Pioneer or Panasonic?

[admin_exported]

Hi, I have a budget of £2500 to spend on a plasma, 5.1 speaker system, stand and receiver. I have seen the 42" pioneer in the shops but still feel its a little too expensive when compared to a full hd panasonic.

Can anyone help an indecisive soul who reads every review but still cant make his mind up? I need;

Plasma TV

Receiver

5.1 Speakers (small as my room measure 2mx5m and only have 1.3m space for TV and speakers)

I dont like the look of the onkyo and probably would not buy it on this basis. We would be using the system for SD TV and HD movies through my PC with hd-dvd/blu-ray players installed. So need advice on which sound card support DTS/Dolby/maybe truhd?

 

[Anonymous]

With your £2500 I would recommend you hold back £500 for a good quality stand and some quality leads. Then, I would split the remaining £2000 down the middle so that you have a grand for each the tv and receiver. I would get the Panasinic PZ70 if you like sharpness and detail, and good realistic colours. You would have to see this tv in the flesh, though, aswell as the Pioneer 428XD. You might prefer the deep blacks and thick colours of the Pioneer set, but it isn't really in your budget. You could get the Pioneer 4280XD though, basically the same as 428XD except it is in last years frame / body, and lacks a couple of minor features) which can be had for about £1300 at the moment (so still over your budget of £1000), but should be cheaper in the January sales. I would go for the Panny though. As for the receiver, I completely understand your problem with the Onkyo's ugly looks. There is a very nice looking Marantz just round the corner, which handles all the HD surround codecs, and will cost around a grand. Also with all the new HD formats, there is a £900 Denon, a £1200 Sony, and a £1000 Pioneer aswell. Again, you really have to see these in the flesh, and have a good demo. Unfortunately I don't know about soundcards and that side of things so I'll leave that for someone else to answer. Hope I have been of some help, Ben.

 

[Anonymous]

Could I also chip in with the Dav-is10. Not perhaps what you had in mind, but perfect given the limited area you have available.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I think its best to actually see them both in action. Will need to find a dealer who has them both properly connected and set up.

With regards to speakers I like the look of the Quad lite package and kef 3005's. Which if any would give a better musical performance?

Not a big fan of Sony equipment sorry dude. Wouldnt mind an arcam as I used to own a cd/amp combo which was great. Would any of the above match arcam for music and movies?

 

[Alsone]

Pioneer has a slightly better picture but I'd buy the Panasonic. (Never thought I'd be saying that!).

Hunt around and you can buy a PZ70 for around £900-£1,000 or a PX70 for around £850, leaving plenty for all your other accessories / cabling and maybe even a bonus luxury upgrade to your sound system (new amp, dvd?) or remote etc.

By comparison, the Pioneer is now very expensive, cheapest I've seen at somewhere I personally would feel comfortable from buying from is £1,800 - double the price for a small increase in quality. In my opinion Pioneer are so far out of line with Panasonic, that they no longer represent good value for money for the average buyer as the small increase in performance doesn't justify twice the price..

As for watching them back to back in a dealership, good luck! Most dealers don't calibrate their screens so what is good in the shop isn't the same as what looks good at home which means simply that unfortunatley you just can't tell from in store. Often the worst performing screens look the best in store simply because their brightness / contrast levels are so high out of the box. Your best chance might be to find a dealer who's willing to indulge you and who has a dvd player connected to evry screen. If your wanting to compare 2, he might just let you use a THX disc to calibrate the screens as it only takes a couple of minutes and its to his advantage. Don't hold your breath though!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi I went to an ex-panasonic dealer who now only stocks pioneers. I watched the 50" and was impressed. But could not compare with the panasonic. The 42" looked small so will try and find more budget.

Need to find the full hd panasonic on demo somewhere...

I was impressed by the Pioneer LX50 and Yamaha 1800 with kef 3005SEs.

btw - The dealer offered me the pdp-428xd with five year warranty for £1600. Not the 4280xd!

 

[Alsone]

What's your viewing distance?

You need to be careful when auditioning screens not least because HI Def and DVD output can be watched closer than SD (ie tv over an aerial). Many shops display these images instead of SD for a reason, it gives a better quality of picture.

Its all to do with the signal quality but whereas you could in theory watch a 50" from 6ft with a HD feed eg Blu Ray / HD DVD (it might be a bit large for most tastes but a good picture), the same tv would probably want 14 feet with an SD feed to look sharp.

In my trials with a tape measure and a nice tv shop, I found 10 feet about the minimum for good picture on a 42" on SD feed.

If in doubt ask the salesman to put BBC 1 on over an aerial and then find a comfortable distance from the tv at which it looks sharp and meaure your distance to the screen. If you know your seating distance at home, this will give you some idea as to whether or not it going to be the right size for you, although shear aesthetics also play a part for some people.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Alsone. My viewing distance is approx. 3.5m-4m depending on sofa! Everyone I speak to says the Pioneer is better with SD than the panasonic. Any panasonic owners want to air their opinons?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Alsone"]Its all to do with the signal quality [/quote]

Too right, but also include transmission/content quality. Even with some of the Beeb's offerings ('Strictly' for example) I find myself diving for the picture control. Tone down being order of the day!!

 

[Alsone]

[quote user="RakeshP"]

Thanks Alsone. My viewing distance is approx. 3.5m-4m depending on sofa! Everyone I speak to says the Pioneer is better with SD than the panasonic. Any panasonic owners want to air their opinons?

[/quote]

At 3.5m the 42" is probably the better bet.

At 4m you're marginal for a 50" with SD, might or might not be acceptable. What HiFI have a guide here:

http://whathifi.com/television/archive/2007/10/16/how-to-choose-the-right-size-of-tv.aspx

You're right that Pioneer's SD receiver is supposed to be better at upscaling. However, it all depends on what signal you're going to be feeding it eg. it could be possible to upscale it through an external component in which case the TV's abilities to upscale wouldn't be called into play.

Some receivers can upscale pictures and I'd presume some Freeeview boxes will as well, however, as I'm not familiar in this area I won't try to offer you any more advice, other than you might be able to upscale outside of the tv. I'm not sure if this applies to aerial feed or is DVD only, best to ask the What Hifi team as they will know more on this subject.