New Patreon Tier and Early Access Content available. If you would like to support AVForums, we now have a new Patreon Tier which gives you access to selected news, reviews and articles before they are available to the public. Read more.
I am definately decided on one of these two sets. However, I understand that sd does not look very good. Apart from HD is there anyway else to improve the sd performance eg running it thorugh a dvd/amp. I have an arcam avr 280 (not sure whether upscales)
Please do not believe everthing you read, there are more positive comments on the SD performance than negative, Freeview SD is Fine on my 50" V10 & slightly better on the SD Freesat tuner (but theres not a lot in it). Some SD material/Channels are exceptionaly good & sometimes close to HD in appearance
If you are refering to an outside SD source i.e. Sky+ then yes you could benefit by using an Amp. with a good upscaler.
The complaints levelled against the SD performance of Panasonic plasmas are that it's too soft. Although this means that less mosquito noise and other unavoidable digital artefacts are apparent, it means that the set doesn't get anywhere as much detail as it could out of a good quality broadcast. One HDTVtest review showed that detail could just go completely missing on a Panasonic display which is plain to see on a Samsung. It also doesn't present as sharp a picture as it should with any films broadcast.
Because of the other strengths of these displays, the SD performance is still more than watchable.
I think that SD sharpness perceived on other TVs is sometimes not in the signal but processing artefact. The Panasonic image is devoid of this, and can be considered soft, but I tend to prefer the more natural Panasonic picture.
The problem with turning up sharpness is that's artificial. Whilst it can help the image seem left soft, it actually removes even more detail ultimately.
The upscaling on the TV is probably better than any amp unless you go very high end. The Arcam amp you have does not upscale the picture. As far as scaling does I feel it is best left to the TV.
If you want to improve your SD image you will need to invest in a DVDO Edge or Lumagen. These processors will improve the quality of your SD picture but they are not cheap.
if only the pioneer was not so expensive would have considered buying it - but for the money i would spend on a lx5090 or kra - could by a camcorder + tv
Then you may like to know that I replaced a lx5090 with a 50V10 and prefer the Panasonic HD and SD pictures. Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas produce different looking images and you should decide which you like best (within budget).
