Hi Guys,

Thought I would start off an actual owners thread on this TV, I have put together a few links for settings and a review for owners to try out and provide feedback based on ambient lighting of their own viewing environment.

Some of the settings are for other models in the range but I put them in as some owners - like myself - will want to "tweak" their TV to a higher model number.

Tweak:

To get into the service menu its: TV in Standby -> "info" -> "menu" -> "mute" -> power on. Changing the model number to B680 or higher unlocks "Cinema smooth". A forum member in the other 58B550 thread tried an 8 series model number and found the sound changed to a softer note, possibly due to the 8 series model having a different speaker set up. Do this tweak at your own risk.

Reviews and settings:

http://reviews.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/pla...550-review.html

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1128688

forums.cnet.com/5208-19410_102-0.html?threadID=345810&tag=forums06;forum-threads

http://www.tweaktv.com/tweak-my-tv/calibra...-pn-58a650.html

From AVS Forum:

As a fellow owner of a PN50B550, here are the settings I have after using a Blu-ray copy of DVE HD Basics Calibration disc:

Movie Mode
Cell Light 8
Contrast 80
Brightness 53
Sharpness 0
Color Saturation 47
Tint 50/50

Black Tone Off
Dynamic Contrast Off
Gamma -1
Color Space Auto
White Balance (All set to 25)
Flesh Tone -1
Edge Enhancement Off

Color Tone Warm2
Digital NR Auto
Film Mode Off


(Note, I watch my TV in a completely dark room with absolutely no reflections, so the picture may look very dark if your room is even a little bit bright....but these are as close to real picture settings as I have gotten without a professional calibration)

More settings from AVS Forum:

I found these setting while lurking around the net. Hope they help. I am going to try these settings and will report back on the picture quality. BTW, just bought my set a week ago so I am still getting used to the controls and settings. I still haven't quite determined what the cell light does but will post when I find a reasonable answer. Won't let me post the URL until I submit 3 posts therefore:

White Balance Settings
Red-Offset 22 Red-Gain 33
Green-Offset 25 Green-Gain 25
Blue-Offset 12 Blue-Gain 33

Picture Settings
Picture Mode Movie Black Tone: Off
Color Temp Warm 2 Dynamic Contrast: Off
Brightness 56 Gamma: 0
Contrast 90 Color Space: Auto
Color 53 Flesh Tone: Off
Tint G35/R65 Edge Enhancement: Off
Sharpness 10 Digital NR: Auto
Cell Light 8 HDMI Black Level: Low
Film Mode: Auto


Cheers

Buster

Post removed - the settings were for LCD's

interesting that some people set sharpness to 10 and other set it to 0..

I will be having a good play around with mine when I get it.. Ill post results after trying the different setups..

I've been thinking about doing the service menu 'upgrade' for Cinema Smooth, but I hear there is a bug in Cinema Smooth, where the blacks turn out grey. I remember reading somewhere that if you did something, then left it on 'On' or 'Auto', the issue didn't arise. Does anyone know what this was, or have any idea what I'm talking about?

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Not sure if the "cinema smooth" issue being experienced in the U.S is affecting our TV's here. I'll run a bluray when the TV has done 200 hours of run in.

One thing to add guys, I have been running some run in images I downloaded, no problems but I did notice a very veryfaint line at the top and bottom of the screen whic has no doubt been caused by us watching a DVD on the first night of using the TV. I'll run the screen burn protection image for an hour tonight which should remove the faint lines altogether. They are not even noticeable when watching normal TV, I'm just being over anal about this TV...LMAO.

The other thing I forgot to mention, if anyone does want to run the run in images, I would strongly advise you TURN OFF PIXEL SHIFT, in the screen protection, otherwise you will get a line of four cells all around the edge that have not burned in evenly with the rest of the screen due to the shifting pixels. Make sure you switch 'pixel shift' back on when watching the TV as normal.

Cheers

BB

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Thanks mate.

BB

Also came across this post on either AVS or AV forums, can't remember which one as I copied it into a word doc yesterday and then forgot to post it over here....haven't tried it on my TV as yet, will do next week.

Again, this is at your own risk:

you can also turn on cal-night and cal-day. with that go into service menu and under expert. once you enter expert you will see n/d adjust( or something to that extent)your only choice is that or source. not sure what source does, but highlight the n/d adjust and hit enter then right button on keypad to change it to on.

Cheers

BB

Hi All,

I have done the "tweak" but cinema smooth is grayed out and isn't selectable.
I know i am changing the models because if i go to the 8 series model the sound goes tinny.

Any ideas???

Thanks

You have to enable 24p on your BD player, once that is on and the movie is running, go to picture settings and cinema smooth should be selectable. Once set, you will not need to do it again.

Re the tweak, I recommended the following,

TV in Standby -> "info" -> "menu" -> "mute" -> power on

Select Option

Change PB550 to PB650 (red menu) or PB680 (blue menu) by pressing the right button on the compass.

Power off.

Do not change any other settings!

and then another question,,,,,,

any one tried downloading the 6 series firmware and installing that???

Thanks Struggo!!

Guys,

FYI: http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=86836

BB

Hey BB just wondering what video setting you are using now?

I am getting my TV tomorrow, is it correct that I need to turn the contrast down below 50 for the first 100 hrs or so?

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Hi mate,

Yup, turned contrast and brightness down to 50 for 200 hours and only used "standard" picture setting, now all good.

BB

Does anyone know if the Wireless LAN dongle works with this TV after applying the model tweak?

No price talk? Finally a thread that Kulfi would find no interest in creating a post with!

Very good question, any one given this a go??

And now another question,

after doing the "tweak" is there any difference if i updated the firmware from 5 series to a 7?
i am trying to get the wifi dongle to work with all the you tube widgets ect.

So... What does this setting actually do??

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Hey mate,

I guess it just gives you a couple more picture setting options, I now have adjusted "Standard" as daytime DVD and bluray viewing, adjusted "Dynamic" as Daytime Foxtel viewing and adjusted "Movie" as all evening viewing.

I was going to use "Night Cal" for evening bluray viewing but no matter how I try, I cannot get the Day/Night Cal to unlock as I can't enter into "Advanced" in the service menu.

BB

What I understand it does is allows you to set different settings for daytime and nighttime viewing, and will automatically switch between the 2 based on the time.

Why use a different settings for Foxel and DVD? Aren’t settings remembered per input so you can use one setting (say Movie) for night and Standard for day no matter what the input?
Movie is the only mode to offer “Warm 2”, which is the only colour preset that is close to accurate.
You can use custom white balance settings and “Standard” mode but you need to have colour measurement equipment to get it right.

Sounds like it could be handy then - but like BusterB I can't get into the 'advanced' menu. Oh well...

An unrelated question - is there any way to stretch a movie in 2.39:1 aspect ratio to cover the entire screen? Zoom mode doesn't quite stretch the image far enough, and 'fit to screen' is greyed out for some reason...
Am playing a DVD connected via component.

Checked to see if the B550 would recognise the B650 firmware the other after tweaking the B550.

No firmware update found by the display.

Mate I've got a PS50C550 and have similar viewing patterns to you, any chance of seeing your settings? am keen to set my TV up soon as it's at about 120 hours..

thanks in advance

What version of the 550 do you have? I can't use the shortcut you posted, but I found another way into the service menu, but no where in there do I see a 650 model.. What version of firmware do you have on there for this to work?

Thanks,

Oh umm sorry didn't realise it was a service menu hack being discussed, i'm just keen on setting up the TV properly!