Panasonic 37" PE30 (first impressions)

Orlando

Established Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2004
Messages
158
Reaction score
5
Points
27
Location
Essex
Sorry this is a repeat, but I put it in the wrong place.
Just got my brand new 37"viera today. I was very nervous about this purchase and have dithered around for ages trying to make a decision.
I haven't even bought a stand for it yet in case I had to take it back if I wasn't happy with the picture quality.
So there I was in my living room with the plasma on the floor standing in the bottom of the box.
I just unplugged my two cheapo scart leads from the back of my exsisting 32" Philips CRT and plugged them into the back of the plasma. One from my Sky+ box and one from my Toshiba 330 DVD player.
I actually had butterflys in my stomach as I paused before switching the set on.
My first discovery was that the set dosen't auto switch to the AV source which is playing, my Philips would switch automatically, oh well will have to manually select which AV source to view.
I first turned on Sky+ which was connected to AV1 in RGB and remember this was connected with the scart lead which come with Sky.
Well what can I say the picture was sublime, phew what a relief. It has a very smooth cineamatic quality with no pixelation, no solarisation, no colour banding, no jerkyness, infact no plasma problems whatsoever.
I then turned over to some weaker channels to see what they were like. I first tried Eurosport. Yes admittedly the picture isn't as good, but it is still excellent.
DVD connected up and switched on playing Phanton Menace (manually switch over AV source again).
Well what can I say, superb. Again I am using a crap scart lead which I think came with my DVD player.
Another thing the sound from the built in speakers is astonishing, more than adeqate. Pity I won't be using the sound much as I use my AV amp for all my veiwing.
The only down side is I have now turned down the contrast and brightness levels to about half way, to run the set in, and in my opinion this is too dull, but bearable.
By the way I have read the booklet all the way through and it makes no mention of running the screen in, but I bow to the better judgement of more experianced owners.
If you can't tell I am over the moon with this screen and very happy with my purchase.
Believe me the picture looks much better in your home than in any store.
Going to order the stand now so that I can take it out of it's box.
Sorry this is long winded and has sort of hijacked the original thread, But I thought potential buyers of this screen would like to know.
Any other questions fire away. :smashin:
 
Hey Orlando,

the butterflys you had on your stomach are all inside mine now :D since I'm about to purchase the very same Panasonic 37" Viera. :)

I live in Portugal, and believe me that the difficulty of mending something that has gone wrong with a product like a Plasma TV is much higher than in the UK :rolleyes: , so you sure can understand why I'm not even sleeping very well this last few days.

I'll probably be buying it next week so I'll post some words when the moment of truth finnaly arrives :)


cheers,

Manti
 
Hi Manti,

Where are you considering purchasing your viera? I also live in Portugal and am trying to find the cheapest place I can over here..

NS
 
Relax i bought my Viera 2 months ago and it just gets better and better its ease of use and fantastic sound are just two of the major attributes i did buy the stand which looks brilliant and does a reasonable job of hiding the cables one thing though you do get used to the size if i was doing it again i would go for the 42" but this is the least painful and most pleasing route to plasma i could have hoped for
 
Can what I said about it not auto switching when it detects your've just turned on another piece of equipment, it does.
 
Orlando - just got mine this morning, and it didn't auto-switch when I put on a dvd. Am I doing anything stupid? Also, do you have to tell the viera that it is receiving RGB, or does it just process it if it gets it type thing?

Pic looks a little 'noisy' at the moment but am hoping that it's my crappy cables
 
AllTorque said:
Pic looks a little 'noisy' at the moment but am hoping that it's my crappy cables

Are you using fully wired scarts ? Bin the ones you got and get some decent cables for this plasma ;)
 
I have been reading this thread with great interest, as I have ordered the 37" viera from www.techtronics.com, and awaiting delivery soon as well.

I am also waiting for ANYWHERE that has the pedestal stand - I am tempted to order it off of www.unbeatable.co.uk as it is £99.99 delivered, and they reckon they will have them in within a fortnight ( yeah, right).

When it does come, can you let me know what RGB Scarts, etc... you set it all up with, and whether you are impressed with the TV or not - Hope I've ordered a good one !!!!!!!

Sean..........
 
For some reason it doesn't auto detect to start with and then all of a sudden it will, can sometimes take a few hours but it will in the end.
Mine started auto detecting, but when I disconected everything to stack equipment properly, it didn't again, a few hours later it's OK again.
There is nothing in the menu regarding RGB it will switch to it if it's present. If you press the "i" button on the remote it will show you if it's RGB on not, by displaying it in the top left hand corner of the screen along with the channel number.
By the way I'm using rubbish leads at present and my picture is not noisey atall. Also through the built in free view the picture is fine.
 
Hi,

as previously promissed, here are my first impressions on my just purchased PANASONIC Viera 37":

Picture quality (using component video out Prog/Pal Sony DVP-NS585P player) is top noch!. Even with the settings (contrast/brightness) runing low, one can surely see that this baby can deliver :thumbsup:
Regarding TV aerial transmission the scenario changes a little bit. Here in Portugal 99% of cabel channels are broadcasted in 4:3 format, so if you use the Panasonic AUTO mode you wil get a full 16:9 image of a 4:3. No prob with that if you don't mind the loss of "sharpness" due to the stretching of the picture. Of course you can always watch it in 4:3 original mode, but you would have to live with the vertical gray bars that the Panny puts to fill the rest of the Plasma screen :rolleyes:

Sound isn't as great as I was expecting, but I can live w/ that and hope that is just a matter of time to get used to it. (I remember that the same happened when I swithed TV's 4 years ago)

I'm using my Panny with the pedestal (yes, here in Portugal they are very easy to find :D ) and the set fits very well in my living room.

Regarding Auto-Switching when using AV sources, I find it a little disturbing. I'm using PROFIGOLD thin Scart cables for my JVC S-VHS player and my 2nd DVD player (the one that's multi-region) and PROFIGOLD Component cables for the Prog/Pal Sony DVP-NS585P player and I must admit that I can't figure when and why the Auto-Switching works. Sometimes it does (especially w/the Scart sources) sometimes it doesn't. :suicide:

I'll keep in touch as I try to solve this mistery.

Cheers,

Manti



P.S. Does anyone knows how to check the clocked hours in this model? I found a way in the PANASONIC faq page but it refers to a 124 chanel!!! This model can only go up to 99... :mad:
 
I think it means 124 khz on the manual tuning in setting. You know if you were trying to tune in a video recorder or something. I maybe wrong but that is how I read it.
I haven't tried it on mine incase something gets mucked up.
I know in these forums 100 - 200 hrs running in time is mentioned, but this isn't set in stone, and is not a Panasonic recommendation it's just suppliers advice to prevent screen burn.
I ran mine for about a week with low settings and now just use it as normal, no problems atall so far with any screen retention or burning.
The problem with waiting a few weeks to use it as normal, is by the time you are in a position to see what the picture will really be like, you're out of your return peroid!
 
Well I've had my 37" Viera for about 2 weeks now, and I feel I am now able to give an accurate review on it now.
I bought this panel mainly from what I have read on this forum and what I read in the magazines.
Generally this is a terrific panel, but I have a few things I am not happy with.
Firstly the flicker that I have discussed on this forum already, however this doesn't spoil the viewing for me to much as once into a program you don't really notice it.
Secondly and probably most annoying for me is the general darkness of the display.
I can only describe this as faces appear dull and lackluster, don't get me wrong the colours are very viberant and on some channels the picture can look superb, but more often than not I find my self fiddling with the picture controls trying to get it right.
I have found myself back in CURRYS comparing it to the 37" PD5200. But this panel is not without it's faults either.
I can't see any flicker on the Hitachi and the general brightness is better. An example of this is if both displays are showing a white background the Hitachi's white is, well whiter and more bright.
On the PE30 there is absolutely no picture noise and the picture is very CRT like in this quality, where the Hitachi can show pixel noise. I also feel in a darked room the weak blacks of the Hitachi will make their self evident, this is not a problem on the Panny. I would love to have both units in my home to make a proper comparision, but this is wishful thinking.
Is there anyone how has owned both panels that can give an honest opinion?
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom