Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

I love this TV # SETTINGS UPDATE #

I have had this TV for nearly a month. After I got the basic picture settings where I like them I am continually amazed at what a terrific picture I get. For me the the CINEMA setting seems to be the best overall setting for both DVDs and broadcast/cable TV and I adjust the the other picture settings as needed for individual DVDs or TV programs.

I wanted to keep this brief so I won't go into any further detail. I am completely happy with this TV. You can never really be sure what a TV is going to be like once you get into your home. In this case I can't imagine how it could be any better.



AVERAGE USER PICTURE SETUP GUIDE



I have had this TV about 3 months now and still Love it. Over that time I have fine tuned the picture settings to the point where I am happy with them in almost every viewing situation and video format without having to make any changes. I watch my TV at ambient light levels from fairly bright to completely dark.

I thought a list of my settings might be a helpful starting point for new owners wanting to get the best from this awesome TV as quickly as possible. I didn't use any test patterns or fancy equipment to arrive at these settings. They were developed using real world viewing. You super techies can scoff and move on now and hopefully this will be a help to the rest of you.



SETTINGS



Picture Mode = Cinema (always)

Contrast 36

Brightness 36

Color 29 (you will probably use this

Tint +1 and the tint control most often)

Sharpness 50

Color Temp = warm

CATS off

Video NR on

Blur Reduction on



ASPECT:

Screen Format = full

HD Size 1



ADVANCED PICTURE



Mpeg NR = on

Black level = light (This is an important setting. On My TV it was defaulted to DARK. On very dark scenes like in

Theaters during concerts there is much useful detail that is lost with the Dark setting.

Another good example is the opening scene of "Master and Commander" The movie opens with a

long distance shot of the HMS Surprise alone at sea just before the sun comes up. The camera

slowly pans closer to the deck of the ship until we can see the black rigging silhouetted

against the grayish blue predawn with sailors climbing up and down the rigging for the

changing of the watch. The next scene is of the ships cook reaching into the on deck chicken

coop to grab a chicken. With the setting in DARK the cook's face clothing and the chicken

are all dark shadows with no detail. With the light setting the cooks features his ginger

colored beard and the soft blue and gray stripes of his shirt are now visible along with

the individual reddish brown feathers of the chicken he selected.



I hope this helps you get started. Everyone's tastes are different but this should be a good starting point.

I suspect that these settings should also be good for the other size sets in the S2 line

This review refers to the 2010 model TC-P54S2More detail ...