Need help with my plasma tv, few questions, i can't figure it out!

IceShock

IceShock

IceShock

Soldato
Joined
16 Dec 2005
Posts
4,054
Location
Halifax W'Yorkshire
Hey there,

Okay iv been using a 32" LG LCD HD ready tv for a few years now, and I came across a friend selling a 42" Panasonic TX-P42XT50 for just 30 quid, so I thought, ey up im havin that for 30 quid! though its a plasma, and iv always stayed away from plasmas as iv always read that they don't do 1080 resolution, and that they use a resolution of just 1024x768? but for 30 quid like I said I thought im avin that, its a bigger tv for at the end of my bed at the end of the day.

Also downstairs we have a 42" LED full HD tv connected to sky hd, looks fantastic in full hd on the hd channels etc etc.

This new 42" plasma in the bedroom automatically updated the channels other day and now I get HD channels on its built in freeview, and they look fantastic, infact they look much crisper than my 42" LED tv downstairs that cost me shy of 600 quid a few months ago, what the hells all this about?? heres a link to my plasma:

http://www.soundandvision.co.uk/tv/...txp42xt50-42-inch-hd-smart-viera-3d-low-price

I can't seem to grasp why on earth it looks better, even SD content on regular channels, it looks so much nicer? it does have its drawbacks like all plasmas with glass screen you can see your self in it if the rooms bright etc. but I cant understand why it looks so crisp and clear compaired to the setup downstairs that's got a hd sky box and paid a lot for! lol. with that said the setup downstairs is fantastic though.

Also, I have this plasma in my room connected via hdmi cable to my pc, so I watch some blu-rays through my pc also that I have borrowed as I only have a Blu-ray drive in my pc. When the plasma is connected to my pc, I simply just duplicate the desktop to the tv, it says its running in 1080, (my computer monitor is also 1080, 24")... but then again I thought plasmas only ran 1024x768?? but it says its running 1080 on my pc. And if it wasn't running in 1080, why the hell is it so crystal clear seeing my desktop on my plasma tv.

So confused :p need help haha

thanks!
 
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Panasonic plasma are rather good, not really shocking to find its better than an LCD. It's probably scaling down to 1080i, although that will still look very good. You got a steal for £30 though.
 
I know, I got a bargain and a half for 30 quid, he didn't have the tv remote or glasses though but I got a cheap replacement remote off ebay for 12 quid. not entirely sure what this tv would have cost new he just wanted rid.

Also you say your not shocked to find that it looks better than lcd/led? I thought plasma was old tech and being phased out, that's why I never bought a new one, and I thought because of the low resolutions it would have looked pap compaired to full hd etc. like I said wasn't expecting it to be so good at all.
 
It's being phased out because its expensive to make, not because it looked bad. Plasma screens have always looked better than LCD, and Panasonic made the best of them by a long way since Pioneer stopped making the Kuros.
 
I see, been reading some things about plasmas, everyone says they are much better image quality, iv just always seen that its old tech and that its lower resolution therefor assumed that its not as good lol. shows how little iv known, should have been using plasmas all these years! haha.

And I see about the SD image being a lot better on this plasma over my led tv, as I just went from a 1680x1050 monitor to a 1080 one, and the 1080 one isn't as good for sd content because its having to scale it up a lot more.

im so tempted now to go out and buy a brand new 1080 plasma before all stocks are gone !! haha, because this low res plasma image quality is great, so im guessing a 1080 one would be superb!
 
Not sure why you thought Plasmas only done 720, they will quite happily run full res 1080p and by damn they look good :D
 
IceShock said:
im so tempted now to go out and buy a brand new 1080 plasma before all stocks are gone !! haha, because this low res plasma image quality is great, so im guessing a 1080 one would be superb!
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Bluntly, go for it! But be prepared to open your wallet.
 
That XT50 looks like it only does 720p, actually. But no surprise it looks better than LCD! So glad I ran around London to find my GT60 back in January before they all disappeared :D
 
Plamas in general are not limited to 720p but Panasonic did do a number of lower range sets with 1024x768 res. Most of these will accept the 1080p input but scale the output to 720 and yes SD does look pretty decent on them compared with most LCDs. At £30 you got a pretty awesome deal
 
"HD Ready" plasmas have rectangular pixels, this is how the maintain a 16:9 image with what is essentially a 4:3 resolution, absolutely nothing wrong with it as a 2nd set and as you have already noticed will cane your lcd on SD and probs HD for picture quality.
 
I have my "old" Pioneer Plasma as a 2nd TV and is only 720P but the image is still fantastic, at the time when I bought it 720P was the norm.

A good quality 720P screen will still blow away a poor to middling 1080P screen and SD content looks quite a bit better on a Plasma.
 
By the way guys, when put a HD channel on with this tv I have been talking about, it says in top left hand corner 1080 @ 50 hz. is that just saying the signal its receiving is 1080? because as stated above its a 720 display, or etleast I thought it was. maybe that's why it looks so good ! haha.
 
IceShock said:
By the way guys, when put a HD channel on with this tv I have been talking about, it says in top left hand corner 1080 @ 50 hz. is that just saying the signal its receiving is 1080? because as stated above its a 720 display, or etleast I thought it was. maybe that's why it looks so good ! haha.
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Yes that is the signal the tv is receiving :p then the tv just rescales it to 720p:)
 
IceShock said:
I see! I want a 1080 plasma now ! haha
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You don't really see that much difference when watching movies...
But there is a major difference when using them for PC use...as the 720p plasma's having rectangular pixels which makes them pretty much useless for PC desktop use..

(I own both a 43" 720p (1024 x768) pioneer plasma and a 50" 1080p (1920x1080) pioneer plasma...;) )
 
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