Question about Panasonic TH-46PZ85 and the What HiFi review

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Hi all, I'm a regular reader of the magazine, but first-time poster on the forums.. I'm looking for a new Plasma TV to go with my PS3. I'm also planning to get a FreeSat HD box in future once a PVR is available and more HD content is being broadcast (fingers crossed for F1 once it moves over to BBC next year). I had pretty much decided on one of the Panasonic Plasmas - either the TH-46PZ80 or PZ85 (IFC and better sound for £200 more). The Pioneer Kuros are a bit too pricy for my budget. However, in the latest edition of the magazine you give some slightly negative comments regarding picture quality on the TH-46PZ85: "..not quite the inky black levels we've come to expect from Panasonic Plasmas" and "..not the most impressive Panasonic Plasma we've ever seen". Ok, so it still gets 5 stars in the review, so it's still going to be a nice piece of kit for the money, but I would be grateful if you could clarify what you mean with those comments - are you saying for example that the 42" screens are better than the 46"s? My understanding was that all of the current PZ80 and 85 models use the same G11 type panels, and would have the same contrast ratios. Or is this not the case? Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="frex"]TH-46PZ80 or PZ85 (IFC and better sound for £200 more). [/quote]

An IFC engineer costs around £250 +VAT per call out. A DVE dvd will set you back about £15 instead. IMO buy the best picture and not worry too much about the set's sound. With the money saved, treat yourself to a sound system that your plasma (and you) deserve, A Sony Dav-IS10 perhaps?

Like you, I will probably wait for a FreesatHD PVR - 3 tuners, 500gb HDD and blu-ray R/RW should just about do it!. However I see that Panasonic are releasing their 42" and 50" PZ81 plasmas with built in freesatHD which may meet your needs.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="david1997"]
[quote user="frex"]TH-46PZ80 or PZ85 (IFC and better sound for £200 more). [/quote]

An IFC engineer costs around £250 +VAT per call out. A DVE dvd will set you back about £15 instead. IMO buy the best picture and not worry too much about the set's sound. With the money saved, treat yourself to a sound system that your plasma (and you) deserve, A Sony Dav-IS10 perhaps?

Like you, I will probably wait for a FreesatHD PVR - 3 tuners, 500gb HDD and blu-ray R/RW should just about do it!. However I see that Panasonic are releasing their 42" and 50" PZ81 plasmas with built in freesatHD which may meet your needs.

[/quote]

IFC stands for Intelligent Frame Creation. It is a feature on the set and not a setup process as you seem to be describing. There is a set up available on Pioneers which involves set up by an engineer which I think is IFS (not sure what it stands for though).

I hope this clears up some confusion.

 

[Andrew Everard]

ISF - Imaging Science Foundation. See here.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]ISF - Imaging Science Foundation. [/quote]

Ooooops!! Sorry for that.

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="frex"]Hi all,

I'm a regular reader of the magazine, but first-time poster on the forums..

I'm looking for a new Plasma TV to go with my PS3. I'm also planning to get a FreeSat HD box in future once a PVR is available and more HD content is being broadcast (fingers crossed for F1 once it moves over to BBC next year).

I had pretty much decided on one of the Panasonic Plasmas - either the TH-46PZ80 or PZ85 (IFC and better sound for £200 more). The Pioneer Kuros are a bit too pricy for my budget.

However, in the latest edition of the magazine you give some slightly negative comments regarding picture quality on the TH-46PZ85: "..not quite the inky black levels we've come to expect from Panasonic Plasmas" and "..not the most impressive Panasonic Plasma we've ever seen".

Ok, so it still gets 5 stars in the review, so it's still going to be a nice piece of kit for the money, but I would be grateful if you could clarify what you mean with those comments - are you saying for example that the 42" screens are better than the 46"s? My understanding was that all of the current PZ80 and 85 models use the same G11 type panels, and would have the same contrast ratios. Or is this not the case?

Thanks in advance for any comments.[/quote]

Extensive reply in this post as to why all sets in a range aren't necessarily made equal

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, so you ARE saying that the current model 46" Pannys are (for whatever reason) not quite as good as the 42s. Thanks for clarifying.

Bit of a bummer though - I've seen the TH-42PZ85 in the flesh and it looked stunning, but I haven't been able to find the 46" version at any dealers yet. Has anyone else been able to compare the 42" and 46" directly, and is the difference enough to be worth stepping down to the 42?

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen other reviews that say if anything, the 46" is bette than the 42".

Best go and have a look and judge for yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, thanks, i will. But as mentioned above, I've not been able to find any in the shops yet - I guess they'll start to trickle into the showrooms soon..

 

[Anonymous]

Btw - sorry for dumb noobish question, but how do I get paragraph breaks into my posts??

There are breaks in the text when I am composing the post, but after I've submitted it and it appears on the forum the breaks are gone, and it appears as one big wodge of text. What am I doing wrong??

 

[Anonymous]

Question for Clare

Hi Clare - just getting a little confused by this screen size stuff - I compared the 42pz80 next to the pioneer 428 and thought it was better, the 46pz85 which I have on order was next to a 50" pioneer (not full HD) and again thought the panasonic was better so went for the 46PZ85 not wanting to shell out the money for a full HD 50" pioneer (although I do think they are too dark).

Now after reading far too much I am having doubts about the choice I have made particularly after the magazine review of the 46PZ85 and the stuff regarding the 42 being better having not had the panasonic 42 and 46 side by side.

What do you think?

 

[Anonymous]

Trust your own eyes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.