Getting New Panasonic ST30 Plasma TV

Chadnliz and Learsfool, thanks for the advice. Still learning. Curious, what's the typical fee for a prof calibration, if I go that route?

$300ish and if you get right diy disc or good eyes its a questionable
value.

My calibration I think cost somewhere in the $200 range, it was mostly for the guy's time, as it did take quite a while. I could now do it myself, but I would say that it was a very good value, as I would not have known how to go about it previously, and although it looked good before, the improvement afterwards was much more than I would have thought. I would highly recommend it.

Certified ISF calibration will cost approximately $200. It's done with a sensor attached to the screen and ISF software is used with a laptop to achieve multiple levels of calibration depending on the panels setup capabilities. Using a disc player to calibrate a display has obvious limitations which is why ISF calibration is not DIY.

Any panel should be run in for a few months before calibration. LCD/LED's generally have their brightness set at their maximum out of the box. My Pioneer Elite plasma was very close to correct calibration.

A few years ago I compared and inexpensive Blue Jeans (Belden cable) to a top of the line Audio Quest HDMI and couldn't discern any difference between the two. This may have changed since then.

I just purchased the Panasonic GT55. It has a calibrated THX certified setting. It looks much better than the other modes. With this setting would I still need ISF calibration?
By the way I am very happy with this set so far. I have not purchased a 3D DVD player yet. I purchased it for 3D and to watch regular tv. I was going through a bulb every year or so watching tv on the big screen.