[Goggleyes]

The wife has scuppered my first choice of a 32DX200 (to big) instead of the Philips, but there is a chance I could get a Panasonic.

I've listed the problems with the Philips and wonder if someone with a Panasonic could comment. Obviously, if the consensus is that the Pany covers the Philips' weak areas then I'd be more likely to make the switch.

Specifically, does Acuity processing have the side-effects of PixelPlus on fast paced material and does it have a better PSU (power supply unit) ?

Saw a TX32PD30 (on Panasonic Freview box) before I bought the Philips. Really blocky and glaring. However, saw 32PD50 at weekend, on a newer Panny Freview box and the picture quality was miles better - though I was in a hurry. You see my dilemma.

Cheers

Philips 32PW9509

Pros:
- Pretty casework.
- Deathly quiet
- Picture quality with slow moving or static images in PP2 mode.
- Motion compensation. This does seem to work, making objects move very smoothly on screen, backgrounds especially. Often spoiled by other artifacts (eg. halo effect).
- Sound. After a fair bit of adjustment, it's quite good.

Cons:
- Power supply regulation very poor.
Quite often, when switching to a bright scene the whole of the picture can be seen to be distorted\droop before "snapping to", once the PSU has recovered.
- With PP2, much material is difficult to watch due to "trailing artifacts".
- Whites tend to glare, and I can't correct this.
- Colours also could be more subtle, again not possible to adjust sufficiently.
- Dirty screen syndrome, milky vertical bar near centre particularly annoying.

FWIW, I bought a 32PD50 two weeks ago.

Actually a bit of an impulse buy as they had one in the local shop and I was going round in circles having spent months trying to decide between this, a 32pw9509 a 32pw9618 (which my father has just bought) and the Tosh 32zp38. Sadly the ultimate choice cape down to size - the TV sits in an alcove and I didn't like the extra width of the other sets (Tosh notwithstanding). I also looked at the Sony DX200 - that beast wouldn't even fit!

A friend has a 32PD30 and is a big football fan (e.g. MUFC channel on sky) and he was very happy with his. This fact together with the suopport provided by the local shop (and an OK deal) convinced by to go with the PD50.

So far I've been very pleased, particularly with DVD and Freeview inputs. I did have some strange 'cross-hatching' on Ch. 5 analogue but I put this down to poor reception.

However, when I first connected the FV box I got a horrible picture - very blocky and horrible overdone colours. I've got an Sagem FV box and by tinkering with the settings (in particular turning down the 'level' on RGB) I got a setting which looked great.

Maybe I'm not a 'power user' but so far.... so good!

HTH,
Carl

[DRGL]

Just seen a PD50 and the power regulation didn't look to good,may have been something else-i was in a hurry but the on screen logo was bouncing all over the place..............

[Goggleyes]

Thanks for the replies

I can cope (just) with the image expanding/contracting due to a penny pinching PSU, but the problem with the 9509 is that switching to a bright scene, with say spires
backed by sky, the spires will actually slant by about 20 degrees to the vertical for a few frames before righting themselves - like a rapidly inflating bouncy castle!
The effect gets worse with higher the brightness setting.
I hope the bean-counters at Philips are pleased with themselves.

Another complication is that John Lewis only seem to be stocking PD30 at the moment. Does anybody know different ?

Goggle,
Would using a mains filter from the likes of Isotek or Russ Andrews to "clean up" the noise that can be present on the mains,giving the PSU an easier time,help at all ?

Cheers,
Mike.

[Goggleyes]

Hi,

A mains filter would not help at all I'm afraid. The problem being (I think) that the PSU is failing to deliver sufficient current/voltage to the scanning coils when the power demands of the electron guns suddenly increase, as is the case when a brightly lit image needs to be displayed.

A filter just removes high frequency noise from the incoming mains and cannot really improve the PSU's regulation/performance output characteristics.

The problem could be down to poor quality PSU capacitors, good ones can be QUITE expensive.

[Spartacus]

Well I bought a TX40 (why can't we have user friendly names???!!)

The picture quality is fantastic, especially on digital.

I was impressed by the 9509, but the PP2 was truly awful for football. Plus I think the Pana is a bit more "natural".

Football is really good on this TV, no smearing etc.

On a related note, does anyone know how the PD50 differs from the TX40?

Is it the same tube without the processing? I am not being funny but I really am struggling to see how the picture could get better (via Digital).

Genuinely interested to know the difference.

[Goggleyes]

Hi,

It's all about scaling and interpolation. Acuity and PixelPlus systems sample the incoming transmission and build up a digital representation of each frame. The frame is then digitally magnified/expanded using algorithms which take account of the need for edge smoothing etc and then "sliced" up into more horizontal and vertical pixels/lines than made up the originally transmitted frame.

This enhanced pixel representation of the frame is then used to drive the electron gun, so you get more horizontal and vertical lines on the screen per frame.

[per-Sony-fied]

Originally Posted by Spartacus

Well I bought a TX40 (why can't we have user friendly names???!!)

The picture quality is fantastic, especially on digital.


On a related note, does anyone know how the PD50 differs from the TX40?

Is it the same tube without the processing? I am not being funny but I really am struggling to see how the picture could get better (via Digital).

Genuinely interested to know the difference.

Hi, If your still about roaming these groups then some answers to your questions....

The PD50 is unique as far as I can tell in using the Quintrix SR2 tube which allows greater CRT emissions through a reduction in *absorbing* ambient light giving even stronger and more vibrant colours over the Quintrix tube as used in the TX40 and PD30.

The chassis in the PD50 is also entirely different. Using GP1. TX40 uses Euro 9D. What electronic wizardry this actually means I'm not sure other than the obvious of Scart i/p's and Acuity picture processing.

For the PD50 the processing bandwidth has been increased from 54Mhz (PD30) to 96Mhz which is supposed to improve picture sharpness and detail.