Have your say & ask the experts

Picking up my new panny tv next week.  Just wondering if any have this tv and what the hd pic is like?  Seen in the panny shop it was exceptional but just wondering how people have been getting on with it at home.

This is the package I am getting:

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/471550/PANASONIC-TH-42PZ81B

 

I will be using this system along with sky hd, ps3, wii, and 360 (no hdmi).  I think I have my head around the cables I need to get everything goin thru the cinema system/tv.  Right here goes.  Sky hd and ps3 hdmi to tv.  Optical from tv to home cinema.  Component 360??? and wii rgb enabled scart.  Please correct me if I am wrong or advise me otherwise

 Thanks in advance

In matter of fact I saw this television today at a road show for work, the HD looks fantastic at the least. I saw it on 42, 46 & 50" screens and would find it hard to fault them all through the FreeSat hi-def. SD is also very good in my opinion and we were given a demonstration of Panasonic's Intelligent Frame Creation and although this sites review doesn't give it the best write up; (I think its WHF) when running a blu-ray title at 1080/24 it did make a massive impact, I'm currently deciding on this set or the PZ85. You've made a good choice!

Bump

briski:

I will be using this system along with sky hd, ps3, wii, and 360 (no hdmi).  I think I have my head around the cables I need to get everything goin thru the cinema system/tv.  Right here goes.  Sky hd and ps3 hdmi to tv.  Optical from tv to home cinema.  Component 360??? and wii rgb enabled scart.  Please correct me if I am wrong or advise me otherwise

Optical from TV to home cinema will not give you 5.1 sound from the PS3 or Sky HD - it will only work for the internal Freesat tuner. So you'll also need optical connections from both of these to your home cinema. Since the HC unit only has one optical input, you'll need an optical splitter unit to hook them all up.

Component for both 360 and Wii if you have enough component inputs, otherwise as you've said.

Personally, I'd just get the TV and a different home cinema unit (like the Sony DAV-IS10).

Any splitters you could recommend??

This one will do the job.

Personally, I would not use the home cinema-in-a-box system for this tv as it would not be doing it justice. You may well still want to go for the deal and just use the cinema-in-a-box for a bedroom tv maybe? To make the most out of the superb Panasonic PZ81, I would use it in conjunction with a proper home cinema amp compatible with the high-def audio formats (to match the high-def visuals from your PS3) - Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD, etc. One amp compatible with these new sound formats is the excellent Onkyo TX-SR606, for just £399. As for speakers, the Q-acoustics 1010i 5.1 system (£499 or less) is a great match. Of course there are many other high-def amps and speakers, but the Onkyo / Q-acoustics combination is a particularly superb one and at a very reasonable price.

To get HD audio from the PS3 you will need to plug the PS3 into the Onkyo with an HDMI cable, then plug the Onkyo into the PZ81 with another HDMI. You should also plug the Sky HD into the Onkyo with an HDMI (although unfortunately Sky HD doesn't currently support any of the high-def audio formats - only Dolby Digital, but it will still sound great!) and Wii into the amp via component / optical or coaxial for digital 5.1 sound) - taking into consideration the HDness of the 360 and the HDlessness (but still progressive-scan) of the Wii. Because (I think) VGA is the only way to get a full 1080p feed out of a 360 without an HDMI port, you should probably use a VGA connection which probably won't be on the amp so you should plug the 360 directly into your PZ81 and connect it to the amp for digital audio with an optical or coaxial lead, which is fine as the 360 does not support HD-audio, only Dolby Digital 5.1. You could also just plug the 360 into one the amp's component inputs (alongside the Wii - the amp has 3 component inputs!) for a great 1080i picture and again use either optical or coaxial for pumping your digital 5.1 audio into the amp.

This is just my advice, but if you decide to do this then you will end up with an absolutely stunning home cinema system and you will be seriously pleased with yourself, and will be satisfyingly future-proof for a long time yet!

Got everything bar ps3

So....

TV (optical out to splitter)

Sky HD (hdmi to tv, optical out to optical splitter)

360 (component to tv (or though home cinema component????), optical out to optical splitter)

Wii (RGB enabled scart to tv) or should it go through home cinema via the scart????

Home cinema (hdmi to tv, optical splitter in)

 

Desperate for help

HELP

Cheers

Did you get the Panasonic with the deal? In which case, I can't see any benefit to hooking the 360 or the Wii to it directly unless you can control both picture and sound via the single remote? (not sure as haven't seen it). Personally, I'd still hook all video sources direct to the TV and sound sources to the home cinema system so you get the direct line of signal since they are mostly analogue signals and there's no upscaling / upconversion on the amp. However, I might consider putting the Wii directly into the home cinema system - have you considered the Wii's component cable so you can split the video output to the TV via progressive to the component inputs on the TV and then standard RCA phono leads to the home cinema amp?

Don't get the home cinema, the speakers are rubbish. I know because I've got them. (They are in a box in the loft now).

tvmog:

Don't get the home cinema, the speakers are rubbish. I know because I've got them. (They are in a box in the loft now).

I second that.