LCD vs Plasma - Panasonic adds a new slant

[Clare Newsome]

It'll be up on the site by the end of the week.....

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="jelharou"]

Any chance of getting this 'promised' review on the site soon? I'm down to 10 days within my return policy on the LZD70. I'm only watching Freeview for now and was wondering if I'd get a better result with the plasma. I did prefer the HD clarity of the LCD at John Lewis, but couldn't decide which color I preferred.

thanks

-jelharou

[/quote]

Jelharou - are you not happy with the 37LZD70 then? As previously discussed with Krime, I thought the LCD looked much better. How is it with Freeview?

 

[Anonymous]

Freeview is excellent if I step one metre away and am in the kitchen
instead of the Living area. I should have probably gone for a 32"
as I have just 3m. I'm wondering if the Plasma with a lower
resolution will hide some of the imperfections. I will also be
using mostly SD as I can't get HD Sky in my communal flat and don't
have a HD/BlueRay player yet, so wanted to doublecheck that I hadn't
gone overboard in planning for the future.

cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Can't decide between the Panasonic 37 Plasma or LCD ??

Me too! but this might help you decide.

I had a side by side appraisal of these two sets in a local dealers last night and they both produced very good pictures (albeit I'd accept the different "look" between plasma & LCD screens) good black levels, contrast, colour, detail & motion handling all of which left me struggling to choose between them . However when it came to the audio output I thought the LCD was far better and I'm interested to see if the promised review refers to audio quality.

It's my impression that most comments made on this & other AV web forums and from "pro" TV reviewers tend to ignore or make light of the TV's audio system but I think it's an important feature & well worth taking into account when spending hundreds of pounds on a set. At these price levels manufacturers should be producing better quality audio output than they generally are. Not all of us want to hook up amplifiers & multiple speakers to get reasonable quality audio.

 

[Anonymous]

By the end of the week I'm assuming you mean Friday ...so where's the promised review ?

 

[Clare Newsome]

Blimey you lot are a tough crowd... It's being uploaded, with pictures, and will be available on the front page/TV section very shortly.

 

[Clare Newsome]

And here it is....

 

[Anonymous]

I assume there are a few happy bunnies now the LCD side of the eqation has been put into place. Panasonic seem to be on a bit of a roll right now.

 

[Anonymous]

I was going to start a new thread but, waste not want not, 'LCD vs Plasma' seems as good a place as any.

I am totally new to the flat screen/HD revolution having only just purchased the 42"Pioneer, Sony Dav-is10 surround and PS3 to replace my trusty old 28" Panny. If I remember right, when flat screens first burst upon these shores they were mainly plasma, with LCD screens restricted to sub 22" monitor status. Over the years LCD have grown in size and now seem to dominate the market, whether you are in the market for 22" or 50" screens. In fact many of the manufacturers who were leading lights when plasma was all the rage seem to have gone 'LCD only'.

Before I started my research I was going to buy an LCD Full HD screen.....period. No ifs and buts. Clear as daylight. Even this magazine (albeit a few issues ago) had the Sony 40W2000 up there with the Gods. Problem solved.Plasma is dead.

But then all these reviews started appearing praising the corpse. Contrast, clarity, SD performance, 1080p24 etc, etc.and no mention of Full HD. I had to do a calender check.... yes it was 2007!!.

So what has happened?. Has LCD peaked?. Is this plasmas' last great dying gasp? What is going to happen between now and OLED ?.

Lucky timing by me I guess. ,

 

[Anonymous]

I see all the fuss about which Panny is best but, I am serious about choosing the Philips 32PFL9632D or perhaps the 37PFL9622D but, can't get anyone to tell me whether the 37 inch is 100Hz or not.

I have seen the Philips against the Panasonic 32LXD70 and the Plasma and can't say I am overly impressed. All were seen in the same conditions even if it was a shop floor.

Any opinions.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting up the review. Shame there was no comment on the audio capabilities of the two TV's but from my earlier posting aout this common shortfall in most reviews, I'm not altogether surprised.

 

[Clare Newsome]

You want it, you got it. Review updated....

 

[Anonymous]

 

[Anonymous]

There is no 37PFL9622D. There is a 37PFL9632D which boasts '100hz Clear LCD' whatever that means. Probably an improvement on the '99hz Slightly Cloudy LCD' model it replaced. Are you sure you were not seduced by all that Amblight? You should see the new Philips Aurea. Seduction at a (hefty) price!!

Now can anyone please tell me what happens between now and OLED?????

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Clare, thanks for the review, but i have just one question!

I'm after a 37" flat screen and have narrowed it down to the two panasonic models TH-37px70/TX-37LZD70. I know deep down i would prefer the black levels, colour and motion of the plasma, but i intend to use the tv for alot of hd stuff aswell, (ps3 games/blueray) plus my children watch alot of kids tv with the dreaded logos. With the nagging doubt of image retention and possible screenburn and lack of full hd status i'm now leaning more towards the lcd.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Blimey, I'm very impressed by such a quick response (adding the bit about audio in the review) ..thanks Clare.

On an altogether different note but still within the 37" plasma v. LCD debate (any owners of the LCD may be able to help here) it is the case that the LCD is wider by about 10cm & 4kg heavier (not sure on height differences) but the footprint of the ped stand is considerably smaller. Does this make the set prone to instability.

I ask because I want to put whichever of these two sets I buy onto a TV unit (holding DVD recorders, PVR, amplifier etc) that is on wheels & I anticipate moving the whole lot about from time to time. Is the LCD likely to topple ?

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="wess74"]
Hi Clare, thanks for the review, but i have just one question!

I'm after a 37" flat screen and have narrowed it down to the two panasonic models TH-37px70/TX-37LZD70. I know deep down i would prefer the black levels, colour and motion of the plasma, but i intend to use the tv for alot of hd stuff aswell, (ps3 games/blueray) plus my children watch alot of kids tv with the dreaded logos. With the nagging doubt of image retention and possible screenburn and lack of full hd status i'm now leaning more towards the lcd.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[/quote]

Honestly, the Full HD/HD Ready debate really isn't worth worrying about on a set of this size - the plasma looks amazing with Blu-ray/HD DVD, aided by its superior contrast.

Re screen-burn - we haven't encountered any problems with this Pana, but if you're really worried, i'd:

a) not let them watch your kids watch logo-strewn stuff (is it still there in the adverts??) for hours for the first few weeks. (And it really does need to be hours and hours and hours for any damage to be done).

or

b) buy the LCD. Yes, it's not as good as the plasma, but it's a fabulous five-star set and if its sibling didn't exist, it'd be the best TV you can buy at this screen-size.

At the end of the day, you've got to be 100 percent happy with your purchase - that's the most important factor.

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="djereko"]Blimey, I'm very impressed by such a quick response (adding the bit about audio in the review) ..thanks Clare.

On an altogether different note but still within the 37" plasma v. LCD debate (any owners of the LCD may be able to help here) it is the case that the LCD is wider by about 10cm & 4kg heavier (not sure on height differences) but the footprint of the ped stand is considerably smaller. Does this make the set prone to instability.

I ask because I want to put whichever of these two sets I buy onto a TV unit (holding DVD recorders, PVR, amplifier etc) that is on wheels & I anticipate moving the whole lot about from time to time. Is the LCD likely to topple ?[/quote]

The LCD is wider because of those 'wing' speakers. We certainly didn't find it wobbly - but then we weren't pushing it about on a stand.

Could you tether the set's pedestal to the stand before moving it around?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I'm just about set on purchasing the TH-37PX70 plasma and have one more question for Clare/Andrew or any current owners. Does the lack of 24fps support really make any difference to hddvd/blueray playback or is it just simply divine.

Cheers guy's.

 

[Clare Newsome]

As discussed elsewhere, the new Panas (plasma and LCD) do have 24fps support, it's just that Panasonic haven't put it in the spec sheet....
The plasma is excellent with HD discs, offering both the smooth motion and incredible contrast to do all that extra detail justice.

 

[Anonymous]

As this thread includes the words "adding a new slant", how does the TX-37LZD70 compare to its smaller brother the tx-32lxd700, bearing in mind the latter was the best 32" TV, size aside is the TX-37LZD70 the superior television or does the LXD700 eclipse it ?

Bearing in mind that these 2 Tv's can be bought on the web with only around a £100 separating them and someone considering a 32" may also consider a 37" especially if at a similar price, are they not competing, and if so who is the winner ?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, can i ask if the difference between the 37" plasma, ans 37" LCD would show any difference when using a PS3 for gaming, blu ray etc......Does the 1080P really make a difference?????.

Also would the same affect the viewing of normal sky didgital tv??

Thanks.

 

[Clare Newsome]

If you sit really close to the screen, the LCD has the slight edge on clarity when it comes to Full HD content - like that PS3 - but wherever you sit it loses out to the plasma on contrast and black depth.

Re Sky digital - the scaler in both sets is good, and even though the LCD's having to work harder (more pixels to fill!) it does an impressive job. But again, you'll get better contrast and black depth on the plasma, and the LCD set loses its detail advantage with non-HD content.

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="craig172"]
As this thread includes the words "adding a new slant", how does the TX-37LZD70 compare to its smaller brother the tx-32lxd700, bearing in mind the latter was the best 32" TV, size aside is the TX-37LZD70 the superior television or does the LXD700 eclipse it ?

Bearing in mind that these 2 Tv's can be bought on the web with only around a £100 separating them and someone considering a 32" may also consider a 37" especially if at a similar price, are they not competing, and if so who is the winner ?

[/quote]

I'd always suggest having the largest (good) set you can comfortably fit in, without sitting bonkers-close to the set.

But not everyone wants/can fit a larger set, which is why we review in screen sizes...

Interestingly, you'll be able to see the 32in LCD running side-by-side with the 37in plasma at our Show this weekend, as part of our TV gallery.

 

[Anonymous]

My final question - Do you have any views on how the new samsung M86/M87 compare to the Panasonic models in discussion. I have read that the samsung handles black very well? your views please...