buy another plasma....or wait??

[murg]

Hi All,

here`s the question..

I currently have a six year old Pioneer Plasma is is still working well and has a fantastic picture. I love Plasma and at the moment have not seen an LED that can match plasma for PQ ( in my opinion) very shortly following Panasonics decision to stop making Plasma, I will not be able to buy a Plasma tv

Question..

Do I buy a Panasonic plasma now before all stocks run out to replace a tv that is working fine or wait until my Pioneer dies and then face the choice of buying LED, OLED, 4K or whatever else is out there in a years time. how close to plasma PQ are these new tv`s going to be or are they going to be better than Plasma. My local stockist has only 2 Panasonic Plasma ( GT60) in stock and when they are gone that will be it so time is tight

any ideas folks?

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I had a wonderful Kuro, the picture was great, I never had any problems with it, and it never looked like it would give me any problems.

It was coming to the end of it's warranty, and I started to think that it might be time to sell it, and buy a Panasonic plasma, so I did.

And there's not a day that goes past when I don't regret that decision.

As long as you are happy with the Pioneer, stick with it, because from my experience, and the experience of others, Panasonic plasmas will only bring you problems.

And if you're really intent on buying another plasma, give the Samsung 8500 a go.

 

[simonlewis]

I would stick with your pioneer, because 4K will be the next big thing next year and if you were to buy a plasma now you would probably find it dates very quickly.

 

[rocketrazor]

I had a wonderful Kuro, the picture was great, I never had any problems with it, and it never looked like it would give me any problems.

It was coming to the end of it's warranty, and I started to think that it might be time to sell it, and buy a Panasonic plasma, so I did.

And there's not a day that goes past when I don't regret that decision.

As long as you are happy with the Pioneer, stick with it, because from my experience, and the experience of others, Panasonic plasmas will only bring you problems.

And if you're really intent on buying another plasma, give the Samsung 8500 a go.

agreed, unless your looking to get a bigger screen stick with what you have. I've had no end of trouble with two panasonic plasmas and I wouldn't swap a pioneer for one that's for sure

 

[professorhat]

very shortly following Panasonics decision to stop making Plasma, I will not be able to buy a Plasma tv

Both Samsung and LG are still making plasma TVs for the foreseeable future (unless I've missed some annoucements?).

 

[murg]

Really appreciate the replies.

you are quite right regarding Samsung and LG plasmas professorhat, I was basing my intended Panasonic purchase on all the awards and plaudits that have been heaped on the GT60 Series although I would never buy without an audition first.. Has anyone got an opinion on PQ regarding the best LED`s etc that are currently on sale?.

Based on what you are all saying though I think I will take your advice and stay with my Kuro. To be honest, I didnt realise that there was such a problem with recent Panasonics. I hadn`t seen any negatives regarding such problems in any review I have read

Thyanks all

 

[bigboss]

Based on what you are all saying though I think I will take your advice and stay with my Kuro. To be honest, I didnt realise that there was such a problem with recent Panasonics. I hadn`t seen any negatives regarding such problems in any review I have read

Reviews only check brand new TVs. Problems crop up few months down the line. Check out Panasonic plasma threads in the "TVs & Projectors" section before buying one. I'm keeping my Kuro for now.

 

[professorhat]

And it's also worth remembering that, although there does seem to be a higher than average number of people with issues with the current generations of Panasonic TVs, there are no doubt millions of people worldwide who own one and are very happy with it.

The main bugbear I have with Panasonic at the moment is how difficult they're making it for people with issues to get replacements, stating that these things are within spec. When you've paid thousands of pounds for a television, you expect it to work without these issues, let alone be told that you should just live with them. The fact that normally good customer orientated retailers like John Lewis, Amazon and Richer Sounds are struggling to replace them shows just how hard Panny are digging their heels in. As a result, it's hard to recommend their TVs at the moment as I wouldn't want to potentially put any one in that position (even if the chances are probably still quite small).

 

[murg]

You raise a very interesting point regarding replacement units and how difficult it is to get a straight replacement for something that is faulty and well within the warranty.. I am currently doing battle with Lenovo who point blank refuse to replace a faulty laptop and just keep "repairing " it The sale of goods act is interesting regarding replacements of faulty items and it seems that more and more companies are making it difficult to say the least when it comes to replacing faulty goods.

I note your comments regarding Panasonics attitude regarding faulty tv`s ( expensive, faulty tv`s as well) and I have decided to stay well clear. Appreciate the advice although as you rightly say not every tv is faulty and millions are happy with their purchase

 

[DandyCobalt]

I'm stilling running my Pioneer PDP 436 plasma, which I think is now 7 years old! Really excellent picture, and appreciates my love and loyalty 🙂

Can't find the "touching wood frantically" emoticon, so this one will do... 😛ray:

 

[professorhat]

You raise a very interesting point regarding replacement units and how difficult it is to get a straight replacement for something that is faulty and well within the warranty.. I am currently doing battle with Lenovo who point blank refuse to replace a faulty laptop and just keep "repairing " it The sale of goods act is interesting regarding replacements of faulty items and it seems that more and more companies are making it difficult to say the least when it comes to replacing faulty goods.

To be honest, if Panasonic repaired the faults, that would be something. But they don't even seem willing to do that, instead just quoting the faults are within tolerance.

I'm sure with the more extreme examples, you could probably take Panasonic to small claims court and win - it's the fact that they're making their customers go through this that annoys me. For someone as big as Panasonic, they really should be fixing these issues without quibble.

 

[Series1boy]

I think all the people who are having problems with Panasonic plasma is with the GT range. My VT65b is working fine and has the best picture quality in my opinion in terms of deep blacks etc. I may be wrong though but do some research and 50" VT can be picked up for £1500 price matched from the panasonic store.

cheers

 

[bigboss]

There are at least 2 forum members with problematic VT65s here.

 

[bigboss]

Besides, the point isn't which models are defective. It's Panasonic's attitude towards sorting the problems. I personally won't be comfortable with the knowledge that there will be a lot of hassle with the manufacturer honouring their warranty if my TV develops a fault, even if mine is trouble free at the moment.

 

[Series1boy]

Point taken re-support - I hope I don't have any problems, but Sod's law!!

 

[TnA200]

I like the picture on my Panasonic and think it's a great TV, but... the run around that the Panasonic repair center gave me was beyond words and unfortunately they were also the same center that deals with Sony and Samsung too! Either way, the customer service was a joke and the time wait for new parts was 6 months shipped from Japan, of which they kept my TV for over 5 months even though they did not need to as it was just a case replacement for the back, which the delivery company damaged after a transformer replacement! The unreasonable costs that they wanted to charge me were another issue. At the end I was happy to have my TV back after sharp correspondence right before Christmas and I missed the whole summer Olympics, of which Panasonic were major sponsers! Disaster from start to finish! And this was a TV within its two year warranty period!!!

Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong again, but other than Panasonic, at this price range, who else makes top Plasma TV's worth having?

Roll on 4K OLED!!

 

[Ajgarnham]

If your replacing a Pioneer Kuro why are people suggesting GT's? Surely you be looking at the VT if not the ZT?

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong again, but other than Panasonic, at this price range, who else makes top Plasma TV's worth having?

Samsung. The PS51F8500 and PS64F8500 are excellent, though also not perfect. If you're willing to look at a lower range Samsung plasma, the F5500 plasma range is also highly regarded.

LG continue to make great value-for-money plasmas, as long as you can live with indifferent black levels. My calibrated LG 60PZ950T probably has the best picture of all my four televisions, as long as the picture is fairly bright.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

If your replacing a Pioneer Kuro why are people suggesting GT's? Surely you be looking at the VT if not the ZT?

That partly depends on whether the Kuro is an eighth-generation or ninth, and final and best, generation machine. Plus, we don't know how big this Kuro is.

 

[Leeps]

I like the picture on my Panasonic and think it's a great TV, but... the run around that the Panasonic repair center gave me was beyond words and unfortunately they were also the same center that deals with Sony and Samsung too! Either way, the customer service was a joke and the time wait for new parts was 6 months shipped from Japan, of which they kept my TV for over 5 months even though they did not need to as it was just a case replacement for the back, which the delivery company damaged after a transformer replacement! The unreasonable costs that they wanted to charge me were another issue. At the end I was happy to have my TV back after sharp correspondence right before Christmas and I missed the whole summer Olympics, of which Panasonic were major sponsers! Disaster from start to finish! And this was a TV within its two year warranty period!!!

Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong again, but other than Panasonic, at this price range, who else makes top Plasma TV's worth having?

Roll on 4K OLED!!

Really? As potential TV buyers, our problems are not going away.

1. I've not yet seen a TV that can get close to the natural colour balance, 'texture' and movement of a plasma (apart from my old 32" Sony CRT, but that weighed 70kg!!)

2. Although my plasma has been fault-free, I wouldn't purchase another one (for all of the above stated reasons)

3. OLED apparently has screen-burn problems too.

4. 4K - Do you think that making a picture have more pixels (therefore needing more computing power to control the image) will make screen blur, patchy backlighting and motion problems go away? If anything, certainly the motion problems might be MORE difficult to handle on a 4k screen (in theory anyway).

I'm chuffed to bits with the picture of my plasma, but if it blows up or I want a bigger screen in a few years time, I'm going to struggle to find anything regardless of price that I'll be as happy with. Many LED's make my eyes go funny - it's just something about the texture of the picture that gives me a headache.

So it seems we're left between a rock and a hard place; reliability and iffy picture quality, or iffy reliability and good picture quality.

 

[FennerMachine]

I modern TV may have higher definition but later generation CRT's still have fantastic picture quality.

I regularly watch TV on 32” Toshiba standard definition CRT TV's and various makes & sizes of LCD TV's.

The Toshiba's still look good even though they are nearly 10 years old compared to the various LCD's.

 

[murg]

just to get things back on track, the screen size has got to be a 42 due to space limitations. I agree that the vt series would be the natural choice for the peplacement of my kuro but thats just not possible. so back to the original question.. If I decide to wait for my six year old Plasma to "die" and Panasonic plasmas are no longer available, then would whats on offer instead of plasma ( LED,4K,OLED) be a bacward step in terms of PQ as regards to what I have now or indeed what I could have if I bought a Panny Plasma before they all no longer available

 

[Deleted member 2457]

just to get things back on track, the screen size has got to be a 42 due to space limitations. I agree that the vt series would be the natural choice for the peplacement of my kuro but thats just not possible. so back to the original question.. If I decide to wait for my six year old Plasma to "die" and Panasonic plasmas are no longer available, then would whats on offer instead of plasma ( LED,4K,OLED) be a bacward step in terms of PQ as regards to what I have now or indeed what I could have if I bought a Panny Plasma before they all no longer available

The Panasonic 42GT60 would be the one then. My Dad has the Pioneer 427xd and the performance on the Panasonic I think is better. I would get from somewhere like Richer Sounds. At 42 inches in the future you will be limited.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Here it is:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/panasonic/viera-txp42gt60b/pana-txp42gt60b

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Make sure you price match:

http://www.totaldigital.biz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43_51&products_id=4855