New telly dilema

[Munson]

I had my heart set on a Pioneer Kuro 5090 Plasma, but unfortunately it's quite clear that 50" is too big for my living space, and they don't do 42" version of this panel My next choice is the Panasonic TH42PZ800B.

Does anyone have any experience of the Panasonic? It looks fantastic in the stores, and gets largely positive reviews, but not, seemingly, as good as the Kuro. Like the Pioneer, it supports proper 1080p/24, but from what I gather, the Pioneer has far better black levels.

So, Panasonic TH42PZ800B, or a Pioneer Kuro 5090 & a new house? Opinions welcome & needed

 

[Revels]

Go for 50".

I have 42" and to start with it really felt huge, now im used to it Id love a 50", the Pioneer is awesome, too.

How far from the screen will you be sitting?

 

[Mike_182]

IMHO you don't want to get excessively big - it'd spoil the room. For this very reason, I'm going for a HD projector... No damage to the room space, and lifesize p**n! As for which panel - I like Panasonic panels, they've always seemed pretty good. I've not had a play with the Pioneer but I certainly wouldn't be disappointed spending my money on the Panasonic...

 

[Munson]

I would be sitting approximately 8-10ft from the screen. Yeah Mike that's my concern. Too big is ok for 1080p material, but SD material could start looking seriously ropey as size increases.

 

[Mike_182]

That's extremely close for a 50" screen - even a 42" screen is a bit big for sitting that close as far as I'm aware - I'd be more inclined to go with a 37" as it doesn't sound like the room is particularly large.

My dear god, I appear to be getting sensible in my old age. Somebody shoot me!

 

[Munson]

Just measured it at ~12ft

 

[Mike_182]

Should be alright-ish then with a 42", but as you suspected I'd say a 50" would:

A) look s**t on SD content
B) be huge and probably give you a headache...

 

[Tom]

I have to say my 42" seemed massive at purchase, but now i'm used to it.

SD content is at its limit with 42 tbh.
Is this for the UK roy?

 

[Munson]

Yeah it will be bought and used in the UK. For now at least. 50" is defo too big for the room

 

[Tom]

LG 42PG6900 or Panasonic TH-42PZ800

There, i said it.

 

[Munson]

Cool. I'll look at the LG. The panny is already on the list of course

 

[Nigel]

I've had 2 panasonic plasmas. Both are brilliant. I'd opt for the panasonic, I couldn't justify the increased price of the pioneer.

 

[Munson]

I've had 2 panasonic plasmas. Both are brilliant. I'd opt for the panasonic, I couldn't justify the increased price of the pioneer.

Sweet. Pannys do have a good rep. TBH the cost of the Kuro isn't the main concern - it's just that the smallest in the '5090' or '6090' panels is (obviously) 50" which is just too big for my lounge

I've pretty much decided I'm going to get the Panasonic TH42PZ800B. I need a new cabinet though, with some way of holding all my kit & my centre speaker which isn't small (Mission M7c2). I also need to decide between a BR player or a PS3. I'm a pure seperates man so I'll probably get a player rather than PS3. Time to start reading up on how the PS3 compares to pucka machines

I'm late into the HD game for various reasons

 

[Tom]

The PS3 performs well if not better, but its bloody ugly.

Samsung BD-P2500 Has BD live and Netflix support (bloody handy tbh but may not work in the UK?)

 

[DannyR]

LG's are absolute CACK! If you can't get the Pioneer go fot the Panasonice. Seeing a lot of people buying them now if they can't afford the Pioneer's and there marginally worse than Pioneers the price is a big difference!

Buy the Panasonic!

 

[Rasclart]

I just bought a Panasonic TH42PZ85B to replace my 37" Panasonic. Awesome set the new one especially with 1080p stuff

 

[Rasclart]

Sweet. Pannys do have a good rep. TBH the cost of the Kuro isn't the main concern - it's just that the smallest in the '5090' or '6090' panels is (obviously) 50" which is just too big for my lounge

I've pretty much decided I'm going to get the Panasonic TH42PZ800B. I need a new cabinet though, with some way of holding all my kit & my centre speaker which isn't small (Mission M7c2). I also need to decide between a BR player or a PS3. I'm a pure seperates man so I'll probably get a player rather than PS3. Time to start reading up on how the PS3 compares to pucka machines

I'm late into the HD game for various reasons

Dont Pio do a 43" anymore like they used too?

 

[Munson]

I think they do a Kuro 46". But the ones I'm after are the new gen. 5090/6090. Blacks so deep you can't see the screen in a dark room apparently. Epic panels but too big.

 

[Munson]

Opinions on this rack please. I love the style. What do you guys think?

http://www.theplasmacentre.com/product_details.php?products_id=4927&menu=Filtered

 

[Nigel]

Very nice, if you've got similar coloured wood elsewhere.

PS3 is very good as a bluray player, matches a stand alone player of the same price. if spending more though seperates are supposed to be even better.

I have Panny 42pz85b, onkyo 605 amp, PS3 and kef 2005.1 speakers. HD dolby is awesome and image quality is breath taking. Without more than doubling my budget I couldn't find anything better.

 

[Munson]

On HD Dolby - my AV amp is a few years old now, but it's still a very good system. Does BluRay work via coax or optical on an older style 'non-HD' amp?

The system is;

Denon AVR2802 - 6.1 amp/decoder
Yamaha YST SW320 - sub
Mission M7c2 - centre
Mission M74i - fronts
Mission 78ds - bipolar rears

It's a cracking system & I'd like to hold onto the amp, but does Blu-Ray also work with standard 'non-HD' multi-channel? In other words can I just hook up a coax from the player, and have audio at least as good as with my DVDs?

 

[Munson]

Thinking about it, if I buy a player with an onboard decoder I could just pass it through my amp

 

[Munson]

Awesome. I found this on the AV Forums.

Hi,

A player with analog outputs will cost you a little more but it'll give you the advantage of not having to change your amp. Obviously, if you use an optical connection you won't get any of the advanced audio codecs but you won't be any worse off than you are now (e.g. no different to straight Dolby Digital or dts from a dvd) and you'll still be able to use your current amp until you want to upgrade.

Brian

Hmmm that gives me two choices really.

1/ Get a Blu Ray player with analogue outputs - this would give me true HD multi-channel through my existing amp.

2/ Use optical or coax into my amp and have audio as good as with my existing DVDs.

 

[dk]

On HD Dolby - my AV amp is a few years old now, but it's still a very good system. Does BluRay work via coax or optical on an older style 'non-HD' amp?

The system is;

Denon AVR2802 - 6.1 amp/decoder
Yamaha YST SW320 - sub
Mission M7c2 - centre
Mission M74i - fronts
Mission 78ds - bipolar rears

It's a cracking system & I'd like to hold onto the amp, but does Blu-Ray also work with standard 'non-HD' multi-channel? In other words can I just hook up a coax from the player, and have audio at least as good as with my DVDs?

toslink and others don't support HD audio, not enough bandwidth, only HDMI and speical analogue inputs like the sony s550 has.

 

[Munson]

Yeah my research is revealing all this. TBH I'll probably stick with toslink/coax for now. I realise it won't be HD audio, but my system is far from s**t, and DVDs sound bloody amazing on it anyway (perhaps better than HD would on crap speakers?)

I'm going to order a Panasonic BD55 player tomorrow, as it's got every audio option I could hope for, including analogue 7.1 decoded outputs so I can easily upgrade to HD audio with my existing amp, if I so desire. It's all good

 

[dk]

wow, thats expensive, the sony is half the price at £220 with 5 blu-rays and comes with profile 2.0, a gig of storage and ethernet firmware upgrades, and all onboard decoding and analogue outputs and 6 second startup with a disc (which is quick for blu-ray), its a bargain.

 

[Munson]

Okay thanks mate, I'll read up on it. The Panasonic is meant to be a SERIOUS machine though, both for audio & video. But cool, I'll check out the Sony...

 

[Munson]

Sony S550 it is! Danke!

 

[dk]

from amazon you get the two bd's you send off for and can add wall-e, mamamia ( I know you dig this s**t) and handincock for free too! £221

just not in stock until the 18th

 

[Munson]

LOL at the ABBA rumour. FFS yellow you cnut! Why did you tell them

 

[Munson]

I'm going to have to dig out my sound level meter for setting all this up. I'm becoming an AV geek again after many years off the scene :approve:

 

[Rasclart]

Dont get too much of a hard on about HD audio TBH munson. Unless you are spending mega bucks of a speaker and amp combo and have a perfect room for said components you are going to struggle to here the differences IMO.

 

[Munson]

I did kinda figure as much. But I do have very good speakers and a good, if old, amp. At least the option will be there for HD audio though

 

[Rasclart]

What speakers & AMP?

 

[Munson]

See above geez.

 

[Rasclart]

I would say with those speakers you would struggle to here any noticeable differences. I have listened back to back HD and Standard signals through a AVCR1 and B&W latest top range solution in a perfect room and setup 100% and the difference was minimal. To my ears anyway! I had to really listen for the differences.

 

[Munson]

Hmmm ok cheers for the info. I'll have the option of either HD audio via the analogue outs, or just vanilla 5.1 via tos/coax. It's onion gravy really

Or are you suggesting I'd be better with a PS3 via tos? Aint gonna happen

 

[Rasclart]

No not at all just perhaps increase tghe budget or shift it around maybe get a new amp/speaker package. The Missions you have are circa 2002 ish? Things have come a LONG way since then you wouldnt need to spend much to improve upon that setup

 

[Munson]

Yeah 2002. Has speaker design changed much then? I realise amps and formats have moved on, but speakers? If they were crap speakers I'd agree. This system cost a fortune back in the day and it still sounds stunning so I'm not about to dump it all