Which Panasonic 46"

Cmar-Ireland

Hi Folks,

Getting ready to splash out on a new TV.
I *think* I have it narrowed down to a 46" Panny plasma, but which one?

I will be watching mostly Sky, from a HD box. Some Bluray material. No games console yet, maybe a Wii at some point, but no xbox or playstation.

The choices are the PZ80, 81 or 85.

Best all rounder is probably the PZ80, is the 85 worth the extra? IFC seems to be split, some like it, others leave it switched off.
What about the Freesat on the 81. Worth getting?

@ Dave or John Mc,
Can you provide pricing on the above sets?

Any other recommendations/opinions, feel free to add !!

Thanks

Zonda999

The 46pz80 is the only one i would consider.The pz80 is already an excellent set and i wouldnt think the extra cost is worth it for the pz81 or pz85.As for that Freesat HD on the pz81.That'd be totally useless in this country because HD aint anywhere on RTE's radar and it wont be for quite a while, i suspect!!:rolleyes: Even more so because you already have Sky HD

Cmar-Ireland

Comparing them, the PZ85 adds intelligent frame creation and 24p playback. Also, some extra audio options.
I know that IFC is not liked by everyone but it can be switched off if I don't like it.
24p playback with a 24p capable Bluray player is supposed to be excellent, and very film like.

Decisions, decisions......

Zonda999

The pz80 has 24p playback also.It says so here.It would have to have 24p playback anyway seeing as it is one of the requirements in order for a tv to be certified "HD Ready 1080p"

Ninjakettle

I've been looking at the pz80 vs pz85 myself, and it seems that while the pz80 can accept a 24p signal, it actually uses 3:2 pulldown to display it.

The pz85 uses 4:4 pulldown (called "24p real cinema" by panasonic) which eliminates the judder. This is a pretty big deal if you're sensitive to that judder.

Mark#1

Hi,

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about this, but as I understand it, the PZ81 range have Freesat tuners, not Irish terrestrial tuners - they receive Freesat:

http://www.freesat.ie/index.php?cat=What_is_Freesat_&ActinicSID=80037a5a5f9e964c1b2bc524545e09a9

None of these TVs will be able to tune the Irish terrestrial channels, either by the current analog braodcasts or by the looming DTT broadcasts - you'll need NTL or Sky to get them now, and a DTT tuner once DTT takes over from analog officially.

If you want to be able to record content from Freesat, you'd need a separate PVR-type Freesat receiver, which would then render the Freesat receiver in the PZ TV redundant, which would mean the PZ80 or PZ85 would be better for you.

I'm choosing a PZ80 and a separate Freesat HD PVR, and a DTT PVR - hopefully the PS3 + PlayTV if it ever becomes viable in Ireland.


Mark