Colors and Ideal Settings

Fine-tuning for the optimal picture, just like they see in the film studio: In this chapter, we'll show you how good the Panasonic TX-P 42 GW 10's colors and presets really are, and how to get the best out of the TV's picture.

Color Fidelity:

The TV's color spectrum tells the expert what type of light source the TV uses. The Panasonic uses neither fluorescent tubes nor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate its picture. Instead, plasma TVs use ultraviolet gas discharges to excite red, green, and blue phosphors, which they then use in a way similar that of a CRT display.

Already in the "Cinema" preset, the color temperature is largely constant, at between 6,500 and 7,000 Kelvin across all grayscales - the Panasonic picture is well balanced, and no obvious color tint disturbs the eye, even in black-and-white movies.

A CIE diagram indicates the color gamut of the TV (reproduction of saturated colors), as well as the color coordinates of various light grayscales. The black triangle shows the ideal values; the white triangle is the gamut of the tested TV.

In the ideal case, you would see just one spot inside the triangle, and this would lie at the point where the dotted lines meet (the D65 point). The more visible spots, the bigger the color deviation.

One obvious point: The Panasonic's color triangle is larger than the color space defined for video. This means that saturated red and green tones will always look a touch more intense, or more radiant, than in the original - but therefore also more synthetic.

Picture Settings:
In comparison to some other TVs, the Panasonic TX-P 42 GW 10 offers a manageable selection of picture settings. It lacks a deep-reaching color management system, for example, but this means that even beginners will be able to get to grips with the available options.

In the picture menu, the user can choose between the almost perfectly adjusted "Cinema" mode and the three increasingly bluish modes "Normal", "Game", and "Dynamic". Each preset offers three color-temperature options, "Cool", "Normal", and "Warm".

The factory settings for Color Management ("On") and x.v.Color ("Auto") are correct, and you shouldn't need to seek them out for adjustment, especially since they actually change little about the picture. The "Eco Mode", on the other hand, is effective above all in a bright environment. Here, the Panasonic uses a light sensor to adjust the contrast and gamma characteristic automatically to suit the ambient illumination.

In the second picture menu, under "Advanced Settings", the TV allows white-balance adjustment for red and blue. This affects bright and dark grayscales, and means you can bring the red and blue components in line with the green, which you cannot adjust. This menu also contains the all-important gamma setting. You should change the gamma to 2.2 from the factory value of 2.0. The darkest setting, 2.5, is only suitable for completely darkened rooms. We recommend against using the "S Curve" setting which unnaturally enhances the grayscales in order to increase the picture's contrast.

Calibration:

The controls for white and gray balance allow fine-adjustment of the color balance in bright and dark grayscales, but have no effect on the color saturation.

In "Cinema" mode, the Panasonic TX-P 42 GW 10 still displayed small color-temperature deviations, above all in darker grayscales. We achieved minimal improvements on the test model by adjusting the gray balance slightly for both red (up two levels) and blue (up two levels). Improvements will mean the CIE diagram shows the grayscale spots yet closer to the D65 point.

The color space remains, however, significantly extended toward greens and reds, which can lead to slightly over-exaggerated or overly intense-looking color reproduction - there's nothing the user can do about this.

Grayscale-Linearity:

The red, green, and blue lines are straight, showing only a minimal, lingering blue tint in the central grayscales - this is hardly visible to the naked eye.

Gamma Characteristic:

The gamma graph shows whether the TV reproduces brightness levels correctly. The red curve shows the ideal values, the blue the gamma of the test device.

In the factory setup, the gamma characteristic (2.0) sits above the recommended setting (2.2). This makes the picture look too bright, but if you alter the gamma setting to 2.2, the curve suits the contrast-rich plasma TV perfectly.

Ideal Settings

We achieved an optimal Blu-ray HDTV movie picture using the settings listed below. You may need to make slight changes to these settings as a result of manufacturing variations, HDMI-transmission variables, and differences between Blu-ray players.

Viewing Mode: Cinema

Contrast: 40

Brightness: 0

Sharpness: 4

Color Balance: Warm

Color Management: On

x.v.Color Off

Eco Mode: Off

P-NR: Off

Aspect Selection: 16:9

Advanced Settings Menu:

W/B High R: middle value

W/B High B: middle value

W/B Low R: two levels to the right

W/B Low B: two levels to the right

Gamma: 2.2

Setup-Menu (Other Settings Menu):

Intelligent Frame Creation: On

Power Save: Off

Picture Overscan: Off