Panny or Hitachi???

Hi all, I am just thining about buying a plasma, but I am slightly unsure as to which one to get. I like the panny and everyone keeps raving about it and it appears to be possible to get it for about £2600, with wall mount at the mo.

However, I am also impressed with the higher screen res of the hitachi, I keep reading about hi-def TV coming soonish, i also have an xbox which can do hdtv.

To put it bluntly, is the higher res more important that the contrast? What would you lot choose with a budget of about £2500

P.S. Does anyone know of any decent software fro drawing my living room etc to scale,??


Dave

 

I'd agree with Joe.

I had the 42PD3000 for about 10 days before sending it back, I just could not get away with it. This is going back to last June/July time. I had problems getting any sort of acceptable display, for me anyway. My main issues were to the fact that it had appalling preset image functions with no ability to alter the presets. It only had the ablility to alter one of the functions (favourite) and to be honest I found the reds to be more orange, the blacks to be more of a speckled grey and the wife found the buzzing to be too intrusive at normal volume levels. I was running Marantz DVD and NTL Digital (Pace 4000) both via separate RGB inputs.

I then went for a Panasonic PW5 and have been more than happy with this. Using a JS Tech RGB/VGA2 converter I have found the image to be absolutely spot on. The wife loves it which is the big kicker as she hated the Hitachi.

Dont be too involved with resolution, especially with Sky/Cable etc. If you can, see for yourself. When I was looking around dealers I had the same problem as most people. I was limited to the big high street sellers and like everyone els,e almost all of the displays looked crap thanks to a generic looped through RF feed. But to my mind the Panasonic made the best of that over all the panels, so therefore I assumed that it would also make the best of a decent feed, which I knew I could provide. At the time the 42PD3000 had just arrived on the scene and was getting rave reviews so I went for that unseen (stupid I know).

There are a lot of very happy Hitachi owners on here and a lot of very happy Panasonic owners and in now way do I want to start any sort of flame war. All I can do is say that I preferred the Panasonic over the Hitachi. But I have a list of reasons.

Also the fact that I have managed to get a PW5B, RCA terminal board and the lovely stand for a total of 2k makes it even better!

 

Dave

Go and look for yourself. I went to Nexnix with a firm view that I was going to buy a Panasonic. They have the Pioneer, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Hitachi running the same signal all next to each other. To be honest the PQ on all were good.

I walked away with PD5000 Hitachi. I won't go into all the reasons why only to say it is a personal thing so go and have a look.

Now I have it home and hooked up, it is even better than in the showroom. The PQ is sublime and I am not running any fancy gear just a straight scart lead off the back of my 3 year old Onkyo TX DS595 receiver.

 

For fairly obvious reasons, I've never been to Nexnix, but their ration of Hitachi to panasonic sales seems to defy every other plasma showroom I have knowlege of, which is more than a few. I am frankly astonished, not that some people do prefer the hitachi, fair play, it's a free country, but that so many of Nexnix's customers do. At say Richer, you have very little choice in the price range, I'd therefore expect the average Richer customer to come away with a well priced Hitachi, but what do nexnix do to attain this position? Do they have a secret to make the Hitachi look good to more people, or is their Panasonic bad? Does it flicker? Colour balance wrong? Perhaps I should visit...

 

Do a search for room arranger, its freeware and should do the job.

 

Martin, I've been to nexnix and their Panny looked very good and seemed well fed and setup properly...from what they told me, quite a few people love the Panny, but don't like it for use with a PC due to the low res...Maybe this is why???

I thought the Panny was the best on show, but I am biased

JJ

 

The Hitachi is little better with a PC, no native res. I recommend Pioneer MXE or HD panny to all PC users. Wonder why they don't.

 

Probs cost...the Hitachi is still quite a bit cheaper than the MXE or PHD...

JJ

 

It'd be interesting to know just how many people actually use a PC with their plasma, and how many have see what say 1280x720 looks like on a 'SD' plasma. Not much different to alis IMHO, and for the very limited use made of this facility, why compromise other points? We do a bit of surfing on the VHA from time to time, it's fine for that. No use for a big spreadsheet admittedly, but I have another instrument for that...

 

Totally agree - My VGA input is used for RGB2VGA anyhow...

 

MAW - You may be interested to know that with my 'joe public' eyes I thought that at Nexnix the Panasonic had a slightly better picture than the Hitachi on a Sky feed. No difference with DVD.

So why buy the Hitachi? To me the PQ difference was negligible, it was a better price and Hitachi's latest offering is streets ahead on styling.

But then I, like the majority, am not a techi - just an interior designer, so my priorities are perhaps different.

 

Ah, my mistake then, I thought most at least here were pretty techy. My clients are hardly ever techy, they just want it to look good both on and off, and be easy to work. And when things go wrong, they want it put right. I can at least promise that with Panasonic, and in any case they rarely go wrong. The curent crop of Hitachi problems I find pretty frightening. It'd bankrupt me if I'd sold them.

 

I agree with the reliability thing. Buying the Hitachi is a risk. But I think life without risk is very dull.

Having said that I have my own retail business and agree with your stance - Buying something just because you like it is not good business sense.

However on a personal note being 'sensible' can mean you miss out on the fun. A good example is that 3 years ago I decided to buy a new car, it was going to be a BMW or Merc, ended up with an Alfa. All the 'people in the know' said I was crazy. For the past three years I have had the very best motoring experience - reliable, cheap to run, exciting etc etc.

We will have to see if the Hitachi performs the same way. If it breaks I will let you know.

All the best

Liz

 

Prior to buying my plasma last year, I'd been reading on these forums for a good 6 months prior to that so knew all about the Panny, Pio and Hitachi and the fact that, at the time, very few people seemed to have the Hitachi - in fact, I was more than a little put off with the threads about ALIS screens.

I then went to demo the screens which I did at AV dealers where the screens were properly setup. I'd describe myself as pretty techy with around 8 years in the software industry and, after reading all the reviews and doing all the demos, I came away with a Hitachi 42PD3000.

Why? Because at the time, I personally thought that the Hitachi had the edge on picture quality over the Panny 5 series (which I could see the flicker on as well) and the quality looked as good as the Pio 433HDE which was a lot more expensive. I could have gone for a 433MXE but the setup had to be as wife friendly as possible so the fact the Hitachi had a tuner was a bonus.

Overall, I have no regrets with my choice and still think to Hitachi offers excellent picture quality. I do have the problem with the 'grey blob' in the centre of the screen but only noticed this 2 weeks ago having had the screen since last July. I've also had a problem with buzzing but this has been solved with a replacement transformer.

What would I get if was buying now - the Pio 434.

John

 

Flicker is an issue with Panasonic. It's the main reason for having to choose something else. Mr Alfa, there are risk free choices in your kind of car that are still fun, I own an Impreza. I can't think of a plasma to equate it to, and as an inveterate risk taker, I'd agree that life is dull without it. But I couldn't chance my latest risk, starting a business, on something that seems likely to disappoint in terms of reliability and backup. I think the alfa may be a good example there, they are great while they're going well. It must be hell being an alfa dealer when you get a rough one, which does happen. You might be a respectable business, but without wholehearted backup from the manufacturer life is tough.

 

MAW,
I think Mr Alfa may indeed be Miss/Mrs Alfa!
Liz doesn't sound very masculine, but I could be wrong!

 

Missed that.

 

A similar sentiment from myself.
After much browsing reading and web searching I have narrowed my search down to the PW6 or the Hitachi PD5000.

I am infuriated by Panasonics connectivity policy on the PW6. I know what kit I have NOW but not what I MIGHT have in 5 years so I want ALL the options as part of the package.

Hitachi can do that at £2500 why can't Panasonic? How available will those terminal boards be in a few years time? Will HDMI become standard on all new screens and leave me with a 'pup'?

I agree with peoples comments on being able to see these displays being properly represented.

The only screen that has really blown me away with its quality in a shop has been the Pioneer 434.

That would be my choice if I had the cash but an extra £1,500 is a BIG step for a marginal improvement.

Buy now or wait six months for spec to rise and price to drop?

The eternal question I know but I can't help but feel there will be some big changes this year.

 

Thanks for that Joe.
I am not TOO concerned about the HDTV thing at this stage. I have a pretty basic setup compared to most of the people that post on here. A Pioneer all in one I bought 3 years ago that has served very well and I see no reason why it shouldnt continue to so so. Also a Panasonic S-VHS video, very rarely used.

I currently have a 28" widescreen Toshiba and basically want a BIG screen - on the wall. Space is at a premium and the corner my TV and gear takes up could be much better utilised.
I want a screen with a great picture (and I am led to believe that is the Panny) if it will display these HDTV or HDMI pics with a slightly softened pic I can live with that.

I want crisp sharp DVDs though - that is what I watch most, and I want it to be as futureproof as poss. £2500 for a telly is still a LOT of cash.
Will Panasonic bring out a HDMI board for the PW6?
I doubt it if they have a replacement screen with it built in coming out in April....
Would an HDMI signal through a DVI card give the same quality as a dedicated HDMI?

Also, if there is a new Panny coming out perhaps there will be deals on PW6s very soon? I have noticed suppliers sharpening their pencils in the last month. Competition from other retailers or knowledge that a new model is out soon and they have to shift existing stocks?

 

HDMI refers only to the shape of the plug, and it's ability to carry audio signals. The video information is the same as DVI, no need for a monitor to have an HDMI plug as it doesn't do audio, well not digital audio anyway. In fact not audio as we like to know it. Yes England expects (and Scotland too I daresay) a new panel from Panasonic in the forseeable future. Exactly when is still a job for mystic meg, but Q2 is likely. Price slashing has already reached epidemic proportions, what more do you want? Be paid to have one? We are now looking at £2300 or so, see the sticky above.

 

Cheers MAW,

I'm still in info collection mode as I'm sure is apparent.
If you are going to pay me to have one then it would be rude of me not to take you up on the generous offer (got an ex display model you want shot of do you?)
In the short term I had decided that £2500 was my sensible budget for this (much as I love the Pio 434) and that would include a wall mount and any extra terminal boards, cables etc.
So yes, maybe the time has come to dust off my wallet.

Nexnix have it for £2340 with all that lot and that is with the S-Video connection needed for my now antiquated DVD system (I can almost hear the weeping from the afficionados)

One final question before I splurge - is there a diff between the PW6, PW6B and PW6BX or are they all the same?

Thx