Panasonic TH42PX80 & Pioneer PDP-4280XD Compared

[rabbi]

Panasonic TH42PX80 & Pioneer PDP-4280XD Compared

:cool:

Having just reviewed Panasonic's latest TH42PX80, we decided to pit their 11th generation plasma against what many believe to be not only the finest plasma available today but also the finest TV, Pioneer's PDP-4280XD.

What makes the comparison interesting is that neither of these screens has a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Although the TH42PX80 can be sourced off the internet at around £400 cheaper than the Pioneer, we were interested to discover whether the extra outlay for the Pioneer was justified.

The most notable absence on the spec sheet of the Pioneer is 100Hz processing. On the TH42PX80 the usual 50fps (frames per second) is increased to 100fps with the intended outcome being a more fluid picture - designed to combat the 'blurring' effect which can effect fast sporting action etc. Will 100Hz processing on the Panasonic give it the edge or will other performance factors count for more?

[thecat2]

panasonic crap. pioneer great.thats how I have found things.

[suprapower]

I have the Pioneer-4280XD, haven`t seen any other lcd give the blacks and colour saturation of the Pio. Have it hooked up to a MediaCentre with Satellite (MyTheatre) and Pioneer Blu-ray via HDMI ..... great stuff

[holmroad]

Bit strong and maybe over emotive calling the Panasonic crap dont you think, cos CRAP it could never be, even if the Pioneer at 50% more money is better?
Cant imagine what he'd call Sony, Toshiba and LG etc - lets keep this comparison sensible M8!:D

[chelseaboy]

panasonic crap. pioneer great.thats how I have found things.

at least you keep it simple!!!:)

me tarzan you jane!!!!!:D

Chelseaboy

[russianbill]

panasonic crap. pioneer great.thats how I have found things.


Everyone is entitled thier opinon m8, but i doubt many Panasonic owners would agree with your comments. I bought the Panasonic TH42PX700 six months ago and i'm delighted with it,the picture in both SD and HD is absolutely amazing, at the time i bought it i thought about getting the Pioneer but i find it hard to believe it could be any better and with pedestal would have cost around £700 more.

regards bill.

[holmroad]

Exactly MY point M8!:D

[TonyO]

h**p://w*w.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781635&page=2

Re: Panny 42PX80 or 42PZ80 - Which do I choose?


Looking over this thread i replied to a similar one around a month back but same logic applies here so i will quote myself...


Quote:
Originally Posted by boxrick
You have to think of it this way:

Realistically the ONLY thing which will look better on a 1080p resolution plasma is a computer game natively rendered at that resolution....

So lets look at the consoles and pc:

PS3: Most games under 720p
360: Most games at 720p
Wii: 480p
PS2: 480i/p
Dreamcast: 480p ( VGA )
Gamecube: 480p ( US component )
PC: Anything so 1080p

So out of all potential computers only a PC can generate a true 1080p signal 100% of the time. 95% of 360 and ps3 games are upscaled 1080p which is a totally different matter.
I own a HTPC with blu ray and HD DVD / Wii / GC / PS2 / Xbox 360 and a dreamcast along with a Freesat HD box.

Screens ive owned in the past year:
2X samsung le40M86, noname 32" 720P, TH42PZ70,2X Pioneer pdpsx4280 and finally now a TH42px80B.
And tested a whole host of 37" 1080p / 720 screens.

At 42" the difference between 1080p and 720p content ( Blu Ray / HD DVD ) running natively on 2 screens with no scaling going on is unnoticable. I sit rather close to my television approx 2 meters and have a keen eye yet its just not there.
Yet if i start using any SD content or even 360 / PS3 it looks *MILES* better on a 720p screen over a full HD one. Since all but 1 thing ( my HTPC ) running PC games, where the difference isn't that big to be honest, even freesat on HD channels looks better on a HD ready screen.

So all in all, a hd ready screen looks BETTER for virtually all of my content, and virtually identical for Blu Rays and HD DVDs. Ontop of using less power, Full HD actually is a negative point on a 42" screen IMO.

I work in a well known TV / Hi fi shop, stare at these things day in and day out. Virtually every customer comes in simply asking for a 1080p screen, clueless of what it is or why they need it, we have the PZ80 and the PX80 on the wall and ive spent hours and hours playing with settings. Changing sources, messing with the lights on and off, we also have the pdp4280 sat next to them. Along with various Full HD lcds.... the PX80 has more "accurate" colours than the pioneer, not quite as good processing or black levels, but is by far the best screen we have on display if you dont include the pioneer. The PZ80 looks washed out and "soft", everything seems to be not quite right and on SD and BBC HD it looks fairly poor in comparison to the pio and the px80, finally the PX80 is nice and silent in operation, whilst the pz80 has an annoying buzz and plenty of fans to boot.

If the contrast of the PX80 was the same as the PZ80, then the PX80 would be the vastly superior screen in my eyes, even as it stands the black levels arnt honestly that different between the 2 models and i still recommend the PX80 over anything else around that price, i mean the LGPG6000 isnt bad, menus are lovely and tonnes of inputs and is a much prettier looking screen, but it has terrible retention problems and the image quality isn't as good as the PX80 neither are the black levels. Sound also is not quite as good as the panny.

i believe the PX80 also has 180W power consumption ( average ) thats possibly the lowest power consumption of any large TV on the market minus some older sonys....

[canthackit]

Thanks tony.

a very informative posting.

regards: canthackit

[suprapower]

just to add ORF HD on Astra (720P) has very slight picture quality advantage over all other HD channels on satellite (1080i) on my Pioneer PDP-4280XD