Panasonic TX-58DX902B to replace Panasonic TH-42PWD6 plasma - anything better for budget of £1300?

MiketheMechanic

Standard Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
101
Reaction score
1
Points
50
After almost 14 years of faultless service, I've decided to replace my living room Panasonic TH-42PWD6 plasma.
It was purchased in Kent AV following the recommendations of lots of people on AVForums and was a very popular set on here in 2004.

Details as follows.
TV Location: Living Room/Sitting Room.
Viewing Distance: Typical 2.7m, Average 3.0m, Max 3.4m
Viewing Angle: Typical 20 degrees from perpendicular centre, Max 45 degrees from centre
TV Mounted on a wall with screen centre about 30cm above eye level when sitting.
I just use a pair of Panasonic TY-SP42P8W-S speakers that clip on to either side of the TV for standard audio output.

Usage:
Currently mostly used for watching Sky HD output (via component to the SD Plasma Panel)
and for Irish Saorview DTT ising a Triax TR112 SCART RGB Output to VGA using JS converter. New TV will have HDMI and DTT Tuner of course.
Occasional Football finals etc, some Golf (Masters etc), Formula 1, documentaries (Blue Planet type etc)
Occasional Movies via Blu Ray and would like the option of YouTube and Netflix on new TV.
Some legacy support for Component, VGA and even composite would be useful, though not essential.

TV is used 60% at evening/night time - 40% during the day in a relatively bright room.
At weekends, this 60/40 is probably reversed.

Replacement:
A local retailer is doing a clearance on the Panasonic TX-58DX902B at €1449 or £1270
Is there a better 55-58" set available for this kind of budget?

Is it a worthy replacement for my old Panny Plasma? - are there any areas where the old plasma still wins?
I can't really think of any, but I would hate to be disappointed in the new TV.


MtM
 
Last edited:
Is there a better 55-58" set available for this kind of budget?
Its a 2016 model, don't think it is fantastic value at that price when they sell official refurbs in the UK for £680 on their eBay store from time to time. But if you compare it to TVs now you are looking at the Sony XE9305 and Sony XE9005 which can be had for similar prices now at 55"...but maybe pricing is different in ROI and I don't think the eBay outlet store ships there.

Is it a worthy replacement for my old Panny Plasma? - are there any areas where the old plasma still wins?
I own the 65" version and also a younger 42 Panasonic Plasma, from around a metre away SD scaling will be worse, HD looks okay, UHD better. At your kind of viewing distance from a 58" TV likely HD and UHD will look good, albeit discernable from one another, SD probably not that great.

Motion wise I find the Plasma much, much better. With LCDs you rely on using motion enhancements to clear up blur and judder whilst Plasma tends to deal with it natively much better...at least mine does anyway, not sure if that is the same for the older generation so much.

Some legacy support for Component, VGA and even composite would be useful, though not essential.
This will be really hard now, some TVs have composite inputs but not many. Don't think I've seen component or VGA on a TV for years. What sources have these connections that you use?
 
Just wanted to close the loop on this thread.
I move at the speed of a glacier - LOL.
To be fair, pandemic etc. slowed my plans somewhat ;-)

I finally ended up replacing my Panasonic TH-42PWD6 plasma setup in my living room today.

My budget remained unchanged. I ended up going for a LG OLED65C14LB from Richer Sounds for £1289.

All I can say is wow. It's an amazing set. Better than the old Panasonic in almost every measurable way. However, I did notice that the new OLED deals with fast scenes "differently" to the old Plasma. I'm not an expert, but it might be a small amount of motion judder. I've been spoiled from watching a plasma for almost 20 years - and a good panel at that.

The LG OLED65C14LB and new stand went up on the wall today.
I'll need some time to tweak the settings and fine tune it.
I imagine there's a LG OLED65C14LB owners forum somewhere to help me get the most out of it.

MtM
 
That'll be motion stutter since the OLED is a sample and hold display. You can play with TruMotion to clear it up but you may also get noticeable SOE doing so.

Plasma TV's weren't sample and hold so they didn't share this problem.
 
Yes, I'll have to play around with the settings to try to improve it. The C1 is a fine set. I'm really glad I opted fot the 65" over the 55".
 
The big step-up in screen size and extra brightness of the OLED (compared with your old plasma) will also make any differences between the two technologies (especially motion handling) more noticeable.

As mentioned above, LG's motion interpolation settings (TruMotion) should help with this. The next time you get a scene that causes problems, try increasing the setting gradually until you find an acceptable compromise between stutter and unnatural-looking motion (the Soap Opera Effect).

Some people seem to cope better with OLED motion stutter than others. For me, setting IFC (Panasonic's motion interpolation setting) to 'Min' gives a suitable compromise and I only notice stutter very occasionally. If I set IFC any higher, I find I don't like the unnatural motion that results. To be fair, I used to have IFC set to Min on my previous Panasonic plasma as that wasn't immune to motion issues either occasionally, especially with low-framerate material.

If you try and sort the motion issue now, then hopefully it'll be a case of 'set and forget' and you can enjoy the OLED without spending ages looking for problems. You may also find that you notice issues less over time, as you get used to it.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom