Panasonic TH-42PZ70B

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Hi before i buy the Panasonic TH-42PZ70B i just need to know if this a good tv, the cost is going to be £854.89 i just hoping if this is a good deal.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds good to me, does it have a stand, ped ect?, and where you getting it from?

 

[Andy Clough]

Yes, it's a fabulous TV, and that price looks pretty good to me! When
we tested the 42PZ70 in our Nov 08 issue we gave it our top five-star
rating, and that was at the official price of £1400. At £855 you've
bagged yourself a great bargain. FYI, picture quality is excellent, and
marginally better than its junior sibling, the HD-ready 42PX70.

 

[Anonymous]

this tv is 1080p could you please tell me what thats means please.

 

[Anonymous]

Basically 1080p means full HD. You are getting 1080 lines onscreen instead of 768 (HD Ready). It's arguable if you actually need full HD on a screen that is 42". Most people don't notice it at that size. And you probably don't need it unless you plan to buy a BluRay or HD DVD player, but then again it is future proof. And if I had £1000 to spend on a TV that would definately be on my short list.

Where are you buying it from?

 

[Anonymous]

digitaldirect.co.uk

 

[Anonymous]

Whats the diffence between TH-42PZ700PED and TH-42PZ70B

 

[Anonymous]

The difference is in connectivity the pz700 has three hdmi instead of 2 and it has three scart and i might be wrong but also three component

 

[Anonymous]

The PZ700 model is the top of the line panasonic model, it is available in ped, full cab, or panasonic wall bracket,

it was released before the PZ70B model and was there only full hd model for a while there,

they then brought out the PZ70B range to make Full hd more available to every day people,

the pz700 has 3 x HDMI 2 x SCART 1 X COMPONENT, and strangly it has only 5,000:1 contrast ratio apart from that it has sports better sound options,

now the pz70B has 2 x HDMI 2 x SCART 1 X COMPONENT and a better contrast ratio at 10,000:1!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andy Clough"]

Yes, it's a fabulous TV, and that price looks pretty good to me! When we tested the 42PZ70 in our Nov 08 issue we gave it our top five-star rating, and that was at the official price of £1400. At £855 you've bagged yourself a great bargain. FYI, picture quality is excellent, and marginally better than its junior sibling, the HD-ready 42PX70.

[/quote]

I've put a deposit on the same tv and in my naive personal opinion, found the overall picture quality better than the Pioneer PDP428 (ooh taboo!) in a straight HD comparison test in a reputable AV shop. Overall I found the colour vibrancy better ... that was until the red colours were compared. The numerous reviews of Panasonics problems with reds were an obvious disadvantage going into the shop (in the head), but the difference seems quite startling when you see the two side by side. Reds look so much more orangey on the Panasonic.

Overall, I'm happy to part with my cash for the Panasonic, but don't want to be staring at it wishing I'd bought the Pioneer, purely on the red colour alone (don't mind the black levels so much). I can cancel the order, but can't see myself justifying nearly 50% more for the Pioneer just because of one (admittedly important) colour.

Any thoughts anyone? Can the red problem be got around or reduced (via. settings or just getting used to it) ... Is it really a problem at all?

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a PZ 700 at the beginning of December 2007 after looking at a number of sets. I thought I had something wrong with my eyes as I much preferred the picture quality of the Panasonic against the Pioneer Kuro which everyone was telling me was better.

I've watched the set with on-board DVB tuner, Sky HD, DVD and also Blue Ray via a PS 3 and Have been more than happy with them all (although the colour settings for DVB needed some adjustment).

My old £70 Toshiba DVD player looks good on the set so I'm sure a newer DVD player would be an improvement. The Blue Ray via PS 3 was a real step up though and I'm now seriously considering a dedicated player.

The PZ 700 has a great picture, good connection options, looks smart and seems to be about as future-proof as it's possible to be in this market - I wouldn't swap mine for anything else I've seen at this level.

What's more - the wife also likes it too !!

 

[Anonymous]

I am another person who prefers the Panasonic PZ70's (or PZ700's) picture to the Pioneer 428XD, although the Pioneer does render some gorgeous colours, including black obviously, and it beats the Panasonic in this regard. Apart from this though, the Panasonic has a much sharper picture, with much less background noise. For people who go on about not needing 1080p on a 42" screen because apparently you don't notice unless you sit too close to the screen (I don't know who decides how close I should sit to my tv!), one of the good things about full HD is that you can sit closer to the screen. And if you are a gamer then you will probably sit pretty close to the screen all the time. Alot of people say that the Pioneer produces a very cinematic image which I think is true. Just like at the cinema there's some picture noise, but also really deep blacks and wonderful colours. Although it's not a perfect, flawlessly sharp image, I think people still really like this 'cinematic' image, myself included. To be honest, I like characteristics of both these tvs. I think I will only be completely happy with a Pioneer LX508D or LX608D. Those two are as close to perfect as you can get.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="pcritten"]
I bought a PZ 700 at the beginning of December 2007 after looking at a number of sets. I thought I had something wrong with my eyes as I much preferred the picture quality of the Panasonic against the Pioneer Kuro which everyone was telling me was better.

I've watched the set with on-board DVB tuner, Sky HD, DVD and also Blue Ray via a PS 3 and Have been more than happy with them all (although the colour settings for DVB needed some adjustment).

My old £70 Toshiba DVD player looks good on the set so I'm sure a newer DVD player would be an improvement. The Blue Ray via PS 3 was a real step up though and I'm now seriously considering a dedicated player.

The PZ 700 has a great picture, good connection options, looks smart and seems to be about as future-proof as it's possible to be in this market - I wouldn't swap mine for anything else I've seen at this level.

What's more - the wife also likes it too !!

[/quote]

Hi pcrtitten and BenjaminHart, can I ask you both about the colours issue I mentioned above? Am I being paranoid or are there any major concerns about reds (being slightly organgey) on these tvs? Is this just a setting up issue? Really want to go for the Panasonic, but need some reassurance on this potential issue and was a bit put off by the difference in the shop. This may simple have been a calibration issue but cant be sure. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I think was one of the relatively few people who was able to view the Pana PZ70 alongside the Pioneer 428 XD using the same HD and SD feeds. I plumped for the Panasonic in the end on the basis that a) The resolution was better b) It was Full HD and c) It was cheaper. I did notice that blacks were 'blacker' on the Pioneer, but to my eyes it was at a loss of detail. Having since spent the last few weeks staring at my Panasonic I can only say that I have not noticed poor quality reds, but of course don't have a reference point to compare against! One minor issue I have noticed with regard to colours are human faces which sometimes appear slightly blotchy - whether this is a super TV showing up poor make-up or make-up showing up a poor TV I'm not sure! In overall terms I'm very happy with this TV. As usual the quality of SD material is mixed but where it is of good quality the picture is superb.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry Dublinn for the late reply. Having seen the two sets (Pioneer 428XD and Panasonic 42PZ70) side by side, I can say that only when the Panasonic is compared to the Pioneer under quite some scrutiny that you might notice that it's reds look slightly less red than the Pioneer. If you watched the Panasonic on it's own then you wouldn't think that there was anything wrong with the reds and you certainly wouldn't think that they looked 'orangey'!

 

[Anonymous]

thing is ben--- were they calibrated equally. was colour at the same setting on both sets

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="vernonkay1984"]thing is ben--- were they calibrated equally. was colour at the same setting on both sets[/quote]

Probably yes they were calibrated equally. The reason I can say this is because I trust the staff at the store; it isn't Dixons or Argos or somewhere, but a small company with about 4 or 5 small stores. It's staff are very knowledgeable and well informed with regard to televisions especially, and also other home entertainment tech. Basically, they know what they are doing, and all I can do is trust them... and both sets (in fact, just about every set in the store) looked pretty good to me.

 

[Anonymous]

So the Pana 70 is better or worse than the 700?

Is the difference in contrast ration really that visible?

Are 3 HDMIs really necessary if only watching (digital) TV, regular DVDs and maybe blue rays in the future?

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="KC1976"]
So the Pana 70 is better or worse than the 700?

Is the difference in contrast ration really that visible?

[/quote]

They are probably much the same in terms of picture quality (despite the difference in the claimed contrast ratio), although this is something you need to see for yourself by comparing the two tvs in a shop. I believe that the 700 has better sound, but again this is something only you can decide for yourself.

[quote user="KC1976"]Are 3 HDMIs really necessary if only watching (digital) TV, regular DVDs and maybe blue rays in the future? [/quote]

Again, only you know how many HDMIs you will need. If you only plan on watching digital tv via the integrated tuner, and having a DVD and a Blu-ray player, then two HDMIs is enough for you. You could save one of the HDMIs by not having a seperate DVD player, just a decent Blu-ray player that will do a good job with standard DVDs aswell.