Panasonic HD PLasma vs Sony Bravia Full HD

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gofastfilms

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#25181 14-Aug-2008 09:46

Hi Guys, and sorry I know this is a common question but I'm just not sure which way to go. Yesterday i bought a Panasonic Viera 50" full HD Plasma from Harvey Norman. Got this one over the 52" Bravia as it was much cheaper - $4000 compared with $7000. ANyway got it home and I can't believe the quality of the pics. Running it through a regular Sky box at the mo as the HD one not arrived yet but so many of the channels are soft. We had an old school small CRT before and the picture was much better - dissapointing!

So now I want to take it back and maybe get the Bravia LCD full HD 46" instead, what I need help with is knowing whether this is the right thing to do. Will the picture improve for regular TV, of course this TV has a freeview box inside. We watch a reasonable amount of regular TV, lots of motorbike racing and some films. We went into Harvey Norman several times enquiring about which type we should buy and each saleman pointed to the Viera - I used the scenario that if money wasn't an issue what TV would they reccommend and this is the one they chose, i kind of feel like now that they maybe got a bonus if they sold the VIera!!!

I will go into some others stores today to try and get an honest answer from someone, but I would definitly apprecviate any of your opinions. I did read the post LCD vs Plasma which talks about the exact TV but i just don't know, I had always thought that LCD was better. Need to sort this out asap as have to return TV today if not keeping it.

Look forward to hearing from any of you...

Regards,
Kirsten

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#156813 14-Aug-2008 09:53

Keep it, wait till your MySky HDi arrives then you will be very happy. Get yourself a PS3 / Bluray player, sit at about 3 metres away and you will see you made the right decision, we did and couldn't be happier.

cyril7

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#156819 14-Aug-2008 10:05

Stay with the panny, for fast moving stuff LCD still have some issues. What type of connection between your STB and the PAnny do you have. Yes some of the stocking filler channels on Sky look pretty sad on a big screen, but I dont think moving down to a 46" will help especially if its an LCD as it will add another issue to the mix.

From my observation, both plasmas and LCDs look fantastic on HD, but of the two plasma is much more forgiving when showing SD material, so going to LCD will more likely make it worse not better.

Cyril

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Ultimate Geek

#156837 14-Aug-2008 10:56

gofastfilms:
Hi Guys, and sorry I know this is a common question but I'm just not sure which way to go. Yesterday i bought a Panasonic Viera 50" full HD Plasma from Harvey Norman. Got this one over the 52" Bravia as it was much cheaper - $4000 compared with $7000. ANyway got it home and I can't believe the quality of the pics. Running it through a regular Sky box at the mo as the HD one not arrived yet but so many of the channels are soft. We had an old school small CRT before and the picture was much better - dissapointing!

So now I want to take it back and maybe get the Bravia LCD full HD 46" instead, what I need help with is knowing whether this is the right thing to do. Will the picture improve for regular TV, of course this TV has a freeview box inside. We watch a reasonable amount of regular TV, lots of motorbike racing and some films. We went into Harvey Norman several times enquiring about which type we should buy and each saleman pointed to the Viera - I used the scenario that if money wasn't an issue what TV would they reccommend and this is the one they chose, i kind of feel like now that they maybe got a bonus if they sold the VIera!!!

I will go into some others stores today to try and get an honest answer from someone, but I would definitly apprecviate any of your opinions. I did read the post LCD vs Plasma which talks about the exact TV but i just don't know, I had always thought that LCD was better. Need to sort this out asap as have to return TV today if not keeping it.

Look forward to hearing from any of you...

I've got the Panasonic TH42PY800. I believe these Panasonic plasmas has the best picture out of the various Plasma and LCDs available here in NZ at the moment. My father inlaw has one of the new Bravia models with the integrated freeview tuner, but the Panasonic definitely has a better picture. In my eyes plasma produces a more natural picture, and has much better blacks etc.

The reason I optioned for the 42" version was because we primarily watch regular standard definition TV, and I dont see that changing any time in the next few years. Stretching these standard definitions pictures to an even larger size was just going make it look worse, and any picture flaws will be more obvious.

I've owned larger TV's in the past, and decided the 42" model perfect for us. It looks great with regular standard def TV from our sky box. It looks awesome with bluray's from my PS3, and awesome from Freeview HD box on both highdef and standard def channels. The reality is that we just dont have enough high definition TV content in NZ that I would have been happy with viewing on a larger TV.

kiwitrc

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#156844 14-Aug-2008 11:09

Take a look at the Samsung 46 100Hz 4ms unit, good price and great performance.

Dingbatt

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#157023 14-Aug-2008 19:22

To use your motorbike racing as an example, it doesn't matter what brand the bike is if you try to run it on parrafin rather than racing spirit. The feed from your SD Sky decoder is the parrafin. It was developed for CRT TVs and no HD TV, particularly not the size you are talking about, is going to magically sharpen it up sufficiently. If you just bought it did they throw in the Freeview HD decoder that is part of the promotion at the moment?

Hope you kept the Panna. With the right input it is an awesome tele.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

sbiddle

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#157031 14-Aug-2008 19:43

SD Sky will look terrible on a 50" Plasma - unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this.

Plug a Freeview|HD box in however and the TV will come alive. TV1, TV2 and TV3 in either HD or upscaled HD look great and even all the SD channels look far better.

What cables are you using for connecting your Sky box? Assuming you had a CRT before I'm guessing you're probably using a regular composite cable? Using component will make a difference.

gofastfilms

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#157051 14-Aug-2008 21:18

HI thanks for all your responses.

Yes we are running the cheap standard cable that we used for our CRT to SD Sky, it is crap. I was told today and i'm sure you all are already aware that when we use our HDMI cable that we've bought for the HD Sky box the picture and Sky's menu should improve - at the moment the menu and channel numbers are all pixalated.

We opted for the free home theatre from the Panasonic deal and of course took the HD MySky - can't wait, not had My Sky before. SO am I right in understanding that having the HD Sky box will give the same improved results as the HD Freeview box?? Or do I need to buy that too??

Thanks all
K

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sbiddle

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#157057 14-Aug-2008 21:42

gofastfilms: We opted for the free home theatre from the Panasonic deal and of course took the HD MySky - can't wait, not had My Sky before. SO am I right in understanding that having the HD Sky box will give the same improved results as the HD Freeview box?? Or do I need to buy that too??

You can't get TV1 or TV2 in HD on Sky HD. You only get TV3 in HD and the Sky HD channels. You also don't get any of the other Freeview channels on Sky at all.

The quality of the remaining Sky channels won't change, they will still look the same with a MySky HDi as they do now.

eXDee

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#157070 14-Aug-2008 22:34

sbiddle: The quality of the remaining Sky channels won't change, they will still look the same with a MySky HDi as they do now.

Which is complete rubbish after watching Freeview HD olympics. Now i can really notice it.

gofastfilms

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Wannabe Geek

#157077 14-Aug-2008 23:14

Thanks guys. I have just plugged my HD vid cam into the tv using my HDMI cable, the HD material on the tape played crystal clear on the plasma, I am very pleased and now slightly happier. I do have one other question though...

Should you buy the extended warranty that they try and sell you - do you need it????

Thanks again

ps. Also don't understand your reply to sbiddle eXDee?

sbiddle: The quality of the remaining Sky channels won't change, they will still look the same with a MySky HDi as they do now.

eXDee: Which is complete rubbish after watching Freeview HD olympics. Now i can really notice it.

BazNZ

258 posts

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#157101 15-Aug-2008 06:48

ps. Also don't understand your reply to sbiddle eXDee?

sbiddle: The quality of the remaining Sky channels won't change, they will still look the same with a MySky HDi as they do now.

eXDee: Which is complete rubbish after watching Freeview HD olympics. Now i can really notice it.

I think eXDee was meaning the Sky reception is complete rubbish rather than meaning sbiddle is complete rubbish...LOL. Atleast I hope so?...LOL Anyway gofastfilms..I too bought the 50"Panasonic Plasma TH-PY800 model and I'm really happy with it. I personally think the picture is the best of any HDTV in this size or price range. You could pay $3000 more for the Sony but I don't believe the picture is any better and certainly not for an extra 3000 clams. Remember to use the digital inputs (HDMI) rather than analogue(RCA) where you can. I'm thinking of getting a tech around to fine tune mine for optimal picture quality as they may know more about settings than me. I have however played around with it and I'm still happy with the quality. I will probably get MySkyHDi and multiroom soon anyway so possibly the sky installer can set it up better than me? I have also just received a Freeview HD receiver for TVONE TV2 & TV3 and others...well... the picture through this set top box is superb. I recommend one and you'll never watch these channels through sky again! The problem with sky is there compression. By the time they compress the picture & sound so they can deliver to there customers they have lost all the quality. You do not have this problem with Freeview as it use's a UHF Aerial unlike SkyTV who use a Satellite. I'm also thinking about purchasing a PS3 for watching DVD and BluRay movies as well...now I'm expecting some good results from this machine. Anyway gofastfilms...I'd stick with the Panny and get it set correctly if your not happy. It should produce good quality motion pictures for sports and movies while viewing TV at night is even better. I'm sure if you got the Sony home you would have been just as disappointed with the HDTV. I feel it may have more to do with the badly compressed SkyTV reception blown up on a 50" screen and possibly your actual HDTV settings. I hope also your TV is set to home viewing mode and not still in the Shop/Store mode. Anymore problems just ask...I can give you my settings for what they're worth...LOL. I'm using 1080i resolution too by the way which seems to give me better picture quality than 720p and 576i.

Regards

BazNZ

gofastfilms

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#157122 15-Aug-2008 08:49

Thanks BazNZ, and what about the extended warranty? They sold us one but I would try and take it back if it's not needed...

So if we had the freeview box aswell, does that mean another remote etc...?

Thanks
K

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#157134 15-Aug-2008 09:38

gofastfilms: Thanks BazNZ, and what about the extended warranty? They sold us one but I would try and take it back if it's not needed...

So if we had the freeview box aswell, does that mean another remote etc...?

Thanks
K

There is no yes or no answer as to whether an extended warranty is necessary or not.

The CGA does offer the end consumer a lot of protection against faults so in many respects it is not necessary. The extended warranty does give you piece of mind and does go above and beyond that the CGA will offer you. Many will argue they are completely unnecessary and the main reason that big box stores do push them hard is the profit they make on the extended warranties - I was told once they make around 50% on the price of the policy but I don't know if this is true across the board or the case with all retailers.

clevedon

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#157146 15-Aug-2008 10:13

From what I have read elsewhere as well - don't get extended warranty. You are covered by CGA by the fact that the goods should last a reasonable amount of time as expected past the manufactures standard warranty. If you buy from a reputable brand name, generally the amount of faults are very low and if there is a problem they usually will look after you. We have always purchased expensive big ticket items from the reputable manufactures for over twenty years - never had a problem / claim / fault.

kiwitrc

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#157156 15-Aug-2008 10:37

Yep, and as we all learn in the electronics game, equipment tends to follow a bath tub curve in that failures are usually at the beginning and end of its life.

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