[Nyquil Driver]

First off, I'm not normally one to complain and have been very forgiving of 'nagging' flaws in the past. My previous Philips TV had slight geometry issues and was prone to the pincushion effect. I learnt to live with those negligible concerns because I appreciated the terrific RGB pictures and the set was pretty versatile (good for both analogue/digital images and especially DVD playback).

So I'd hoped that buying a Panny TX28PL1 would give me all of the above good points but without the irritating problems. Sadly, this isn't the case though. As proper reviews for the set are pretty scarce (and some of you may be considering buying one), I'll provide as much detail as possible:-

After the channels were all auto-tuned, I was left with a weak ITV (stored as channel 1) and no BBC1. Obviously this was rectified manually and everything was set properly within 10 mins (and I entered my name/password for security reasons). I flicked through the channels and adjusted the contrast etc (the factory settings were ludicrously high) and I was initially overjoyed by the sets geometry. My video's performance looked better than ever (through Scart 2) and I was generally pleased with the picture and the remote was certainly a joy to use.

THEN (and this is where it gets ugly), I tried to play a DVD using an RGB connection. I used the R2 6th Day first (as the quality was amazing on my previous set) and I was expecting to be absolutely bowled over by the results and to begin with, I was-- The colours and overall picture were terrific and the flesh tones seemed okay. I wasn't pleased by the over-stressing of edges though (occasionally causing jagged lines) and the set was obviously boosting blacks and whites artificially (something you can't switch off). I bought a 50Hz TV to AVOID fake-looking images so this was bit of worry. Although that's nothing compared to the horrible flaw I discovered next......

If you look closely (and I noticed it within 2mins of the film) mesh-like shapes intermittently appear over faces/shapes etc. It's most noticeable when someone is talking and they're briefly obscured by a thinly visible 'grate' (you can see it clearly because you're focusing on their face), this effect can appear anywhere though and it's understandably a real pain. Obviously I tried several other discs and two different high quality leads aswell, but it made absolutely no difference. I also tried every combination of options possible (AI/NR on and off), but I gave up on it in the end. Basically, RGB isn't an option with these sets (or my set at least).

S-Video performance was (and is) fine, although that's no real consolation. I've kind of got used to the sharp edges (Beverly Hills Cop looks sensational) but I'm deeply disappointed overall. The geometry isn't as good as I first thought either as there's a noticeable dip on 2.35:1 material (the top right hangs down a touch) and scrolling text isn't dead-straight. So it looks like I'm another casualty of the 'New TVs are rubbish' syndrome.

I honestly don't know what I'm going to do about this, but I'd be grateful for any kind of feedback.

[martian1]

I am no expert [havent a clue really] but you have tried turning all enhansment settings off! Noise reduction etc and dont forget to turn sharpness off as well, get good scart leads or s-video good luck.

[Nyquil Driver]

Thanks for your response Martin and my first thoughts were the same as yours (settings/leads etc) but I've honestly tried everything.

I've seen other threads which had people complaining about vertical bands and a quite recent one which mentioned faint lines on DVD playback, so I think this must be a Panasonic-specific issue.

If anyone reading this has a PL1 (or one of the PK range for that matter) I'd be very interested in your comments. I'm going to e-mail Panasonic and see what they have to say aswell.

I know an engineer who told me Panasonic TV's are now made by Daewoo. Don't know if it's true or not but it might explain the iffy picture.

It was me that mentioned about vertical faint lines but I also get other strange interference on RGB DVD playback. I haven't been able to test with s-video as I get a black and white picture - perhaps I need to connect with the other scart socket on my DVD player, not sure. I also got this interference on my old Sony TV but not quite so evident on that. Normal terrestrial TV is fine although I get crap reception now. VHS tapes are fine through both scart sockets on the TV.
I posted in the DVD player section about the interference but no one replied so I guess no one knows what it is.
I'm moving to a new house in 2 weeks time and NTL dig TV will be installed so I'll test out RGB then, if I get the same interference (i'll also be borrowing an £80 scart lead from a friend) I know it has something to do with RGB on the PL1.