New TV for Movie / Hifi Room

[Sonic]

I've recently moved house and after some discussion with the missus the new place has a room that will become a dedicated hifi / movie room. (She wanted it to become a dedicated dining room, but that's completely pointless IMO and will get used about 3 days a year!)

I have quite a large hifi setup and previously this took over the living room. This was fine as the room layout catered for it but the new living room does not and as such i've put the 46" LCD i used to have as part of the hifi system into the new living room and am left with the hifi system in its own room, but without a TV.

Obviously this creates a nice opportunity for new furniture and importantly a new larger screen for the hifi room with the sole purpose of watching films

The plan when i moved was to hang-on for a few months then look for a decent size 60-65" plasma, however it appears that plasma screens are very quickly being replaced and in a few months i may not be able to acquire one!

The question is what other screens should i be looking at or are there any clearance deals available on the plasmas so that i can get one sooner rather than later?

I was thinking a 65" Panasonic TXP65VT65B plasma screen would have been ideal and was always under the impression the LCD/LED screens were not quite there yet with quality for 60-65" screens as a replacement to plasma.

Cheers!

[Bit of a Unit]

We've got the 55vt65 and the top of the range 47in LED in our lounges. The picture quality is stunning on the plasma and as this is a dedicated set up I would grab the plasma you've mentioned will you still can.

Richer sounds still have some stock.

[legzr1]

For a dedicated hifi or av room I'd seriously consider dark decor, blackout blinds and a projector/screen set-up.

If there's not enough room then a 65" VT Panny is a no-brainer - excellent screens.

[V8A*ndy]

I've a 50" VT65.

Took me a while to get to like it as the brightness levels and fan noise worried me at first.

I was a bit hasty with those concerns.

It's utterly brilliant.

I hope you manage to pick one up.

[Nelly9]

If you want a great Plasma and there are still some around at dealers it's got to be the Pana TXP60ZT65

[Sonic]

Thanks gents.

The options seem to be the Panny TXP60ZT65 60" plasma, TXP65VT65B 65" plasma or the Samsung UE75F6300 75" LCD, each priced around £2500.

I remember seeing a 75" screen in Leeds Dixons about 8 years ago. It had a video of the grand canyon which made feel sick at the drop it looked so realistic, and that must have been early big LCD technology.

I'm not fussed about 3D, although im sure the ZT is the absolute nuts. The 65" VT seems to be the one to go for to get both phenomenal quality and a decent size, with the 75" LCD being insanely big, but lacking on the quality compared to the plasmas.

The room will have blackout curtains although the walls will stay painted light, and i'll be looking for a dark brown leather sofa. I plan to move a light fitting and mount the TV to an outside brick wall.

My step-brother built his own movie room in a basement which had dark walls covered with black fabric, sound proofing, a projector system with hifi units hidden behind a partition wall and 6 seats on 2 different levels. You couldn't see your hand in-front of your face with the lights turned off... it was utterly brilliant!

Although the room will be good as a dedicated movie room it's not quite big enough for a plasma and i'd have to do some serious rewiring to get it working. I also prefer the TV route so it can be used to watch things like the F1 easily through freeview. The room is 3.1m wide by 4.2m long so i guess can probably fit 3 people side-by-side comfortably with 1m behind to the rear speakers and a few meters infront to the screen.

[tdm34]

If you can find a Panny TX-p60ZT65 buy it, nothing currently on sale will touch it, not even the new 4K sets, as this artical demonstrates.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/result-201406013793...

[anonymous-user]

Look at the sets yourself - prople on here have their own biased views on plasma v LCD but only you can decide what's right for you

If you are looking at Samsung LCD/LED though look at the 8000 series if you can rather than the 6000. Vastly superior IMO

[tdm34]

Up until I changed jobs, in the last couple of weeks, at work I had in a line within 5m of my desk the following

Samsung 65HU8500
Samsung 65HU7500
Samsung 55F9000
Samsung 65H8000
Samsung 60H7000
Panny 60ZT65

in 2 banks of 3 with the Plasma on the bottom row in the middle, and yes i'll always favour Plasma, but actually it wasn't even a contest
as i'd say over 90% of people agreed with me.....

I actually think the recent 55" curved OLED set has a far better picture then any of the LED sets out there at the moment, but it's no good for the OP as it can't be wall mounted, it has astounding black levels and the overall PQ is very close to the ZT overall, if the OP is prepared to wait the upcoming FALD Panny 65" AX902 4K set promises much, and LG are hopefully going to launch a Flat 65" OLED 4K set before the year end.

Edited by tdm34 on Wednesday 9th July 20:25

Edited by tdm34 on Wednesday 9th July 20:26

[legzr1]

Obviously over 90% of people share out bias

[brissleboy]

tdm34 said:

If you can find a Panny TX-p60ZT65 buy it, nothing currently on sale will touch it, not even the new 4K sets, as this artical demonstrates.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/result-201406013793...

Are any of these still available?

[mattdaniels]

I've been faffing for ages on what visual feedback/presentation screen to get for my man cave office. I really wanted to hold out for a decent 4K OLED at a good price, but always had a soft spot for the image quality of the panny plasmas. And with the football season startingsome important project demo milestones coming up, and thanks to the nudge from this thread, I pulled the trigger on the 65" panny on the way home tonight. Fortunately it fitted in the car. It was the last one in Richer Sounds, the chap said there's two others in the warehouse, then I think that's it.

[brissleboy]

mattdaniels said:

I've been faffing for ages on what visual feedback/presentation screen to get for my man cave office. I really wanted to hold out for a decent 4K OLED at a good price, but always had a soft spot for the image quality of the panny plasmas. And with the football season startingsome important project demo milestones coming up, and thanks to the nudge from this thread, I pulled the trigger on the 65" panny on the way home tonight. Fortunately it fitted in the car. It was the last one in Richer Sounds, the chap said there's two others in the warehouse, then I think that's it.

Is this the ZT65?

[Trax]

Get the ZT, you wont regret it. It is only in 60" though, apparantly we were not worthy enough to be offered the 65" version in the UK.

Thats if you can find one that is.....

[brissleboy]

Trax said:

Get the ZT, you wont regret it. It is only in 60" though, apparantly we were not worthy enough to be offered the 65" version in the UK.

Thats if you can find one that is.....

Thanks Trax, I've found one, it's just a little expensive

[mattdaniels]

brissleboy said:

Is this the ZT65?

No, VT. I don't think there is a ZT65, it's a 60. And even harder to come by.

[Irrotational]

If you can wait (which I suspect you can't :-) then OLED TV's like this are looking very promising!

http://www.avforums.com/news/lg-to-bridge-the-plas...

Not 4k BUT will have very good blacks and very good PQ.

[mattdaniels]

mattdaniels said:

I've been faffing for ages on what visual feedback/presentation screen to get for my man cave office. I really wanted to hold out for a decent 4K OLED at a good price, but always had a soft spot for the image quality of the panny plasmas. And with the football season startingsome important project demo milestones coming up, and thanks to the nudge from this thread, I pulled the trigger on the 65" panny on the way home tonight. Fortunately it fitted in the car. It was the last one in Richer Sounds, the chap said there's two others in the warehouse, then I think that's it.

Looks a bit better out of the box :-)



Quite impressed so far. The sound isn't the best but that's to be expected and not an issue for a home cinema room. Was nice doing a team meeting this morning via Skype on the telly with its inbuilt webcam.

Edited by mattdaniels on Thursday 14th August 19:15

[V8A*ndy]

Anyone recommend a good value hard drive for DVB recording with a VT65 or am I good to go with any USB3 drive?

Panasonic only seem to recommend rather expensive items.

Ditching $KY+.