Got my new Panasonic 42 pro plasma up and tweaked in..

[Christopher Adams]

Other then having someone in to calibrate it. Can we get an idea of what menu settings you changed? I am also using the 42 pro plasma! So far i love it.

[Robbie Carman]

Glad you like Darin.

The Panny’s are great. Not sure where you’re located but I would highly recommend a group called Lion AV and its owner Gregg Loewen. Gregg is the lead THX calibration instructor (he’s also ISF certified) and has calibrated all of my panels over the years. While his main focus (where the money is) is home theater he has a lot of experience with post workflows and calibration. Each calibration is about $400-$500 bucks but is so worth the money to get the confidence that your larger panel (esp. if its a client monitor) is just as accurate ( think REC 709) as your reference monitor.

After a ton of research I actually went with the Panny VT-25 50′ Full 3D model. After talking to some panasonic guys and other panel gurus I learned that the consumer models actually had more advanced panels, however what I don’t have which you do is Pro IO. I have to do some trickery with HD-SDI to HDMI conversion which so far works just fine. I just wish I had an extra slot in my setup for that HDMI card of the HD Extreme 3! Maybe I’ll drill that hole in the case 🙂

Robbie Carman
—————-
Colorist and Author
Check out my new Books:
Video Made on a Mac
Apple Pro Training Series DVDSP
From Still To Motion

Twitter
Blog

[Christopher Adams]

Think its better to do the trickery rather then hdmi to hdmi. provided you can get the cables out of the case 😉
VS. the aja converter? Which I’m assuming your using something like that?I would gladly use HD-sdi if the i/o module didn’t cost more then the plasma! sheesh panasonic. WTF!
CJ

[Nick Hasson]

If your in LA, i would use dave at avical to calibrate. He is great, has expensive probes and is a nice guy too.

https://www.avical.com/contact-us.html

Nick Hasson
Smoke/Color
http://www.niceedits.com

[Darin Wooldridge]

Thanks everyone. I am using the hdmi out of the black magic card. 🙂 I still need to do some surgery on the atto card but going to switch out the $1600 card for the $600 first.

I may get someone in to do a pro calibration however the “secret settings” I was given are looking very very very very close to the calibrated crt.

Darin Wooldridge
Freelance Colorist / Technical Strategist
818-653-3918-cell
dwooldridge@mac.com
check me out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Davinci-Resolve-Colorist/117363011609028?ref=….

[Kevin Cannon]

Robbie, how is the VT-25 working out for you? Have you had it calibrated yet? I’ve been doing the same research as you probably, and have come to the same conclusion (plus might even get some milage out of screening stereo material)… but since much of the literature available is translated into consumer vocabulary (deep color, cinema-motion, etc) I’d like to hear your take on using it in a critical environment…

KC

[Christopher Adams]

“secret settings” ! O.o please share! Or would you have to kill us?
CJ

[Robbie Carman]

[Kevin Cannon] “Robbie, how is the VT-25 working out for you? Have you had it calibrated yet?”

Awesome and yes! Best blacks I’ve seen in since I owned a Sony BVM. I find my self sometimes looking at the VT-25 more then the FSI reference monitor I have. I have it mounted over my other monitors on an articulating arm so it can be pushed in and out of the way and tilted for different purposes. I haven’t yet used it for 3D other then watching some demo stuff on it and falling asleep on the couch in my suite 🙂

One thing I would highly recommend for any client type monitor of this size is to get proper bias lighting for it. CinemaQuest makes some awesome D65 Panel lights. I have a couple of their pro lights for around my reference monitor and computer monitors but I got their small panel lights that zip tie to the vent holes on the back of the panny. Now I have even, calibrated D65 lighting around the panel and it makes viewing for long periods of time easier and helps even great blacks get even better

Robbie Carman
—————-
Colorist and Author
Check out my new Books:
Video Made on a Mac
Apple Pro Training Series DVDSP
From Still To Motion

Twitter
Blog

[Illya Laney]

I have a Cinemaquest Ideal Lume hooked up to my Panasonic(G25) too and the thing looks killer. The blacks are incredible and the W/B pro settings are great to have at your finger tips.

twitter.com/illyalaney
Motion Design, Color, Editing
SWGC Incorporated

[Tony Manolikakis]

Wouldn’t you need something like a cinetal davio to ensure you were getting true Rec.709 if you were going to use this as a reference monitor. How often do you calibrate. Seems to me the plasma will drift.

Tony Manolikakis
Rev13 Films