Panasonic TH-46PZ81B

[stumac]

Hi, Does anyone have one of these Panasonics with the built in freesat and are they a good buy?

[TonyO]

with five fans for cooling and drawing quite a bit of power, 1080 models dont seem as good as 720 with ordinary SD channels either.

The majority of programmes are in SD.

[stumac]

Thanks TonyO
I was thinking of buying one of these so wife and kids could watch freesat with one unit, am I better getting a different tv and a sepperate freesat box? and if so which tv would you recommend. Thanks

[bilbo]

foxsat HD is superb

[TonyO]

Read this first,

h**p://w*w.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781635&page=2

Re: Panny 42PX80 or 42PZ80 - Which do I choose?


Looking over this thread i replied to a similar one around a month back but same logic applies here so i will quote myself...


Quote:
Originally Posted by boxrick
You have to think of it this way:

Realistically the ONLY thing which will look better on a 1080p resolution plasma is a computer game natively rendered at that resolution....

So lets look at the consoles and pc:

PS3: Most games under 720p
360: Most games at 720p
Wii: 480p
PS2: 480i/p
Dreamcast: 480p ( VGA )
Gamecube: 480p ( US component )
PC: Anything so 1080p

So out of all potential computers only a PC can generate a true 1080p signal 100% of the time. 95% of 360 and ps3 games are upscaled 1080p which is a totally different matter.
I own a HTPC with blu ray and HD DVD / Wii / GC / PS2 / Xbox 360 and a dreamcast along with a Freesat HD box.

Screens ive owned in the past year:
2X samsung le40M86, noname 32" 720P, TH42PZ70,2X Pioneer pdpsx4280 and finally now a TH42px80B.
And tested a whole host of 37" 1080p / 720 screens.

At 42" the difference between 1080p and 720p content ( Blu Ray / HD DVD ) running natively on 2 screens with no scaling going on is unnoticable. I sit rather close to my television approx 2 meters and have a keen eye yet its just not there.
Yet if i start using any SD content or even 360 / PS3 it looks *MILES* better on a 720p screen over a full HD one. Since all but 1 thing ( my HTPC ) running PC games, where the difference isn't that big to be honest, even freesat on HD channels looks better on a HD ready screen.

So all in all, a hd ready screen looks BETTER for virtually all of my content, and virtually identical for Blu Rays and HD DVDs. Ontop of using less power, Full HD actually is a negative point on a 42" screen IMO.

I work in a well known TV / Hi fi shop, stare at these things day in and day out. Virtually every customer comes in simply asking for a 1080p screen, clueless of what it is or why they need it, we have the PZ80 and the PX80 on the wall and ive spent hours and hours playing with settings. Changing sources, messing with the lights on and off, we also have the pdp4280 sat next to them. Along with various Full HD lcds.... the PX80 has more "accurate" colours than the pioneer, not quite as good processing or black levels, but is by far the best screen we have on display if you dont include the pioneer. The PZ80 looks washed out and "soft", everything seems to be not quite right and on SD and BBC HD it looks fairly poor in comparison to the pio and the px80, finally the PX80 is nice and silent in operation, whilst the pz80 has an annoying buzz and plenty of fans to boot.

If the contrast of the PX80 was the same as the PZ80, then the PX80 would be the vastly superior screen in my eyes, even as it stands the black levels arnt honestly that different between the 2 models and i still recommend the PX80 over anything else around that price, i mean the LGPG6000 isnt bad, menus are lovely and tonnes of inputs and is a much prettier looking screen, but it has terrible retention problems and the image quality isn't as good as the PX80 neither are the black levels. Sound also is not quite as good as the panny.

i believe the PX80 also has 180W power consumption ( average ) thats possibly the lowest power consumption of any large TV on the market minus some older sonys....

[bladesmantwo]

Hi, Does anyone have one of these Panasonics with the built in freesat and are they a good buy?

Yes I have one,,I am highly delighted with it so far..
Freesat HD excellent...SD very good,,in fact ,picture qualityseems to be better than when using TM 1500 ...Not much on HD at the moment but more is promised.

............regards,
...........................blades mantwo

[stumac]

Thanks blades mantwo,

I am still looking at one of these and will be getting one very soon (has soon as I have finished redecorating the living room),

Thanks

Stumac

[MandM]

I just bought 42' plasma and for very same reasons (quoted above) i went for HD rather than 108P, which thought was just a gimic, nothing else!

[keith mawer]

i am thinking of hd ,, but to be honest leaning towards lcd rather than plasma!!

[madsod]

yes lcd foget plasma . i have the lg 42 " with built in free view and its very good , but for pvr recoding you cant get better then the humax 9200 t , twin tuner . and the new one now it the 9300 t this has hdmi output . but some say its not as good as the old one also you can get grade A 9200 from humax for £99 right now . its better then any sat box i have for the pvr .