Televisions

Hi

Thanks for the review! You state that SD Channels via Freesat looked great which is good to know as one review stated that SD performance was close to terrible (that was on the 42" version) How was the SD performance from the terrestrial Freeview and standard transmission channels - would be be close to that of the Pioneer Kuros and if not, by what sort of margin? If one bought this TV, is there a way of watching one Freesat Channel while recording another say to an external DVD/HDD recorder? Finally, given the choice, which gives the better SD & HD performance a 42"/50" G8 Kuro or the 42"/46" PZ81?

Thank You!

any idea the cost of the 42" model and when will it be available to buy...?

As we said in the review Bazzy, the Panasonic has a decent Freeview tuner that compares favourably with the best around. As for a head-to-head with the Kuro, that might just be for another issue... That said, the price gap between this 46in Pana and the 50in Kuro is pretty huge.

I'm waiting for a decent 32" freesat ready TV to come onto the market before ditching my old but still good Philips CRT. Any ideas when the 32's will be gracing the market? I am wondering why Panasonic are still including an analogue tuner though, seems like a waste of time to me, if I can't watch digital tv of some description I'd rather put something else on.

Monder

I guess because a) there are some markets in which not all stations are available via the dish, and b) a good analogue broadcast can still look better than digital on many occasions

But they are starting to switch analogue off this year.

They've already started to switch it off. But the last switch-off/over doesn't happen until 2012- that's a whole four years in some areas, including Greater London.

Well done again for such hot-off-the-press reviews. I am in the process of upgrading to a 42'' Panasonic plasma and was hoping to buy the TH42PZ85. I am hoping to subscribe to SkyHD mainly for the Nat Geographic and Discovery HD channels (which i presume will never find their way to FreeSat). Does anyone know if the PZ81 is a PZ80 or PZ85 plus a Freesat receiver? It is not clear at all from the Panasonic website?

Some markets outside the UK was more what I was talking about.

HiFifan - Pana hasn't made it clear to us,either: but from the specs and perforrmance it's definitely in 85/800 territory than 80. For example, it boasts better sound and IFC (Intelligent Frame Creation) for Blu-ray, for example.

bulloy, panasonic uk web site has countdown to launch!!!

after searching the net I have come across 2 different model No's TH-46PZ81  & TH-PZ81B, are these actually different models or are thay the same,

Sorry I meant TH-46PZ81 & TH-46PZ81B

On most other Panny models, the B at the end has indicated the British model i.e. with the UK power input - I suspect it's the same with the TH-46PZ81 and the TH-46PZ81B

Thanks for that, because the prices quoted  vary a lot/

RE: Bazzy's comment;

Why should the 42" be any different from the 46" as far as SD is concerned? Any chance of a review of the 42" to clarify? - 46" is far too big for my front room, so i'd be more inclined to get the 42"

We're reviewing as fast as we can! More Panasonic kit  - including an exclusive on the DMP-B50 Blu-ray player - due in tomorrow.

the price of the 42" is already up on the Panasonic web shop for £1296 so once on the open market they will probably be able to get them for a few bob less.

Glad to hear that you liked the 46" I hear they were working very hard on them to get them done by the deadline.

Excellent.  Surprised the B is the British desgination.  Here in Ireland, the PX's are redesignated PV and the PZ's are PY's.  Cannot get the 800's here though as Panasonic do not deem it economical to do so.  Not sure about the 85's though...

Looking forward to the BD50 review tomorrow.

I think Clare said the BD50 was due in tomorrow, and that it was for an exclusive review, not that we'd be publishing an exclusive review tomorrow.

Indeed - even if we get the player tomorrow morning and get reviewing in earnest, you're unlikely to see a review before the weekend- we don't just gawp at it for a few minutes and re-write the press release/talk about the box (unlike some online 'tests'...)!

Ah right - my misintepretation of what you wrote Clare - it could be easily read as the exclusive is due in tomorrow.  Nevermind - whenever the exclusive is ready, I'm still looking forward to it regardless! :-)

I'm sure yoou've probably answred this in the forums;

IWhen you are reveiwing the SD & IDTV performance of new TV's, do you comapre them to CRT's?

I have one of the early Sony IDTV's (KV28DX30U) and have yet to see any LCD or Plasma out perform it in terms of picture quality (especially over Digital Terrestrial). I was looking at this Pana to replace my Sony (which is about 9 years old now), so would be very interested to see it in action with the Freesat to compare. Otherwise, it looks like it's plain old CRT for me for at least a couple more years.

I think we'd make every effort to compare the TVs to brand-new CRT TVs of the same size - to ensure a level playing-field, of course.

Is this the right place to ask this question, if not apologies.

This TV uses Freesat, can one then take that signal and pass it to a Panasonic DMR EX78 DVD recorder, (which only has Freeview), and therefore record HD quality TV broadcasts onto that machine? In other words 1) is such a link possible from TV to recorder; 2) will the dvd recorder actually record a better quality image than what it would do via Freeview?  Many thanks for thoughts on this.

does this TV upscale?

fatfairy2005 - answering your questions in reverse

2) Possibly yes. If the DVD recorder was sent a very high quality image then it's possible it would result in a better quality DVD. You'd have to remember though that the digital HD image would be decoded by the FreeSat receiver (so the underlying macroblock data from the original video format would be lost). This image would go to the DVD recorder as an analogue image (if sent via SCART or component), then would be digitised again by the recorder into a MPEG stream.

If the original video was of low quality, with lots of macroblock artifacts (i.e. Freeview) then a HD image (with less artifacts) would probably result in a better DVD, assuming you record at a high quality setting.

I don't know if the DVD recorder you mention takes FreeView images internally (and probably has a digital path from FreeView to DVD) and/or has analogue inputs to take images from outside sources.

Obviously, you're not going to get HD resolution on the DVD though, it's just that you may be starting with an image with less artifacts.

To use a mediocre analogy - I have a SD projector at home, and on some DVD movies you can see macroblocks on the image (100" diagonal screen). Putting HD material through the projector still results in an SD res projection, but due to the higher image quality (higher starting res, higher bit rate) macroblocking is far less evident.

1) I don't know, but I'd be surprised if you could get the image out of the TV. They'd need to add several output connectors so you could get the signal from, say, SCART, component, HDMI etc.

I ordered mine last week..... hopefully will be getting it on friday or saturday!!!!

Am still debating whethe to get the PZ85 and then a seperate freesat receiver

Clare- Thanks for answer. The 42'' PZ85 retails for £1299 with 5 year warranty, which is the same asking price for the PZ81 but with added Freesat. Hope there will be an imminent price drop for the PZ85 plus SkyHD! Can't wait for review for the BD50. Hoping to buy the PZ85, Panny BD50 plus the Onkyo 705 AVR.

Did the BD50 arrive on time yesterday?

Any comments from the review team on the 10 bit colour processing ?

This whole Freesat system sounds pretty good to me, but . . . will it work for me here in Germany? Big question that needs a b-i-g answer. Is there any reason why I shouldn't get a box or a television like the Panasonic and hook it up to a satellite dish, or do I really need to be UK based? What are the possibilities? We would really love to benefit from the Freesat programmes and quality - which must be better than the Kabel-Deutschland offering we have at present. Any ideas from readers basede in Germany, perhaps?

Keep the  theme going, please!

Mark Ellis - yes, the Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player arrived yesterday. We spent all afternoon letting it stretch its legs, and lining up some competition for it to face - from its own BD30 brother below it to the high-end Pioneer above it. We'll be testing it with both flatscreens and projector, and with Blu-ray, DVDs and CDs. If our team are happy they've fully put it through its paces by Monday, we should have a review up here by late Monday, or Tuesday morning.

Flying Scot - as you'll see from the review above, we particularly praise the set for its dynamic colours and excellent black reproduction.

Rheingold - bad news; Freesat is UK only. Explanation for this from Freesat here:

www.freesat.co.uk/index.php

sploo, thanks for your answer, most of which I understood! I think the answer lies in waiting until dvd recorders appear with freesat as an integral part to them. Can I manage to keep my wallet quiet that's the problem.

Hi, first of all I'd like to say thanks for your amazing magazines! I'm in the process of buying a new 42" plasma/lcd and your magazines are really helpful! I just need your opinion, i've narrowed my decision down to either the Sony KDL-40W4000 or this panasonic TH-42PZ81 (i.e. the 42" version) and was hoping you could give me your opinion on which out of the two you would go for and why? I'm very confused as both look brilliant to me, thanks a lot!

Thanks Clare, the report of  dynamic colours and excellent black reproduction is what I would expect but is the picture free from "banding" which would appear on 8 bit colour systems ? I was hoping to find out what improvements the PZ81 delivered over the 80 and 85.

Sorry for being pedantic but we are talking about a £1700 telly. (or £1400 if I can negotiate a good price).

Clare, many thanks for your useful information on Freesat for use in Germany. It's a great pity, but there you are! Incidentally, the line taken by the Freesat organisers is a little lame. The idea that national restrictions are in force for mainsteam tv channels is absolute nonsense. Here in Germany the cable network Kabel Deutschland provides two national French channels free of additional charges for cabled homes (FR2, FR3,and also the French international channel and news channel). And if you have a large satellite dish, you can pick up all the present UK channels, but not in the HD format Freesat seems to be offering or about to offer.

netmaster2030 - both the Sony and the Panasonics are excellent at their screen size. And that's the point:  if you've room for a 42in, go for it - extra enjoyment plus plasma benefits.

FlyingScot - if we'd seen colour banding, we'd have mentioned it. There is none! But please don't get too hung up on the 8bit/10bit issue - processing and implementation of display technology is SO much more important than the raw specs (as we've seen from poor-performing sets that come fully loaded for specs).

I think the key issues with the 81 - which seems actually to be based on the 800 series,  not the 85 - are the superior sound (if that matters to you), the toughened front panel (great if you've got kids and/or a Nintendo Wii!) and of course the Freesat tuner.

Thanks Clare, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Most showrooms are pretty hopeless so the punter is left to compare numbers for a lot of the time.

I have a couple of rugrats so the toughened glass and the superior sound at normal volumes get the thumbs up. I'm gobsmacked that the PZ81 appears to be a development of the 800 series but it makes my decision all the easier.

Clare, could you post your email address so that I can send you an order for the Television Special edition you announced as available from June 5? Sadly, German shops just don't sell your specials, or your magazine. Thanks a million.

Rheingold - hit the 'contact us' button below and we'll let you know.

Many thanks Joe, I just couldn't find the right button. Mea culpa. I will email my order later in the day, so be sure to reserve me a copy of the "Ultimate Guide to Television".

Re analogue tuners - these are very useful to have if you are running a TV distribution network at home (like me) or in a hotel etc. My network is an analogue signal  (all RF Cable) so all my TV's need to have an analogue tuner to receive the distributed pay TV signals etc that I send from my central control point thru the distribution hub. Considering the cost in setting such a networkI for one hope that analogue tuners remain in all future TV's.

A very short public THANK YOU to Joe for his very kind offer, eagerly accepted.  As a marketing consultant, I can only applaud the decision you took.  Applause all round for Joe, and again, many thanks.

PS I will not reveal the very generous offer you made.

Hi Clare thanks for that - so do you recommend the panasonic plasma over the sony lcd?