Quick impressions PX80 Vs PZ85 Vs Pio

Ethos123

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Was passing by a nearby Richer Sounds and popped in. They happened to have the 42" versions of the PX80, PZ85 and the Pio next to each other, all with the same feed.

Pretty unlikely they were all setup optimally, but the results were pretty sad (for me - I was planning on buying the PX80...). There seemed to be a lot of difference in black levels between the pannys and the pio. Much more than I expected... Also, the PX80 seemed pretty unattractive looking. The PZ85 wasn't particularly clean looking either... Not that the pio was a looker. They didn't have the new LG model in stock to compare against

Put it down to poor store settings (on black levels)? Any views on the looks of these panels?
 
I have no idea what the PZ85 is like but I compared the PX80 with a PZ70 and a Pioneer (which I forget the number of) as well as other plasmas including a philips, samsung and LG and for me the PX80 was second only to the Pioneer and I couldn't see much in it. However in all fairness going to various stores and comparing only a subset of these models probably isn't very accurate. My first plasma was a TH42PX60 and it was fantastic until purple blotches and lines starting appearing. I then got a Samsung only recently which was frankly rubbish and now I have a TH42PX80 and it seems miles better than the PX60. I admit its not as stylish as the Samsung or even the older PX60 but its stylish enough for me and certainly isn't ugly. In operation its superb and the only downer I can say about it is that using a DVI to HDMI conversion cable I can't get a 1:1 pixel map using 1024x768 instead the display distorts at 1024x768 and i have to use 800x600 which looks very good just not as good as 1024x768. Apart from that minor annoyance which was exactly the same on the samsung I love the set.
 
the pio tvs are still the best tvs out there.. the new 2008 pannys dont come close imo

black level and colour depth of the pio is still unsurpassed :D
 
the pio tvs are still the best tvs out there.. the new 2008 pannys dont come close imo

black level and colour depth of the pio is still unsurpassed :D

Seconded.

The new pannys are excellent, well actually only seen the PX80. The px80 was a very impressive set when you consider the price, but only your eyes can decide whether the price difference is worth it.
 
I was in Currys yesterday and they had an HD feed of the Villa v Everton game playing. The picture was way better than the two PX80 sets sitting next to it but I'm sure this was to do with the way the screen was set up as it severely lacked detail and sharpness. While the image on the PZ85 was really good, the ball movement was awful. It produces stuttering, halo effect when the ball moved at a relatively quick speed. I asked for the remote control as I was pretty certain this IFC feature was enagaged which caused this stuttering but they couldn't find one :(

It basically confirms that the PZ85 is an absolute waste of ÂŁ100-ÂŁ150 on top of the PZ80. This never happened on the PX80 incidentally despite the picture not being anywhere near as good. ;)
 
It basically confirms that the PZ85 is an absolute waste of ÂŁ100-ÂŁ150 on top of the PZ80. This never happened on the PX80 incidentally despite the picture not being anywhere near as good.

IFC undoubtedly is not good for sports such as football, rugby, golf, tennis.

Have a look at the following two files to see the difference IFC makes to the non existent film mode deinterlacing of Panasonic Plasmas.

The files were taken with my digital camera (SkyHD movie Zulu) and reprocessed to DivX. They are fairly big at 3.5Mb but clearly show what's going on with horizontal pan judder and fringe colour issues. To reinforce this, freezing the video clearly shows the fringe colour issues around faces & helmets and the double images etc.

Enabling IFC certainly helps PQ a lot for this type of content.

Zulu
http://rapidshare.com/files/110896501/Zulu.avi.html

Zulu IFC
http://rapidshare.com/files/110896849/Zulu_IFC.avi.html
 
basically, the moral of the story is, if you have the money and are prepared to pay a bit more for the best, then go for the pioneer. if not then just go for the px80 range and get great value for money and quality

dont bother with the pz80/5 range as they arent worth the price premium imo
 
Put it down to poor store settings (on black levels)? Any views on the looks of these panels?
I would put it down to poor lighting in the shop.

I've noticed that the native reflectivity of the Panasonic panels is such that they can look grey if there's a lot of ambient light, or light projected upon them by spotlights.

Hence, although the "black-level" of the panel itself is very good (in a darkened room) the panel can seem to have a relatively poor one due to reflected ambient light.

Unfortunately, the lighting in shops seems to always make the Panasonics look very bad. When you see the panels in a real room with normal, domestic lighting they're not.
 
I have the 42pz85 and think it is a fantastic TV. It also looks a lot better than the px80 in my opinion
 
dont see why, if you can afford a pz85, would you not pay a little more and buy a pio 428/0... i just cant see it lol

dont get me wrong, the 'premium' (pz80/85) pannys are good, but considering they are in general over 1000quid and as i said id either pay a bit extra for the pio but if not save your money and go for the px80...
 
basically, the moral of the story is, if you have the money and are prepared to pay a bit more for the best, then go for the pioneer. i

But where do you stop? The Pioneer is ÂŁ3000, if you spend another ÂŁ1000 you can buy a decent DLP projector, which for movies is far better than plasma.

If ÂŁ1K is your limit, then either have to buy a "lesser brand" plasma, and if you want 1080p rules out Pioneer.
 
dont see why, if you can afford a pz85, would you not pay a little more and buy a pio 428/0... i just cant see it lol

dont get me wrong, the 'premium' (pz80/85) pannys are good, but considering they are in general over 1000quid and as i said id either pay a bit extra for the pio but if not save your money and go for the px80...

Maybe because not everybody agrees with you that the Panasonics dont come close to the Pioneer. Yes they may be a bit better for SD, which seems to be the general consensus on here and in online reviews, but the PZ Pannys seem to be slightly better for HD. Personally I would prefer to sacrifice a little bit of SD quality, of which I am generally happy with anyway, to have a more superior HD picture so each to their own I suppose. Oh and Pioneer dont do a 46" screen which is the perfect size for my room. :smashin:
 
Maybe because not everybody agrees with you that the Panasonics dont come close to the Pioneer. Yes they may be a bit better for SD, which seems to be the general consensus on here and in online reviews, but the PZ Pannys seem to be slightly better for HD. Personally I would prefer to sacrifice a little bit of SD quality, of which I am generally happy with anyway, to have a more superior HD picture so each to their own I suppose. Oh and Pioneer dont do a 46" screen which is the perfect size for my room. :smashin:

panny better on hd? ive yet to see that...
and what about better black level, deeper colours and better sound quality? not to mention more tweeking options...




But where do you stop? The Pioneer is ÂŁ3000, if you spend another ÂŁ1000 you can buy a decent DLP projector, which for movies is far better than plasma.

If ÂŁ1K is your limit, then either have to buy a "lesser brand" plasma, and if you want 1080p rules out Pioneer.


were talking about 42" :p
 
I have seen all 3 sets and ended up going for the panny 42pz85. I played with the settings on them all, and the full HD took it for me. The only difference that I saw between the pio and the panny pz85 is that the panny picture was much more crisp. Surely I am not the only one that saw this? Even playing with the settings this was painfully obvious to me. I also considered gaming - and the 1 to 1 pixel mapping on the panny did it for me - not some stupid resolution that isnt directly mapped via the 360. Oh and a blue ray player for an extra ÂŁ100 and HDMI v1.3 on TV +BR - no brainer for me - the pio didnt stand a chance. I sit 7 or 8ft from the TV - so I do benefit from the 1080P, and SD is very good via a V+ box set to 1080wide.

Just my 2 cents worth!
 
With the "dirty screen" problem that people are replacing i wouldn't feel confident about spending that muct on a pio only to find out it suffers and can't be fixed.

The PZ80 seems like a decent choice to me, good SD and Full HD for under ÂŁ1000 at 42".
 
With the "dirty screen" problem that people are replacing i wouldn't feel confident about spending that muct on a pio only to find out it suffers and can't be fixed.

The PZ80 seems like a decent choice to me, good SD and Full HD for under ÂŁ1000 at 42".

Good choice though, be happy with the tv, we all debate farr too much on here.

On the dirty scrren effect, Ive been close to my set looking for it, but darn't go on a quest to find it. What's the point when I never get that close and if I do see something then it will annoy me into getting a new one and all the hassle associated with it.

1080p seems like a good choice for you if you are around 7-8ft away, but I hope you will be using a lot of HD feeds to make the most of it.

One last thing, the pio still wals all over the 1080p PZ I saw for HD and gaming, both at around 5ft and especially at ~10ft. When researching between these 2 sets in january I spent hours with these sets, and the pio still took it in the PQ stakes even though it has a much lower resolution.
 
One last thing, the pio still wals all over the 1080p PZ I saw for HD and gaming, both at around 5ft and especially at ~10ft. When researching between these 2 sets in january I spent hours with these sets, and the pio still took it in the PQ stakes even though it has a much lower resolution.

If it was in Jan then it must have been the PZ70s rather than the 80s surely?
 

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