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42" Pannys in the shops look blurry next to others plasmas

769 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by IceCube, Nov 30, 2002

IceCube

Discussion Starter · Nov 29, 2002

Hi all,

I have read many reviews and seen many people say how marvellous the picture on a 42" Panny PWD4 or PWD5 is. So I am all set to have a look at the screen myself with a view to purchase.

However, I visit the first shop and the picture being displayed on the Panny is not nearly as clear as on the LG. Both are running the same DVD on component input. The second shop I visit, a Panny and a Toshiba are running a standard def digital signal. Not sure what cabling there was, but again the Panny looked blurry against the Toshiba. Third shop, the standalone Panny is running a DVD of a concert performance, S-Video input, and there is terrible banding around the stage lighting.

With all the good that's been said about the two recent 42" Pannys, I'm confused. Has anyone else noticed this in the shops? Do the Pannys require an extensive amount of tuning, and only then you will get the amazing picture they're renowned for? Will their potential only be realised by Video Essentials/Avia tuning? Or is the blurriness just a Panasonic trademark that people seem to like?

By the way, in case it makes a difference, the transmission where I live is PAL.

Marty

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CraigN

· #2 · Nov 29, 2002

I agree with you. Do a search on my user name to get to a thread called PAL and plasma or something similar. It is a great source of information.

The SD panasonic looks inferior on PAL material to some other SD's. Also the pixels are quite obvious at up to about 6feet.

The HD panasonic however looks fantastic. My wife and I were just at David Jones department store in Adelaide. She is not an obsessive videophile like me but could easily see the differences between the SD on display there and our HD at home which

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CraigN

· #3 · Nov 29, 2002

continued - which

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CraigN

· #4 · Nov 29, 2002

Sorry. There is something wrong with my computer. I want to say. I am thrilled with the HD!!

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steelej

· #5 · Nov 29, 2002

What type of Toshiba was it, 'cause AFAIK the tosh is a panny clone so should be exactly the same pic quality. If it's any consolation however, plasma's in store are never ever setup properly, if I went on the store pictures I would never have bought one, but when setup properly the PQ is fantastic.

John.

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R Harkness

· #6 · Nov 29, 2002

IceCube,

Strange. The Panny is definitely not blurry - sharp as hell in my set-up, and I do not like a soft picture.

Generally the Panny tends to display pretty well in stores. However, I have definitely seen it underperform in some careless set-ups. Right now there is a Panny 4UY, same plasma I own, in a high-end store, with it's own dedicated room. I don't know what the heck they've done, but they are showing this terrible Lord Of The Rings music video (Enya singing I think). The picture looks awful; soft, washed out, crappy contrast - everything the Panny isn't. It looks like a sub-par plasma. I don't know WHY stores do this to themselves.

Rich H.

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IceCube

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 30, 2002

Unfortunately the HD model is out of my price range. Plus, there's that old 'wife approval factor' in trying to convince her of a $3000(AUD) increase on an already expensive investment

I will keep it in mind however if I delay my purchase and the HD model comes down in price.

The Toshiba model was a 42WP16A (the UK version name may differ slightly). It was the first Toshiba I have seen and it was impressive showing an SD picture. Why no one could set their Panny's up like this Toshiba is beyond me

That's another thing I noticed... apart from looking soft, the contrast of the Panny was average. The Toshiba had excellent contrast.

I will try to visit as many shops as I can, particularly specialty hifi shops, in the hope they know what they're doing. Hopefully just one of them will have gotten it right.

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