Guide to Calibration of Panasonic Plasma TC-P42S1 - FatWallet

Guide to Calibration of Panasonic Plasma TC-P42S1
Applies to any PXXS1 series
I would like to thank the following members from AVS Forums for providing such excellent resources:
D-Nice for X1 offsets and break-in settings
Evangelo2 for break-in slides
LarryInRI for many many helpful posts
LeM22 for service menu navigation instructions, including checking number of hours run
Orta for more tips and G10 calibration
Sadmaker for S1 offsets
I decided to create this document because I found myself struggling trying to piece together all of the information without screwing
anything up. For example, using D-Nice’s settings for break-in, then looking through 60 pages to find out how long each slide should
be on the screen (30 seconds), then trying to navigate the service menu (I was a n00b and it took me a while to figure it out, so I
wanted to write a detailed description for other n00bs), then trying to find out how many hours my TV had been running, etc. Then
trying to find S1 offsets since D-Nice hasn’t posted these yet. So I thought it’d be best to put ALL of this information into one place
so people can refer n00bs to it whenever they have questions.
NOTE: Anytime a command is formatted LIKE THIS, that means you press that key on the TV remote.
Step 1: Break-in
The first step is to run the break-in slides on your plasma TV. These are static images run off either an SD card or a DVD that cycle
through various full-screen colours. For best calibration results, you should run these slides for at least 120 hours.
1. I used an SD card for this. Download the images located at:
http://www.eaprogramming.com/downloads/files/BreakIn_Images.zip
Alternatively, you can run this from a DVD. Burn the following ISO image:
http://www.eaprogramming.com/downloads/files/_Breakin_DVD_R_ISO.zip
2. Place the SD card into your computer via an SD card reader. I removed everything from my SD card and just loaded the 20
images onto there.
3. Place the SD card into the TV card reader (on the left side).
4. On the TV remote, press SD CARD
5. While in the SD card menu, press OK on the remote to select the first slide.
6. Press R (the red key) on the TV remote to select slideshow mode.
7. Press MENU on the TV remote. Enter the following settings (provided by D-Nice):
a. Picture
Picture mode: Vivid
Contrast: 100
Brightness: 55
Color: 65
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 50
Color temp: Cool
CATS: Off
Video NR: Off
Advanced picture
o MPEG NR: Off
o Black level: Light
b. Slideshow settings
Speed: Slow (30 seconds)
Repeat: On
8. Make sure that there is no text and that there are no black bars on the screen while these slides are running.
9. Run the slides for a total of 120 hours. I ran mine almost continuously, only turning it off for about 8 hours.
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Step 2: Check number of hours
This step is optional. It will allow you to check how many hours your TV has been running so that you can assess whether you’ve
accumulated 120 hours of break-in (assuming you haven’t run anything else).
1. In order to check the number of hours, you need to enter the service menu (SM). To do this, hold the Vol– button on the TV
itself. While holding this, press INFO on the remote three times. Continue holding Vol–. The blue service menu should
appear.
2. Press 2 on the TV remote.
3. Press OK on the TV remote.
4. Press the down arrow (▼) on the TV remote until you highlight “PTCT”
5. Press the right arrow (►) on the TV remote.
6. Hold MUTE on the TV remote for three seconds. The number of hours and minutes will appear. See image below (125
hours and 36 minutes).
7. To exit, hold the power button on the TV until the set turns off.
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Step 3: Service menu offsets
In this step, we will be entering the SM in order to apply the calibration offsets. Currently, D-Nice has only posted the X1 series
offsets. As a result, I have decided to use Sadmaker’s offsets in the meantime. If you have a G10, you may wish to use Orta’s offsets.
There are other peoples’ offsets out there as well; I only chose to use these for personal preference.
It is a smart idea to take pictures using a camera of ALL your original settings in the service menu BEFORE you apply the offsets.
Not every TV will have the same original values so it is very IMPORTANT that you keep track of these original values. I have
provided pictures below to show you what you need to record.
NOTE: There are a total of SIX (6) different sets of values. There is one for each temperature (cool, normal, warm) and for each
input mode (SD or HD). So: SD cool, SD normal, SD warm, HD cool, HD normal, HD warm. For Sadmaker’s offsets, we have
settings for warm and normal, so you will need to change the offsets for FOUR sets. In order to access the SD values, you need to
have the input mode set to an SD source (480i or 480p). I used a Wii. In order to access the HD values, you need to have an HD
source. This is anything 720i or higher: 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p. I used my PC input via HDMI for this.
1. Enter the SM: hold the Vol– on the TV itself. While holding this, press INFO on the remote three times. Continue holding
Vol–. You should see something like the following:
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2. In order to scroll through the menu options that are in the box in the left-hand side, you press 1 (forward) and 2 (back) on the
TV remote. All of our adjustments will be in WB-ADJ, so press 1 twice.
3. On this screen (above left image), we can assess exactly which settings we are modifying. You can see in the above image
that we are in the Vivid picture mode, Normal colour temp, and HD source. Let us start with adjusting the HD warm temp
settings. If you have a different temp, press 7 on the TV remote until it displays Warm. Also, press 9 on the TV remote until
WB-ADJ is listed as Custom. Your menu should look like the above right image.
4. The following are Sadmaker’s offsets: (I will show you how to make these changes below, listing these here for reference):
Warm Normal
R-CUT 0 R-CUT 0
G-CUT 0 G-CUT 0
B-CUT –1 B-CUT –1
R-DRV –15 R-DRV –8
G-DRV –14 G-DRV –6
B-DRV +4 B-DRV –1
5. The first setting is R-CUT (should be highlighted, original value of mine was 80). Looking at Warm in the table above, we
see that the offset is 0, so make no changes here. To move between the different sub-menu settings, you press 3 (forward)
and 4 (backward) on the TV remote. Since we’re making no changes here, let’s move to the next setting: press 3 once.
6. The second setting is G-CUT. Again, no change. Press 3 once.
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7. The third setting is B-CUT (see left image below). Here we need to apply –1. SINCE WE ARE MAKING CHANGES,
TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS PAGE. In order to apply changes, use Vol+ (increase) and Vol– (decrease) on the TV remote.
Since we need to apply –1, press Vol– once. I would suggest taking another picture here before you move to the next setting,
because it temporarily shows your original value and your new value. Press 3 AFTER YOU’VE TAKEN A PICTURE.
NOTE: You can simply take a picture of the screen after you’ve made the changes with the Vol+ and Vol– buttons
BEFORE PRESSING 3, because here it shows your original and new values. However, I’ve suggested taking
pictures before and after making changes just in case you accidently press something and you can’t go back.
8. The fourth setting is R-DRV (see right image below). We need to apply –15 here. TAKE PICTURE AGAIN. Then press
Vol– fifteen times. TAKE PICTURE AGAIN. Press 3.
New
Original
9. Next is G-DRV (left image below): –14. TAKE PICTURE. Then Vol– fourteen times. PICTURE. Press 3.
10. Next is B-DRV (right image below): +4. TAKE PICTURE. Then Vol+ four times. PICTURE. Press 3.
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11. Next is AllCut. Don’t change anything here. You may wish to take a picture of this screen. I did, just in case. Press 3.
12. Last is AllDrv. Don’t change anything here. You may wish to take a picture of this screen. I did, just in case. Press 3.
13. You should be back at R-CUT now. You have now completed the changes for HD warm. Next is HD normal temp.
14. To switch to normal temp, Press 7 on the TV remote. Make sure that the Color Temp reads Normal (left image below).
15. Repeat all of the above steps as above, but instead using the offsets for normal temp. These are:
16. R-CUT: 0. No change. 3
17. G-CUT: 0. No change. 3
18. B-CUT: –1. Vol– once. TAKE PICTURE. 3
19. R-DRV: –8. Vol– eight times. TAKE PICTURE. 3
20. G-DRV: –6. Vol– six times. TAKE PICTURE. 3
21. B-DRV: –1. Vol– once. TAKE PICTURE. 3
22. Press 3 two more times to get back to R-CUT. You have now completed the offsets for HD warm and normal. The next step
is to complete these for SD warm and normal.
23. To do so, first save the SM settings and exit. To do this, press and hold the power button on the TV itself until it turns off.
24. Turn the TV back on, then switch the input to an SD source.
25. Enter the SM again: hold the Vol– on the TV itself. While holding this, press INFO on the remote three times. Continue
holding Vol–.
26. Press 1 twice to get to the WB-ADJ menu.
27. Make sure that your settings are as follows (right image above).: WB-ADJ as Custom, Format as SD, Color Temp as Warm.
In order to change WB-ADJ, press 9 on the TV remote until it displays Custom. In order to change Color Temp, press 7 on
the TV remote until it displays Warm. If Format does not display SD, then you are not currently hooked up to an SD input.
Exit the service menu by holding the power button on the TV until it turns off, turn the TV back on, and switch to an input
that is SD (480i or 480p). Go back to Step 25.
28. Now we need to repeat the exact same steps as we did for HD. Go back to Step 5 and continue until Step 23. The offsets for
HD and SD are both the same. MAKE SURE TO TAKE PICTURES OF EACH SCREEN AS WE DID BEFORE. Make
sure to apply the changes for both temperatures (warm and normal) in SD mode, just as we did above for HD mode.
29. Bravo! You have completed the SM offsets. Last, but not least, is to make adjustments to the picture quality using the TV’s
built-in settings.
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Step 4: Picture settings
This set is the easiest and most fool-proof. You just need to change the picture settings that suit your preference. All I shall do here is
list Sadmaker’s picture settings. Feel free to tweak these. I am only listing them here for sake of completeness.
To enter the picture settings menu, press MENU on the TV remote. Then move down the Picture and adjust your settings here.
Cinema (Night) Custom (Day)
Contrast 76 78
Brightness 49 56
Color 39 43
Tint 0 0
Sharpness 60 75
Color Temp Warm Warm
CATS Off Off
Video NR Off Off
MPEG NR Off Off
Black Level Light Light
Thanks for taking the time to read this guide. If you find any errors, please let me know. My alias is mistah_g on AVS Forums. As
well, make sure that you give credit where it is due. I did not come up with any of these settings and I used other peoples’ tips to
navigate the SM. Please see the credits at the beginning of this document and THANK THEM FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS!
Last updated: August 4, 2009
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