Panasonic Vierea freesat TV advert - available in Ireland

The Cush

In today's Sunday Independent Life magazine there is a full page advert for the Panasonic Vierea freesat TV range 32"-50".
The ad says "To find out more about the full range visit panasonic.ie"

The 5 TV's are displayed with the freesat logo, is this an error or are panasonic releasing these models on the Irish market (with or without VHF tuners?).
The Panasonic website still displays a seperate range of palsma and LCD tvs for Ireland..

watty

To find out more buy one and test it, as the shop likely won't know.

TheDriver

that would be interesting if they did that. The model is the z81 series which only has uhf tuner but also mpeg4 tuner for dtt courtesy of the fact its already there for the satellite

John Dough

It appears Panny does not know its right hand from its left.

The freesat HD model will NOT be available in the Republic of Ireland but you can get it in Northern Ireland no problem as spoke to Richer Sounds in Belfast and they have 'em with UHF tuner only.:D

TheDriver

John, don't they have 5 year warranty until end of Nov, was thinking of getting the 32" model, is it same price as their uk site, 699stg?
Sweet to get great tv, uhf tuner, mpeg4 dtt and freesathd all rolled into one with 5 year warranty for them all!
From my info, no company is allowed sell freesat stuff outside of uk officially

The Cush

It must be expensive to place an advert in a national Irish sunday newspaper and in the advert to quote freesat tv together with panasonic.ie
Would they make such a mistake?
Have you seen the ad?

Maybe they are launching this range in Ireland, now that they know it will work with terrestrial MPEG4 . (Alba has done it with Sat4free)

TheDriver

Indeed they might be but still probably cheaper to get it from RS unless you need VHF tuner in it!
I saw Z80 series at weekend with most retailers (including currys/HN etc) all selling it for 999 while rs can ship z81 for 870 euro and u get the freesat, mpeg4 etc included

TheDriver

I see from alliance electric site that panasonic have extended their 5 year warranty until 31st December. Sweet offer.

channelsurfer

I am nearly sure I saw an advert on tv3 for the panasonice tv's without the reference to freesat during the xfactor on saturday night. So they are advertising them. can anyone confirm with panasonic?

Kashkai

I take it that with no vhf tuner, I wouldn't be able to pick up stations through a normal ariel but as DTT and satellite don't require vhf tuners, they are almost redundant at this stage?

I'm thinking of getting a bigger tv than the 46 inch I have at the moment as its too small for my room and the Panny is one option I'm looking at (I've heard they come in 50 inch)

TheDriver

it has a uhf analog tuner and fair amount of transmitters are uhf only anyways so just check how you pick up your channels and you will be sorted, saw guy in dublin got a 50" and got uhf analog and also dtt mpeg 4 on it

JDxtra

I seen the advert as well, should still have a copy at home.

It might have been an advert designed for the UK market, but just modified for Ireland (barely!).

Nice if it would work: TV + Freesat + MPEG4 DTT = Bye bye multiple remotes. :cool:

TheDriver

Panasonic know nothing about it and say they can't sell it here, particularly with the freesat logo as sat4free have demonstrated!!!

slicedpanman

John Dough wrote: »

It appears Panny does not know its right hand from its left.

The freesat HD model will NOT be available in the Republic of Ireland but you can get it in Northern Ireland no problem as spoke to Richer Sounds in Belfast and they have 'em with UHF tuner only.:D

I was in SHOP@Panasonic (i.e. Savins) in Limerick about a month back and they had the Freesat (along with logo) TVs on display and showed me it working! So, they are available for sale at offical Panasonic shops in Ireland.

[I helped the guy in the shop to get ITV HD - basically told him to change the postcode to London]

JDxtra

TheDriver wrote: »

Panasonic know nothing about it and say they can't sell it here, particularly with the freesat logo as sat4free have demonstrated!!!

To me, "sat4free" seem like a sham. A main image on the front page of their web site is even copied from an online stock photo - with the watermark left in it!!

Nice try but I can't see them lasting...

Zaphod

The Gadget Show on Five have done a quick review of the Panasonic.
http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/latest

A few more in depth reviews:
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panasonic-th50pz81b-review-20080729123.htm
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panasonic-th42pz81b-20080611118.htm
http://www.techradar.com/products/audio-visual/tvs-and-accessories/tvs/panasonic-th-42pz81b--378280/review

TheDriver

Ordered one of the 32" z81s so when it arrives next week, will give feedback on how it works.
I note that panasonic's irish website has not worked in 2 days, uk works fine, wonder are they making some adjustments that you can't get the z81 in Ireland???

John mac

another good review here http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Panasonic-TH-42PZ81-42inch-full-HD-Freesat-plasma-TV-review.html

esquilax

I'm thinking of getting one of these (probably the 42" plasma) for my parents. They currently have an old CRT telly with a Technomate satellite box for the farren channels.

I really liked the idea of them being able to tune in analogue PAL, Freesat and MPEG4 channels on DVB (when it arrives) all via the one remote, since they're not that into technological f**king around, in general. (I've often found my father watching UTV in awful reception off the aerial cos he wasn't arsed to pick up the satellite box remote and watch it off that)

However given that part of the whole purpose of Freesat is having a standard EPG and channel numbering scheme, I'm not sure how the different tuners are integrated.

None of the reviews I've seen so far (including those linked to) show clearly what's involved in switching between an analogue terrestrial channel and a freesat channel in terms of of menus/button presses. Can anyone who's got one or has used one explain?

Also if there are any opinions on its suitability to receive Irish terrestrial digital broadcasts, I'd be interested to hear them. My understanding is that it should definitely be able to tune in the individual channels but probably won't support any interactive stuff or 7-day EPG that may be provided.

TheDriver

download the z81 manual from the panasonic website, explains how to switch between modes.
With regards epg, they have a smart epg but someone else who has one in Dublin might be able to shed some light

esquilax

Belated thanks for the info, thedriver. The manual is over 20MB so couldn't download it till I got near some broadband.

The three tuners are more "separated" than I would like (or than I think they need to be) but it wouldn't put me off buying one all the same.

TheDriver

I got a Z81 last weekend, 32". Can't say anything about the DVB but works perfectly on my uhf rte and HD bbc is awesome picture. very happy with it and price was lovely (cheaper this week even!!) and 5 year warranty was sweet

gearoidc

I got a Z81 last weekend, 32". Can't say anything about the DVB but works perfectly on my uhf rte and HD bbc is awesome picture. very happy with it and price was lovely (cheaper this week even!!) and 5 year warranty was sweet

Mind if I ask where?

Liam Byrne

JDxtra wrote: »

To me, "sat4free" seem like a sham. A main image on the front page of their web site is even copied from an online stock photo - with the watermark left in it!!

Nice try but I can't see them lasting...

Just visited http://www.sat4free.ie there now :eek: :eek:

stanley1

gearoidc wrote: »

Mind if I ask where?

http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?ObjectID=938&Mode=0&CategoryID=6&sub=43&productid=809

snaps

eem, its only £899 on the co.uk site. £999 on the .ie site?

BArra

the above link does not work

can i get a confirmation that you can get a 32" pz81, that has the freesat decoder built in?

all i can see to find is 42" and above with freesat built in