Panasonic TH42PZ70 not happy with the picture quility

tmitch

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I have recently got a Panasonic TH42PZ70 plasma which is running on its internal freeview and playing dvds via a new denon 1940 connected by hdmi. Prior to taking delivery of the tv a had a new digital arial fitted. The freeview reception on most (not all) freeview channels is disappointing and blocky. BBC1 is particularly bad making it uncomfortable on the eyes watching football matches.

Watching dvds from the denon can in some cases provides a picture that is also blocky with a lot of noise particularly in the background. I have tried with upscaling at 1080p and 720 etc. Would I get a better picture if I forget the upscaling and just connect the dvd player by top quality component cables.

If anyone has any ideas it would be very much appreciated
 
I bought a 42PH10 recently and whilst I have detected a certain amount of blockiness it was only evident on some channels and on some film footage. I cannot say i have seen any glaring faults with my dVD player(Oppo 981),
I didnt myself buy a 1080p set as I couldnt see the point in paying the xtra, not at 42" anyway, as 90% of my tv watching is on SD . Any HD progs I watch at 720p and the pics there are virtually faultless so if it was me i would return the PZ70 and buy a PH10 with its superior calibration capabilities:thumbsup:
 
I have the TH50PZ70 without the DVB-T module though (in Belgium it seems to come without) so I cannot comment on that aspect.

For the DVD connection, did you try a plain and simple scart-RGB connection or alternatively the component connection?
If these are OK, retry your player connected over HDMI without upscaling (720p). If this shows the blocking again, it is either a faulty HDMI cable or worst case, something is wrong with your plasma.

I have my Pioneer DV585 connected over component and the picture is absolutely flawless (576p), even when connected over scart-rgb the picture is not bad at all.
The regular TV channels are feeded through a DVB-C receiver over HDMI (720p or 1080i) and show a clear and spotless picture too :thumbsup:
 
Thanks guys. I think with altering the settings the dvd picture is settling down. its more the picture from freeview that is rubbish, any ideas?
 
Are you getting good quality picture ratings when setting up the auto tune for freeview?
 
My th-50pz70 seems fine using the freeview and just a normal roof aerial. Its not as good as sky though.
 
Beg/borrow/steal (or even buy) an external freeview box and plug it into the PZ and compare the quality to the internal freeview.

I don't use the internal freeview and it looks fine to me - but not as good as Sky. That's normal AFAIK as Sky uses more bandwidth.
 
Thanks for the responses. Having looked at them all i'm glad to see that its not the tv that is broken. I've also just watched transformers through the denon 1940 at 720p and the picture is amazing!

I also have a humax freeview PVR and the picture from that is even worse. It dose seem then that the problem is the freeview quality broadcast combined with the tv not coping well with sports. I'm watching the newcastle FA cup match now on a 13" CRT via a cheap set top digital box and the picture is miles better than the panasonic. Having spent so much on the tv i'm a little gutted (have considered putting my 28" CRT back), have others had similar experiences? is there anything I can do appart from goto sky HD?
 
Something must be amiss here

I have the PX70 version of your TV in 42inch - i also have the humax 9200t and i also live on a freeview fringe area, my ariel is 10yr old so not wideband. Signal is quite poor so quality on humax is between 50 and 75%

But my picture is fantastic better than ever expected for SD with less than perfect signal.

Yes some channels aren't as good as others and fast moving pictures are ever so slightly missing edge detail but thats just the nature of freeview, not the TV.


What signal strength / quality is the humax reporting. Also make sure humax is set to RGB output. My humax is better than internal freeview i'm sure.
 
I'm watching the match too and its really very good quality for me. Some slight edge detail problems when the camera is on the pan but thats freeview not the plasma.

Actually is hardly even an issue and you dont notice it unless your critical.
 
When you say the DVD feed is also blocky, I wonder if you simply have the brightness turned up too high, so emphasizing compression artifacts?

Have you attempted basic calibration of the contrast/brightness at all?
 
Maybe I'm being too critical my wife thinks I am but its not as good as our old tv! Signal strength on the humax is 85% with quality at 100%. The tv freeview is better than the humax to date. The nagging doubt is that freeveiw on the panasonic is not as good as freeview on my old CRT. From what people have already posted it must just be the combination of freeview and the plasma not working well together!
 
The nagging doubt is that freeveiw on the panasonic is not as good as freeview on my old CRT.

that's the issue, show me a plasma that has better pic quality than a crt from a freeview box!

having said that my 37PX70 does display freeview channels well, better than i expected
 
i have a 42"px70...
For the builtin freeview i have a crappy old aerial (been there since beginning of time).....its a crackin picture.......
Virgin SD box.....its quality...(usin a cheapo scart~)
PS3..1080 blue ray is the dogs.....(hdmi)
Panny DVD upscaler(Hdmi) ..love it
Best TV i seen in yonks,.....
I have yet to see ANY blocky patches.....its gotta be your setup maybe ??...really strange 1 that mate........
 
Can you post some of your settings? Make sure it's not in dynamic mode as others have said.

How far away from this are you sitting? I've seen a 50" PZ70 from 4feet and freeview looked blocky. From 6 feet it was perfectly watchable considering you're looking at a nasty level of compression blown up to 42" or 50".

I bet the picture on your 28" was just as bad, the blocks were just smaller :) I can see freeview artefacts easily on a 32" CRT from a couple of feet away.

And yes, SkyHD is great if you're a football fan. If only Setanta didn't exist :(
 

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