Panasonic 46G15 Question

I tried to do a search but couldn't really find anything, although I am sure it has been asked a million times in this forum.
I bought a G15 Panny and I have to say I am very happy, got it saturday night, after doing a lot of research here I kept my settings as standard, 50 brightness 50 contrast during the beginning period to be careful, even with no settings adjustments the image is amazing so I am very happy with the possibilities.
My question refers to gaming.. I haven't done any of it just to be on the safe side.
But how serious is the burn in problem in the new panels, even on those image settings would it be possible to damage it, or could I get away with an hr here and there and still be safe? I am just asking cause I am on a couple of leagues and got to get some matches done this weekend, by then the tv will be close to 60hrs or so.

As an added bonus question if someone wants to help out, I have a directtv hd box connected thru hdmi, I have the resolutions to be 720p 1080i and 1080p is there a better setting for the image?

Check out my "SETTINGS" link in my signature for some info on settings & break in. During the break in period an hour here and there should be fine for gaming with contrast at 50%.

Thanks a lot for the direction, just one quick question if you don't mind. What does the native setting do in the sat box? I played with the settings the other night while setting it up, but it almost made the image look worse in my eyes, but maybe I had it on the wrong channel to test it.

The native output means that it sends the signal as it is received and the TV scales it to the native resolution of the display which in this case is 1080p. This is the preferred method as none of these STB do as good a job scaling as the TV, and ditto for deinterlacing as well.

You likely compared a sd channel to a HD channel or a overly compressed one to a lesser compressed one. You need to compare the same channel at the same time with both output methods to do a fair comparison.

I have my 2008 plasma set to do all scaling and deinterlacing as the Cable STB are not as good. I don't have DTV so I cannot say from experience how good their STBs are though.

ok thanks, I will try it later on hdtheater probably since it seems one of the best hd channels for quality out there.

Thanks a lot for the direction, just one quick question if you don't mind. What does the native setting do in the sat box? I played with the settings the other night while setting it up, but it almost made the image look worse in my eyes, but maybe I had it on the wrong channel to test it.

On my sat box with native "ON" the sat box outputs at the same resolution as the signal is being received and the TV changes it's resolution setting. If the program is 480i the box sends it to the TV at 480i and the TV resets itself to 480i. If the program is 720p, the tv resets itself to 720p. If the program is 1080i, the tv resets itself to 1080i. If you have native "OFF" the box outputs at whatever resolution you have it set to, it won't change when you change to a program that's a different resolution.

On my sat box with native "ON" the sat box outputs at the same resolution as the signal is being received and the TV changes it's resolution setting. If the program is 480i the box sends it to the TV at 480i and the TV resets itself to 480i. If the program is 720p, the tv resets itself to 720p. If the program is 1080i, the tv resets itself to 1080i. If you have native "OFF" the box outputs at whatever resolution you have it set to, it won't change when you change to a program that's a different resolution.

Why wouldn't the tv upscale it?

The TV WILL upscale any signal that is a lower resolution.

Well you two guys are contradicting each other lol.. I'll give it a test with native on and see what happens.
Also why does everyone say that noise reduction should be off?

Well you two guys are contradicting each other lol.. I'll give it a test with native on and see what happens.
Also why does everyone say that noise reduction should be off?

We are not really conflicting as he was just describing what gets sent and left out the upscaling part likely because i already explained everything gets upgraded to the native resolution of the display. ;)

Noise reduction softens the PQ and can introduce artifacts when it tries to do that. Somethings that are not noise but perceived to be by the NR algorithms will remove it then.

I found 3 different NR options on the tv and I turned them all off, is that the best way to calibrate the image?

It's a start. ;)

We are not really conflicting as he was just describing what gets sent and left out the upscaling part likely because i already explained everything gets upgraded to the native resolution of the display. ;)


No, everything does not get upgraded to the native resolution of the display. ;)

I just tried it again. On my sat box (DIRECTV HR20) if I set it to native ON and go to an SD channel the sat box sends out 480i as display by only the 480i LED being on, the TV goes black briefly, then displays the show I'm watching and shows a brief message - HDMI1 - 720x480i. When I go to an HD channel broadcasting something 1080i the 1080i LED on the sat box is the only LED on, the TV goes black briefly, then displays the shows I'm watching and shows a brief message - HDMI1 - 1920x1080i.

No, everything does not get upgraded to the native resolution of the display. ;)

I just tried it again. On my sat box (DIRECTV HR20) if I set it to native ON and go to an SD channel the sat box sends out 480i as display by only the 480i LED being on, the TV goes black briefly, then displays the show I'm watching and shows a brief message - HDMI1 - 720x480i. When I go to an HD channel broadcasting something 1080i the 1080i LED on the sat box is the only LED on, the TV goes black briefly, then displays the shows I'm watching and shows a brief message - HDMI1 - 1920x1080i.

Your display is stating the INCOMING resolution not the resolution displayed unless you have a CRT based display. All plasmas, DLPs & LCD displays are fixed pixel displays that can ONLY display the native resolution. This is an disputable fact. What you are seeing is what the input signal is not what is being displayed. ;)

is there an advantage of using game mode? or once I get it calibrated is ok to leave it like that for everything?

There are to settings with game features. There is the GAME mode for picture settings that should be avoided IMO, and there is a labeling of the type of use on an input where you would set it to game as the type of source material. By changing it to the GAME label the display automatically does the orbiting pixels (to shift them to reduce static pixels more) every minute instead of the default 4 minute intervals. I believe it also reduces video processing when the game label is set for an input as well. I have the PS3 input set as GAME for the label myself on my 2008 model.

hey man, just wanted to say thanks for all your help and promptly answering questions.