Panasonic TX-P42GT30 Plasma / LED questions

[admin_exported]

Hi There,

Sorry if this posts rambles a bit but here we go:

I am currently looking to get a new TV as my 3 year old 42" LG (42LG5010) has packed up. I was looking at the Samsung D7000 series (was very impressed when I saw a 55" model playing avatar earlier this year) however, I have been reading on various sites and I am sure as many of you will know the Panasonic P42GT30 is getting some rave reviews. Because of this and the huge price difference I decided to check out the TV at John Lewis, next to the TV (and the only thing I could compare it to) was a Panasonic LED tv (TX-L37DT30) which I tried to compare the two against each other for about 15 minutes but I could not see an huge difference, sadly I could only demo these TV's with Innerspace (1987) or Eastenders (both in HD) and I feel that may make a big diffference to how impressive they are. I did notice that the LED looked every so slighly sharper, but I put it down to have a greater DPI and me being close to the screen. My main take away was that the white's on the LED were REALLY white whilst the blacks ons on the Plasma were better.

I am planning on using the TV for about 40% xbox (mainly call of duty) / 40% american shows such as Chase / Walking Dead / Hawii 5-0 etc and the remaining 20% is used for xfactor / eastenders by the girlfriend who can't really see the difference between HD and non HD.. ...so not really important.

I guess what I am seeking is seeking is some kind of reassurance. Would people advise a modern plasma for this kind of use? I guess I need a fast refresh rate for the gaming and fast moving TV shows???

Secondly, what I am wondering is what the difference in quality would be between the Plasma Panasonic and the more expensive LED Samsung. I know that I would be paying for the lack of bezel but will I be also be gaining in quality. What would people on here prefer in genaral? Which screen type is quicker / sharper?

My final question relates to the using a Panasonic PVR via Veria link. Is it possible to control the PVR via the TV without having to select an HDMI input. It would be great if the two units could merge. Sadly the PVR manual is not available online.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Oldboy]

Hello davejerome,

A warm welcome to the forum from me. I own the 42GT30 so have some experience with this tv and can confirm that it's as impressive as the reviews have stated and i'm very happy with the choice i made and i too auditioned both the D7000 and 8000 series samsung tvs before i bought the GT30. I found extreme backlight bleed to be an issue with every one of the samsung tvs i auditioned, i went to auditions at two seperate dealers and found the issue present in all the sets i looked at, that's four tvs in total that all had the issue and it was so bad that it intruded into the picture at all times and it turned me away from either tv.

Apart from the backlight issue the tvs were impressive but my personal opinion was that the GT and VT plasmas were just a better all rounder with better PQ when given a decent feed and set up correctly which is where i think your experience in John Lewis lies. You need to audition the tv at a good dealer as most high street retailers don't set the tv up correctly or calibrate the screens and are just left on their default 'shop' settings and this is where a plasma will always struggle when viewed side by side with any lcd/led tv.

For example your observation with white levels on the GT30 suggests that the colour balance is set incorrectly as it needs to be set to cool as that gives you the clean bright whites that were lacking during your viewing so try to get to a good dealer to see them properly set up and given a decent signal feed as that makes a huge difference too. The lcd may well have looked sharper but then you don't know how that was set up either so it's hard to judge but i have always found a plasma image more natural but it's also a personal taste issue as some people prefer an lcd/led image so audition first an go for what you prefer.

The GT or VT plasma will suit your usage of a new tv just as well as the D7000 would so that's not an issue, i own a PS3 and can confirm that gaming is not an issue on the GT with minimal lag and no picture issues such as image retention or burn. The plasma vs lcd/led argument of lag is a debatable issue but i have found plasma far better for games like COD as i have always found they have far less lag when compared to any lcd or led that i have owned and my current Samsung bedroom led tv suffers from far more lag than my GT30 plasma.

The Samsung led is to me a designers tv, it has that picture frame look with a minimal bezel and takes up less wall space with a smaller footprint and has minimal losses in picture quality but it does have some when compared to the Panasonic plasmas. The 3D is far better on a plasma tv as you get far less crosstalk but the big difference between them is that imo the plasma image is far more natural than the Samsung led with better colours, black levels and detail and as an all rounder it's the best tv out there at the moment.

Regarding the viera link query it's just Panasonics way of wording HDMI control and will therefore work with your PVR without having to select a HDMI input, my tv remote even controls my PS3 for example aswell as my bluray player so as long as your PVR has HDMI control you won't have an issue.

Hope all that is of some use but the main thing to do is to get out there and audition the tvs for yourself at a good dealer and choose what you prefer, just use the reviews as a guide to what tvs to audition as it's a personal choice if you prefer lcd/led or plasma, enjoy!

Nick.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I really appreciate the time and effort you have put in there. It's interesting what you saying about the TV using a "cool" setting to get the most out of it. I have historically thought that those modes (Cool / Movie / Game) were a bit of a marketing gimmick and not something I/people actually used.. ..but I guess not.

Its good to hear what you have said about screen retention not being an issue.

I am going to go to my local Richer Sounds this weekend who hopefully will have a decent setup and have historically given me good customer service so I might be able to try out a blueray, as I feel that this should help reassure me that the Samsung isn't as out of this world as I recall.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I really appreciate the time and effort you have put in there. It's interesting what you saying about the TV using a "cool" setting to get the most out of it. I have historically thought that those modes (Cool / Movie / Game) were a bit of a marketing gimmick and not something I/people actually used.. ..but I guess not.

Its good to hear what you have said about screen retention not being an issue.

I am going to go to my local Richer Sounds this weekend who hopefully will have a decent setup and have historically given me good customer service so I might be able to try out a blueray, as I feel that this should help reassure me that the Samsung isn't as out of this world as I recall.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi davejerome,

I have recently posted a review of my new home cinema setup, which includes the Panasonic TX-P46GT30B, which may help you although I don't do 'gaming' so no mention of that. The review is in the 'My System' forum and titled 'New Home Cinema Review' - find it here.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info was really useful.

How are you calibrating your set (assuming you are) i plan to in the near future but not to a serious degree. There is no gradation to the inputs though ie when you want to increase or decrease a setting the bar just goes up and down with no corresponding number to tell you how high or how low you have gone.

 

[Anonymous]

I personally prefer the LED sets, even without the blacks that plasma produce, but you need to make sure you get a model without backlight bleed as it can ruin your enjoyment.From what oldboy said that would would seem difficult if buying a samsung. If you do not want or need 3d,have you considered the panasonic TX-L42E30B? It has deeper ( almost plasma like) blacks than the samsung D7000 and is a great tv. I demo'd it against the Panasonic g30 plasma and thought it was a better tv so i bought one. It also fared well against the samsung d7000 when i compared the two using avatar on blu ray in richers.They are fairly cheap just now when you consider they were just shy of £1000 when they first appeared. You mentioned sharpness of picture, LED is better than plasma in this respect and in a side by side comparison will be noticeably sharper, however plasma is still pretty sharp! Plasma would also be best for gaming but i had a one and when i switched to LED it was still excellent and i did not notice any lag at all. I do not play online though where it might be more of an issue.

 

[Anonymous]

bs_law,

I used the Spears & Munsil High-Definition Benchmark Blu ray Disc Edition available from Amazon, see this link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003LQPTWY

I found it really easy to use and quick to set up. I found that I only needed the basics (brightness, contrast, sharpness, colour) and that the screen tests that might required some more advanced settings looked fine, so I didn't need to go to Advance Settings.

Hope this helps.

Paul.