stereorules
Active Member
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 .
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 .