Help Me with a decision Please

mok79

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Hi

I have a Panasonic TH42PX60 plasma and am very disappointed with the picture quality and colouring. I have seen the Samsung PS42Q7HD and am thinking of swapping them. The only thing that is troubling me is that the Samsung only has 1 HD port, will this be an issue or not ???

Also is this a good telly in your eyes ???

Please help
 
Hi

I have a Panasonic TH42PX60 plasma and am very disappointed with the picture quality and colouring. I have seen the Samsung PS42Q7HD and am thinking of swapping them. The only thing that is troubling me is that the Samsung only has 1 HD port, will this be an issue or not ???

Also is this a good telly in your eyes ???

Please help

I'm no Plasma expert but when you state you are disappointed with the picture quality what is the source and how is it fed, this is supposed to be one of the best Tv's around.
 
I'm no Plasma expert but when you state you are disappointed with the picture quality what is the source and how is it fed, this is supposed to be one of the best Tv's around.


I have NTL so am using scart socket. Tried new cables but no joy....
The picture is poor even for dvd's which again is running through scart.
I went back to JL where i got it from and they said its NTL.....

So don't know really.... Any suggestions
 
When you said you tried new cables we are talking QED, IXOS, profigold or something like that are we not or is it a £5 ASDA gold special?
A common mistake for set top boxes and DVD players are
output not set to RGB but left to composite/PAL output.
output not set to 16:9, left in 4:3 or 4:3 letterbox modes.
Does your DVD (what make and model is it) and TV handle component (progressive even better), much better quality than SCART.
 
When you said you tried new cables we are talking QED, IXOS, profigold or something like that are we not or is it a £5 ASDA gold special?
A common mistake for set top boxes and DVD players are
output not set to RGB but left to composite/PAL output.
output not set to 16:9, left in 4:3 or 4:3 letterbox modes.
Does your DVD (what make and model is it) and TV handle component (progressive even better), much better quality than SCART.


They are profigold scarts that I tried made no difference at all.... :rolleyes:
The decoder is set to RGB and 16:9 no difference at all....

You lost me on the last bit "component" ???? :confused:
 
NTL is sometimes very poor, it's true. Rubbish cables will also make a difference, and so will a £29.95 DVD player. I wouldn't write off the TV till you've checked all else, and especially not for a Samsung, which is likely to be worse.
 
NTL is sometimes very poor, it's true. Rubbish cables will also make a difference, and so will a £29.95 DVD player. I wouldn't write off the TV till you've checked all else, and especially not for a Samsung, which is likely to be worse.

Really, when i was in the shop yesterday the pic on the samsung looked 5 times better than the panny and I was told they were being run exactly the same.
 
Right just looked at the inputs to your TV.
Make sure that the NTL box and DVD is only connected to AV1 & 3 as these are the RGB inputs. AV2 is not RGB
WHAT MAKE AND MODEL IS YOUR DVD. Have you set it to RGB and 16:9.
 
By the way have you tried the Freeview on the set.
 
Right just looked at the inputs to your TV.
Make sure that the NTL box and DVD is only connected to AV1 & 3 as these are the RGB inputs. AV2 is not RGB
WHAT MAKE AND MODEL IS YOUR DVD. Have you set it to RGB and 16:9.


Its plugged into av3 (NTL)
DVD Player is A sONY BUT CAN'T REMEMBER MODEL NUMBER AND THAT TOO IS SET TO RGB 16:9 ????
 
So assuming you have the Sony DVD player plugged into AV1 (RGB) and all the menus in the DVD player are correct that would be as far as you could go.
BUT DO check the back of the DVD player to see if it has component connections, the model number will also be on the back.
It really is a shame you have no aerial as the picture on Freeview enabled TV's is excellent.
Must admit I had NTL a few years ago and it to had a c##p picture and that was on a CRT (changed to SKY), unfortunately what you are suffering from is a bad picture expanded to 42" and LCD's and Plasmas are not forgiving in any shape form or other.
DO NOT give up on your setup, the Panasonic is an excellent set, but do remember the quality will only be as good as the weakest link and in your case that happens to be NTL. More detail on your DVD and I am sure we can overcome that issue, hopefully without changing it.
 
So assuming you have the Sony DVD player plugged into AV1 (RGB) and all the menus in the DVD player are correct that would be as far as you could go.
BUT DO check the back of the DVD player to see if it has component connections, the model number will also be on the back.
It really is a shame you have no aerial as the picture on Freeview enabled TV's is excellent.
Must admit I had NTL a few years ago and it to had a c##p picture and that was on a CRT (changed to SKY), unfortunately what you are suffering from is a bad picture expanded to 42" and LCD's and Plasmas are not forgiving in any shape form or other.
DO NOT give up on your setup, the Panasonic is an excellent set, but do remember the quality will only be as good as the weakest link and in your case that happens to be NTL. More detail on your DVD and I am sure we can overcome that issue, hopefully without changing it.


So is the Samsung pretty poor then???
 
I know the Samsung is not considered to be as good as the Panny. Have you recently upgraded from a CRT TV?
 
They are most likely both good sets, the Panasonic has had all the rave reviews and rightly so. Just running back to the shop to swap the TV's out is NOT your cure. You seem to have one fundimantal problem bad sources and no matter what TV's you connect to those sources you are not going to get anywhere until they are resolved, as I stated before until we know what your DVD can achieve we are going no where.
Quality of sources.
Highest
HDMI
Component Progressive
Component
SCART (RGB)
SCART
S-Video
Composite
Lowest
And in my opinion transmitted sources
Highest
SKY HD and Telewest HD
Freeview (built in)
SKY SD
Freeview (external box)
NTL and normal analogue transmissions
Lowest
 
They are most likely both good sets, the Panasonic has had all the rave reviews and rightly so. Just running back to the shop to swap the TV's out is NOT your cure. You seem to have one fundimantal problem bad sources and no matter what TV's you connect to those sources you are not going to get anywhere until they are resolved, as I stated before until we know what your DVD can achieve we are going no where.
Quality of sources.
Highest
HDMI
Component Progressive
Component
SCART (RGB)
SCART
S-Video
Composite
Lowest
And in my opinion transmitted sources
Highest
SKY HD and Telewest HD
Freeview (built in)
SKY SD
Freeview (external box)
NTL and normal analogue transmissions
Lowest


So component progressive does my tv have this capability and if so how do i use it ???
 
So component progressive does my tv have this capability and if so how do i use it ???

The television does have this capability you'll find three plugs on the back coloured Red, Green & Blue this is your component inputs. If you've got a fairly recent half decent DVD player it should have the same coloured plugs on the back of that as well if it does you need to check the DVD manual to see whether of not it will do progressive output or only interlaced output. If you've got the xbox 360 this will also do component progressive output.
 
Really, when i was in the shop yesterday the pic on the samsung looked 5 times better than the panny.

Must admit my head tends to get swayed towards the samsung plasmas when looking at the panny range in stores.

It's hard after reading so much on these forums to go into a store with an open mind, and with panasonics generally being touted as the best you can get in that price range you're not expecting a brand like samsung to be looking better.

Probably comes down to the samsung set shipping to stores with better screen presets maybe, but i definetly agree with you they do appear better in stores.
 
Must admit my head tends to get swayed towards the samsung plasmas when looking at the panny range in stores.

It's hard after reading so much on these forums to go into a store with an open mind, and with panasonics generally being touted as the best you can get in that price range you're not expecting a brand like samsung to be looking better.

Probably comes down to the samsung set shipping to stores with better screen presets maybe, but i definetly agree with you they do appear better in stores.

Samsungs are usually shipped with an HD media box, so they look better. I asked to have the HD box moved to the panny and the picture was just as fantastic.
 
Samsungs are usually shipped with an HD media box, so they look better. I asked to have the HD box moved to the panny and the picture was just as fantastic.

AHA that could explain alot then
 
It is the same if you pop into your local Comet shop, all the best "looking" LCD's and Plasmas are usally connected to some HD media source. So people go away thinking they are much better than the rest. Recently visited a shop promoting Sony, talk about a blatant promotion, ALL the Sony's where being fed by a HD media feed and looked stunning, the rest looked as though they where all tuned into CH5 on analogue, you can guess what TV's where leaving the shop and the one's that where going to be left behind.
How can the punter in the street compare like for like.
 
mok79, still no news on what model Sony DVD player you have?
 
hi dazza,listen to andy ,he,s right,the panny is way better,.unless its faulty,but it sounds like bad sources,hope you get sorted,tedpon.::nono:
 
Hi Mok79, Andy98765 has given some superb advice, you honestly should heed it and try a few things before swapping the screen. The PX60 should be giving fantastic PQ, mine and a thousand others are i can assure you.

Before you blame the screen look at the facts-

1. You're feeding the screen with possibly the worst transmission possible...NTL. As has been mentioned it's on a par with analogue, not good.
I too changed from NTL to Sky+, and then Sky HD :thumbsup: I find this source simply superb on the PX60. (Maybe a little drastic for you to change to Sky HD but with NTL being such a poor source will it not be just as bad on the Samsung?).

2. You have no aeriel?? And yet the PX60 gives a great picture on most channels via its inbuilt freeview.

3. Although we have little detail on the Sony one might assume it's not a high end £600-£800 player? Perhaps it's a non-upscaling cheaper model from Curry's etc? Couple that with a scart connection (not that much higher up the scale than composite) and yet again you're falling short when it comes to source and connections.
If it has component connections get yourself a set of leads similar to this-

http://www.hificables.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/10886/groupID/709/categoryID/2384/

If not you could consider upgrading to an upscaling player with either component or HDMI connections?

To be truethful i think your barking up the wrong tree somewhat. The PX60 is a fine screen and the PQ should be superb given good feeds. Remember as with any screen......crap in crap out and the 42" Panny is gonna show all the flaws from inferior feeds, as you're finding out.

Also unless you're visiting a specialist AV dealer take no notice of what you see in the high street! Many have reported the PQ of their screen looks awesome compared to that displayed in the shop. And in your case it works the other way round as well! The Samsung may well look great in the shop but get it home and take the HD feed out of the equation and you'll be back to square one.
 

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