What 26" LCD?

[marctwo]

I was looking at the Panasonic 26LXD70 but those seem to be long gone.

Is the new 26LXD80 worth getting or is there something better out there?

[E31Shrew]

Great screen and with an SD card reader too. Pay about £425.00 or less

[E31Shrew]

Or we do Samsung 32" at £325.00!!!

[marctwo]

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

[FlossyThePig]

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

[marctwo]

FlossyThePig said:

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

Richer Sounds has these at £350 but they didn't get such good reviews as the lxd70 versions. DigitalDirect are out of stock, apparently a replacement is expected in the next couple of months.

[marctwo]

Which would you go for?

Panasonic TX26LXD80 for £350

OR

Sony KDL26V4000U for £375

[E31Shrew]

Pana all the way

[E31Shrew]

marctwo said:

FlossyThePig said:

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

Richer Sounds has these at £350 but they didn't get such good reviews as the lxd70 versions. DigitalDirect are out of stock, apparently a replacement is expected in the next couple of months.

Are you sure its the LXD80 as they also have flogged a lesser LXD8 model

[marctwo]

E31Shrew said:

marctwo said:

FlossyThePig said:

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

Richer Sounds has these at £350 but they didn't get such good reviews as the lxd70 versions. DigitalDirect are out of stock, apparently a replacement is expected in the next couple of months.

Are you sure its the LXD80 as they also have flogged a lesser LXD8 model

Yes, I'm sure.

[E31Shrew]

marctwo said:

E31Shrew said:

marctwo said:

FlossyThePig said:

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

Richer Sounds has these at £350 but they didn't get such good reviews as the lxd70 versions. DigitalDirect are out of stock, apparently a replacement is expected in the next couple of months.

Are you sure its the LXD80 as they also have flogged a lesser LXD8 model

Yes, I'm sure.

Go for that one then if they still have them. If not just call us!

[marctwo]

E31Shrew said:

marctwo said:

E31Shrew said:

marctwo said:

FlossyThePig said:

marctwo said:

Any other suggestions?

Panasonic 26lxd80 seems to be discontinued too now.

It's still on the Panasonic website (and Comet £450)

Richer Sounds has these at £350 but they didn't get such good reviews as the lxd70 versions. DigitalDirect are out of stock, apparently a replacement is expected in the next couple of months.

Are you sure its the LXD80 as they also have flogged a lesser LXD8 model

Yes, I'm sure.

Go for that one then if they still have them. If not just call us!

I have one reserved so thanks for your advice.

[marctwo]

I picked up the Panasonic 26LXD80 on Sunday and my first impressions were extremely poor. LOTS of jaggies/pixelation, digital noise, strong blue cast, over saturation, too bright etc etc etc.

After some time playing with the settings I have got it to a point where I am much happier, although I have realised just how flattering my old CRT was to the Freeview picture.

The change in brightness depending on viewing angle is also very noticable and motion can be rather jerky sometimes with some annoying distortion effects.

I didn't pay top dollar for this set so I am not too upset. I have learned a few things though:

- The default settings are terrible. You have to change them.

- LCD is extremely unflattering compared to CRT.

- You get what you pay for.

Anyone got any suggestions as to how to get the best of it? At the moment it's fed by a Topfield PVR with Scart/RGB connection.

[E31Shrew]

Make 100% sure that you havent been sold a pup. We've sold over 200 of these over the past 12 months and have never seen the symptoms youre seeing. We installed over 90% of them also.

Take the lead out of the PVR and go directly into the screen as a starter.

[marctwo]

E31Shrew said:

Make 100% sure that you havent been sold a pup. We've sold over 200 of these over the past 12 months and have never seen the symptoms youre seeing. We installed over 90% of them also.

Take the lead out of the PVR and go directly into the screen as a starter.

I did that and not much difference. Changing the settings really did help a lot though. Are you sure that the out of the box settings are usually ok? How can I tell if mine is faulty?

The main changes I made were to reduce the sharpening, change to 'Cinema' mode (all the others look shocking), and put the colour balance on the warm setting.

[E31Shrew]

marctwo said:

E31Shrew said:

Make 100% sure that you havent been sold a pup. We've sold over 200 of these over the past 12 months and have never seen the symptoms youre seeing. We installed over 90% of them also.

Take the lead out of the PVR and go directly into the screen as a starter.

I did that and not much difference. Changing the settings really did help a lot though. Are you sure that the out of the box settings are usually ok? How can I tell if mine is faulty?

The main changes I made were to reduce the sharpening, change to 'Cinema' mode (all the others look shocking), and put the colour balance on the warm setting.

Are you sure its been set for 'home' mode? The only settings we might change are to reduce the colour a smidge and then reduce the contrast a little. Normally they are fine from the box. Is it OK on DVD?

[E31Shrew]

Dont forget also that if youre peering at it from about three feet it will look crap! If you're getting those symptoms from the normal viewing distance then it might be a 'graded' model. Was the packaging perfect when you got it home? Was it already tuned in?

[marctwo]

E31Shrew said:

Dont forget also that if youre peering at it from about three feet it will look crap! If you're getting those symptoms from the normal viewing distance then it might be a 'graded' model. Was the packaging perfect when you got it home? Was it already tuned in?

It was set to home mode. Seemed to be brand new when I got it out of the box, no tuning etc.

To be honest, it does seem to look much better now. I have fiddled with the settings some more and it doesn't seem nearly as bad as when I first switched it on. I know plasmas can require a burn in period, I assume there is nothing similar with LCD. It looks fine with DVD so I can only put this down to poor initial settings (too much sharpness) and time for me to adjust from being used to CRT. I also discovered the 'overscan' setting which I have switched off and seems to improve the picture.

Thanks for your replies.

[E31Shrew]

marctwo said:

E31Shrew said:

Dont forget also that if youre peering at it from about three feet it will look crap! If you're getting those symptoms from the normal viewing distance then it might be a 'graded' model. Was the packaging perfect when you got it home? Was it already tuned in?

It was set to home mode. Seemed to be brand new when I got it out of the box, no tuning etc.

To be honest, it does seem to look much better now. I have fiddled with the settings some more and it doesn't seem nearly as bad as when I first switched it on. I know plasmas can require a burn in period, I assume there is nothing similar with LCD. It looks fine with DVD so I can only put this down to poor initial settings (too much sharpness) and time for me to adjust from being used to CRT. I also discovered the 'overscan' setting which I have switched off and seems to improve the picture.

Thanks for your replies.

We have always been told by various manufacturers that LCD improves with time. I think personally your eyes just get used to a slightly inferior picture!