Judging the quality of a new TV

[admin_exported]

I'm looking into buying a new TV. I currently have a 20+year old Sony 28" and am looking at the Panasonic TH-42PZ81B. I've spent a couple of weekends now looking at sets in stores like John Lewis and Selfridges and always come away with the feeling that SD broadcasts look awful.

My question is, am I missing something? It seems after reading this forum and the magazine that most people think good plasma and lcd sets offer great pictures. Does the performance of the sets in store reflect what I'll get at home? (I'm on Virgin cable) An example of what I mean is, watching sport on Saturday, the scoreboard graphic was far from sharp, it looked really blocky, as did the BBC logo.

So my question is, can I really judge the quality of the picture from whats shown in store and what will improve the quality of the picture?

Many thanks for any advice because I'm really confused. As much as I'd love a new 42" TV, if this is the kind of quality I can expect from a brand new plasma, I think I'd rather just sit closer to my old CRT!

 

[Anonymous]

No, you are not missing anything. SD broadcasts on any flat screen will look worse than on your CRT set. The better flat panels manage to make it acceptable.

 

[Anonymous]

It's difficult to judge the quality of SD content in a store. This mainly because the TV signal is being split between anything up to 50 TVs. On top of that you often have TVs with the default, out-of-the-box settings which are often not ideal.

With respect to the TH-42PZ81B, the quality of good services such as the BBC is pretty decent. It's a little ropey for ITV, especially for football. This is the same situation for majority of LCD/Plasma sets. I've just replaced an old 28" CRT (4:3 not wide screen) with a TH-42PZ81B. I find BBC quite watchable - better in some respect than the CRT, although still a little digital looking (some jaggies). The CRT was way better for ITV, Channel 4, Film 4, Scuzz etc. DVD's are excellent (I'm upscaling to 1080i via a HTPC) and of course HD content is also excellent.

In summary, it'll look better at home than in the shop with respect to broadcast SD content

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. Maybe it's just something I'd have to get used to if I'm going to upgrade my set. It's reassuring to know that the picture will at least be a bit better than what I've seen in store though. I went in on Saturday with the intention of buying the set and came away just feeling depressed at the SD quality!

I've been doing a little more research and found the Pioneer PDPSX4280D and PDP4280XD sets. They seem to get good reviews for being HD ready sets, and looks like they handle SD well. Does anyone have experience of these sets? I can only track theÿPDPSX4280D down at Richer sounds, so I wondered if this is an old set or discontinued?

 

[Anonymous]

skyjackers: I've been doing a little more resrch and found the Pioneer PDPSX4280D and PDP4280XD sets. They seem to get good reviews for being HD ready sets, and looks like they handle SD well. Does anyone have experience of these sets? I can only track the PDPSX4280D down at Richer sounds, so I wondered if this is an old set or discontinued?Last years models, discontinued. Pioneer no longer make 42" Plasmas, just 50 & 60 inch.

The Panny 42PX80 has a better SD PQ than the Z81, only £650 (HD Ready, 720p). Great Value for money.

 

[Anonymous]

You should find a TV set performs noticeably better at home than in a shop after you have optimised the picture settings. I have my Onkyo 875 AV amp upscale everything to full HD so everything looks very good indeed.
Something to consider doing later perhaps?