This morning I went to Ultimate Electronics to purchase a 50" Panasonic plasma (TH50PX77U). When I compared the clarity of the image on this particular model with other brands of the same size, I found the Panasonic's quality to be surprisingly blurred or "softened". I decided to check out the 42" version WITHOUT the anti-glare coating (TH42PX75U) and found the same thing. Next to this model was a Samsung plasma (HPT4254) along with a few other brands (LG, Toshiba etc.) and ALL had a noticeably sharper image at the same 720p native resolution. In fact, every Panasonic on display looked positively dull in comparison. For example, at about 6-8 feet away I could clearly see fine detail on a facial closeup on the Samsung screen, but on the Panasonic the detail looked like it was smoothed out. I'm really surprised as I've heard great things about the quality of these Panasonic plasmas. Apparently all the TVs on display were on their default settings, so is it possible that the Panasonics needed an adjustment? The feed we were watching was (I believe) HD 720p. Thanks in advance for any insight you may have on this.
Okay so I went to BestBuy and the Panasonics there looked excellent. I'm not sure what was going on at the other store but those TVs there wern't displaying their true potential.
I noticed the same thing in a few stores.. I think the bang per buck is better from the samsungs too.. Constantly see them outperforming all the others which look good... until you stand right up to a 52" sammy. The worst picture from a plasma was in Plumbs (wigan) and again a panasonic.. the sony wasn't much better either, even with the £699 blu-ray player.. Interestingly they had put the samsungs in a different area of the shop running what looked like standard dvd, and they were outperforming all the others with HD sources easily. The only other one in the whole shop which came close was a 42" hitachi, but that seemed softer. I'm not after buying a plasma in the forseeable future.. just interested to see somebody else who has noticed the apparent poor definition of the panasonics.
Well, we ended up buying a Panasonic TH42PX75U from Circuit City. Just like at BestBuy, all the Panasonics they had on display looked great, so I was convinced that Ultimate Electronics had their screens on an incorrect setting. As for the Samsung plasmas I mentioned above, they had a great picture but (as I had read in a CR review) they all displayed a subtle jerk in the picture every 20-30 seconds. It was really hard to see most of the time, but when you were watching a steady pan or a scrolling ticker it was noticeable. Enough to put me off, anyway. I'm sure this isn't the case on newer model Samsungs, or even more recent versions of the same model. Just for the record I was in UE when I made the observation. The Panasonic arrives on Thursday due to the busy holiday schedual. I hope it's going to be a great TV.
