Any review/s of panasonic TH-P42v20z or THP46v20z?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Any review/s of panasonic TH-P42v20z or THP46v20z?

jakethesnake

12 posts

Geek

#64352 13-Jul-2010 22:35

Hi, a complete newby here, my old loewe telly just died, so thought I'd get up with the play a bit and am interested in the skype and internet capability of the TH-P42/46v series plasma from panasonic. Does anyone have any news/views on these tellies? I have a darkish lounge so was told plasmas display better in one. Apart from that I know almost nothing about flatscreens, lcds, plasmas, but would also love to get the best display to watch blue ray dvds (when I eventually get one of course). i was taken by the skype feature as I would like to use it to get in touch with a sister in oz who asked if I had skype yet.....I'm a ways behind the times at the mo' so dont even have any knowledge on how that works yet but it impresses me if the telly can do what the rep said. Basically, any news much appreciated, thanks

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#351548 14-Jul-2010 19:51

They're an extremely nice set.
The picture is great, the reflection issues are less than many of the other plasmas of a similar ilk due to a pretty good filter in the panel. The set also seems to be able to display standard definition shows better than the opposition TV's too - which is always a sign of a good TV.
The internet connectivity is cool, but in my view - more of a gimmick for me. I already have Skype on my laptop, and the cost of the cameras is $250 or so.

The criticisms you'll find on-line will include...
1: Dropping black levels over the first few months - something that has been reportedly fixed.
2: A slight buzzing noise you'll hear in a completely silent room, especially when the image on screen is mainly white. Not noticeable, unless you listen to TV (sitting quite closely) with the sound down...

Now do keep in mind - the people critiquing these TV's are EXTREMELY picky.
I mean a WHOLE new level of fussiness...
As no consumer product is perfect, please keep this in mind - someone has to find an issue somewhere.
My $0.10.

jakethesnake

12 posts

Geek

#351553 14-Jul-2010 20:01

Thanks Dunnersfella. Appreciated.
I'm in the throws of choosing which size, then the next thing is I have always hankered for is to copy all my dvds to a harddrive them hook that either via apple-tv or a macmini and play them via that. I suppose there's a steep learning curve as to what's the better way to go about this.....if i go the macmini route then I guess there's not as pressing an argument for getting the V series tv, so it may be better to go down a level but that still has great picture but not the internet/skype capability....decisions decisions....Would you know what model would that be by any chance? I saw DSE has the U series on special today but am not sure if this is a far different beast or not?

thanks

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#352026 15-Jul-2010 18:09

The U models are quite different from the Vs, principally in that they do not use the newer, and rather ineptly named "Neoplasma" technology. I think they may have twigged to their gaffe though as more recently it's being called "NeoPDP".

The panasonic site offers a facility for side-by-side comparison of the feature sets of models, although how important these are, or how well they work, is somewhat subjective.

I'm looking to buy soon too, and I'm still on the fence, considering everything from older S10, G10, and V10 models, as well as the current U20. The V20 is out of my reach $-wise, but if I had $3k I'd be buying a 50V20.

slapnutz

38 posts

Geek

#352786 17-Jul-2010 19:16

Dunnersfella: ....
1: Dropping black levels over the first few months - something that has been reportedly fixed.

I'm interested in this too. As anyone with a v20 actually confirmed rising blacks returning or does it appear to be truly "fixed"?

samwooff

219 posts

Master Geek

#352841 17-Jul-2010 23:13

At the moment I'm not sure what to expect till someone here actually reports how their v20 is doing after at least 1000 hours.
I've been reading up on this on AVS forum which was where the first reported issue was documented last year. On the one hand there is a poster there who has contacts in panasonic engineering and he claims that all 2010 models will have rising black levels, the rise will be smoother but still will be the same 3x increase of last year by the time it is complete. He is a very reputable source so I'm inclined to believe him but at the same time no actual owner of a v20 has reported an issue, either they don't have enough hours on the set yet or the problem is fixed.
Sorry I know this doesn't really confirm anything either way until someone clocks up enough hours we'll never know for certain.

Desktop: i7 920, GTX 275, asus P6T, antec 1200, 6gb ram, 1tb spinpoint f1, 1tb spinpoint f3, Logitech Z2300, Zero DAC, Shure SRH440
Laptop: Toshiba satellite, T5300, Go 7300
Home Theatre: 32" loewe CRT, Harmon kardon amp, dvd player, image 418 speakers, rega planar 25 turntable :)