Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on August 06, 2011 at 19:06:44

In Reply to: RE: Anyone have experience with Panasonic 42ST30? posted by mcdmgb on August 06, 2011 at 13:02:26

D-Nice is a calibrator who contributes at AVS Forum's plasma section. What he put together was basically patterns that stress the display's panel. When using the DVD, you set it on a continuous loop from a DVD player in conjunction with certain settings in the display's Menu. What this does is speed up the aging process of the phosphors so that the break-in process takes less time. Once done for X amount of hours, the display is then properly calibrated by a tech or by a qualified owner.

My opinion:
Do you need to do this? No, certainly not. Some people are OCD about this and want to be able to get to the "magic point" quickly. All you really have to do is take the display out of the box, get a calibration disc and do a general calibration, watch television/movies for about two months and do another calibration with the disc (repeat at the 6 month mark). Or, if you want to get the best out of the display, at about the 6 month mark, get a professional calibration done by an ISF or THX certified calibrator ($300 - $500). Another alternative is to get serious about calibration and research the process until you fully understand it, then get the calibration tools necessary to do a proper calibration yourself.

The 2011 Panasonic plasmas seem to have addressed most of the previous years' issues. You can read more about plasmas

• here.   (Open in New Window)