watching standard tv on plasma

Officer Giggles

all i have coming into my house is the basic ntl pipe and am wondering will this matter when i get my new tv, looking at a 42" panasonic plasma atm after alot of looking it seems to be the best make without paying loads, i also watch your normal run of the mill dvd's, i eventually intend to get a ps3 so i want a tv to cover all angles

ongarite

I have no complaints with my 42" Panasonic Plasma.
Had it connected to bunny ears for 2 months in 4 channel land, picture was very good.
Have Sky+ now and its good to excellent, depending on the channel.

Have XBOX with XBMC and PS3 connected to it also. HD content is really very good on it and standard DVDs are played back excellently too with my PS3.

Have had no issues with screen retention with heavy Sky+ or XBMC usage.

Officer Giggles

excellent that sounds good, i think its time i made a purchase, now what model shall i get......

ongarite

Whats your budget?

Officer Giggles

id say i could strecth to 1500

byte

I've also no complaints with mine, regarding SD pictures. I'm quite happy with the quality from SD pictures. Image quality excellent with PS3 for HD games and Blu-ray films.

At 1500, you're close to the price of a TH42PY70 (1080p), which is €1549 with Alliance Electric. Unless you're not bothered with the 1080p - the 768-line Panny's are a fair bit cheaper.

mountain

i got the 37" panasonic plasma at christmas for 1200, its great,
be sure to get a hdmi cable, (didnt come in box), using mine with sky hd and for for sports its really sharp.

Officer Giggles

byte wrote: »

At 1500, you're close to the price of a TH42PY70 (1080p), which is €1549 with Alliance Electric. Unless you're not bothered with the 1080p - the 768-line Panny's are a fair bit cheaper.

just saw that model in a package deal on dixons uk site, it converts to about 1350 euro give or take, but i dont think it has vhf tuner ARRRGH

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1352052954.1207742681@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadedkiggjemcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&category_oid=-31955&sku=534557&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null

byte

Officer Giggles wrote: »

just saw that model in a package deal on dixons uk site, it converts to about 1350 euro give or take, but i dont think it has vhf tuner ARRRGH

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1352052954.1207742681@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadedkiggjemcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&category_oid=-31955&sku=534557&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null

That's not the same model though, as it's not 1080p.

Irish PV70 is nearest equivalent to UK PX70 (1024*720)
Irish PY70 is nearest equivalent to UK PZ70 (1920*1080)

Officer Giggles

ah i see, i thought it was too good to be true

Calibos

You don't need 1080p on a screen of 42" unless you are sitting 2ft away from it.

As far as NTL goes. NTL Digital looks beautiful on our 37 and 42in Panasonics. Analogue NTL/Terrestrial Aerial looks mediocre IMHO. Very mushy image. Again depends on how far you are viewing from. Doesn't look like mush from about 12ft back but closer than that and I don't like it. With NTL Digital I can sit up to 3 or 4ft away and see nothing but a beautiful picture.

Officer Giggles

id say id be maybe 6 foot away from the tv when viewing standard tv through the ntl pipe, what are the images like from about that distance

mathias

Seriously guys , forget all about this viewing distance nonsense , the only way you are going to know what the set looks like is to look at it ,

I went through all this guff about viewing distance calculations before I bought my first HDTV and guess what , it all turned out to be tripe , the main fault was that all the calculations are based on perfect content , which just doesnt exist.

Especially when it comes to SD , because almost every channel is broadcast at a different bitrate.
If you take viewing distance calculations into consideration with SD TV then your chair better have wheels because you'll be scooting across the floor every time you change channels.

Some practical advice here , for a major investment like a TV , you get the best you can , and these days thats 1080p , you are going to be stuck with the set for years , so make it as good as it gets.

Connections wise , the 4:3 ratio resolution of 1024 x 768 is all wrong , and causes lots of problems with lots of sources , given the relatively modest price difference between that and 1080p , then 1080p is definitely the format to go for.

Amongst other things , there will be no scaling to do on Blu-ray content , which is always good.
And with 720p content its a straight times 1.5 scale in vertical and horizontal , much easier than the vertical upscale , horizontal downscale of a 1024 x 768 set , so HD picture quality inevitably improves

So , if you have the choice , go 1080p. Its the only sensible thing to do in todays market.

Officer Giggles

thanks mathias, i think il go for the 42" panasonic seems to be a good one its a pity i cant buy it up north damn them and their lack of vhf tuner