Sony or Panasonic ?

[alxce]

I am looking at possible replacements for a 4 year old 40" Sony Bravia at a price of up to around £1000. I want to increase the size a little to 46" maximum and have narrowed it down to a Panasonic G10 42" and Sony Bravia KDL46W5810U.
I already have Sky HD but would look to replace the LNB at some stage with a quad to run Freesat HD as well. Gaming is not a consideration but sports like football and motor racing definitely are.
I am also looking for a marked improvement in contrast on SD over the current Bravia which I have always found to be a bit lacking.
Anyone care to offer advice on preferred options ?

[PJ S]

Panasonic 46G10, so you don't have to compromise.
As posted in another thread, the 46G15 is going for a good price at Peter Tyson via Amazon (or direct too).
See what our Der can offer along those lines.

Edited by PJ S on Monday 11th January 16:37

[CRACKIE]

Just been looking at the Panasonic G10 and Sony W5810 myself and chose the Panasonic in the end ( 50G10 due for delivery on Wednesday ) Certainly worth checking out the Philips 9000 / 7000 series LCDs too. 9000 series costs though.
IMHO ~ Try to find a good indie where you check out the picture quality and motion handling for yourself using both SD and HD. A visit to Currys, Comet will tell you very very little about what they're capable of ; JL can be very hit and miss too.

[RVVUNM]

Another vote for the Panasonic here, love mine.

[GregE240]

I bought the 40" Sony KDL40Z5800 from DeR just before Christmas. I also bought a Blu Ray (BDP560) and I already had Sky HD.

The picture on HD is (predictably) stunning, and the SD picture is also very good. I calibrated the set just before New Year with some settings from a review on the internet, and I would say the picture quality is just as good as the plasma. The 200Hz picture engine no doubt helps.

I went to Sound and Vision and looked at both sets. The Sony edged it for me.

Well pleased and it also has DLNA capability.

[headcase]

+1 for the Panasausage here, the Sorny is good but the pana for me has a better pic.

[Spudler]

Another for the Panasonic, the G15 has an extra HDMI port, making it 4, which is usefull...for me anyway.

[LocoBlade]

The 2010 Panasonics should be out in 2-3 months though, so if you're not in any rush to upgrade it might be worth waiting to see what the spec of those are, there's a couple of threads on AVForums about the 2010 specs and it seems they may well be a decent step up from this year's models.

[Plotloss]

LocoBlade said:

The 2010 Panasonics should be out in 2-3 months though, so if you're not in any rush to upgrade it might be worth waiting to see what the spec of those are, there's a couple of threads on AVForums about the 2010 specs and it seems they may well be a decent step up from this year's models.

June is the usual changeover.

V25 got massive praise at CES

Using the Kuro engine.

I feel we may have a new King.

[dundarach]

Panasonic always

[i'm no superhero]

Plasma > LCD.

[/thread]

[headcase]

As always make sure you but it from Currys, im told they have excellent salesmen and stock levels

[GregE240]

:billynomates:

[guffhoover]

I am also looking at the L37G10/15 vs w5810 and after alot of deliberation i am leaning towards the Sony.

IMO the Sony HD picture blows the Panny out of the water mainly due to a better representation of blacks. However the SD picture on the two sets are quite similar. The sony also has the internet gubbins that only the G15 has and also has a nice feature where it acts as a picture frame scrolling through all your pictures when on standby.

There have been alot of reports on the W5500 about poor LCD quality (clouding and light bleed); for all intents and puproses this seems to have calmed down in the W5810. So its something that i'm not bothered about.

If you have the cash the Phillips 9664 produces an eye popping picture both SD & HD.

[alxce]

Thanks for all the responses and helpful input. I expected the vote to be in favour of the Panasonic but wasn't aware there were new models in the pipeline so I may well wait for those to emerge. In the meantime I will try to get out to a dealer to see a side by side comparison of the two (NOT Currys).

I forgot to mention in the first post that part of my original motivation to upgrade was the frustration of not being able to get the ITV HD service without going the Freesat route. Having overcome that problem by tuning into it via my Sky HD box I can certainly wait a while longer before upgrading.

Good to see the thread didn't turn into a plasma vs LCD bunfight, remarkable restraint for PH !

[GregE240]

guffhoover said:

I am also looking at the L37G10/15 vs w5810 and after alot of deliberation i am leaning towards the Sony.

IMO the Sony HD picture blows the Panny out of the water mainly due to a better representation of blacks. However the SD picture on the two sets are quite similar. The sony also has the internet gubbins that only the G15 has and also has a nice feature where it acts as a picture frame scrolling through all your pictures when on standby.

There have been alot of reports on the W5500 about poor LCD quality (clouding and light bleed); for all intents and puproses this seems to have calmed down in the W5810. So its something that i'm not bothered about.

If you have the cash the Phillips 9664 produces an eye popping picture both SD & HD.

The SD picture is also very very good, once it has been calibrated.

We watched ours for about 7-10 days after delivery on all but factory settings, and the backlight was wound right up. We watched Quantum of Solace on Anytime and it looked cack...like it was filmed on a home video camera, the picture just looked ridiculously bright. So I looked and looked and finally found a "proper" review of the tv complete with calibration settings, which we have now had for about two weeks. It now looks stunning.

Because the lounge is double aspect (E-S), we have to turn the backlight up a little when its really sunny, otherwise its superb.

If you plump for the Sony and want the settings, give me a shout.

PS - from other sites, it seems like the 5500 shipped with two different panels. One is pretty good, the other is rubbish. Symptoms include backlight bleed and an extremely narrow viewing angle on the duff panel.

[guffhoover]

GregE240 said:

We watched ours for about 7-10 days after delivery on all but factory settings, and the backlight was wound right up. We watched Quantum of Solace on Anytime and it looked cack...like it was filmed on a home video camera, the picture just looked ridiculously bright. So I looked and looked and finally found a "proper" review of the tv complete with calibration settings, which we have now had for about two weeks. It now looks stunning.

Greg, could you point me in the direction of the 'proper' review?

[GregE240]

guffhoover said:

GregE240 said:

We watched ours for about 7-10 days after delivery on all but factory settings, and the backlight was wound right up. We watched Quantum of Solace on Anytime and it looked cack...like it was filmed on a home video camera, the picture just looked ridiculously bright. So I looked and looked and finally found a "proper" review of the tv complete with calibration settings, which we have now had for about two weeks. It now looks stunning.

Greg, could you point me in the direction of the 'proper' review?

No problem - here you go:

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/sony-kdl40z5500-200...

Its at the bottom of the review. HTH.

[i'm no superhero]

Plotloss said:

LocoBlade said:

The 2010 Panasonics should be out in 2-3 months though, so if you're not in any rush to upgrade it might be worth waiting to see what the spec of those are, there's a couple of threads on AVForums about the 2010 specs and it seems they may well be a decent step up from this year's models.

June is the usual changeover.

V25 got massive praise at CES

Using the Kuro engine.

I feel we may have a new King.

This is true - but I reckon the RRP will be over £1000.

OP should have got the G10 with a BD60 Blu Ray from JL at £699 before Christmas, free 5 year guarantee and delivery.

[alxce]

i'm no superhero said:

Plotloss said:

LocoBlade said:

The 2010 Panasonics should be out in 2-3 months though, so if you're not in any rush to upgrade it might be worth waiting to see what the spec of those are, there's a couple of threads on AVForums about the 2010 specs and it seems they may well be a decent step up from this year's models.

June is the usual changeover.

V25 got massive praise at CES

Using the Kuro engine.

I feel we may have a new King.

This is true - but I reckon the RRP will be over £1000.

OP should have got the G10 with a BD60 Blu Ray from JL at £699 before Christmas, free 5 year guarantee and delivery.

First time I saw the JL deal mentioned on PH I tried to order online, mainly to test stock level. Response eventually came back as out of stock and will put you on waiting list and notify by email. They notified, no more stock coming. Too slow!