panasonic 49dx600b vs 49dx650b

leoncuprar · 11 Jul 2016 at 21:35

Evening

So I know very little about TV's.. I need a new TV upto 50" in size , budget up to £650. Freeview or freesat is fine, will be connecting an av receiver, kodi box and probably ps4

Currys have the Panasonic models as per the title but if someone could explain in English the difference between the two that would be great.. they are the same price. Which model to go for ?

Many Thanks

bigjimmyauk · 12 Jul 2016 at 00:46

leoncuprar said:
Evening

So I know very little about TV's.. I need a new TV upto 50" in size , budget up to £650. Freeview or freesat is fine, will be connecting an av receiver, kodi box and probably ps4

Currys have the Panasonic models as per the title but if someone could explain in English the difference between the two that would be great.. they are the same price. Which model to go for ?

Many Thanks

the 650 is a currys exclusive, it's got a 1000hz panel drive the 600 has 800hz panel drive and is available anywhere. dx600 also has a darker surround around the panel it's a darkish grey the 650 is silver iirc and that's it. Also bare in mind the 49 inch models of the 600 and 650 are IPS panels

can you at all stretch another £150 the dx700B is night and day over the 600/650
much better colour reproduction and much less motion judder it's also HDR ready for HDR10 so you can stream 4k netflix with HDR, it's not true HDR due to being edge lit panel but it does make a difference that combined with rec2020 you'll be very impressed.

rolypolyman · 15 Jul 2016 at 00:10

As above, the Panasonic TX-50DX700B is generally £799. You could get it for £640 with a new very account (20% off first orders for new customers) I have this telly and have been very impressed, there is a review on AV Forums of the 58" version.

bigjimmyauk · 17 Jul 2016 at 11:57

rolypolyman said:
As above, the Panasonic TX-50DX700B is generally £799. You could get it for £640 with a new very account (20% off first orders for new customers) I have this telly and have been very impressed, there is a review on AV Forums of the 58" version.

You only get a year warranty with very tho, found that out the hard way lol.

leoncuprar · 15 Aug 2016 at 11:43

Just to feedback.. I went for the dx700b from John Lewis.. and I'm very grateful for the recommendation, very happy with the TV, its features and picture quality.. Netflix looks great. Now I just need new amp and speakers :-)

Phonesis · 17 Aug 2016 at 10:04

leoncuprar said:
Just to feedback.. I went for the dx700b from John Lewis.. and I'm very grateful for the recommendation, very happy with the TV, its features and picture quality.. Netflix looks great. Now I just need new amp and speakers

I recently got the 700b as well after some reading up. For the price it really is great. I highly recommend you use the AV Forums picture settings for True Cinema and Normal viewing modes. Key thing is to turn off all the processing and keep Adaptive Backlight setting on Min. Also, I found lowering contrast to about 65 results in better image for SD content but if you only watch HD / 4k then 90 is probably fine. I do find myself craving for inky blacks now though but that's OLED territory and double the price.

Skiddley · 19 Aug 2016 at 09:41

Guys - I'm looking at getting the TX-50DX750B.

Does anyone know the following (its not in any literature I've found);
- Is the ethernet port 1gig?
- Is it software gimped to reject 4K content over DLNA, or does it play?

Ta.

bigjimmyauk · 19 Aug 2016 at 21:56

Skiddley said:
Guys - I'm looking at getting the TX-50DX750B.

Does anyone know the following (its not in any literature I've found);
- Is the ethernet port 1gig?
- Is it software gimped to reject 4K content over DLNA, or does it play?

Ta.

i have this tv so any questions please ask

the ethernet port i have no idea but cant see a need for a gigabit port on a tv 10/100 would be more than sufficient.

and i've streamed 4k content to the TV over the air from my pc and my phone. both worked fine without problems

bear in mind only hdmi ports 1 and 2 are 4k compatible and use hdcp 2.2
ports 3 and 4 don't have the hdcp2.2 chip and are only version 1.4 hdmi

PS 4k content looks great especially netflix and the HDR content on there. Sadly tho standard definition sources look horrendous and i mean horrendous. it's at a point where i have to try and find a HD version of the channel i want. full 1080 signals look great but put normal bbc one on and things get a little grainy. also in standard def it struggles to re-create shadow detail and ends up looking very blocky.

Skiddley · 22 Aug 2016 at 12:59

bigjimmyauk said:
i have this tv so any questions please ask

the ethernet port i have no idea but cant see a need for a gigabit port on a tv 10/100 would be more than sufficient.

and i've streamed 4k content to the TV over the air from my pc and my phone. both worked fine without problems

bear in mind only hdmi ports 1 and 2 are 4k compatible and use hdcp 2.2
ports 3 and 4 don't have the hdcp2.2 chip and are only version 1.4 hdmi

PS 4k content looks great especially netflix and the HDR content on there. Sadly tho standard definition sources look horrendous and i mean horrendous. it's at a point where i have to try and find a HD version of the channel i want. full 1080 signals look great but put normal bbc one on and things get a little grainy. also in standard def it struggles to re-create shadow detail and ends up looking very blocky.

Thanks - only asked as I have cat5e throughout the house and was planning to stream 4K over DLNC in the future - would have thought 100mbit would get close to saturation? Not done the maths.

Have you plugged in a portable (USB) powered HDD into the back for recording? Any compatibility issues?

How well does the catchup function work, is the iplayer/etc integration totally seamless. OK quality? Is there a delay in watching recently aired content? What about content that is still part way through, but I want to watch from the start?

Thanks!!

Phonesis · 22 Aug 2016 at 13:57

bigjimmyauk said:
i have this tv so any questions please ask

the ethernet port i have no idea but cant see a need for a gigabit port on a tv 10/100 would be more than sufficient.

and i've streamed 4k content to the TV over the air from my pc and my phone. both worked fine without problems

bear in mind only hdmi ports 1 and 2 are 4k compatible and use hdcp 2.2
ports 3 and 4 don't have the hdcp2.2 chip and are only version 1.4 hdmi

PS 4k content looks great especially netflix and the HDR content on there. Sadly tho standard definition sources look horrendous and i mean horrendous. it's at a point where i have to try and find a HD version of the channel i want. full 1080 signals look great but put normal bbc one on and things get a little grainy. also in standard def it struggles to re-create shadow detail and ends up looking very blocky.

The blocky/grainy shadow issue is something I'm seeing and wondered at first if it was a fault with the TV. Only get it with SD or compressed video sources (such as Sky HD).

Do you get a sort of halo-like effect in certain tones? You can see the lines where tones shift (almost like polarisation)? Never noticed it on my old Sony 1080p set.

Update: I do find lowering the brightness down to about -2 helps correct blocking a fair bit.

bigjimmyauk · 24 Aug 2016 at 14:32

Phonesis said:
The blocky/grainy shadow issue is something I'm seeing and wondered at first if it was a fault with the TV. Only get it with SD or compressed video sources (such as Sky HD).

Do you get a sort of halo-like effect in certain tones? You can see the lines where tones shift (almost like polarisation)? Never noticed it on my old Sony 1080p set.

Update: I do find lowering the brightness down to about -2 helps correct blocking a fair bit.

indeed i do it's almost like colour banding where you can see the colour changes rather than it being gradual. something to do with the way it takes content and upscales it internally to 4k is the issue i think. No issues with xbox or 4k content just seems to be the upscaled stuff.

bigjimmyauk · 24 Aug 2016 at 14:32

Skiddley said:
Thanks - only asked as I have cat5e throughout the house and was planning to stream 4K over DLNC in the future - would have thought 100mbit would get close to saturation? Not done the maths.

Have you plugged in a portable (USB) powered HDD into the back for recording? Any compatibility issues?

How well does the catchup function work, is the iplayer/etc integration totally seamless. OK quality? Is there a delay in watching recently aired content? What about content that is still part way through, but I want to watch from the start?

Thanks!!

i'll let you know as soon as i can only just seen the post can probably give it a try tonight

Phonesis · 25 Aug 2016 at 23:07

bigjimmyauk said:
indeed i do it's almost like colour banding where you can see the colour changes rather than it being gradual. something to do with the way it takes content and upscales it internally to 4k is the issue i think. No issues with xbox or 4k content just seems to be the upscaled stuff.

Interesting. Yeah sounds right. Shame really. Wonder if other 4k TVs have same issue with upscaling?