Best plasma for SD tv and sports?

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Which TV do you consider to be best for SD tv and for sports - especially soccer?

I am considering:

1) Panasonic TH 37PX80 / TH 42PX80
2) LG 32PG6000 / 42PG6000
3) Samsung PS42A457

At the moment I don´t have HDtv - so I am only watching SD tv, so naturally the SD performance of the tv does mean a lot

What can you recommend? or are there much better affordable alternatives?
 
Either of the 2 Panasonics would be the one to go for depending on viewing distance.
If your viewing distance is 8 feet or more then go for the 42PX80:thumbsup:
 
I have the LGPG3000 50" plasma.

SD quality is absolutely amazing and is far better than my friends Panasonic TH42PX80 and he has totally agreed with that fact so much so that he is thinking of changing to the LG.

Soccer is good but not brilliant. You do get a very slight blur when the camera pans to follow the ball in movement. Maybe it's because I have a 50" screen.

It's not really that bad and I may be picking faults since I came from a 32" CRT. However, it is 1000 times better than watching football on my 32" LCD screen.
 
I have seen the LG3000 and the Panasonic is better in every department...... blacks, contrast, colour, motion....everything.Plus LG's have a bad reputation for screen burn.

I would suggest finding a shop with a LG6000 (not the entry level 3000) and a PX80 set up correctly ie not Currys and do a comparison between the 2.

The 6000 is a pretty good TV but if it was my money I would go for the Panasonic as it is just that little bit better in my opinion and screen burn is very much less of an issue.
 
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HDVtest have reviewed both the 42PG6000 and the 42PX80. And it was a close call. Pros and Cons for each, but they plumped for the Panny due to better blacks and colours, though they preferred the LG's SD picture and it does have more tweaks available.

If you want a 50" then it's the 50PG6000. (there isnt a 50PX80, the 50PX8 has a lesser spec.).

If you're thinking of the 37", dont, get the 42", you soon get used to the size.

Havent seen a proper review of the Sammy.
 
Panasonic is a far superior and more importantly a reliable manufacturer compared to the rest of the herd. LG boast of good colors but they have basic problem of susceptible to Image Retention. In the long run this will be really annoying. With a little less vibrancy from PX80, you can have the reliability factor as a friend if you intend to keep the plasma for few years.

Go for 42PX80 instead of 37". Even at 8 feet i can live with the quality of SD. Ofcourse if you have an upscalar and upscale it to 720p, you can view from even 6 feet.
 
37PX80 or 42PX80 no question and preferably the 42PX80 as there isn't that much of a difference in price and you might regret getting the 37`version and think you should of got the 42` version.
 
Distance to tv is about 12 feet. But my lounge isn´t big so 37 inch would be more ideal cos I am afraid 42 inch would be too dominating - and I prefer to have the tv on a floorstand.

I have been reading some reviews - and about the LG you can read very mixed reports about SD performance. HDtvtest however claiming that PG60000 is comforbably outshining the PX80 regarding SD performance... ?? but in most reviews the SD performance of the Pana PX80 is highly praised.
 
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I have seen the LG3000 and the Panasonic is better in every department...... blacks, contrast, colour, motion....everything.Plus LG's have a bad reputation for screen burn.

I would suggest finding a shop with a LG6000 (not the entry level 3000) and a PX80 set up correctly ie not Currys and do a comparison between the 2.

The 6000 is a pretty good TV but if it was my money I would go for the Panasonic as it is just that little bit better in my opinion and screen burn is very much less of an issue.

Panasonic sets for me trump the equivalent sized LG plasmas.

The new LG 32 plasma is a great little set though. A mate of mine just got one and is around on this forum somewhere, but teh only thing to watch out for is the IR. After playing around with some of his settings we put on a dvd, and you could see the imprint of the smaller adjusting menu bar in the bottom black bar. The set was brand new though, so best left to bed in.

Distance to tv is about 12 feet. But my lounge isn´t big so 37 inch would be more ideal cos I am afraid 42 inch would be too dominating - and I prefer to have the tv on a floorstand.

To be honest, a 37 will seem like a spec on the horizon from 12ft away. I sit at 10ft in a 4.2m square lounge and I upgraded to a 50 from my 42. Go for the panasonic 42px80, only a few quid more than the 37 and it will keep that damn upgraditis away.
 
To be honest, a 37 will seem like a spec on the horizon from 12ft away. I sit at 10ft in a 4.2m square lounge and I upgraded to a 50 from my 42. Go for the panasonic 42px80, only a few quid more than the 37 and it will keep that damn upgraditis away.

I totally agree. There is no question of domination with a 42" if your viewing distance is 12 feet. At 10 feet my 42PX80 already looks tiny to me. I think the question of domination comes from the fact that you are going up in size which is usually the case. Dont worry, you will do fine with 42" PX80
 
I totally agree. There is no question of domination with a 42" if your viewing distance is 12 feet. At 10 feet my 42PX80 already looks tiny to me. I think the question of domination comes from the fact that you are going up in size which is usually the case. Dont worry, you will do fine with 42" PX80

maybe your right - but will SD not look a little better on 37"? - I think eventually noise or artifacts aren´t visible in the same way?
 
maybe your right - but will SD not look a little better on 37"? - I think eventually noise or artifacts aren´t visible in the same way?

Yeh, but the really nice picture won't be visable from 12 feet as well.
Believe me, you will be making a mistake going for the 37".As already stated, TV's shrink after a day or two of use
I should know, I made the mistake of thinking 37" would be big enough and after a week I wished I had gone bigger.That was from 8/9 feet away.I now have a 46PZ80 and even that has started to look small.
 
I simply don´t understand this demand for a bigger and bigger TV.

When we are speaking of flatscreens tv I think we can roughly divide people into 2 groups.

Group 1: people who are going for the opimal picture quality
Group 2: people who are going for the optimal cinema experience, so bigger is better

I am definitely belonging to group 1 and I think that my preferences are suffering with bigger screens.

That´s why I am leaning more towards a TH-37PX80, and my lounge is only 3,2 x 7m.
 
I simply don´t understand this demand for a bigger and bigger TV.

When we are speaking of flatscreens tv I think we can roughly divide people into 2 groups.

Group 1: people who are going for the opimal picture quality
Group 2: people who are going for the optimal cinema experience, so bigger is better

I am definitely belonging to group 1 and I think that my preferences are suffering with bigger screens.

That´s why I am leaning more towards a TH-37PX80, and my lounge is only 3,2 x 7m.

You missed group 3; those who want it all, and won't be happy until they find that perfect set.

Go for the 42, trust me in that sets shrink after a week or so, then the doubts will come into your head about why you didn't get those extra few inches :D
 
Hi guys,

I'm looking for an above mid-end TV (£2000 is the absolute maximum for me) for strictly SD viewing. Mostly I watch freeview (especially sports such as snooker, tennis and winter sports) but also DVDs. My viewing distance is around 9 feet.

My current choice would be Panasonic 46PZ86. I first thought that a 46" screen is too big, but after I saw it live, I must say I prefer it to the 42" version. However, I've read several reviews of the PZ85-series where the Standard Resolution quality of these Panasonic plasmas are thought of as mediocre. On the other hand, HDTVtest has praised the SD quality of TVs like Sony Z4500 -- although I'd imagine proper viewing distance is more important with LCDs. This amazes me as I've always thought that plasmas are unanimously thought of as the best SD displays and that Panasonic plasmas especially are no-brainers for this (of course there's Pioneer but the prices are a bit high for me).

So, keeping in mind that a 46" screen would be kind of ideal (I don't even have room for a 50-incher), that £2000 is my absolute price limit, and that LCDs can be options as well, what would you recommend for me? I'm looking for a TV to last me as long as it works (so probably 30 years like Panasonic has promised :D).
 
I owned a px80 for a long time, i have to say the LG42PG6000 was overall a better set. Much nicer looking, easier to use and better PQ on normal tv, the scaling on the most recent pannys is garbage.
 
I owned a px80 for a long time, i have to say the LG42PG6000 was overall a better set. Much nicer looking, easier to use and better PQ on normal tv, the scaling on the most recent pannys is garbage.

Yeah, those LGs have had positive reviews recently. However, I've got to say that I've seen PX80's SD performance live and I wasn't impressed. The difference between its SD performance compared to that of 46PZ85 was huge (in favor of PZ85). So in this regard I'm not surprised you have got better experiences with the LG than the Panny.
 
Yeah, those LGs have had positive reviews recently. However, I've got to say that I've seen PX80's SD performance live and I wasn't impressed. The difference between its SD performance compared to that of 46PZ85 was huge (in favor of PZ85). So in this regard I'm not surprised you have got better experiences with the LG than the Panny.

I find the px80 to be much better than any of the pz pannys ( they share similar scaling algorythms and processors ) its simply a lower resolution model therefore for normal tv it is much better.

LG is better than any of them imho
 
Shame 50" is too big as the Pioneer 5090 sounds ideal for you.

Best picture quality and fits within your budget.

Surely a 50" wont be a problem if your thinking of a 46"? It will be less than 3" wider.
 
As the sales start tommorow, i am looking for a bargain or two, and i was wondering if some of you guys could help me find a plasma or lcd (i think plasma suits me) but open to feedback.
I sit around 10 feet from my Toshiba 32WLT66 lcd but it is starting to malfunction, so i am looking for a 42 inch full hd tv with 100hz, 24p (if necessary) and possibly sd upscaler?

I play ps3 regularly and occassionly watch blue ray movies, while having the full sky hd package with sport being very important to me. Please help me guys and try to advise me as i have not got a great understanding of TV's.
Help really appreciated
By the way i have a limit of around £850
Thanks
 
Is the 42" to large for a viewing disstance of of about 5 - 6 feet ?
which should i get, i view mainly sky hd/sd and ssome blu ray .
 
As the sales start tommorow, i am looking for a bargain or two, and i was wondering if some of you guys could help me find a plasma or lcd (i think plasma suits me) but open to feedback.
I sit around 10 feet from my Toshiba 32WLT66 lcd but it is starting to malfunction, so i am looking for a 42 inch full hd tv with 100hz, 24p (if necessary) and possibly sd upscaler?

I play ps3 regularly and occassionly watch blue ray movies, while having the full sky hd package with sport being very important to me. Please help me guys and try to advise me as i have not got a great understanding of TV's.
Help really appreciated
By the way i have a limit of around £850
Thanks
Best deal at the moment is the Panny 42PX80 at £499 Dixons/Currys. 100hz, 24p, but not Full HD 1080 panel, but as you only watch a few Blurays you're not going to get the full 1080p benefits anyway.
 
Is the 42" to large for a viewing disstance of of about 5 - 6 feet ?
which should i get, i view mainly sky hd/sd and ssome blu ray .

One of my chairs is 5/6 feet away from my 46PZ80 and most SD channels from SkyHD are fine apart from some of the low bitrate ones which can look awful.
HD from that distance, especially Blu-Ray, is fantastic.
 

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