Panasonic F65 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Jones]

I just picked up a Panasonic F65 progressive scan DVD. It replaces a Sony that was not progressive scan. I really like the features and menus once you get them set up, and the picture appears really good. My question is, when I switch between 480I and 480P, the picture color really changes. I was watching the new Led Zeppelin DVD, and the picture was yellowish on 480I and it was more reddish on 480P. I thought it was the stage lighting, but after I kept switching, there is a noticable color change. I thought it may be the "chrome bug", but after reading about what that actually is, I think not. (I will watch more carefully now to see if it has this though.) Any comments are appreciated. Is this a normal thing when switching between the modes? Does anybody else like or dislike this player?

 

[Steve Jones]

I answered one of my questions already. My Mitsubishi WS55 has an auto color correction mode but it only works in 480I, so that explains the difference there. Anybody have any likes or dislikes on the player, I still may take it back to Circuit City aand try another one. Iread on here someone thought the F85 looked a lot better in picture quality, but I thought the units had identical chips.

Thanks.

 

[DanielMan]

I have the F85 and I agree that the video processing and hardware are identical between the F65 and the F85. The only difference is the F85 adds DVD-Audio and on-board Dolby Digital and DTS processing. If you want those features, go for it. The F85 is impressive for the price point.

A question for you... How would you rank the 480p picture quality (scale of 1-10, 10 being best)? I don't have a HDTV yet but would like to know when I do get one, that I can expect a good picture. Thanks!

 

[Steve Jones]

I think you probably need the Avia set up disc, I just ordered it. I think the thing that impresses me most is the size of the picture. The quality of DVD is at least 3 times better than standard cable TV. And progressive scan is better than interlaced. Also, there is nothing like watching football on a 55" screen. The F65 has on-board DD and DTS processing and DVD-A in 2 channel, so I think the only difference was the multi-channel DVD-A.

 

[JohnnyG]

I'm not sure about your Mits, but most brands of TVs have different internal 'offset' values for the various input resolutions. Without changing the user control, 480i could have the 'Brightness' setting too low and 480p could have it set too high, for example.

As Steve suggests, get your hands on the AVIA, Video Essentials or Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up DVDs and run through all the test patterns for every type of input (composite, s-video, 480i component, 480p). Write down the results for Contrast, Brightness, Colour, Tint and Sharpness in each case, and apply them to the appropriate inputs afterwards.

You may still see a bit of difference if your greyscale changes with various input types, but only a professional calibration will 'cure' that.