Time to upgrade from Panasonic ST60 plasma?

SteveAWOL

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I’ve currently got a 42” Panasonic plasma in the corner of north facing lounge which has served our family well for half a decade but watching movies in HDR courtesy of the snazzy new LASER projections at my local Luxe Odeon has given me a dose of upgraditis!

From what I gather a 48” OLED seems the obvious choice (guessing a QLED even with ultra-wide tech still cannot match plasma for viewing angles) but do manufacturers cut corners on these smaller sets? As I read that the latest Evo panels are only available in the 55” and 65” versions this year.

TV will be used mostly for broadcast shows (occasionally with subtitles for older family members who are hard of hearing) from Virgin Media TiVo box plus football and tennis on Sky / BT Sports HD and movies on Amazon Prime in UHD. My games consoles have gathered dust in recent years but perhaps new TV will reignite my enthusiasm to pick up joypad.

Won’t be using TV speakers for audio, as already have a receiver with 5.1 set-up.
 
There hasn't been a new type of OLED panel until this year, and it does start at 55" and up, but only on the more expensive OLED TVs.

Compared to OLEDs, the picture quality of 48" TVs is similar to the same TVs at larger sizes unless you're looking at the Philips OLED936 or Panasonic JZ1500 at 48". The latter has the old panel, but tuned at 55" and higher to deliver higher brightness and the former has the new panel type at 55" and higher.

But LCD TVs are seriously cut back at smaller sizes. Samsung's QN90A and QN94A sold at 50" are more similar to the larger Q80A than QN9xA models.

One thing to consider is 48" is very, very small for an UHD TV. A lot of people buy these TVs even for desk usage. Whilst there are other things that make a new TV better than an older one, noticing an increase in detail from resolution won't be one on a 48" model. Even in most cases 55" is already too small for this.
 
Personally I’d say if you’re upgrading then go up in size. It’ll take a bit of getting used to, but 55” inches is fairly normal these days
 
55” is good I think. Having said that 48” will be a size increase for OP.
 
Similar predicament here, most content watched is 1080p on the plasma but wondering whether to switch to the oleds (c1, a90, jz2000) or wasting money at this time (would watch 4K on YouTube if upgraded). What are everyone’s thoughts on the shift from a mid end plasma going into the top end OLEDs? I have been reading the boards and have noted pro and cons somewhat but I don’t need a new set just yet rather the want and wondering whether to hold out for 22/23 sets/until plasma gives up or make the shift now. Would I miss much if I were to switch to the OLEDs mentioned above?
OP - what set did you opt for in the end?
 
General rule - Not worth upgrading at all if you're still mostly watching 1080p content. Upgrade with a mind to enjoy 4k and HDR.

If you're looking for something interim for only SDR content, you can get away with buying the very cheapest OLEDs no problem, Philips OLED706, Panasonic JZ980 or LG A1.

Overall, an OLED, even an entry level one today will be a big upgrade over an older plasma TV, but there are still steps that you have to take back to take forward. Motion may need more tweaking and more upscaling is required for lower quality material, so it may not look as sharp.

Nothing in the works that really is worth waiting for in terms of 22/23, but Samsung are going to enter the OLED market which hopefully should push prices down a lot.
 
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General rule - Not worth upgrading at all if you're still mostly watching 1080p content. Upgrade with a mind to enjoy 4k and HDR.

If you're looking for something interim for only SDR content, you can get away with buying the very cheapest OLEDs no problem, Philips OLED706, Panasonic JZ980 or LG A1.

Overall, an OLED, even an entry level one today will be a big upgrade over an older plasma TV, but there are still steps that you have to take back to take forward. Motion may need more tweaking and more upscaling is required for lower quality material, so it may not look as sharp.

Nothing in the works that really is worth waiting for in terms of 22/23, but Samsung are going to enter the OLED market which hopefully should push prices down a lot.
Thank you - food for thought.
I did not know about Samsungs entry. I was checking the reviews on the forum for the jz2000/1500 and was impressed. With that, the jz1500 panny also has dropped in price so it was tipping the scale in favour… only question being whether I need it in the first place. I think you are right. Netflix/prime for me is still 1080…coupled with sky. One gripe was most smart tv’s have better OS than 10 plus years ago and so wanted the apps etc in one place rather than adding dongles etc.
 
Depending on what you watch now, and how your usage can change you can get value from a newer model just streaming from Amazon and Netflix, with Netflix you'll need to upgrade your plan to premium, but all the latest releases have HDR included, and will shine on a new TV.

For Sky, you'd need to go for Q and use their 4k channels, or their HDR library.

So, it all depends on what you'll watch, most people who buy a new TV tend to stop watching lower quality content once they see how good the new stuff looks compared, so a new TV may well make your usage change.
 
General rule - Not worth upgrading at all if you're still mostly watching 1080p content.

I disagree (assuming you are upgrading to a bigger size ...), 50" is too small to get the most out of 1080p no matter how good the set. High bit rate / hvec 1080p looks superb on my C1 77 - way better than on my Kuro 5080 (50" plasma) although most of the "better" is the sheer increase in size and consequent immersion.
 
Ok, slightly different situation for me but along the same lines. My aging Panasonic VT20 has started to lose the anti glare coating. As an upgrade I was looking at the OLED tv’s, somewhere around 60” mark. Although they are still pricey to a normal joe, are they worth the upgrade? Hoping for if you last me a similar amount of time To the Panasonic
 
I’ve currently got a 42” Panasonic plasma in the corner of north facing lounge which has served our family well for half a decade but watching movies in HDR courtesy of the snazzy new LASER projections at my local Luxe Odeon has given me a dose of upgraditis!

From what I gather a 48” OLED seems the obvious choice (guessing a QLED even with ultra-wide tech still cannot match plasma for viewing angles) but do manufacturers cut corners on these smaller sets? As I read that the latest Evo panels are only available in the 55” and 65” versions this year.

TV will be used mostly for broadcast shows (occasionally with subtitles for older family members who are hard of hearing) from Virgin Media TiVo box plus football and tennis on Sky / BT Sports HD and movies on Amazon Prime in UHD. My games consoles have gathered dust in recent years but perhaps new TV will reignite my enthusiasm to pick up joypad.

Won’t be using TV speakers for audio, as already have a receiver with 5.1
Is the plasma for sale?
 
Nothing in the works that really is worth waiting for in terms of 22/23, but Samsung are going to enter the OLED market which hopefully should push prices down a lot.
I was actually wondering about something similar in regard to this the other day. Whether or not prices would go down with Samsung in the OLED market.

Since I was looking at the S95B (the two stores I went into didn't even have one on display for me to look at, so that tells you how much Samsung are pushing the TV here in AU), Samsung haven't really launched a marketing campaign on the QD-OLEDs, so I thought that is why they are selling them a lot cheaper than Sony is selling the A95K for (plus the Sony price premium of them being a smaller company). I was thinking that if they have a full-on advertising campaign next year for their new model QD-OLEDs, is it possible they start charging more for it and prices will go up (this is one reason I thought about getting the S95B this year, as I thought it might be the only affordable QD-OLED TV I'd be able to get in the next couple of years)?

Sorry. I’m hoping to swap the screen out with a ut30 I was donated. The power board failed.
Does the UT30 work? Where you saying that you wanted to swap out the screen from the UT30 and put it in the VT20? I don't think you'd be able to do that with different models.
 
I was actually wondering about something similar in regard to this the other day. Whether or not prices would go down with Samsung in the OLED market.

Since I was looking at the S95B (the two stores I went into didn't even have one on display for me to look at, so that tells you how much Samsung are pushing the TV here in AU), Samsung haven't really launched a marketing campaign on the QD-OLEDs, so I thought that is why they are selling them a lot cheaper than Sony is selling the A95K for (plus the Sony price premium of them being a smaller company). I was thinking that if they have a full-on advertising campaign next year for their new model QD-OLEDs, is it possible they start charging more for it and prices will go up (this is one reason I thought about getting the S95B this year, as I thought it might be the only affordable QD-OLED TV I'd be able to get in the next couple of years)?


Does the UT30 work? Where you saying that you wanted to swap out the screen from the UT30 and put it in the VT20? I don't think you'd be able to do that with different models.
I honestly think Samsung may be selling the S95B at a cost to them, or at least to make no profit just to get a foothold in the market against LG.

As time goes on it's likely the market will be fragmented like LG OLEDs are and they will probably offer higher, and lower end QD-OLED TVs.
 

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