Pansonic TX37LZD70 verus TX32LXD70 - how do they handle fast motion/football?

[admin_exported]

I've followed this forum for a few weeks now, and have found the opinions and experiences really helpful. Alas, I still agonise over my next TV to replace my aging JVC 32" CRT.

Most of what my wife watches is SD/freeview, the children watch lots of American twaddle on Sky, and I am football daft so watch it on any channel!

I've narrowed my choice down to LCDs, either a Panasonic TX32LXD70 or TX37LZD70 but I'm now faced with a massive dilemma.

In my limited experience based on showrooms and what I've seen at heighbours' houses, the bigger the screen size, the grainier the image. So, a like-for-like 32" in our living room with 100mhz probably makes the TX32 a better bet for me than the TX37. And at £600 it sound just the job. Or is it?

The TX37 is only around £150 more, and is more future-proofed as it is Full HD, and I'll no doubt look to buy a blu ray player sometime this year. Sadly, both reviews of the TX37 that have appeared in What Hi Fi in the last 6 months haven't really indicated what this set is like when handling fast moving images and I'd hate to upgrade to Sky HD and be frustrated by motion blur on a bigger set. Everything else in the reviews suggest that the TX37 is another good bet however!

So, I'd be really grateful for any feeback on how the TX32 or TX37 cope with football on SD, normal Sky, and Sky HD as this will really sway it for me. Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

why LCD? i would highly recommend plasma especially for the sports, but i still believe you get better overall picture quality than LCDs... maybe look at the TH37PX70, and TH37PX80 both Pansonic

 

[Anonymous]

Fair comment - the sets side by side at Comet the other day highlighted that the plasma TH37PX70 had deeper blacks than the LCDs on the Pannys. But there was no fast moving stuff and the assistants weren't able to pipe anything into the sets other than sky sports news on freeview.

I'd feel more comfortable gauging people's feelings on the Panasonic LCDs especially the 37" before taking the plunge although I haven't discounted a plasma altogether. Thanks for confusing me some more, Matthew!

 

[Andy Clough]

Matthew has a point - we preferred the Panasonic TH-37PX70 over the 37LZD70 LCD, the plasma having deeper blacks. However, the 37LZD70 is far from shabby when it comes to motion handling, and will handle football no problem - especially if you get Sky HD. Have you seen the latest (April) issue of the magazine with our Supertest of 37-40in TVs? It includes a review of the TX-37LZD70.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for responding Andy. I've bought the issue and was pleased to see that the TX37 was a group test winner although moving images weren't specifically mentioned. It's good to hear that you believe footy wouldn't be an issue.

As an aside, I was surprised that the test excluded any set from Philips (I had looked at a 37" 7552, but a trawl of the web brought very little back in terms of how that set performs).

Maybe I'm wrong to be worrying about using plasma as an everyday set.......except nobody seems to discount the possibility of screenburn......and how that leaves owners persuing a fix as part of any warranty which is a can of worms in itself!

 

[Anonymous]

the last time i saw screen burn on a PX70 panasonic, was a family who leave the TV on MTV about four-five hours a day, whilst in other rooms and after 3 weeks they developed screen burn, however there are some couner techniqure (not sure if they work ) id say screen burn is most caused from negligence, such as not turning it off when unwatched

 

[Anonymous]

I took the plunge and bought the tx37 last week, actually taking it home with me from Empire Direct in Leeds when I went in to look at one on display. I believe I got a reasonable deal at £749 + £30 for their 3 year warranty/discount club card thingy.

The TV is amazing. Analogue pictures are very good, freeview much better, and Standard Sky was excellent. However, as I has a £1K budget I really went the whole hog and ordered Sky HD a few days later which was installed with only a 3 day lead time. I got this at £199 and managed to get the £60 installation fee refunded which is pretty good - this was a much better deal that they advertise although I also took their phone package to sweeten the deal and drive the price of the box down.

Although the range of HD channels is currently limited, the pictures are just awesome. The trailer channels are obviously designed to show HD in it's best light but the detail is remarkable and can best be described as like watching the event going on in your back garden behind glass. The blacks are fantastic too from what we've seen, and I can easily make out what is happening in dark scenes unlike on my old CRT.

My fears/concerns about football were soon dispelled when I watched the Machester United/Bolton game the other night. Truly awesome. Similarly, the cricket from New Zealand was marvellously vivid in HD......you could even see up the street and pick out a McDonalds sign when the high-level camera shot of the ground was being shown! I plan to link the Sky box to my sony surround sound amp later and watch the Sky HD broadcast of Casino Royale so I'll see how good the Sky + sound is.

The only minor quibbles, and of course there always has to be some otherwise we'd have nothing to moan about, is that the sound from the standard speakers could be better but then again it's plenty good enough for most things. Also, like most TVs, the automatic tuner on analogue picks the stations up sequentially and I ended up having to manually retune. And that's about it, although the children still fight over the Sky channels as going multi-room is well OTT in price.

So, if my experience is anything to go by, if you're considering a 37" LCD, then you could do a lot worse than buying one of these....with or wihout Sky or HD because the freeview pictures are terrific.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm happy enough with this TV too, on the whole pics are very good with sky+ and freeview channels, some are hit and miss but thats not the TV more the feed itself, I did sort of have second thoughts when the plasma PX80 range came out and everyone raved about how good it was with SD so I went to numerous stores to check it out and after spending hours looking for a significant difference in quality, couldn't find one, even on football, maybe the blacks are blacker? Only thing for me was they looked cheaper looking to this TV, quite plasticky, so I went away happy with my initial purchase.

I'm looking to get Sky HD but they would only give £199 and £60 install, would like to know how you got the £60 refunded as I'm yet to feed HD to the TV and am obviously missing out on what the TV is designed for, the £60 back would sway it for me.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

For info - I just got JL to refund the difference between ED and Sound and Vision - all in all I got this TV for £695 with 5yr warranty

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="rch19754"]

For info - I just got JL to refund the difference between ED and Sound and Vision - all in all I got this TV for £695 with 5yr warranty

[/quote]

Nice one, just waiting for mine to come through in the next few days.

 

[Anonymous]

hi John

Re the Sky HD upgrade at £199 plus free installation, there may be a few reasons why I got this deal.

I've significantly upgraded my previous sports subscription (£38) to now include movies (an extra £7) and then HD on top (another £10)..... a total of £55 per month (gulps as he types!) I didn't have Sky + before.

I've also put my phone across as this was cost-neutral (but strengthened my bargaining position) and I'm in the process of moving my broadband away from Tiscali to Sky (again, I've beaten them down on price but that's a long story that's still running).

I really pushed Sky about their pricing. I pointed out that I had been a customer for 15 years and have bought a couple of boxes in that time at £200/£300 a throw. I was prepared to increase my sub from £38 to £55 a month as described above, and move my telephony to them (another £5 a month). That's £22 a month extra from my household!

I insisted that if they wanted another HD subscriber they had to do the box at the lowest possible price, and asked them to waive the installation fee. I must have got a sympathetic telephonist as he maintained that the booking system enforced the £60 fee when ordering, but he could re-credit it post-installation (which he duly did the following week). I'd hoped to get it at best for £30 not free!

My advice is to quote that Sky's 'See, Speak, Surf' leaflets are offering £30 installation to new customers taking any package. Then, point out that this is a shameful way of discriminating against existing customers who are being asked to pay twice as much for installation......and see what happens. It worked for me, but bear in mind that I was pushing other business Rupert's way!

Also point out that Sky will be getting at least an extra £120 a year from you if you upgrade to HD (without anything else you may choose to push their way), and you've already (probably) paid for Sky + features once before. If that fails ask to speak to a supervisor "as you really want to do a deal with Sky but feel that your long-standing custom is being taken for granted by their pricing model"....or similar. If you collate enough info about deals, there's a good chance they'll yield.

Good luck John - let me know how you get on.