Panasonic TX-L37S10 vs Sony KDL-40S550 - which would you choose?

EMcG

After my beloved Panasonic TX-28DK2 CRT died last weekend I have been researching what my options now are.


It's come down to one of these 2-


http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/panasonic/txl37s10/pana-txl37s10


vs


http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/sony/kdl40s5500/sony-kdl40s5500


Which would you go for? Thanks for any advice/tips/experiences.

aliEnRIK

Two very good tvs. The panasonic has the better scaler (Meaning SD content should look better)
The Sony edges it slightly on overall quality so id probably opt for the Sony
HOWEVER ~ a lot of Sonys 'randomly' have 'backlight' issues. So if this concerns you go fo the Panasonic or make sure you get them to agree to a REPLACEMENT tv should it have backlight issues

knightstyle

What do you mean "backlight problems" ? Noticed mine was flickering last night thought it might be atmospherics or something, will look again tonight.

aliEnRIK

knightstyle wrote: »

What do you mean "backlight problems" ? Noticed mine was flickering last night thought it might be atmospherics or something, will look again tonight.

Flickering has nothing to do with the backlight.
Backlight means that if you had say an all black screen, light from behind the panel would 'bleed' into the black making it seem more grey than black in places

As for your problem ~ turn off ALL fancy processing modes (Contrast Enhance, DNR etc)

EMcG

I will be viewing from only about 5 feet away. Do you think that a 40 inch might be a bit too big for such a distance?

Thanks

aliEnRIK

EMcG wrote: »

I will be viewing from only about 5 feet away. Do you think that a 40 inch might be a bit too big for such a distance?

Thanks

Depends ~ id say 37" would be better
I say depends as it depends on the quality of your components, aerial feed etc
My Pioneer is 42" and im about 5-6' away and it looks amazing. But then I use top notch components etc

david39

Both of these sets are 50hz refresh display so you might like to think about looking for a 100hz which should be a crisper image (especially if you choose a 40 inch screen like the Sony).

I have a 37inch Panasonic that is 6 months old now and have been delighted with it since the day we bought it. It's one of the models with Freesat built in and it worked from satellite first time when I plugged in our 11 year-old Sky dish that we hadn't used for about 6 years. Tend not to use Freeview now except for Sky News, as the channel line-up is nearly the same on Freesat.

Picture quality superb from broadcast, bluray and camera card.

EMcG

I was worried about the lack of 100Hz but the reviews I read say it isn't a problem with the Panasonic. Is that anyone's expereince here on this board?

Thanks

aliEnRIK

david39 wrote: »

Both of these sets are 50hz refresh display so you might like to think about looking for a 100hz which should be a crisper image (especially if you choose a 40 inch screen like the Sony).

I have a 37inch Panasonic that is 6 months old now and have been delighted with it since the day we bought it. It's one of the models with Freesat built in and it worked from satellite first time when I plugged in our 11 year-old Sky dish that we hadn't used for about 6 years. Tend not to use Freeview now except for Sky News, as the channel line-up is nearly the same on Freesat.

Picture quality superb from broadcast, bluray and camera card.

In what respect does 100Hz give a 'crisper image'?

Taffybiker

aliEnRIK wrote: »

In what respect does 100Hz give a 'crisper image'?

100Hz has nothing to do with actual picture quality. It simply doubles the frame rate, since some very observant people can see flicker at 50Hz.