Panasonic TV Fans

[GentleGiant]

I think she is beautiful, if a little too thin. That's the funny thing about beauty imho. The beautiful object has to have a flaw too, otherwise it becomes almost perfect and no longer special. That makes sense in my head. Brad looked a bit chunky on my Panny last night, even with correct aspect ratio

 

Have to say that the ski jumping thingie looked fantastic on a big screen in HD. I'd never noticed the skis wobble as they come down the ramp before. The broadcasters have done a good job this year

 

 

I hate to tell you this, but I could see the wobble perfectly well on my old non HD TV, even without my glasses on.

( I have spent most of the last 4 days flat on my back in bed after an old spinal injury flared up).

[Lady Elanore]

I hate to tell you this, but I could see the wobble perfectly well on my old non HD TV, even without my glasses on.

( I have spent most of the last 4 days flat on my back in bed after an old spinal injury flared up).

Never noticed it before :( but there again, it might well be because I have never really watched it carefully enough before. Come to think of it the last time I watched ski jumping, Eddie the Eagle was gliding to stardom..........sort of

[VWD]

The TX 32 was designed to rival the Barco reference monitors that broadcasters use. It didn't quite make it but for the price it was a great effort.

I'm not an expert on picture quality, but I spent a lot of years in GPO/POT/BT transmission places where we did the landlines for BBC & local radio OB, so I'm used to decent quality audio stuff ,albe it my ears are a bit toned down in my older years, but I still recognise quality sound, and the TX32 meets the quality on music. What really amazes me is that my dad at his advanced years and with hearing shot to pieces ( he was one of the anti air craft gunners that protected London in the Blitz), he loved this set. My problem was that he would press buttons on the remote and end up in al sorts of problems. The dealer was great, but dad hesitated calling them ,as most times ,dealer sent someout to sort problems ( no charge of course,which dad didn'tlike), and in the end I downloaded a user guide and dad wqould call me .i'd consult guide and help him out. It's now connected to a Humax freeview set top box and the picture & audio quality is first class. I'd like to think dad is up on a cloud ,being happy that I get pleasure from a set he bought a good few years ago .

[Lady Elanore]

I'm not an expert on picture quality, but I spent a lot of years in GPO/POT/BT transmission places where we did the landlines for BBC & local radio OB,

I spent many happy years connecting up to GPO blocks for BBC Radio Obs and still have a large collection of bits and bobs that end in a 316 jack Life was so much easier then when all we had were Music lines and Control lines

[VWD]

Deffo- Lady E- we even had one state of the art music speaker conected as a "courtesy" feed to our local radio station .

[Lady Elanore]

Deffo- Lady E- we even had one state of the art music speaker conected as a "courtesy" feed to our local radio station .

Oh for the days when an engineer went out to squeak the lines and then we groped about in the rain to find the plastic block with a spiders interpretation of writing on a scrap of paper telling me which lines were ours :) The number of DELs I pinched over the years is probably more than a little illegal

[B33fy]

Finally got my system how I want it, with a GT60 at centre stage. spent a day or so burying cables, wall could do with another coat of paint but overall pleased with how it looks and sounds.

 

 

[VWD]

VWD, on 23 Feb 2014 - 23:53, said:

Deffo- Lady E- we even had one state of the art music speaker conected as a "courtesy" feed to our local radio station .

Oh for the days when an engineer went out to squeak the lines and then we groped about in the rain to find the plastic block with a spiders interpretation of writing on a scrap of paper telling me which lines were ours :) The number of DELs I pinched over the years is probably more than a little illegal

I forgot to mention those "state of the art speakers" were that in the late 70's, where they acted as heaters from the valves .in those days , transistors and flowers shared a common name"Germanium", and on some trtasmission kit, faulting was done by cutting the screen lead on 4 legged devices to remove the collector/screen short.

[chalkstorm]

VT50 here - after down sizing from a house with a dedicated cinema room & HD PJ with 110" screen, I have to say the VT50 is bloody amazing.  Very happy with it.  Mates got a Kuro and there's not much between them IMHO

[Lady Elanore]

VT50 here - after down sizing from a house with a dedicated cinema room & HD PJ with 110" screen, I have to say the VT50 is bloody amazing.  Very happy with it.  Mates got a Kuro and there's not much between them IMHO

I agree about my VT50. I also have a Kuro and there is precious little between them. The Panny is great for connectivity , the Kuro seems to handle Blu Ray motion fractionally better imho (which surprised me considering it doesn't have the motion processing power-or perhaps that's why ).

[cheezemonkhai]

I've just seen a demo of a VT65 and I have to stay the GT30 is excellent, but in a dark room, the inky blacks on the VT are indeed better.

It really is up there along the reference screens of a few years back.

 

Stick it in a standard room with light and I think it's less obvious.

 

So I guess it comes down to, whether one can be found in a sane size, without 1000+ hours on display on it and at a sane price.

I've found a place with some ZT models and a few huge VT models in stock, but nothing at the small end of the scale.

[Nick P]

F8500 continues for 2014. Only trouble is finding them in the UK now. I'll reiterate - I'm so glad I got it instead of the Panny ZT. I'm even using the smart functionality - it's so well executed - to the extent where I think I'm going to sell my Intel NUC because I'm using the TV's in-built Plex and Youtube apps instead.

[cheezemonkhai]

F8500 continues for 2014. Only trouble is finding them in the UK now. I'll reiterate - I'm so glad I got it instead of the Panny ZT. I'm even using the smart functionality - it's so well executed - to the extent where I think I'm going to sell my Intel NUC because I'm using the TV's in-built Plex and Youtube apps instead.

 I understand that, but my experience of the Sammy plasma screens has been much variability between different screens from the same models. (Same settings on the screen too).

That's something that really put me off historically.

 

To be honest, the ZT is too big and costs far more than I'd be willing to spend on a TV.

At that point the PN51f8500 could have been tempting, but I guess I'm also familiar with panasonic and the smart features are always outdated within a year anyway.

Edited 26 March, 2014 by cheezemonkhai

[Nick P]

Remember I've owned a couple of Panasonics before this and I was a bit of a Panny fan boy until NeoPDP DFC drive issues happened and I had all the hassle with the VT20s. I actually did briefly own a couple of flagship model Samsung LCDs in 2007, the quality control issues of which put me off Samsung until the F8500. The smart features on the Panasonics are still unusably bad. The Samsung apps though are frequently updated and just get better AND each year they bring out an evo kit for £200 to update hardware features - the 2014 one has just come out. If they do another evo kit next year for the F8500 I might get it or just get the 2014 one cheap at that point. The smart functionality already feels so slick and powerful, there's never the slightest hint of lag despite it being very complex and good looking graphically / animations wise. Believe me - I'm the last person I thought you'd hear advocating relying on built in smart functionality.

 

Regarding variability on the screens, these are easily worthwhile getting professionally calibrated. I keep meaning to get one booked in.

[cheezemonkhai]

I've been doing some more digging and the stories about the VT65 50" panels having a red issues after 1000 on hours are a real worry.

 

The 55" don't have the issue, but I don't have the space, so that's out.

At this rate, I'll just stay with the GT30.

[Leon-y-k]

TXP50ST60B over here, got it for a bargain price and 5 year guarantee! it's incredible compared to other TV's we've had. I've always liked Panasonics and a few friends who have them have sworn by them. 

[cheezemonkhai]

 

TXP50ST60B over here, got it for a bargain price and 5 year guarantee! it's incredible compared to other TV's we've had. I've always liked Panasonics and a few friends who have them have sworn by them. 

 

 

Be interest to find out if you're seeing any of the red hues, as I've heard the GT and ST 50" are suffering too.

[Leon-y-k]

Be interest to find out if you're seeing any of the red hues, as I've heard the GT and ST 50" are suffering too.

We've only had it for a month or so. I'll post any updates if there are any. it seems to be ok so far though, considering its an ex display and comes with 5 years warranty it seemed pretty good to me!  

 

The 3D glasses are expensive though at £70 quid a pair! But we got 3 pairs with the TV. 

[cheezemonkhai]

Well had a look at a Samsung and the only one they had was a 65" model.

It looked ok, I'm sure a pro calibration would sort it out. The smart features are good too.

Getting hold of a 51" version. No chance!

So it's down to what you can find and to be honest it's likely to be nothing at this rate.

[Nick P]

Where did you manage to find one to look at?

Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

[Lady Elanore]

Well had a look at a Samsung and the only one they had was a 65" model.

It looked ok, I'm sure a pro calibration would sort it out. The smart features are good too.

Getting hold of a 51" version. No chance!

So it's down to what you can find and to be honest it's likely to be nothing at this rate.

Well I'm still very pleased with my VT50 and haven't been too tempted to put my Kuro back on (actually it's too bloody heavy to lump about )

[FUBAR]

I just do the go into shop and pick one with best picture method. Always good to get a new gadget though! 

[Neo_VR]

Finally got my system how I want it, with a GT60 at centre stage. spent a day or so burying cables, wall could do with another coat of paint but overall pleased with how it looks and sounds.

 

 

 

Id love to do that!!..

Ive yet to (dare) think about how to mount my setup - TV will go on the chimney breast OK, but my Q-Acoustic centre speaker is far too deep to be wall mounted :(

[Lady Elanore]

Id love to do that!!..

Ive yet to (dare) think about how to mount my setup - TV will go on the chimney breast OK, but my Q-Acoustic centre speaker is far too deep to be wall mounted :(

Ditch the centre speaker and use a phantom centre (I did a few years ago and haven't looked back ). Your front speakers might well be of a higher quality anyway? Mine certainly are as they are good quality floorstanders

 

We've been discussing 'centres' a lot at work recently and we came to the conclusion that it works fine for the cinema, but is moderately pointless in the living room. We just have to persuade the peeops in charge to drop it

 

It is indierdlty one of the reasons that many people have problems with levels on a stereo set up and Freeview HD sound levels jumping up and down depneidng if the source is 5.1 or not. Swithching between say, BBC 1 SD and BBC1 HD can cause a significant jump in level on a stereo system (if the HD audio is 5.1). Trouble is also that the BBC 'fold-down' ratios don't help :(

[cheezemonkhai]

Instead of the expensive 3d glasses you can always try these:

 

http://3d3.co.uk/compatibility.php