This is my part 2 review of cx700d.
Having looked at cons of tv. It's time to look into pros
1.setup
Its too simple and rocks. I don't use cable or dth, rather use this in my bedroom with onkyo 7.1 receiver and kdlinks media player, pc with hd 7700 graphics, sony bluray USA region, samsung bluray Indian region and xbox360.
Wifi easy to set up. U got an interesting feature where u can pin any input to home menu. Tv starts into last used hdmi...u can rename any input. Arc is disabled but once u turn viera link on, it starts. Though tv is accompanied by horrible wall mounting stand,the side hdmi,usb inputs are still accessible unless ur hand is too fat..if your hand is thin then u can reach cable plug too.
Its sad that my sony w950 start every time into home screen of android.you need to select input to watch dth.Happy with panasonic, its simple and easy. U can also pin your favourite channel or usb or particular video from usb to home screen.Good interesting and useful feature.. U can also pin application too. I use yupp tv and youtube..
Sony W950 is too irritating and everytime selection of input is very problematic for old age..since videocon Dth does not support IR Blaster its m9re troublesome.
2.yahoo! It has 3 hdmi inputs and all 3 are hdmi 2.0...samsung has not specified all inputs are 2.0. Though my samsung plasma had hdmi1.4, it never supported Arc, just supported 3d...i think panasonic is better this way with 2.0..support.
3. I use pc a lot and a lot, this tv has amazing setup where u can set rgb control as auto, full, normal.it does have cr mode..
Something which made me to realize that hdr can be tuned by pc to output on TV..
Since it will take another 4 to 5 years for me to buy 4k bluray affordable.. It took 4 years for blu ray for mass..nowonly we get bluray pirated and second sale for 150 rs. Still original cost 1000 to 1500..so we can think how much 4k will cost for next few years..
Most of movies or tv series never release in india. We look for torrents to quench our thirst..imagine if u want to see goosebumps original tv series or Uncut game of thrones or xfiles or Firefly only possible way in india is torrents. So will be 4k content also.. So i personally feel pc vlc or gom or bsplayer [I dont prefer powerdvd. But iam 100% sure powr dvd will be first player to encode and decode hdr] will eventually update and will be outputting via hdmi 2.0..
So tv will be future proof if u use pc..
3.after introduction of chromecast no one looks at operating system and features. Iam sure panasonic realise it and so gives us 3 usb ports with one being usb3 o. Iam not sure mhl will work but its good to see 3usb, one I keep my 8gb with 4k demo videos.since my xperia z2 connects wireless with pc, I use pc and its wireless mouse to stream video or display images.though tv is standby mode my mobile gets charged via tv usb.nice. U can stream content present on TV usb to your tab or android phone via panasonic tv remote2 app. So u need not unplug usb and again use otg cable to watch from usb plugged into tv..its an usefull feature I liked. since I use pc with 12 usb ports an feature which is present but not useful to me is that, u can copy usb to usb via tv..if u want to copy video from friend's usb to urs, just plug in and copy via tv.
i still have not tried voice control remote yet, although touch pad remote is lovely to look and use.i dont use panasonic remote also,instead i use logitech which is far better than any company remotes.
now we come to most important aspect PICTURE QUALITY
panasonic cleverly markets ips lcd for malaysia, india and va panel for us, uk.
why?
india and malaysia home tv is watched by family and in us uk its watched by person(s)
i.e.
india people prefer large screen to occupy living room, where mom and dad will sit infront , son will sit on sofa, kids will peep from study room while daughter will watch from kitchen.. so you need a wider view angle, which only ips can deliver.
economy of 3d glass is major role which has made lg some gain into these markets 3d for mass is the aim. va panel supports active glasses, while ips supports passive..
so panasonic is choosy..
quality of blacks gets a hard hit with ips, but
most of indians complain about any tv is that it's not very bright or picture is too dark...indians prefer punchy colors and brighter images.. does panasonic deliver?
no.. no..no.
picture is bright but color adjustments are tied to contrast than brightness, so it takes a bad punch..
my view:
i was happy with samsung plasma, but wished for two changes:
want dark black but not so dark like plasma..
want a tv which is neither too bright or eye straining.( i use tv as monitor,,i sometimes sit too close by just an arm distance ((as like/of now)) and use for typing/ reading sites like gsmarena, surfing for good torrents to download. or searching youtube).. though i use samsung tabs10.5 more for browsing, still use tv as monitor for at least 1 hour a day
sitting very close to plasma was eye straining, no matter how much you reduce brightness, deep contrast causes strain while reading/browsing
although i prefer dark blacks some of the details in many movies were missed by me bcoz of deep dark..
a person hiding in shadows were never visible as even mild dark areas were pitch dark. i used gom player to tune images such that i decrease contrast and increase brightness
guys just look at ipad screen and tab s10.5 screen, i have both, amoled is punchy color superb , but in dark areas same problem, i use screen adjuster software and need to tune down contrast level. you can see the differences in some review videos
i personally experience it)
so i wanted low black levels.. but to my horror it was too low, worst contrast .. it took nearly 2 days to go through reviews and personal adjustments to tune black levels to okay level..
even in final i accept this tv has low black level than samsung and sony but can be fine tuned for average..
then now a challenge task was contrast.. it was too bad, i tried all default modes , no use.adjusted in gom player, pc, bluray.. nop no no.
dont know what to do with such bad performance tv..
i thought to write a review to warn others not to buy this tv ..fortunately this changed around 5 days back..
i planned to watch game of thrones in hd dts print, just played it via my kdlink media player, out of frustration i tried to adjust video settings in the kdlink while the series was playing..( i tried adjusting it with plasma, got a horrible nightmare, as even a small adjustment increased brightness and contrast around 20 folds), instead of increasing brightness( the only adjustment i sometime make, while watching on samsung plasma), i tried to increase contrast to +2-+6( maximum is +/-20)ooops i cried in joy, tears rolled out.yureka i purchased the BEST TV IN 2015..
my goodness punchy colors, superb details, highly bright panel what else to ask for..
so realised.
panasonic has best panel, but what lacks is software adjustment of input picture,,, i think sony x reality and samsung octo core does wonders by finetuning input picture by software and not a hardware,, so if i could fine tune my input such a way i can get the best picture rather than better picture
then the game began
guys please give some time/ break.. since i want to give a insight and deep review, iam taking bit long
i will continue tomorrow...
