HD Ready Plasma

Tachyon

Tachyon

Tachyon

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Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
2,154
Location
Same oul' town
We had an old crt in our spare room that died and I went out today to replace it. I had hoped to get a Panasonic 42st60 plasma but it was sold out in our local store.
I got to view a 42gt60 and was well impressed although it was a bit over budget at £900 (last one). The reason I was looking at plasmas was that we also have a Samsung LED tv but I have to say I've never been wowed by it especially when comparing blacks, even compared to my old crt particularly when not viewing straight on.

Anyway, annoyed that I am at not been able to find an 42st60 I'm in 2 minds whether to pick up a 42x60 plasma from asda at £300 but being the bottom of the range it's only HD ready at 1024 x 768. The TV will be connected to a V+ box, can I assume an HD ready tv will be fine for HD broadcasts from V+ box. I won't be using bluray or need this tv for gaming, just sd and hd viewing.

It's well under budget as I was prepared to spend up to around £750 so don't know if it's worth continuing to look at full HD leds as well. Another thing that puts me off is the that 42gt60 was sitting beside an led that was a few hundred pound more expensive than it and as soon as I viewed the 2 off centre the difference was incredible, the gt blacks remained black whereas thee other screen stared to look washed out.

Anyway TLDR , can a bottom line budget hd ready plasma offer better sd/hd broadcast viewing over a mid range led?

Edit: TV size needs to stay around 42"
 
Thanks for the reply and review link Shadow, appreciated.

Think I have to use the .ie site being in NI and it's showing up as in store only. As it happens I was in Richer Sounds today as well and the only models they had were display models of 42gt60 and 42st60. I thought I was on the pigs back when I seen the st60 at £600, the guy went to get me the box only to come back and tell me the tv was already sold. :(

I'll have a read at the review anyhow, thanks again.
 
I'd take a HD Ready 'budget' plasma over any of the top end LED's, particularly for standard def tv.

My Pioneer plasma recently died and I'm struggling to find anything to replace it. Everything LED I've tested is just utter garbage in comparison so I'm currently hunting for the few remaining high end plasmas that are in stock somewhere.
 
Columbo said:
I'd take a HD Ready 'budget' plasma over any of the top end LED's, particularly for standard def tv.

My Pioneer plasma recently died and I'm struggling to find anything to replace it. Everything LED I've tested is just utter garbage in comparison so I'm currently hunting for the few remaining high end plasmas that are in stock somewhere.
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I wouldn't.

1080P high end LCD over a budget 720P plasma any day of the week.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I hate the IR on both my top end plasma's for one.

If I could have gotten a high end LCD, same size and spec, etc for the same price as my plasmas i would have taken it.

Plasmas are far cheaper than LCD though when it comes to quality and size.
 
Tachyon, google Hyper-Fi.

Panasonic TX-P42X60B 42-inch Freeview HD Ready Plasma TV (New for 2013)

Price: £399.99
Only 1 left in stock.

http://www.avforums.com/review/panasonic-x60-tx-p42x60-plasma-tv-review.514

http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/viera-televisions/plasma/tx-p42x60b.html

Contrast, Black Level & Screen Uniformity

Last year’s 720p Panasonic’s were a touch disappointing here, but the improvements in the higher-tier sets translate down, somewhat, to the X60. With a full screen black pattern reading 0.025cd/m2, it’s more than a capable performer and the X60 also did almost as well with mixed content, delivering an averaged black level of 0.03cd/m2 on the ANSI checkerboard test. For the record, with a peak light output set at about 120cd/2, the on/off contrast came in at 4760:1 with ANSI a tad below 3000:1. For a budget TV these results are superb and screen uniformity was as we usually expect from plasma, pristine. Quite the little mover, this X60!
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Or a Panasonic TX-P42ST50B for £749.99.
 
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Just noticed a few more replies popped up, so thanks for those. I just grabbed a 42x60b in the end for £299 and I'm really more than happy with it. Like I said I did have a higher budget but for the money I spent I'm very impressed with the picture quality on it.

As usual folks, your input was appreciated.
 
Tachyon said:
Just noticed a few more replies popped up, so thanks for those. I just grabbed a 42x60b in the end for £299 and I'm really more than happy with it. Like I said I did have a higher budget but for the money I spent I'm very impressed with the picture quality on it.

As usual folks, your input was appreciated.
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£300 for a 42" brand new panny plasma is great.

do they not make a 50" in that model since you had a bigger budget?
 
Psycho Sonny said:
£300 for a 42" brand new panny plasma is great.

do they not make a 50" in that model since you had a bigger budget?
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Yep there's a 50" version of the same model, have read of some folks picking it up for £399. It was just a bit too big over the 42" for where we have it positioned although I happened to remark to my wife that it might have been nice to have the 50". Possible regret? I dunno, I'm very happy with the 42". The only other thing was I didn't see it anywhere in any of the places I had been round anyhow although Richer Sounds may have had but I had asked the guy in there specifically for what they had at 42".

Got it in Asda, so for anyone interested it's a cracking tv for the price, although doesn't have any of the smart features found on models further up the range and only has 2 hdmi inputs but it's ideal for what we want it for.

Edit: As Shadow posted above, RS were doing it for £299 with a 5 year warranty thrown in as well but it was out of stock in my local branch.
 
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Yeah. 5 port HDMI with remote is nice for £7.95.

"eSynic 5 Port 1080P HDMI Auto Switch Switcher Splitter Box with iR Remote Control"
 
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