Brought home Panasonic 42X20D

[csczero]

^^ thx for sharing Fang and congrats !! :clapping:

This thread was a big factor in me deciding to purchase this TV and i am thankful to the other people who have contributed their thoughts here!

Yup same here

Im also going for 42X20

Special mention of thanks to SHREDDER,NEONWHEELS & IDLEBRAIN for giving me timely advice

:signthankspin: ALL

 

[neoonwheels]

I picked up a 42X20D over the weekend for my parents, and upgraded my Airtel DTH connection to the HD box

After using it over the weekend, my initial impressions are -

1. Very decent SD viewing experience, a significant improvement over a 29" CRT that it replaced
2. HD content is mindblowing! only getting NG HD right now, but it is a treat on the eyes even with this TV (Have set the set top box to 720p output)
3. Also borrowed a WD Player over the weekend and watched a range of 720p and 1080p mkv's and they were just excellent. Regular DivX's were pretty good too, but i have now been spoilt by watching HD and there is no going pack
4. Reflections are a bit of an issue in well lit conditions, i have a lot of ambient light coming in to my hall, but it was not too bad, did not distract much from the TV viewing.
5. No TIR / Ghosting seen at all.
6. Using cinema mode with 50 contrast and 0 brightness
7. Sound output is decent for regular TV channels

This thread was a big factor in me deciding to purchase this TV and i am thankful to the other people who have contributed their thoughts here!

Excellent inputs Fang. This will surely help other people while decision making. I am enjoying my Pana X20 to the fullest. I have got Philips upscaling DVD player which outputs 1080P picture and the experience is just mind blowing. Over the weekend saw, "Little Manhattan", "Rumor has it" and "What happens in Vegas" and the experience was just awesome. I watched it at night with all the lights off and it was quite a treat. The picture quality was awesome for a divx. I can now imagine how the mkvs would turn out. The black levels and the overall contrast is fantastic. Although I watched it at contrast: 35, it was awesome. Now I can imagine how the cinema mode would do the magic with higher contrast. I am waiting for the burn in period to get over.

 

[rohitshakti]

Finally, I bought Philips DVP 3568/94 HDMI upscaling DVD player from Vijay sales @ 2900/-. Watched Harry potter and Ice Age 3 divx files on the player and the picture quality was mind blowing. Perfect black levels and awesome picture quality.
.

Does that mean than we can upscale the 720 p to 1080 p with this DVD player and what abt the HD TV programmes??????:sad:

 

[neoonwheels]

Does that mean than we can upscale the 720 p to 1080 p with this DVD player and what abt the HD TV programmes??????:sad:

I am upscaling my dvd rips on the usb drive using this DVD player. It has options to select from like: 720p, 1080p, 1080i etc. By default the output is 1080p.

Its a DVD player, so I did not get your question about HD TV programs. Its not a receiver to upscale SD content from STB.

 

[rohitshakti]

Thanks. I thought it can also upscale the TV programmes too. BUt is it possible....?

Second thing which i want to ask is the quality difference between a HD and Full HD Plasma TVs. Is'nt it be better to see on Full HD than on HD 42X20D.

Pls clarify on the same.

 

[neoonwheels]

Thanks. I thought it can also upscale the TV programmes too. BUt is it possible....?

Second thing which i want to ask is the quality difference between a HD and Full HD Plasma TVs. Is'nt it be better to see on Full HD than on HD 42X20D.

Pls clarify on the same.

When I saw X20 (HD) and V20 (FullHD) showing Spiderman BlueRay at the dealer from a distance of 14 ft, to be frank I did not find V20 VFM as compared to X20. May be if you watch it from 6-8 ft you can tell the difference. My typical viewing distance is 12-14 ft, for that I can live with X20D.

The DVD player does not upscale STB signal. No such provision. I guess for that you have to buy AVR which can upscale the signal (I guess Onkyo 3300 does that).

 

[sanjay0864]

When I saw X20 (HD) and V20 (FullHD) showing Spiderman BlueRay at the dealer from a distance of 14 ft, to be frank I did not find V20 VFM as compared to X20. May be if you watch it from 6-8 ft you can tell the difference. My typical viewing distance is 12-14 ft, for that I can live with X20D.

At almost twice the price of the 42" X20, the 42" V20 is definately not good value for money. In fact it is quite a rip off. I have repeatedly stated and I say this once again, there is absolutely no benefit of FULL HD over HD Ready on a 42" TV viewed from the standard viewing distance of 8 - 12 feet.

 

[rohitshakti]

Pls tell if we can play games and attach Xbox and our PC to the X20 plasma.

 

[shredder]

Pls tell if we can play games and attach Xbox and our PC to the X20 plasma.

Do not even try to connect a PC to your plasma.
As to your question about whether a DVD player can upscale 720p to 1080p the answer is NO. First of all, the DVD player will not be able to play a 720p file, be it through USB or DVD. It can however, upscale a standard definition movie file to either 720p or 1080p. The Pioneer DVD players do a very decent job of upscaling.

 

[indianrocks]

i m buying this tv this week

i wanted to know about what is the breaking in process as neo mentioned

 

[borg]

Do not even try to connect a PC to your plasma.
.

why?
i connect mine all the time, for gaming it is awesome:yahoo: and sometimes use as the monitor as well

there is minor TIR of (icons) if i look for it(need to look very close to tv) but it goes away very quickly,just need to run some other content for a few minutes

 

[csczero]

When I saw X20 (HD) and V20 (FullHD) showing Spiderman BlueRay at the dealer from a distance of 14 ft, to be frank I did not find V20 VFM as compared to X20. May be if you watch it from 6-8 ft you can tell the difference. My typical viewing distance is 12-14 ft, for that I can live with X20D.

A 720 P movie /game (as most of the console games are in 720p resolution) + HD READY TV (720P) + 6-8 Ft distance

Vs

A 720 P movie/game + FULL HD TV (1080P) + 6-8 ft distance

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=27456020

 

[neoonwheels]

A 720 P movie /game (as most of the console games are in 720p resolution) + HD READY TV (720P) + 6-8 Ft distance

Vs

A 720 P movie/game + FULL HD TV (1080P) + 6-8 ft distance

GameSpot Forums - General Games Discussion - 720P VS 1080P,ps3 lazy ports why?

Thanks for the link. As many have already stated, I guess the HD vs Full HD battle makes sense only when the viewing distance is like 6-8 ft, beyond that its a fair game. V20 may have deeper black levels than X20 but then X20 is almost half the price of V20.

 

[shredder]

why?
i connect mine all the time, for gaming it is awesome:yahoo: and sometimes use as the monitor as well

there is minor TIR of (icons) if i look for it(need to look very close to tv) but it goes away very quickly,just need to run some other content for a few minutes

You are absolutely right. Please feel free to use it as a monitor, or even as a signboard. I'm just trying to help a member who is in the process of buying a new TV, so that he does not get his new plasma burnt-in....

 

[iaj78]

Hi people, I am looking at buying this plasma as I feel it is outstanding VFM. And as ppl rightly pointed out, true 1080p content is rare. Anyways my viewing distance would be 10-12 ft.
But I had some queries which if current owners can address would be great!

1. Do tickers (like CNBC's) move smooth or jerky?
2. I read some person saying do not connect PC/laptop to plasmas, would like to know the reason. i understand this should be safe enough after breaking-in the tv. I ask bcoz I have a sony laptop with HDMI out, and would definitely connect it to the tv for watching movies.
3. If somebody has connected their PC/laptop to this tv through HDMI, does the HDMI also carry sound? Also I think I read on Panasonic website that this tv does not support HDMI 1.3 deep color. Any current owners can throw light?
4. Also are blacks good enough on this tv? I have read that some LCDs have better blacks than some plasmas.

Look forward to your opinions!

 

[neoonwheels]

You are absolutely right. Please feel free to use it as a monitor, or even as a signboard. I'm just trying to help a member who is in the process of buying a new TV, so that he does not get his new plasma burnt-in....

Is it ok to connect the plasma to the computer may be after the break-in (> 150 hrs) period?

 

[rohitshakti]

Just to confirm, if this TV is HD ready as I think the resolution is 1366*768

 

[baccilus]

Just to confirm, if this TV is HD ready as I think the resolution is 1366*768

Yes it is HD Ready

 

[asdflkg]

Just to confirm, if this TV is HD ready as I think the resolution is 1366*768

I think it is 1024x768, It is HD ready, meaning it can scale 720P and 1080P content to its native resolution.

 

[shredder]

Is it ok to connect the plasma to the computer may be after the break-in (> 150 hrs) period?

I really don't know about that, but I have never heard of anyone recommending the use of plasma as a monitor.