Panasonic PX80 Owners Thread - Page 6

I am really excited to the 720P 42" 2008 model.

That said... the BB by me has a 42" KURO pioneer open box going for oh... about 1,350... so only a few hundred more than the 2008 panasonic costs.

Should I go for the pioneer.. it's been on the floor being run every day for a few months. Not sure if that is a big deal or not. I know the pioneer is a marginally better TV.. and I'd love to have a PIO plasma but it all depends on one thing.

How good are the 2008 panny plasmas? Will I regret not getting a pioneer, especially now that they have announced they are no longer manufacturing panels? I am rather picky about PQ.

Thanks for the courtesy of your reply. I am indeed familiar with the "Just" mode but I can't stand stretching........so if you'll pardon the pun stretching "JUST" doesn't cut it for me. Do you think we will ever get used to the sidebars and if so, which will be LEAST visually distracting......dark or light gray and which is "better" for the TV? Once again, thanks!

Hopefully the cable companies will get their act together and add more hd channels so we won't have to deal with this. My cable company only offers about 25 channels right now.

See post #116 in this thread.

Larry

does anyone have any ideas on when Best Buy will have the 800u in stock, i bought a 80u last week, i love it so far, but i'm planning on upgrading to a 85u or 800u soon, just wondering if i should go ahead and get the 85u or if the 800u will be out soon enough i'd rather wait for the 24hz multiple refresh, thanks

YES, get the Pioneer. Much better!

Granted they get there sets earlier than most, look towards the middle of April to early May.

Depends on which cable/satellite company you have, some have alot more than others do.

Would it be wise to go with 50'' PX80 at 720P? My watching distance is gonna be 7ft. Is 1080P worth it at that distance.

1080p would probably meet your needs however is it worth the price premium considering you can get the new 50 720p for under retail at most places which is under the 1699 mark. I had a Sony LCD Rear Projection 42e2000 in my bedroom and the picture was incredible even sitting up close when playing games or sitting back a few feet watching HDTV. I would save the money and go with the 50 720p until one day everyone becomes reasonable in their 1080p set pricing. There is absolutely no reason why one should not be able to pick up a Panny 50" 1080p set for more than $2k. Especially if one can be patient you will most likely be able to pick up one later this year for about that pricepoint or even less.

FWIW, I went to CC yesterday to sleuth HTiB's for my soon to arrive (on Tuesday) 50PX80. To The right of a 50PX75U...I think it was,isn't that one a 720P?...was a bigger Sony 1080p LCD. Frankly, it was blowing the Panasonic away. Of course it should for something like 2 grand more
I couldn't tell the qualitative difference the other day while comparing 720 vs, 1080 plasmas at Fry's, but the difference was CLEARLY obvious in this case.

As I moved closer to the screen, the "screen door" effect did become apparent significantly sooner on the Panny than the Sony. I will be going back today and will verify model numbers...

Again, I don't know what the settings were and that could have been a significant factor in this comparison of picture quality.

What I found much more interesting however was the comparison btween the px75u, and the 1080p Panny (700U?) to the left. As these tvs were closely lined up with the same HD feed, I could see that the Sony had a "tighter" pixel pattern than the 1080p as well. But thats an issue of $$$ more than any criticism of the Panasonics.

Saw nothing there to make me regret my Panny purchase. I need a car way more than that Sony.

Anyway, as I moved back from the two Pannys, I began to lose visual on the "screen door" at about 5 feet (I have about 20/15 corrected distance eyesight.) on both sets. By 7 feet I could see no difference between the two.

My viewing distance will be 12 feet at home.

So, short answer is, recommend visiting some stores to compare as that decision is entirely subjective.

And for the sound system?

I'm no audiophile, and this investment is straining my budget, so I have settled on the Yamaha YHT-380.

Has the remote control changed at all from the 75U to the 80U? I always thought this remote was a bit weak on the number of buttons.

You will get used to it. I have run my Panny plasma with mid gray sidebars on SD sources ever since I got it over three years ago and I prefer it to the black sidebars on HD feeds that I cannot adjust. I have found that the gray sidebars play a trick on the eye and on many static scenes those sidebars become part of the overall image, making it seem like a 16:9 picture even when it is not. Black sidebars don't do that, and stretching the picture is out of the question for me. What does work pretty well is to use the "zoom" aspect, which keeps the proper proportions but cuts off part of the top and bottom somewhat, though you do lose some resolution. Some SD letterbox shows actually work very well with zoom and make it look like a near HD picture with no image loss. Some BBC America shows on Comcast digital, "Torchwood" for example, are SD in WS and fit the zoom mode perfectly. The real solution, of course, is for the idiots in Washingto to take a 2X4 up side the head and realize that the FCC needs to mandate that ALL digital transmission, SD or HD must be 16:9 (or wider if originally shot that way). Only very old movies and some TV reruns would be exempt. THEN we can all forget about having to deal with sidebars!

I went to BB and loved the picture quality of this. I bought the TH-42PX80U system. I was wondering where can I find the optimal or the best calibration settings for this unit to minimize any burnin issues. I am a newbie when it comes to this stuff and I just found this awesome forum.
Thanks.

Can maybe a couple of owners post or PM me what settings seem to make them happy. I'm going shopping this weekend and want to really look at the 42PX80. I was all set to pull the trigger on a sammy 4264 over the PX75 but with the apparent improvements I want to give the 80 a close look.

Thank you

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, without question, the FCC should do what you suggested!

BTW, did you have ANY burn in or IR? Do you keep your picture/contrast mode at of BELOW 50?

Have a nice weekend and I hope you didn't suffer any weather related damage down in your "neck of the woods".

The FCC? They have no authority for that.

I have had the 42PX80U for a week and have experienced no IR at all. My picure and brightness is set such that it gives me essentially the same picture that I get on my 42px75u -- now in the bedroom.

BTW, having calibrated the 75U with instrumentation, I am very pleased that the 80U seems to need no service menu adjustment. It appears that Panasonic did it right this time.

Larry

Hi Larry:

I'd be interested to know all your picture settings. I have the 50PX80U. And if you've been able to 'map' your instrumented settings from your 75 to your 80, it would seem reasonable that they'd be about right on my 50" 80, no?

I also had a 50PX77U and used the CNET settings, but when I mapped them to the 80, I wasn't too pleased. Most 77 setting ranges went from 0 to 30, while the 80's setting ranges run -50 to +50. Simple interpolation got me to what should be the same, but my 77 looked better.

Thanks!

dave

Larry could you provide your 42PX80U settings. thanks,

The sets (Yeah. I know. Showing my age with the word "set") in question were the Panny 50PZ77U, Panny PX75U, and Sony 52KDL 52W3000

Does anyone have the dimensions and/or weight of the box that this model comes in?

I'm moving soon and I'm debating having it shipped to my current address or my new address. The advantage of getting it now is that I'll have the TV when Directv comes to install service at the new place. But I can't do this if the box is too big or too heavy.

thanks!

Product Dimensions: 47.6 x 3.7 x 31.1 inches ; 79.5 pounds

Shipping Weight: 99 pounds

got this info off of amazon.com, hope that helps!

Now where in the blankety **** did you get your TH-50PX80U??? :-)
We are in Central Illinois and our Best Buy said in a few weeks......famous last words.
Anyways, anything (settings etc.) you can share with us on you new Panny would be appreciated.

To answer this and the PMs that I have received: There appears to be a basic redo in some of the electronics in the 80u compared to the 75u.

The most appreciated change is the default grayscale. The 80U comes to what appears, very, very close to the D65 standard in the Warm/Cinema setting -- and not far off in the other mode settings. (I come to this conclusion by looking at my instrument calibrated 42px75u and the 42px80u side by side.)

The blacks are really black. The slight false contouring seen in the 75u is negligible if not totally gone in the 80u. The Cinema mode is now what it should be with a gamma that appears right on. There appears that there is no floating black level in the Cinema mode.

There is no way to compare settings between the 80u and the 75u so I won't attempt it. BTW, the scales in the user menu go from 0 to 100 not -50 to +50.

More to come after I do some serious viewing,
Larry

I believe our sponsors has been selling them already. Some people might already received it from the sponsors.

Larry..........a BIG THANKS!

The remote is by far the lamest part of this tv. I'm not sure if it is the same remote with the 75U. I've owned $100 tv's that included higher quality remote than this tv.

The remote is the same. I don't use it anyway so, for me, it's no problem.

Mine arrives by truck into town on Sunday, and will be delivered to the house on Tuesday....