Panasonic TV Owners & Discussion Thread

[mrmaxwell1503559518]

Next month thread is two years old !!

Looking back at plasma pricings on the first pages in Aug 2005 - $4460 for the old 42PV500 & $6400 for the 'new' 50PV500...so prices have more than halved in two years and 2 panel generation improvements.

[jakes]

Couple of questions though:

1. Is a slight buzzing sound normal for the Panasonic plasmas?

2. I have large Accusound speakers. Are these ok to be placed fairly close to the edge of the TV?

Congrats on the purchase.

Yes, I believe the buzzing is normal - there's a sticky at the top of this section of the forum regarding a possible solution for reducing the noise if it's bothering you.

You can put the speakers as close as you want to the screen. Unlike CRTs, plasma panels aren't affected by the large magnets in speakers. However, if you have space, I'd suggest that you may get better sound if they're a bit further apart than just the width of the screen (at least 2m or so).

[Slayer]

Hi Guys

I'm looking to pickup a TH42PX70A for my father tomorrow night (I have a 50" pv60a which I've been happy with) I mentioned to him it should come to around $2200 with 5yr warranty and delivery (quickly based it upon the $1899 prices mentioned which I have now realised could of been for a refurb) which he was happy to spend. Now I've jumped into this thread today for a final check and noticed that you guys have actually been paying a little more.

Before I break the bad news to him I just wanted to check if you guys think $2200 including warranty and delivery is a realistic price to aim for tomorrow night or should I now sway him towards the 7a?

thanks in advance

[Redav]

I got my 50" 70A yesterday. At first I will a little unhappy with the TV but now I can say I'm happy with the TV. I guess my real problem with the TV is when watching a movie and a night scene comes on I can see a lot of black pixels on the screen, which is a bit of a problem I think. I also find the color a little TV stations is a little pale I’m not sure if this is the settings or not. Could some one please post some good settings for the 50’ so I can try and turn my TV a little?

If you've just bought it then you should let the screen run in for a while before changing settings to make it 'look better'.

[mrmaxwell1503559518]

I just wanted to check if you guys think $2200 including warranty and delivery is a realistic price to aim for tomorrow night or should I now sway him towards the 7a?

Just go hard and tell the sales droids that you want the 42" panel for $2200 with 5yrs warranty. Wave money around in front of them or whatever...always works a treat. Make sure when they say NO you turn and walk....

[Panaplasma]

If you've just bought it then you should let the screen run in for a while before changing settings to make it 'look better'.

Check the contrast as they all use to have them wound up to 100 when they were new. Does anybody know if it is still the same ??

[Panaplasma]

If you can buy a 7a for $1800 which comes with HD and HD Tuner, then what would you pay for the old 42 SD panel with no tuner. I see them around at a few stores and some have ticket price for $1699. I reckon they should be $699.

[llsTixll]

Check the contrast as they all use to have them wound up to 100 when they were new. Does anybody know if it is still the same ??

I don't think mine was (TH-50PX70A).

[Epyon]

I don't think mine was (TH-50PX70A).

Out of the box they are set to I think it was the vivid setting which has the contrast turned way up. No idea what they would do this because the picture looks absolutely horrible on that setting.

Changing to Cinema and playing around with the settings gives a much better picture.

Still have not had the time to run DVE over mine. Anyone care to share their settings for the 50"??

[llsTixll]

Out of the box they are set to I think it was the vivid setting which has the contrast turned way up. No idea what they would do this because the picture looks absolutely horrible on that setting.

Changing to Cinema and playing around with the settings gives a much better picture.

Still have not had the time to run DVE over mine. Anyone care to share their settings for the 50"??

I haven't tried Cinema. I set mine to Normal and was happy.

Mine is only brand new so my settings probably won't be much help to you. I ran the THX calibration over it from The Incredibles DVD but it's crap. The 16:9 test didn't even work on the panel when the aspect ratio is clearly set correctly.

I haven't got a copy of DVE but I'll grab one soon.

[llsTixll]

Anyone seen the 700A yet?

[S28]

I got bored and checked the price of the VIERA TH-50PZ700 in Japan.

It is Y299,250 which = AUS $2796.55

I hope the is a good indication but I think more like $3700 once it goes on sale. It has to compete with other plasma's out there with inferior specs but they still have to shift boxes.

[diesel]

I got bored and checked the price of the VIERA TH-50PZ700 in Japan.

It is Y299,250 which = AUS $2796.55

I hope the is a good indication but I think more like $3700 once it goes on sale. It has to compete with other plasma's out there with inferior specs but they still have to shift boxes.

maybe for the PX700. Isn't the PZ the 1080p model? I would expect a much higher price than $3700 for a 50" 1080p plasma

[S28]

Definately the PZ.

I'm not talking about RRP but what a reasonable haggler might pay.

[Scalpel]

Definately the PZ.

I'm not talking about RRP but what a reasonable haggler might pay.

But are you talking about the price a reasonable haggler might pay in 2 years time.

I suspect that the price will be a fair bit higher than this

j.

[diesel]

I would suggest that Panasonic might position it somewhere around the price of a 46" 1080p LCD. After all, LCD is their biggest competitor, not other plasma brands IMO

[ozdick]

The Electric Discounter has the 50PX700A for $3359 if anyone is interested to know

http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/as...rranty=5YPT3000

You may be able to get it cheaper by haggling a bit with them

http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/as...odel=TH50PX700A

By the way, do these come with a stand, or do you have to buy them seperately?

Thanks,

Richard

[llsTixll]

The Electric Discounter has the 50PX700A for $3359 if anyone is interested to know

http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/as...rranty=5YPT3000

You may be able to get it cheaper by haggling a bit with them

http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/as...odel=TH50PX700A

By the way, do these come with a stand, or do you have to buy them seperately?

Thanks,

Richard

They'd come with a stand. The 70A did anyway - I'm sure they wouldn't have the stand as an extra.

[Brazzwald]

Update for you guys with the PZ700 1080p models:

50" and 58" maybe here around mid to late September, 42" maybe mid October. Start saving the coin though...

Brazzwald

[achw]

They'd come with a stand. The 70A did anyway - I'm sure they wouldn't have the stand as an extra.

on the panasonic nz website, the 700a doesn't come with the stand - you have to pay extra. it's a swivel stand - which is quite different to the 70a stand - too much to throw in for free!!

the manual for the 70a suggests you can buy the swivel stand for the 70a as well, if the boomerang-style stand isn't good enough.

[llsTixll]

on the panasonic nz website, the 700a doesn't come with the stand - you have to pay extra. it's a swivel stand - which is quite different to the 70a stand - too much to throw in for free!!

the manual for the 70a suggests you can buy the swivel stand for the 70a as well, if the boomerang-style stand isn't good enough.

Well there you go. Is the swivel stand for the 70A black or silver? And anyone have prices?

I do like the boomerang stand...keep telling myself it's Australian and it looks different than the normal circle.

[achw]

Well there you go. Is the swivel stand for the 70A black or silver? And anyone have prices?

I do like the boomerang stand...keep telling myself it's Australian and it looks different than the normal circle.

it's silver - and is nz$300

http://www.panasonic.co.nz/product-detail&...;892$.html

i'm also happy with the boomerang stand - although my speakers are silver, it might look neater with some silver in the tv itself...

i'm still tweaking the settings on the 70a - my vcr now looks atrocious on the big screen. and i'm going to have to try the vga cable from the laptop - since the existing composite yellow cable also looks awful (none were a problem with the 68cm sony crt!). have also now set the dvd player to progressive scan (never bothered beforehand) and 16:9 output (was 4:3 before). so it's slowly coming together.

[llsTixll]

it's silver - and is nz$300

http://www.panasonic.co.nz/product-detail&...;892$.html

i'm also happy with the boomerang stand - although my speakers are silver, it might look neater with some silver in the tv itself...

i'm still tweaking the settings on the 70a - my vcr now looks atrocious on the big screen. and i'm going to have to try the vga cable from the laptop - since the existing composite yellow cable also looks awful (none were a problem with the 68cm sony crt!). have also now set the dvd player to progressive scan (never bothered beforehand) and 16:9 output (was 4:3 before). so it's slowly coming together.

So you finally got yours mate! Sweet!

I love my new shiny beast. We're having a big Bledisloe gig at my joint this Saturday night so that'll be awesome - it'll be the TV's first public performance. Then we're going to another mates place ( who has Austar) to watch the Asian Cup quarter final between Aust and Japan while my wife and her friends watch a movie on the plas.

I mentioned in another thread that after having it for a few nights now, I wish the 60"+ plasmas were under $3k. The 50" seems a little small now - I nearly went for the 42"...now that would have been a disaster. Oh well, the next screen we get will definitely be bigger. You can never downsize.

There's not much to tweak on the set in terms of picture, is there? But the picture quality is absolutely stunning - not quite up with the Pioneer but very close and $1000 cheaper.

[achw]

yep, it's arrived. i've been trying to sort out a few tweaks with connections to the receiver, and trying to use the receiver's remote to control the tv - and there's a few minor issues there.

can't believe you're thinking 50" is too small! i think it's monstrous!

i seriously couldn't see any difference between the panasonic and the pioneer in stores (maybe i need new glasses?!) - and in fact, in some places i thought the panasonic picture was better (when showing low quality tv - of which there's a lot of). as you say, it's $1000 cheaper!

the only downside is that our videos now look horrific - and i've got to fork out more $ on a pvr of some sort. i'm going to test out a vga cable from the laptop - and might buy a usb tv tuner for the laptop which will become the pvr. the usb tv tuners are around $150 for a hdtv twin tuner (digitalnow.com.au) and the laptop has a 100gb hard drive. so that's much much cheaper than $400 for a std def pvr, or $1000 for a hd pvr!

[Polymer]

Based on what I've seen there are some color adjustments you will want to make on the Panasonic. I will say that I think colors are better on Pioneer and Samsung but the Panasonic has a very clean look as well as being fantastic movement wise (Judder is my main gripe w/ the Samsung). It hurts to be paying so much here compared to the US but I guess the nice thing w/ the 70a vs. the 75u in the US is the Auto screen size adjustments as well as I think it has a VGA port. It's also made in Japan (for now). Not sure where the 75u is made but no auto is a bit silly and I don't care about a SD Slot.

60" is a great size but they're ridiculously expensive here...Just not worth it.....It's too bad most of the projection technologies have died off here..it would put more pricing pressure on Plasmas and LCDs by offering higher resolution at a much lower price...