40W5500 or Panasonic G10

[admin_exported]

My first post and im sure its been done to death. I cannot afford the essence, nor the Sony Z series. I spent all day sunday trapsing round John Lewis, Currys and Comet to get a look at these screens together. I WAS firmly in favour of the sony, as Richersounds would price match any written quotation and i would get to check the set in thier store to avoid a nasty case of the backlight bleed. However when i saw the set in 2 of the stores i was not impressed by its performance on handling SD input - it looked blocky and pixelated, and when playing blu ray looked grainy. The Panasonic G10 which i hadnt considered as it costs a bit more (and i have SKY HD so the freesat isnt a selling point) appeared to give a better image.

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Im really looking for some advice and having read through the supertest / last 6 months magazines cant make a decision. Richersounds wont have the set in till end of month, however id like to order now as i fear the prices will be increasing.

ALSO - quick one. The likes of Sky HD only input at HD ready definition, and not 1080p correct? The only thing that runs at 1080p input is a blu ray disc. Can sky HD be upscaled to 1080p at all? Sorry if i sound a little dumb but im a little green on this side of things.

Thanks

 

[professorhat]

I was also out looking at TVs a couple of weeks back (friend's Dad asked for some advice) and I also thought the G10 Panny had an awesome picture, even compared to the Sonys I saw (but then I've always been a plasma fan). It was the one he went for in the end from Richer Sounds and he's now very happy with it.

As for Sky, yup most HD broadcasts are in 1080i, but if you have a 1080p set it will automatically deinterlace it to 1080p.

 

[Anonymous]

Scot Francis:

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Well I work for Currys and all I'll say is that 95% of the TVs in our particular branch are fed with a god awful coax feed from a cheap DVD player in the back somewhere. The picture is massively inconsistent and often makes picking a TV an awful experience. Even if we do have a set on a decent feed such as Sky HD or Blu Ray, then most people who put them out just choose the "Shop" setting which just turns everything up and can have disasterous effects on the picture.

 

[Anonymous]

alwatson:Scot Francis:

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Well I work for Currys and all I'll say is that 95% of the TVs in our particular branch are fed with a god awful coax feed from a cheap DVD player in the back somewhere. The picture is massively inconsistent and often makes picking a TV an awful experience. Even if we do have a set on a decent feed such as Sky HD or Blu Ray, then most people who put them out just choose the "Shop" setting which just turns everything up and can have disasterous effects on the picture.
ive often wondered why stores dont take a bit of time to set up tvs properly , i mean if they spent a couple of days and a few quid on cables they would surely sell more tvs .....i see you just work there so obviously its not your problem ..... it is a strange one ...

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:alwatson:Scot Francis:

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Well I work for Currys and all I'll say is that 95% of the TVs in our particular branch are fed with a god awful coax feed from a cheap DVD player in the back somewhere. The picture is massively inconsistent and often makes picking a TV an awful experience. Even if we do have a set on a decent feed such as Sky HD or Blu Ray, then most people who put them out just choose the "Shop" setting which just turns everything up and can have disasterous effects on the picture.

ive often wondered why stores dont take a bit of time to set up tvs properly , i mean if they spent a couple of days and a few quid on cables they would surely sell more tvs .....i see you just work there so obviously its not your problem ..... it is a strange one ...

Well I ask the same questions, but they just don't seem to care really. It's embarassing to have to keep explaining to people why the Sony Z series looks barely any better than a Samsung Series 4. I'm astounded anybody buys the more expensive TVs most of the time. Some stores have component HD feeds to their TVs I believe, but even so they're left on factory settings. Problem is that there aren't as many staff in stores as there used to be, and generally the sales people have to get all the kit out too. So you might have half an hour in the morning while it's quiet to stick the new TVs out, but we are never allowed enough time to set them up. If I spent 10-15 minutes messing with the picture settings on a new TV, I'd be in trouble for wasting time and not doing something more constructive.

 

[Anonymous]

I have also thought it odd that the larger stores dont make use of the tv's full capacity. I was so disappointed with the 40w5500 (it looked like my old 40v2000 from a long time ago) that i couldnt listen to all the spiel the guy was saying to me. He was 110% confident that all the backlight issues have been fixed by Sony - i asked for that in writing - he could only grin.

Anyhow its a relief to hear that the telly (same panel as the W4500 id assume more or less, and that was top telly last year) is able to be set up with a decent input and configured accordingly.

From what i read, the 40w5500 and the Panasonic G10 are best sub £1000 tellys in the 40 - 42 inch range. Is there another i need to consider, otherwise ill go and grab the sony at the end of the month (checking i dont get a 'faulty' set of course).

Thanks

 

[cmf]

here is the w5500 review conclusion from a top class review site.
Conclusion
Sony W5500 a good product with a lot of positive picture characteristics but not quite on par with the Panasonic G10 series
(click to read G10 review) which is sold at almost the same price.
W5500 do feature nice picture elements such as deep blacks, accurate
colours and a very pleasant digital SD and HD picture. The analogue
picture is not superb, however, and shadow detail could be a lot
better, making dark movie scenes too dark.

Sony has promised a
nice new addition to interactivity on W5500 with the advent of the
AppliCast internet-enabled Widget-based technology but unfortunately I
have to say that AppliCast is not very useful. It only has a few
features and the RSS reader rejects parsing most feeds - for example
the FlatpanelsHD and Engadget feeds. DLNA is nice but the video part is
limited to only a few codecs. In contrast, W5500 has good picture
setting options, 4 HDMI inputs and DVB-T /DVB-C with mpeg4 support.

Sony's
Motionflow + 100Hz technology contributes to more fluid pictures
without introducing the same pseudo-look that Samsung LCD-TV sets
introduce.

All in all, Sony W5500 is a good mid-end TV. The
new Samsung B650 and the Panasonic G10 series are the closest
competitors and in my opinion the Panasonic G10
has the edge. That does not mean that the Sony W5500 is not convincing
and it surely has its advantages, and I have therefore chosen to award
to W5500 series with our prestigious "Top-Recommendation" Award. Just
make sure your specimen does not suffer from backlight bleeding; ours
didn't.

 

[Anonymous]

alwatson:maxflinn:alwatson:Scot Francis:

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Well I work for Currys and all I'll say is that 95% of the TVs in our particular branch are fed with a god awful coax feed from a cheap DVD player in the back somewhere. The picture is massively inconsistent and often makes picking a TV an awful experience. Even if we do have a set on a decent feed such as Sky HD or Blu Ray, then most people who put them out just choose the "Shop" setting which just turns everything up and can have disasterous effects on the picture.

ive often wondered why stores dont take a bit of time to set up tvs properly , i mean if they spent a couple of days and a few quid on cables they would surely sell more tvs .....i see you just work there so obviously its not your problem ..... it is a strange one ...

Well I ask the same questions, but they just don't seem to care really. It's embarassing to have to keep explaining to people why the Sony Z series looks barely any better than a Samsung Series 4. I'm astounded anybody buys the more expensive TVs most of the time. Some stores have component HD feeds to their TVs I believe, but even so they're left on factory settings. Problem is that there aren't as many staff in stores as there used to be, and generally the sales people have to get all the kit out too. So you might have half an hour in the morning while it's quiet to stick the new TVs out, but we are never allowed enough time to set them up. If I spent 10-15 minutes messing with the picture settings on a new TV, I'd be in trouble for wasting time and not doing something more constructive.
id say there are bigger mark ups on different sets from time to time , so salesmen on a commission ( most are ) will probably hook up the most profitable sets to the best feed .....

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:alwatson:maxflinn:alwatson:Scot Francis:

Can i make an assumption that the display set wasnt set up correctly? In both stores??

Well I work for Currys and all I'll say is that 95% of the TVs in our particular branch are fed with a god awful coax feed from a cheap DVD player in the back somewhere. The picture is massively inconsistent and often makes picking a TV an awful experience. Even if we do have a set on a decent feed such as Sky HD or Blu Ray, then most people who put them out just choose the "Shop" setting which just turns everything up and can have disasterous effects on the picture.

ive often wondered why stores dont take a bit of time to set up tvs properly , i mean if they spent a couple of days and a few quid on cables they would surely sell more tvs .....i see you just work there so obviously its not your problem ..... it is a strange one ...

Well I ask the same questions, but they just don't seem to care really. It's embarassing to have to keep explaining to people why the Sony Z series looks barely any better than a Samsung Series 4. I'm astounded anybody buys the more expensive TVs most of the time. Some stores have component HD feeds to their TVs I believe, but even so they're left on factory settings. Problem is that there aren't as many staff in stores as there used to be, and generally the sales people have to get all the kit out too. So you might have half an hour in the morning while it's quiet to stick the new TVs out, but we are never allowed enough time to set them up. If I spent 10-15 minutes messing with the picture settings on a new TV, I'd be in trouble for wasting time and not doing something more constructive.

id say there are bigger mark ups on different sets from time to time , so salesmen on a commission ( most are ) will probably hook up the most profitable sets to the best feed .....

Generally, the margin on Samsung and LG sets are quite high. These are sets that are often pushed by head office as ones to shift. The ones that are set up on the best feeds are usually either ones that we have lots of stock of (and these are often high margin makers like the LGs and Samsungs), special offers or just ones that look nice, picture wise. The Samsung LED sets are currently on Blu Ray feeds and attract lots of attention, but due to the cost we don't really sell many. Probably helps sell people on Blu Ray though.

Nobody in Currys gets commission any more though. They stopped commission in favour of team based bonuses years ago, and have recently withdrawn the team bonuses too. The only way we can earn any extra cash now is for selling certain items and services that make the company loads of cash, assuming that the store is achieving their set targets for each of these. So if I sell a Sky contract, I get £5 if the store hits its target of 10 Sky contracts a week. Other than that though it's just your hourly wage. Which is a bit rubbish anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

i guess its a sign of the times , i hope you hang onto that job , i live in ireland , couldnt get work here if i done it for free , which is why im on this forum instead of being in the pub

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah exactly, just happy I have a job at the minute. It's only while I get through uni though, then hopefully I can move on to better things. I try to do the best I can while there though.

Anyway, back on topic! I have seen both the G10 and W5500 on Blu Ray feeds and both looked very nice to me. I'm a plasma guy myself and tend to lean towards those, so I'd probably give the edge to the G10. I really do like the styling of this years Sony TVs though, but I wish we could see an end to glossy black to be honest.