Must Read : for all prospective 42'' TV buyers

[stereorules]

This is going to be a longish post so I'll ask you to be patient.

I was on the lookout for a 42 TV last diwali ..Had decided that I wud be buying a plasma and also on panasonic based on opinions on this forum ..Due to cost factor had thought I wud get the 42x30 at that time ..Then decided to get full HD instead of HD and hence, 42u30 . Read some more posts on this forum and thought, the black filter on st or gt is better ...the ST is 3d , not my requirement ...also read that GT20 was avail at ~47K in blore ..cudnt get it at that price here ...so long story short, didnt buy anything at that time ...hadnt seen any TV also ...

Cut to the present ..My 16 yr old 20'' grundig suddenly shuts down one day ...refuses to start ..call the local mechanic ..One look and he says its better to buy a new one ..Get hold of another guy ..He says the problem is power supply . Can be fixed for 500 bucks but picture tube is on its way out ..better to buy a new one ..I get it repaired ...

So hunt begins again ...thought of getting the 42u30d full HD set but now it appears that this set is not there anywhere ..so make up my mind to get the 42x30d ..being offered at ~ 35k ...seems a nice price ..

First stop - croma...he says 38k...agrees for 35k ...meanwhile, wanted to see difference between full hd and hd on 42''.He doesnt hv in plasma ..so chk out in LEDs ...2 LEDs side by side ..full HD and HD ...same BR signal ..cudnt make out the difference ..

goto next shop ...he is out of stock on 42x30d ...has 42x20d ( 2010 model) and its at 41k ...yup ...and he also has 42u30d ....that was what I was originally looking out for .,...compared these 2 side by side ..same BR signal..at 6-8 ft, cudnt make out the difference ...he was quoting ~ 48 k for the u30d ..

so my decision was made ...at 42''. there was no point in going for full HD ..finally got home the 42X30D ..connected to my local cable ..OK...from what I had read previously, was worried that the SD performance wud be terrible...but its ok ..no problems ..

saw some photos that I had taken with my DSLR ...super clarity, sharpness and colors.

Then , yesterday, played a BBC "Planet Earth" (2006) HD rip ...WOW..was blown away by the color of the sky, ocean ...the crispness, the sharpness was amazing ...mind you, this was only rip ..At that moment, I felt reassured that I had made the right choice ..My contrast is only at 57 , color at 54-57 ..was worried how the set wud perform at these settings ...but one look at the into of "planet earth" and all my fears vanished ..

yes, the screen is reflective ....I thought this wud be a problem ( that was one of the reasons why i had wanted the ST or the GT ) ...But no .its actually not as big a problem as it sounds ..canbe overcome very easily ...adjust room lightning ..

I must say one thing tho ...in one of the showrooms, did see a full HD LED next to the x30d ....for a moment, i felt that the LED may be better ...but now I know otherwise ..

so guys, in my humble opinion, at 42'', it does not matter full HD or not ..
at 35 k, I think the panasonic 42x30d is a truly VFM ( paisa wasool ) TV .

 

[soulofmusic]

Dude! Time is precious!!!

Edit this to just >>> "at 35 k, I think the panasonic 42x30d is a truly VFM ( paisa wasool ) TV"

 

[josedandrew]

Congrats!!!:clapping:
enjoy the new tv. of course at 42" Full HD does not matter. entry level plasma's from panny and sammy are the best VFM tv's around.
btw, did you get 3 years warranty.

 

[ak47]

Dude! Time is precious!!!

Edit this to just >>> "at 35 k, I think the panasonic 42x30d is a truly VFM ( paisa wasool ) TV"

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Redflag]

It's not only about FHD resolution, it's about aspect ratio also. X30 is 4:3 while u30 will be 16:9. To me, that's a bigger concern cuz the pixels on x30 would be rectangular which is not good I guess.

 

[jiteshg]

It's not only about FHD resolution, it's about aspect ratio also. X30 is 4:3 while u30 will be 16:9. To me, that's a bigger concern cuz the pixels on x30 would be rectangular which is not good I guess.

Sorry what did you meant by "X30 is 4:3" ?

 

[stereorules]

btw, did you get 3 years warranty.

Yes , 3 years warranty is standard on panasonic plasmas I guess...One of the tilting factros ..

 

[stereorules]

It's not only about FHD resolution, it's about aspect ratio also. X30 is 4:3 while u30 will be 16:9. To me, that's a bigger concern cuz the pixels on x30 would be rectangular which is not good I guess.

Didnt get what u r trying to say..Panasonic page says Resolution 1,024 x 768 (16:9) ...

 

[baijuxavior]

Usually 1024x768 resolution is 4:3. Remember those old CRT monitors which have a maximum of 1024x768 reolution only.

 

[koushikp]

Usually 1024x768 resolution is 4:3. Remember those old CRT monitors which have a maximum of 1024x768 reolution only.

+1 to that

 

[stereorules]

after all these posts reg 4:3 and 16:9, started doing a bit of research ....1024x768 is indeed 4:3 but the physical dimensions of the screen are 16:9 ..So as pointed above, this TV does have rectangular pixels instead of square ones ....been trying to find out the optical difference between these 2 and couldnt find much ...

As reg the old CRT monitors, they were physically 4:3 screens ..but they could also go upto 1280x1024 ..

some ext links ....

1024x768 42 inch Plasmas - Are they Inferior to 50 inch siblings?
Pixel aspect ratio

There seems to be too much information without any simple summary ...apparently, for using as PC display, it is better to hv square pixels ...But for using as television, I couldnt find any definitive answer. Probably some scalers inside the TV is taking care to see that the final image that we see is good ?

 

[Redflag]

Sorry what did you meant by "X30 is 4:3" ?

It has 1024 x 768 resolution (4:3).

What sucks that if you play 720p (1280x720) video, it it upscaling vertically and downscaling horizontally plus its rendering it in rect. pixel to negate the effect.

Rect. pixels are definitely bad... image is being stretched at physical lvl and the software is being used to compensate that.

 

[sonosphere]

..Panasonic page says Resolution 1,024 x 768 (16:9) ...

Hi,
This is really odd design-choice made by Panasonic!

What could be the reason behind creating a 16:9 ratio screen and generating an image by source resolution of 1,024 x 768 (that is in 4:3 ratio)?

If anybody can guess /or knows facts reg above query... please enlighten me

Regds,
Sonosphere

 

[sbg]

there could be some mistake somewhere
File:Vector Video Standards4.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Display resolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

most of them are either HD-ready meaning 16:9 (1366x768) else full-HD.
This could be an odd-one out, unless , these are display panels ( used for Displays in Shops/mall/etc)

 

[BLASTO]

...from what I had read previously, was worried that the SD performance wud be terrible...but its ok ..no problems ..

Huh?? Who told you so?
Infact 720p sets are superior in SD than FHD sets.

It is with the 50" FHD sets like 50ST30, the SD appears bad. Terrible is a bad description though.

BTW, Samsung 720p 42" plasma could have given 'better' SD performance comparatively.

 

[aakashr]

Congrats on your new TV............the X30 is a good vfm tv set. However, I wish you had also checked the Samsung plasmas. Panasonic makes some of the best plasmas but those are the hi end sets that comes with neo pdp panels (V, G, S series). In the entry level category Samsung might have a slight edge over Panasonic. Nevertheless The X30 features a 720p panel with Panasonic's 600Hz sub field drive but it is not the Infinite Black or Infinite Black Pro panel found in the higher end televisions. This is a line of plasmas aimed at a low price point for budget conscious consumers.

 

[theironhorse]

Congrats on your new TV............the X30 is a good vfm tv set. However, I wish you had also checked the Samsung plasmas. Panasonic makes some of the best plasmas but those are the hi end sets that comes with neo pdp panels (V, G, S series). In the entry level category Samsung might have a slight edge over Panasonic. Nevertheless The X30 features a 720p panel with Panasonic's 600Hz sub field drive but it is not the Infinite Black or Infinite Black Pro panel found in the higher end televisions. This is a line of plasmas aimed at a low price point for budget conscious consumers.

thats what he quoted too.. at 35k its paisa wasool...

 

[stereorules]

Huh?? Who told you so?
Infact 720p sets are superior in SD than FHD sets.

It is with the 50" FHD sets like 50ST30, the SD appears bad. Terrible is a bad description though.

My mistake..Having no info is bad..having incomplete info is worse ..I had been reading a lot on this forum and didnt remember that SD in 720p set is better than in FHD ...

BTW, Samsung 720p 42" plasma could have given 'better' SD performance comparatively.

Yes, I think I remember reading in one of your posts itself on these lines ...
Also, I remembered that you were recommending that at entry level, both samsung and panasonic plasmas have little in difference, the samsungs may even be better ..

 

[stereorules]

What sucks that if you play 720p (1280x720) video, it it upscaling vertically and downscaling horizontally plus its rendering it in rect. pixel to negate the effect.
Rect. pixels are definitely bad... image is being stretched at physical lvl and the software is being used to compensate that.

I doubt this ...Although this may be correct theoretically, visually, I have personally seen both the FHD and the HD 42'' side by side ...I couldnt make out any difference visually between what the 2 sets were displaying ...This also happens to be the opinion shared by many people across various AV fora..
Maybe at higher dimensions like 50+ it may be an issue but at 42'', absolutely no issues ...
However, if your purpose is gaming, it may make a difference .

But for TV viewing or movies, i doubt. Just my 2 bits .

 

[stereorules]

Hi,
This is really odd design-choice made by Panasonic!

What could be the reason behind creating a 16:9 ratio screen and generating an image by source resolution of 1,024 x 768 (that is in 4:3 ratio)?

If anybody can guess /or knows facts reg above query... please enlighten me

Regds,
Sonosphere

I wud guess economics ....Its not just panasonic. Even the samsung 43'' HD plasmas are 1024x768 ..Thats why they are called "HD Ready" ..I guess the main reason may be that in a 42'' screen, visually, you cannot make out any difference .

HD_ready