Replacing Panasonic Plasma

NozzaC

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We've got a 42" Panasonic TX-P42G30B plasma TV and my wife wants a larger screen - 50" or similar.

Thing is, it seems to me that the picture on this old plasma is really good compared to TVs I've seen around friends houses and I'm wondering what sort of money I'm going to need to spend to get new TV of the larger size that will be of similar, or better, picture quality?
 
In many ways current tv's are worse, especially if you have a limit of 50" (no high end LCDs or OLEDs at this size). You'll need to go for 55"or higher.

Even then, if you were to spend £1500 on the mid range LG B6 OLED you'll get a big upgrade in picture quality and new features, but motion and standard definition pictures won't be as good. The only OLED right now that can pull the same motion resolution as a Plasma is the Philips 901F when you use it's clear motion settings. It's a 65" model only though.

A compromise if standard definition is important would be to get the older FHD LG 910v OLED as UHD TV's are the reason SD content looks worse upscaled.

If you look at LCDs you can get more models with clear motion options giving you equal motion to a Plasma but you may find LCDs traits diminishing compared. LCDs have come a long way and ones today are in many ways better than your Plasma but they still come with traits that are typical of having a light behind the panel unlike plasma and OLEDs that use self emitting tech. A capable HDR tv would be the Panasonic DX-902 at 58" circa £1400. You can spend less but you'll get edge lit models instead, which are good value, but also come with even more LCD drawbacks.

I wrote more about it previously and I'll link the thread if you want to read more: Thinking of replacing your plasma?

You may also want to read why UHD isn't always an upgrade (especially as most people's viewing distances at sub 65" tv's are too far away): UHD vs FHD

I don't want to sound like you definitely won't be happy with a new tv, I'm sure in many ways you will. Depending on what you spend you'll get advancements such as HDR -if you can utilize it's limited content and UHD- if you view close enough to appreciate the extra detail. You'll also get much better smart tv functions. But what I'm saying is, it's still 3 steps forward 1 back vs a good plasma tv.
 
Hey thanks for the detailed answer. I'd be more than happy to go 55".

I guess more of what we watch is HD from the main UK channels BBC and ITV via Freeview or Freesat and then Amazon Firestick which I think is HD (looks it).

Is it worth looking at used Plasmas? Just browsing on ebay the prices look really low.
 
I think its worth it yes, but its up to you. It depends how much you want to spend, just thought it would be good to mention even with an OLED you still don't get the same motion capabilities Plasma TVs have.

If you could afford an LG B6 OLED I would still buy it, its a great TV for the money and if you are going to use lots of UHD and HDR then even a cheaper LCD like the Samsung KS7000 or KS8000 would be an upgrade in most areas too.

But if you don't plan to utilize much HDR or UHD or you can't spend as much then there is little point in my eyes. You'll end up with something bigger, but also possibly worse. At a very minimum I would go for at least a Hisense M7000.
 
Hey thanks for the detailed answer. I'd be more than happy to go 55".

I guess more of what we watch is HD from the main UK channels BBC and ITV via Freeview or Freesat and then Amazon Firestick which I think is HD (looks it).

Is it worth looking at used Plasmas? Just browsing on ebay the prices look really low.

Yes it is worth looking at used plasmas. There is a classified section on this website where members can sell their TVs. Considering you have AV enthusiasts here who calibrate their Tvs and upgrade on a far more frequent basis than your average Jo, you could get a top end late model Kuro or Panasonic that will exceed any new LCD in terms of PQ for a fraction of the price.

The TVs here may be a bit more expensive than someone flogging their old family TV on E-bay but they will have been cared for properly e.g the screen won't have been cleaned with window cleaner! my sister did that to my BIL Sonyo_O...:facepalm:)

You might want to consider a LG910V, the non 4k HDR, 'only' 1080p OLED. It comes in 55" only and Richer Sounds are currently offering it for just over £1000 with a voucher code. Had mine for 6 months, a replacement for a far older Panasonic Plasma than yours. I haven't noticed any motion issues even on sport and I turn all motion/sharpeness processing off plus, my 910v is 13" bigger than my previous 42" Panny.. I wonder whether most current OLEDS having to upscale being 4K contributes to some of the minor motion issues attributed to some OLED sets
 
Yeah its important to remember that I may ramble on about motion tech etc, but at the end of the day most people are happy with the standard motion provided with settings turned off.

In fact even with TV's with in depth motion settings, many prefer them turned off.
 
Yes some of cannot stand any SOE or the artifacts caused by motion processing and sharpness 'enhancers'. So we are willing to forgive any minor and I mean minor, motion issues.

Mind you, some of us don't watch much sport or game on our TVs
 
I went from a Panny 42" pf11 (such a great screen) to a 2nd hand 50" Panny from here and it was great and an absolute bargain. Still have it. But with F1 looming I decided to jump to 4k and with the insane prices of the new 2017 OLEDs had to pick between last year's LG B6 and the Samsung KS7000 at half the price (55" can be had for 850 now, there's also a 49) so I went for the latter with some trepidation. Best viewing angle is a bit tighter and blacks definitely not as good as the Panny but the overall colour accuracy is very impressive, peak brightness is crazy and you don't get the banding effects on torchlights etc. Amazon HDR content looks stunning and hopefully F1 will be worth watching again ;)

Obviously I have all the weird interframe creation stuff turned off and motion looks fine to me. Better than the plasmas that have always had a little double image effect to my eyes.
 
I went from a Panny 42" pf11 (such a great screen) to a 2nd hand 50" Panny from here and it was great and an absolute bargain. Still have it. But with F1 looming I decided to jump to 4k and with the insane prices of the new 2017 OLEDs had to pick between last year's LG B6 and the Samsung KS7000 at half the price (55" can be had for 850 now, there's also a 49) so I went for the latter with some trepidation. Best viewing angle is a bit tighter and blacks definitely not as good as the Panny but the overall colour accuracy is very impressive, peak brightness is crazy and you don't get the banding effects on torchlights etc. Amazon HDR content looks stunning and hopefully F1 will be worth watching again ;)

Obviously I have all the weird interframe creation stuff turned off and motion looks fine to me. Better than the plasmas that have always had a little double image effect to my eyes.

Have you tried with just custom settings with LED clear motion on? That should give you the least motion blur without SOE but it introduces black frames to make the TV flicker very fast. It darkens the image so you may have to raise the brightness, but the Samsungs have class leading motion in this respect so I think its worth a try, especially when watching the F1!

Its LED clear motion under custom auto motion plus, the other settings may introduce SOE.
 
Tried it out. No noticeable effect (other than darkening the picture) on normal TV. Will try it on sport at some point. Thanks.
 

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