[natsume]

first review

Panasonic Viera TX-L42ET5 Review - TV - Trusted Reviews

[loz]

Why aren't Panasonic listing these under 3D TV on their website, and only under LED/LCD

[skyjuice]

Originally Posted by Valentine

I will download the browser later to check it out.
Will try to video playing COD, gun in hand and controller in front of screen to show "lag"

Panasonic TX-L42ET5 .mp4 - YouTube

Had the main 160w light on to help filming hence reflections

I just sent you a message on you tube,basicly asking, have you tried other ways of getting the lag down, other than using the game mode input, and processing features etc etc, really need to know buddy

[Valentine]

I don't notice any lag in any mode but that was filmed in game.

[skyjuice]

Originally Posted by Valentine

I can assure there is 0 detectable input lag on on my 42"
Tested CoD4, Dark Souls, MX v ATV Alive, Fifa 2011 etc on the Xbox.
Being a PC gamer mainly I would notice lag very quickly and it would drive me mad.

Okay now i am a lil confussed, you say there is 0 lag, then you say there is lag. i dont have the set in front me, but which one is it, as one cant really tell by looking at a youtube video, no offence intended mate, just need you to confirm, what findings you come up with in the next day or so

[skyjuice]

Originally Posted by Valentine

I don't notice any lag in any mode but that was filmed in game.

okay thanks mate i retract my last question, was getting a tad worried there phheeeww....lol

[Valentine]

check page 4

[skyjuice]

Originally Posted by Valentine

There will always be a better model around the corner and one could wait for ever.

3d games list 3D Xbox 360 Games List | 3D Tested

I have used the 2d-3d conversion and it works well on games

thank you

[mrobbo]

This was on Very's website for £750. I emphasise 'was' - I cannot find it on there now. Pity, as I was saving up to buy it from here very shortly. Oh well.

[goodfella121]

Originally Posted by mrobbo

This was on Very's website for £750. I emphasise 'was' - I cannot find it on there now. Pity, as I was saving up to buy it from here very shortly. Oh well.

i was doin the same was waiting to have a look at it in one of them in shops then was goin to order hoping it will be back on there soon

[markie1966]

another review just went online...and it got good a pretty good write up

Panasonic TX-L42ET5B review | from TechRadar's expert reviews of Plasma and LCD TVs

[bonzobanana]

Another useless review when it comes to gaming. It wasn't made clear if the 75+ms lag was in gaming mode or normal mode and no information on how good the image was in gaming mode. Generally a good review though. Shame about the SD performance. Seems to me this set is the best option currently going for passive but I'm more interested in the 47" set and not keen on the launch prices to say the least.

[Andrew Kettle]

According to this Croatian review posted on the other ET5 thread in the Led section, the input lag figure in game mode with all image processing off is 34ms.

Panasonic TX-L47ET5E | HD Portal Recenzije

[YellowSphere]

Saw this recently and it's a first time in a long while that the picture of an LCD has made me turn my head in a showroom. Yes, it is ultra glossy, but it does give an incredible impression of contrast, even in True Cinema mode, from various angles, and the shop was quite dark too. Also didn't appear to be any noticeable backlight dimming (it was next to a Samsung D7000 which was shifting all over the place) I don't know how different the smart stuff is to outgoing Panasonics, but I liked it on this, the YouTube app in particular was exceptionally well laid out compared to others I've seen. All in all, I think it's a really good telly and, to be honest, worth the price! Of course, it will without a doubt come down.

[Simple]

Can someone tell us how does the quality of picture and sound of this TV compare with LG LW650 or LW550?
TIA.

[YellowSphere]

The AV quality definitely seems to be a lot better on the Panasonic (based on a subjective comparison rather than objective measurement) unless a glossy screen is particularly problematic. The LG is definitely better in terms of the smart stuff though, especially if you use plex.

[Simple]

Thanks for the feedback on the video, how about the sound?
As far as I remember, all CRT TV's have smooth glass reflective screens and we managed to live with them.
To me, a sharper clearer picture is more important than reflectiveness and to tell you the truth, I was thinking of coating the LG with some polymer to improve clarity and sharpness.
The new Toshiba VL9xx will be released soon, which I hope will improve the market choice and pricing.

[YellowSphere]

Sound was well above average. Can't say I listed to it for long; I forget TVs have speakers sometime.

And yeah, agreed on the reflection front. It can become super annoying if your TV is placed a particular way, but most decent models are reflective...

[missi12]

Hi, am new to this forum but have been reading through it for a few days to help me decide which tv to buy and the info has been really helpful.

I bought a Samsung UE40D6530 2 weeks ago but have had issues with backlight bleed and clouding on the screen so have decided to opt for the Panasonic TXL-42ET5B which I have just ordered from the Co-op online in exchange of the Samsung.

I was going to buy the Panasonic GT30 but decided not to because of doubts about the Green blob etc and when I saw the ET5B in Curry's the weekend, I thought it looked fantastic, the picture blew me away and loved the design and although there are not much reviews on it, I could'nt resist

I was going to get a refund and buy the tv from J Lewis at £899 but because of the excellent customer service at the Co-op and the price, £844 I'm sticking with them and they will do a straight swap on Wednesday.
It can sometimes take a while to get through to the co-op but as it's a freephone number, it's not so bad. They can also price match against the main competitors, ie Curry's, Comet.

Funnily enough, I looked at the JL website at the reviews for the Panny and someone has recently posted saying that they exchanged to this one from a Samsung due to backlight bleed and they seem happy with it.

Will post my thoughts on the tv once it's set up. fingers crossed this time!

[Simple]

From owners feedback, it seems they are pleased with the new Panasonic ET5. Amazingly, the Toshiba VL863 owners seem to be happy with their choice as well. It seems people are happy when the product does exactly what it says on the tin!!

[missi12]

Just posting my thoughts on my new Panasonic L42ET5B before it goes back....

Arrived yesturday, set it all up quickly but was very disappointed with the standard definition picture.
I have Sky with the basic hd channels ie bbc hd etc which to be honest, look good but as soon as I change to all other channels, there is a big difference in the picture quality.

The picture seems dull, patchy, a little snowy and not clear which became very noticeable when watching stand up comedy and the background is dark and at night, I have to select Dynamic mode else the picture is too dark in both hd and sd.
I have adjusted the picture settings constantly to try and bring it to life but then when I revert back to a hd channel, I have to adjust it again to suit.

The sounds just about ok although not as good as and crisp as Samsung.

Not tried the 3D as no demos available and don't have a 3d Blu ray player as yet to test it.

Maybe I'm just really unlucky and got the bad one of the bunch but am now looking at buying the Philips 7000 series at John Lewis, at least I will have the reassurance of the 5 yr guarantee too.

On the positive side, the web browser is lightening fast compared to my last smart tv, as is downloading apps from the Viera Connect market.

Hope this is of some help to others looking at buying one.

[YellowSphere]

Have you tried turning CATS on and off and disabled power save under the setup menu? Also, contrast should act mostly like a backlight control. You could also try lowering the gamma.

[missi12]

Originally Posted by YellowSphere

Have you tried turning CATS on and off and disabled power save under the setup menu? Also, contrast should act mostly like a backlight control. You could also try lowering the gamma.

Hi YellowSphere,

Yes have tried the CATS setting to both on and off and also tried the contrast which I assumed must be to do with the backlight as the only other option is brightness but that failed to make a difference. It works ok on hd channels but not standard channels. Tried the gamma also and could'nt see any improvement.

When I saw the powersave option in the settings menu I thought, this must be it! but was really disappointed when it only made a very slight difference.

[bonzobanana]

Thats disappointing about SD performance, I still watch a lot of SD and I'm planning on going for a 47" screen which would probably make SD performance look even worse.

It sort of puts me back into a 50" plasma with active shutter as a viable option. When I viewed the set I was so focused on trying the 3D that I forget to even see what SD performance was like.

My main tv currently is used for the following and is in roughly the correct order of use;

1. PC web browsing, multimedia and small amount of pc gaming with a wireless keyboard
2. SD channels
3. PS3 and 360 gaming plus other SD consoles.
4. high definition sources like ps3 blurays and high def video files.

[missi12]

Anyone that is thinking of buying this tv may be interested in this offer from House of Fraser at £809.10 including 5 yr guarantee.

Panasonic TX-L42ET5B 3D LED TV - House of Fraser

[YellowSphere]

I honestly don't think you'll see any difference in SD performance between an LCD and a plasma these days. The Samsungs are particularly sympathetic to lower quality SD, so it may just be this. Personally, I'm just used to the idea that SD is always going to look pretty ropey, so it doesn't bother me. That said, I saw no issues with SD on this TV when I saw one.

[Valentine]

SD from my Humax Freesat box looks great so maybe its SKY SD or the internal tuner ?
On the marketplace Panasonic do a 3D demo app and there is always Youtube to test the 3D

[loz]

Originally Posted by missi12

Anyone that is thinking of buying this tv may be interested in this offer from House of Fraser at £809.10 including 5 yr guarantee.

Panasonic TX-L42ET5B 3D LED TV - House of Fraser

out of stock and back up to £899

[Jason Shouler]

I'd say it's a mistake to correlate quality of SD image with the quality of the set you're thinking of buying.

I've have three sourcesof SD and ranked in order of image quality:

1. Virgin box
2. LG tv
3. Samsung tuner

The source is likely to be the issue rather than the TV

[Ari33]

Originally Posted by Jason Shouler

I'd say it's a mistake to correlate quality of SD image with the quality of the set you're thinking of buying.

I've have three sourcesof SD and ranked in order of image quality:

1. Virgin box
2. LG tv
3. Samsung tuner

The source is likely to be the issue rather than the TV

I agree 100%, I had a cheapo Freesat HD box which provided fairly average images even in HD compared to my new SKY HD box... you can even have differing SD image qualities from a single vendor probably depending on the quality of the content itself across the various different channels.