# New TV: Panasonic TXL42U3B or Samsung UE40D5520 ???



## impster (May 2, 2007)

Been a long old while since I've been here. I'm back now though, so no need for you to worry... 

Anyway, looking for advice on which of the following TV's to choose from.

Decided not to go down the 'plasma' route - it's either LCD or LED for me. 40" or 42" (bearing in mind Panasonic don't 'do' 40"). Decided against Plasma as the cost of running it is more than equivalent LED or LCD, and as a household we are trying to cut down on energy costs as much as we can (buying a new TV is our Xmas treat). I realise that the real cost of a PLasma is only £20-£30 a year more than LCD/LED, but it all adds up.

These are my choices:

Panasonic TXL42U3B
Samsung UE40D5520

This will be our living room telly - but will have occasional use for XBOX360 and Wii.

In addition, it's important that SD channels (via Sky through a SCART, and Freeview) look ok on it.

Budget is around £500. Will most probably buy somewhere that bundles in a 5yr warranty (i.e. John Lewis, M&S etc).

New telly must have full HD 1080 and must have the HD tuner on it.

Not really fussed whether it's 3D or not.

If you've any opinions, or advice, I'll gladly soak it all in.

Thanks

Impster


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## throwa62start (Aug 1, 2011)

I think this says it all really... What hifi know their stuff and the awards magazine has just come out, go and buy and have a good look...

http://www.whathifi.com/review/samsung-ue40d5520


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Thanks for that. The Samsung seems to be getting really good reviews.

Funnily enough, I nearly went for the Sony KDL-40CX523 a few days ago - it was £499 but with £100 cashback on both John Lewis and M&S websites (with 5yr waranty), so total would be £399, however, that deal seems to have vanished as of yesterday morning.

But, it was the Samsung that caught my eye first. Hopefuly I can get it for £499 (or less) somewhere.


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## throwa62start (Aug 1, 2011)

You're wish is my command... it's at richer sounds £499 without the 5 year warranty £549 with

http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/samsung/ue40d5520/sams-ue40d5520


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Well spotted - thanks!

But...Works out at £574 with the warranty and delivery. Time for some 'price matching' methinks.

John lewis offer free delivery, and free 5yr warranty on all TVs over 32". Therefore, if they pricematch the Richer Sounds base price (£499), then the delivery and waranty might be added automatically - for free?

Worth asking if it's worth a £75 saving?


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## happmadison1978 (Jul 27, 2010)

+1 for the Sammy, also Panasonic make nice stuff but their tech support and customer service are worse than useless.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

The Panasonic is a better set, more accurate colours after calibration and faster.



throwa62start said:


> What hifi know their stuff


No they don't. The reviews are massively biased towards those that have lots of ads in their mags.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Faster? How do you mean 'faster'?

I was rather hoping that all and sundry would recommend the Samsung (would have made my choice a lot easier).

What's the best LED or LCD Panasonic that's in the £500 price range then?

Certainly, the Samsung seems to get good reviews (independant and otherwise) across the board, minimum I've seen is 4 out of 5 stars - but then again, the Panasonics also get good reviews.

The Samsung also runs at 100hz, compared to the Panasonic's usual 50hz. What, in real terms, does that do?

Thanks - it's all good advice. Don't want to have to buy another TV for a good few years, so need to get this choice right first time.

Thanks

Impster


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## Davemm (Mar 9, 2009)

glad this has been brought up, looking for a new tv my self and was swinging towards the samsung. will be intresting to see what coms of this


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Did you know that LED is actually an LCD tv but with different lighting?
Do a bit more research and i am sure that you will see that the Panasonic TX-P42C3B is 600HZ, not as you say "the ususal 50HZ"
I have a panny thats 3 years old now and thats 100HZ so that equals the newer Samsung.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

A year or so back we were looking for a TV and the Panny outshone everything we looked at, went for an LED back lit TX-L42D25BA (100hz iirc). Awesome TV, although the sound is crap so we bought an external speaker system.


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Shiny said:


> A year or so back we were looking for a TV and the Panny outshone everything we looked at, went for an LED back lit TX-L42D25BA (100hz iirc). Awesome TV, although the sound is crap so we bought an external speaker system.


Cant beat Pannys for picture quality.
Regarding Samsung TV's, a mate of mine had 2, the first kept turning off on its own so that was replaced, the 2nd developed the same fault, this time my mate took my advice and got a full refund and got himself a panny:thumb:
Guess what! this one does not turn itself off


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

When you do a price match with John Lewis then they take the warranty into account as the product has to be like for like.

I've got a Samsung UE40D5520 on reserve at the moment with John Lewis, it looks like a really good product for a good price, plus Partnership Discount always helps!

If you need anymore information regarding price matching with John Lewis then just ask!


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

spursfan said:


> Did you know that LED is actually an LCD tv but with different lighting?
> Do a bit more research and i am sure that you will see that the Panasonic TX-P42C3B is 600HZ, not as you say "the ususal 50HZ"
> I have a panny thats 3 years old now and thats 100HZ so that equals the newer Samsung.


Yes, I also know that the TX-P42CB is a Plasma TV (we're not going for a Plasma) hence the higher 'hz' rating.

We've seen the TXL42U3B (Which is 50hz) for £499.99 including 5yr warranty, delivery, and set up from a local shop here. Is that a good deal?

(or is the TXL42U3B their bottom of the range cheapy model?)


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

S-X-I said:


> When you do a price match with John Lewis then they take the warranty into account as the product has to be like for like.
> 
> I've got a Samsung UE40D5520 on reserve at the moment with John Lewis, it looks like a really good product for a good price, plus Partnership Discount always helps!
> 
> If you need anymore information regarding price matching with John Lewis then just ask!


Yes please! How do I 'beat the system' and get a good deal from them??!?!?!?!?


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

impster said:


> Faster? How do you mean 'faster'?


It relates to the amount of time for an image frame to be displayed after it has been received and is based upon how much signal processing is done, and the speed at which the processing can be completed. It can be important if you use the screen for gaming.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Ok,

based on what I've read online, I think I may bring the plasmas into my selection.

So,

What I now have in the list are:

Samsung UE40D5520 which I hope to get at £500 with 5 yr warranty.
Panasonic TXP42S30B which I can get for £499 with 5yr warranty.
Panasonic TXL42U3B which I can get for £499 with 5yr warranty.

They all have the features I want, but - in real-world terms, how much more expensive to run is the Plasma. 

(Currenly, we've a Philips Matchline 36" CRT set)


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## james_19742000 (May 8, 2008)

We just changed the TV in our main living room, we are Plasma die hards, just prefer them to an LED.

However, the Plasma we replaced in the liunge was 50" Samsung standard HD set, we replaced with the Panasonic ST30 in 50" and to be honest the difference is night and day the Samsung I thought was good, it had clean picture, crisp details in the picture etc but even the Panasonic out of the box blew it away, and since doing the calibration on it using the free downloadable DVD it is just emmense!

Ours is the 3D version of the S30 set you are considering and I have to say that you really wont regret the Panasonic Plasma, its as slim as many modern LCD sets and in fact so slim that we struggled to get it to sit on our wall mount properly.

The S30 as well you can connect it to your router with an ethernet cable and you then have a basic smart TV i.e. BBC iplayer on your set.

Overall the S range from Panasonic is a great range of TV's and personally I dont regret buying it at all, it just puts a smile on my face each time I watch something, especially in HD or 3D.

Not sure on your room space etc but I would seriously consider maybe paying a little bit extra and having a 50", and for info if you were looking at a 3D set so as you dont need to change in the future then you really need to look at 50" minimum.

Most Panasonic store, JL etc will do a you a 5 year warranty and you can get soem cracking deals on the Panasonic out there at the moment, good luck and enjoy your new set


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## DampDog (Apr 16, 2011)

Have to say I'm a Pana-man, I wouldn't run other makes down, but I've never been disapointed by Pana's. I don't even think they demand the price premium they once did, if you shop around.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Ok folks. Just been out and bought the plasma, based on more online research and hard thinking. At the shop, both the lcd and the plasma were there side by side. Whilst the lcd seemed a bit more 'punchy' (bright), moving images really showed the diference between 50hz and 600hz. They also sweetened the deal with a Panasonic Blu ray player and a nice stand as well. Came in under £600 for the lot, with a 5yr warranty which the shop (being a Panasonic dealer) will honour. Basically, if any problems, they come and take the TV away, leave an equivalent substitute in it's place whilst a repair or replacement is undertaken.

It's being delivered and set up tomorrow morning whilst the wife and kids are out. 

She will bloody kill me.

Impster


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

Sounds like a good deal :thumb:


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

impster said:


> Yes please! How do I 'beat the system' and get a good deal from them??!?!?!?!?


You can't really 'beat the system' as we physically check the offer of other shops.

Just have a look around to see where is selling it cheaper that offers the same warranty and we should be able to price match it.

The shop can't be internet only so we can't match the likes of amazon or play.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Unfortunately, JL wouldn't price match the telly I was originally after. So ultimately I decided not to go with JL this time. 

Anyway, not to worry, as I think I've got a better deal with my new Panasonic which will be arriving here in about 5 and a half hours or so.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

impster, has your tv arrived yet? Whats your thoughts on it, and where did you buy it from please?

Cheers:thumb:


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Yes it has. All delivered and set up FOC as part of the service.

My thoughts are improving as the day goes on. Been unusually 'bright' today - we have a south facing front room window, so has been dificult to set up the image as I like. However, sun has risen higher now, and has moved around so I can really fiddle with the image.

It's very good to be honest. We can get 4hd channels via freeview (BBC HD, BBC HD preview, S4C HD, and ITV HD), and the BBC Preview channel (which broadcasts only HD filmed stuff) looks really really good.

In fact, i've turned most of the image enhancers right down - such is the quality of the images.

SD broadcasts via freeview also look good.

Sky (SD) through a Scart is a bit dissapointing compared to SD channels via freeview, however, that's probably down to it being connected via SCART - but - compared to it through our old 36" Philips Matchline, there's no comparison. This TV is far better.

I've read some reviews complaining about the sound quality. I've no complaints whatsoever about it. It suits us just fine.

Nintendo Wii (wife and daughters'...) via the yellow, red and white cables is a bit soft and undefined, but I reckon getting a HDMI cable for it will sort it.

XBOX via HDMI is great through it. The 'in car' view from the 60s Mini Cooper on Dirt 3 is about 100% scale!

Also, the Panasonic Blue Ray player that came with it (model DMP-BD45), connected via HDMI is excellent. I've watched an episode of Band of Brothers on (SD) DVD and it looks very very good. I don't have any blue ray DVDs' yet, but no doubt the quality will be phenomenal.

To sum up - for less than £600 I've had a Panasonic 42" Plasma (TX-P42S30B), a Panasonic Blue Ray player (DMP-BD45), a non-descript but very nice black glass stand, delivery, set up, and a 'tutorial', and not forgetting 5 year Panasonic Warranty which the store will sort for me (i.e. if any problems, I call the store, and they take it from there - I won't need to mess about with Panasonic themselves).

All this from a company in Aberystwyth called 'Vaughans'.
CLICK HERE FOR LINK

Impster


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

Panasonic end of,


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## Pandy (Jan 19, 2008)

Glad you went for the Panny :thumb:

I really want a G or V30 but cant fit a 42" in the space i have in my room 

Check this link for free calibration software:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496

I have used it myself to great success even if its for just getting your contrast, brightness and simple colour settings right


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

I recommend you go to AVForums and see if there are some recommended settings for the TV. They often post the settings for most TV sets after either having professional calibration or after using the colour calibrator which they post between users.


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Yeah I'm looking for settings - so far can't find any generic settings for this TV, however, the 'Cinema' preset seems to be good - maybe a little on the dark side (should be good to watch Star Wars on then...), but it can be tweeked.

Still very impressed with the telly.


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Good choice Impster, you will not regret it.

Kev


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## spursfan (Aug 4, 2009)

Impster, if you have a Disney DVD or blue ray, you should find that they have a calibration section on the disc menu somewhere, just a thought>>

Kev


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