Searching and then searching for that 42 incher!

[Vj@HiFi]

Has anybody heard about this Panasonic LCD TV? VIERA TX-42LZ80 | LZ Series | Digital AV | Panasonic India Its a full HD unit with IPS panel LCD and this 42incher comes at a price tag of 52k (only?) MRP = ~67k.

There are no real reviews available only some user reviews here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1139625&page=2 Most seem impressed by the US equivalent mentioned in this forum.

I started by reading thru' a lot of threads. All seemed to point to the plasmas being the most VFM and shortlisted the following models

LG PQ60 42" @ 39k
LG PQ70 42" @ 40k

Samsung BE430 42" @ 44k
Samsung BE450 42" @ 48.5k

Panny C10 42" @ 42k
Panny X10 42" @ 44k

I wasn't as impressed by Panny's plasmas (maybe it had something to do with the store settings). I thought Sammy BE430/450 were shade better than LG PQ60. Haven't been able to see PQ70 yet nor the Panasonic TX42 LZ80 (which I should be able to see today).

Other thoughts:

None of the plasmas listed above are full HD but only this 42" LCD is at this price point. The TV itself is a 60hz one, but I am not a sports buff at all. I am not yet willing to spend 75-100k on a TV, thought I was OK with 40-42k but then I saw this one and thought that stretching the budget by 10k was doable. In terms of features (particularly connectivity) this TV is closest to the Samsung Be450 which at 48.5k is only a few thou less and it is not full HD.

I have pored thru' many manuals to get to wattage consumptions. I found that most plasmas do not mention the wattage neither on the web nor funnily in the manual. The Samsungs only gave the standby consumption (<1W). Most plasmas I now understand are above 350W. Full HD plasmas are above 450W. The 42" Panasonic LCD is 180W peak and an average of 150W (as per the manual). A quick calculation tells you that at an average difference of 250-300 W the LCDs will save at least 2000 rs. per year for a daily 4-5 hr tv time! (Ok I have a lot of time on my hands, but then that's me).

I was a little worried about the SD performance of all of the above. We watch a lot of SD content off the stb. Many posts tell me about the average performance of all HD TVs (plasma or LCD) when watching SD content. Is it possible to upscale through my Denon 1909? Any other options? My take was this: eventually all our broadcasts will become HD but the life of all our TVs have been loooong. We have an 25yr old 21" Sony trinitron still going strong and another BPL 29" limping a little but still working.

Looking forward to your opinions, friends.

 

[Reds4ever]

Has anybody heard about this Panasonic LCD TV? VIERA TX-42LZ80 | LZ Series | Digital AV | Panasonic India Its a full HD unit with IPS panel LCD and this 42incher comes at a price tag of 52k (only?) MRP = ~67k.

There are no real reviews available only some user reviews here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1139625&page=2 Most seem impressed by the US equivalent mentioned in this forum.

I started by reading thru' a lot of threads. All seemed to point to the plasmas being the most VFM and shortlisted the following models

LG PQ60 42" @ 39k
LG PQ70 42" @ 40k

Samsung BE430 42" @ 44k
Samsung BE450 42" @ 48.5k

Panny C10 42" @ 42k
Panny X10 42" @ 44k

I wasn't as impressed by Panny's plasmas (maybe it had something to do with the store settings). I thought Sammy BE430/450 were shade better than LG PQ60. Haven't been able to see PQ70 yet nor the Panasonic TX42 LZ80 (which I should be able to see today).

Other thoughts:

None of the plasmas listed above are full HD but only this 42" LCD is at this price point. The TV itself is a 60hz one, but I am not a sports buff at all. I am not yet willing to spend 75-100k on a TV, thought I was OK with 40-42k but then I saw this one and thought that stretching the budget by 10k was doable. In terms of features (particularly connectivity) this TV is closest to the Samsung Be450 which at 48.5k is only a few thou less and it is not full HD.

I have pored thru' many manuals to get to wattage consumptions. I found that most plasmas do not mention the wattage neither on the web nor funnily in the manual. The Samsungs only gave the standby consumption (<1W). Most plasmas I now understand are above 350W. Full HD plasmas are above 450W. The 42" Panasonic LCD is 180W peak and an average of 150W (as per the manual). A quick calculation tells you that at an average difference of 250-300 W the LCDs will save about 2000 rs. per year! (Ok I have a lot of time on my hands, but then that's me http://www.hifivision.com/images/smilies/cool.gif )

Looking forward to your opinions, friends.

here's a review of the LZ80..
Panasonic TX-32LZD80 32in LCD TV Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews

It's last yr's model and not an exceptionally well rated one at that.. i think u might be better off going for one of the 2009 models.. LG and Samsung both have 40-42" Full HD LCD models arnd 50k.. LG - LF20 (arnd 44k), LG LH35 (arnd 50), LG LH50 (arnd 60k), Samsung B530 (arnd 53k), Samsung B550 (arnd 58k)..

here's a review of the B550..
Samsung LE40B550 - 40in LCD TV Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews

 

[dillihifi]

I agree

Further I would think that given the situation where we are living with a SD transmission I would anyday prefer a plasma tv to the lcd ones. Maybe in the furture all transmission would become HD but thats a long way off and the prices would really need to tumble to encourage people in a big way to switch to HD technology. To clarify anything over 720p is HD. To differentiate between 1080p (Full HD) and 720p you need to be seated very close to the TV. Given the way the prices are going these days I think in a few years you can get a full hd tv with the dth and wireless capabilities thrown in at a fraction of the price so i would suggest a lesser time horizon than the 25 years factored in. I heard some people discussing Ultra Full HD or something similar which may become very cheap and popular in around 7-10 years from now

 

[Vj@HiFi]

Oh I fully agree that 25yrs is far too long that we have kept that tv.

But I am looking towards changing that BPL now, and its about 10yrs old.

Reds4ever: I saw that review but it is for the 32" model, a similar but later version is this: Panasonic Viera TX-32LZD81 32in Freesat HD LCD TV Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews. I somehow thought that 42LZ80 was a 2009 model, but I may be wrong.

I am looking up the reviews that you have suggested.

 

[madbullram]

For SD content, a HD ready TV will be much better than HD TV due to scaling. I am yet to see a better TV to beat PV8/80 in SD content at that price range.

For your requirement I think you should take another demo of the Pana with proper settings, do the settings yourself. Check my thread of PV8 tuning, and use that settings when you are checking the display, it should give the real picture!

 

[adder]

well the panasonic 42LZ80 has a LG IPS panel,only from next year will panasonic start to make their own 42inch lcds from IPS alpha .
the LZ80 is basicaly a last years model,know idea whats with panasonic for launching a last years model this year,i guess they are trying to get rid of the old stocks in india.

in plasmas the panasonic u should go for the S10 or the G10 ,the X10 and C10 aren't realy that good with poor whites.
regarding the power consumption while its obvious that plasma do consume more then lcds,todays 40"/42" lcd won't consume more then 125watts despite being brighter then a plasma.
but in plasma the 350watts to 450watts ratings are the max power consumption,when the entire screen is displaying the color white.plasmas power consumption and heat generated increases with amount of whites or any bright light color being shown,as the area of whites shown increases their brightness also decreases,so u try to increase the brightness,what happens know us that when small amounts of white are shown ,it will be realy bright,some people aren't comfortable with this,so u tone down the brightness and try to make a compromise of duller whites.offoourse in a home a plasma owner won't notice it until he compares it to a lcd.

no plasma can match the brightness of a lcd,but the G10 and kuros brightness should be inuff ,unless of course the person has a realy bright room.

b/w the X10 and samsung B450,i would pick the samsung due to a slightly better SD performance.

now in the lcd in ur budget u can proabaly only get some lg lcd or the panasonic lcd which have a IPS panel,these have poor blacks levels,so when u do a side by side comparision b/w a plasma or a lcd from samsung/sony,u will notice the lack of deep blacks.
around a week ago i saw some people try to compare the black levels b/w to lcd with no input from the source ,so u get a black screen,this is not a good way to compare since the backlight will dim so u get good blacks,but imagine this was a scene in movie where it had only traces of detail with the majority having a dark area,now if the backlight dims u will loose those details also called shadow details.
even local dimming LED lcds of today,can boost the contrast only upto a certain point or in certain scenarios.

 

[Vj@HiFi]

For SD content, a HD ready TV will be much better than HD TV due to scaling. I am yet to see a better TV to beat PV8/80 in SD content at that price range.

For your requirement I think you should take another demo of the Pana with proper settings, do the settings yourself. Check my thread of PV8 tuning, and use that settings when you are checking the display, it should give the real picture!

I was actually disappointed with the SD content that I saw in the Panasonic store that drove me to the Samsungs and LGs

 

[Vj@HiFi]

well the panasonic 42LZ80 has a LG IPS panel,only from next year will panasonic start to make their own 42inch lcds from IPS alpha .
the LZ80 is basicaly a last years model,know idea whats with panasonic for launching a last years model this year,i guess they are trying to get rid of the old stocks in india.

in plasmas the panasonic u should go for the S10 or the G10 ,the X10 and C10 aren't realy that good with poor whites.
regarding the power consumption while its obvious that plasma do consume more then lcds,todays 40"/42" lcd won't consume more then 125watts despite being brighter then a plasma.
but in plasma the 350watts to 450watts ratings are the max power consumption,when the entire screen is displaying the color white.plasmas power consumption and heat generated increases with amount of whites or any bright light color being shown,as the area of whites shown increases their brightness also decreases,so u try to increase the brightness,what happens know us that when small amounts of white are shown ,it will be realy bright,some people aren't comfortable with this,so u tone down the brightness and try to make a compromise of duller whites.offoourse in a home a plasma owner won't notice it until he compares it to a lcd.

no plasma can match the brightness of a lcd,but the G10 and kuros brightness should be inuff ,unless of course the person has a realy bright room.

b/w the X10 and samsung B450,i would pick the samsung due to a slightly better SD performance.

adder: I am not really worried about the brightness at all. It was the overall picture quality that I am concerned with. The location of our TV is such that no window light will get reflected. In any case most of 'us' (hard) working people watch tv only in the evening and night. So you are right, I need to pay attention to the black levels.

Also it does turn out that the panny is not the only ~50k full hd lcd. So its back to more store visits... aaarrghh.

 

[Vj@HiFi]

I have no place to hide! :-(

Panasonic G10 (plasma) is being shown to consume only 185 watts and about 225 watts with brightness jacked up a little.

There goes my theory on saving money by buying an LCD. !

 

[madbullram]

I was actually disappointed with the SD content that I saw in the Panasonic store that drove me to the Samsungs and LGs

Trust me I had the same opinion until I tweaked it personally and then the difference was night and day. But I hear the new ones are not as good as PV8, thought havent seen a demo yet

 

[Vj@HiFi]

Hey mbr,

PV8/80 is certainly last year, but would you continue to recommend it over the newer Panasonic crop?

C10, X10, S10? (G10 is too expensive I think, though from what I've read its only in G10 and upwards that have the newer pdp panel.

Havent been able to see x15. The local Panasonic brand shop people say its not released for India. "You must have seen it on the net ..."

Or have you stopped searching now that you do have the PV8!

(cant seem to get the smileys to work for me, it keeps showing the link instead! :-( )

 

[madbullram]

Hey mbr,

PV8/80 is certainly last year, but would you continue to recommend it over the newer Panasonic crop?

C10, X10, S10? (G10 is too expensive I think, though from what I've read its only in G10 and upwards that have the newer pdp panel.

Havent been able to see x15. The local Panasonic brand shop people say its not released for India. "You must have seen it on the net ..."

Or have you stopped searching now that you do have the PV8!

(cant seem to get the smileys to work for me, it keeps showing the link instead! :-( )

Honestly did not have the time (just married take u r time in diff way ) thats why didnt check the latest model. Have spoken to few of my friends and all seem to resonate the same opinion that PV8/80 seems to be better for SD content compared to C/X10s though they have improved specs on paper

Just bcos PV8 is last year model doesnt mean its lesser, most of the times in electronics the new version is a step back from the older


Here is a smiley for you :cheers:

 

[adder]

adder: I am not really worried about the brightness at all. It was the overall picture quality that I am concerned with. The location of our TV is such that no window light will get reflected. In any case most of 'us' (hard) working people watch tv only in the evening and night. So you are right, I need to pay attention to the black levels.

Also it does turn out that the panny is not the only ~50k full hd lcd. So its back to more store visits... aaarrghh.

well apart from the brightness,what i mean is that these plasma like X10,C10 don't show great whites.just as good blacks,good whites is also necessary.if u play a video showing snow,the snow may not be white but rather light grey.
but since u will be viewing at night blacks are important,but i still suggest u go with the samsung plasma then X10.

X10 and pv8 have the same identical SD performance,the newer X10 is more efficient due to tighter energy regulations.but it does appear that the X10 doesn't show whites as good as the PV8.

 

[Vj@HiFi]

Went to the Panasonic showroom once again in the evening.

I too found that the PV8 / 80 were better than X10 and C10 and the TX 42LZ80 did not impress at all, it was probably a shade worse than even C10!

So its back to square one.

Basically not one TV was impressive in the SD content. My 29" BPL CRT is better. We are anyways watching cable tv thru' the stb most of the time.

Maybe I should stick to what I have!

 

[Gfreeman]

Went to the Panasonic showroom once again in the evening.

I too found that the PV8 / 80 were better than X10 and C10 and the TX 42LZ80 did not impress at all, it was probably a shade worse than even C10!

So its back to square one.

Basically not one TV was impressive in the SD content. My 29" BPL CRT is better. We are anyways watching cable tv thru' the stb most of the time.

Maybe I should stick to what I have!

The G10 and V10 are both horrible SD performers as well. If you are looking at the panasonic plasmas of this year they will all disappoint you in terms of SD.