Panasonic TX-PnnPX10 Lacklustre picture - is it me?

[admin_exported]

I have been into several shops with a view to purchasing a new Panny plasma from the TX-PnnPX10 range, and have continually been underwelmed by the lacklustre appearance of the picture.

I currently have 32" Sony Wega that produces excellent pictures from Sky, PS3 and Wii, but have the urge to buy a flatscreen "because HD is far superior". Haveing spent 30 minutes in Currys messing about with all of the colour, contrast, brightness settings etc I could not get a picture that, to my eyes, was acceptable. I also tried a variwty of dofferent channels and they were at best passable, and at worst unwatchable.

Am I missing something?

 

[lobby]

Standard set up in shops are factory settings, and it's always hard to find a good setting, plus youll find that CRT's will give you a good sd picture and yes you can get great pictures from PS3, Sky etc. But once you have a hd ready or full hd tv fully calibrated, you will be amazed at how good the PS3 and Xbox Elite will look, so much more finer detail and punchy vibrant colours, and so much space saved it's well worth it. Try another audition and ask to view it with a ps3, take your favourite games and films, try Sky with some fast moving sport. Hope this helps

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response. A further question - will these calibration improvements also improve the perceived quality of the SD channels too? Also will Sky (standard def) look better when routed through my Panasonic DMR-EX78 and upscaled via HDMI compared to the Freeview pictures I have since in the shops?

 

[Anonymous]

I've done the same as you and gone into two different shops to have a look at this set and been entirely underwhelmed. BUT...

I've actually decided that demo-ing the sets in most shops is an entirely pointless exercise. The image you see is so influenced by

1. the quality of signal coming in

2. the picture settings used by the shop (some have been tweaked, others not)

3. the lights in the shop

The quality of signal was dreadful in one of the shops I visited, and the assistant admitted they only had one roof aerial for what must have been 60-70 TVs on show! All they could get was a 3 analog channels which were not great quality. A £400 sharp LCD looked way better than the panasonic plasmas in terms of things like the blacks and solidity of picture. Was that a useful comparison? Probably not.

It appears there are some specialist shops that really make an effort and help you compare the sets in a fair way, but for many it seems that it just isn't worth the trip - I guess that's when you have to listen to the reviews from this website/magazine to actually make a judgement on whether it's a good set, and then see what you think of it in your own home.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, just to back up that point most Currys stores have awful feeds going to their TVs. There a a few that have component feeds which offer a more consistent picture but most are just tuned in to a single DVD player through the aerial socket (which also picks up a few stations too) and the picture is completely hit and miss. If you go to a store where the staff are helpful then they will generally be willing to plug in a better source if you're asking about one of two TVs in particular. Always worth asking to see a set with DVD/Blu Ray or something like that. If they refuse then their loss.