fl and 25 fl light output; thePanasonics comeout of the factory at about 30 fl. On one ISF-calibratedPanasonic, 23fl was roughly equivalent to a Picture setting of -20 (inthe usermenu, not the service menu). To set this precisely you'll needto bringin a calibration specialist, but you can do a lot of good byjustdialing down the white level a lot. After seeing the display at 30fl,23 fl will see very dim. But after a while, you'll find that 23 flisplenty bright.
How do I set the black level on a plasma?
Youset the black level by adjusting the "Brightness" setting. You canusethe same test pattern you would use for any other display.
How do I calibrate grayscale (calibrate the color temperature)?
Unfortunately,this is one you can't do yourself. You need specialequipment tomeasure the color. In fact, most ISF technicians lack theequipmentspecific to plasma calibration (a $15K gadget known asaspectroradiometer). But even the standard color measurementequipment(which calibrationists do have) will do a great job.
Thatsaid, one person who had his Panasonic display calibrated by anISFspecialist said that the Cinema / Warm setting was reasonably closeto6500K out of the box. Using that setting is probably the best you'lldoon your own.
If you're really determined to screw up yourdisplay,the RGB drive and cutoff settings in the service menu are usedto adjustthe color temperature.
How do I adjust the color decoder?
Thereareseveral issues here. Generally speaking, the Panasonic decoder seemstopush blue a bit. The R-Y Axis Angle and B-Y Axis Gain in theservicemenu are used to correct this behavior.
There used to beaproblem on some Panasonics with the Y/C delay on the S-video input.Seethe Quality Control section for more information.
How do I adjust the gamma?
On the industrialmodel, there is a set of Advanced picture settings. Goto the Picturemenu, turn Advanced on, and then hit the down-arrow. Inthe subsequentmenu you can adjust quite a few parameters, includingselect from a fewgamma settings.
This advanced menu appears to be missing from the consumer model.
How do I calibrate my consumer model given these missing menus?
Thereis apparently a way to activate these menus. Perhaps you can findacalibrationist or Panasonic technician would can turn them onlongenough to do the calibration.
What's the overall calibration procedure?
In general, the order Avia sets out is the correct one. A more complete list is:
- White level (picture)
- Black level (brightness)
- Repeat (1) and (2) until you have a good balance.
- Grayscale (requires special hardware and mucking about in the service menu)
- Sharpness
- Hue and Saturation (tint and color)
- Color decoder (requires use of the service menu)
- Repeat (6) and (7) for red and green until you have a good balance.
SERVICE MENUHow do I access the service menu?
In a word, don't. See
the service menu warningabove.If you're bound and determined to make use of the service menu,buy theservice manual. It contains more than enough information foryou to ruinyour display and/or kill yourself.