New panasonic plasma

[vonchief]

Hi,Hope someone can help.

My panasonic pwd6 has been damaged by my 5 year old and I'm looking for a replacement.

I'm not overly impressed with picture quality in the shops but don't know if its just the way there set up.

Does anyone know if the panasonic 42px80 would be a downgrade from what I've got ? I mainly watch SD and have dismissed 1080 sets for this reason.(more scaling making picture quality worse).Is this right ?

Any advice would be most welcome.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think the px80 would be a downgrade, things have changed a lot in 5 years. And yes stick with a 720p plasma for SD viewing.

 

[Andy Clough]

vonchief:
I'm not overly impressed with picture quality in the shops but don't know if its just the way there set up.

Invariably, yes. Display sets in-store are usually fed on a splitter from the main aerial feed which is split between numerous TVs, often resulting in a weak signal, and the screens themselves are set with excessively high brightness and contrast to stand out in the shop.

As a result I've seen many first-rate TVs tested by us look dreadful in the shops.

 

[vonchief]

Thanks for the help.I actually went to buy the 42px80 but was so disappointed in the freeview quality i decided to do a bit more research.I did get to play with the settings but still no good.It probably is down to the shops using splitters but i couldn't part with my money when the picture quality was no where near to what i already have.Maybe using an external freeview box like i use now would improve things?

My other concern is whether i should go for another display only plasma,or are they actually no better than the normal sets.