Panasonic vs Toshiba

[tneal]

I'm looking at at 50 plasma and the 50U gets high praise. My question is why should I buy a Panasonic over the 50HP95. I'm not trying to start a battle, I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something. I know the Toshiba uses the Panny Panel. Some of my questions are:

1. The Panny has very good black levels. Will the Toshiba have the same? Or does the electronics contribute to the black levels?

2. Are the Panny electronics superior?

3. Is Panasonics customer service better?

I guess what I'm getting at is why do most people go for the Panasonic. Going so far as to wait for it. Like I said, I'm not pushing Toshiba. If the Panny is better, I'm just trying to understand why so I can make a decision which to buy. I haven't able to compare the two side by side as the only places that have the Panny in don't carry the Toshiba.

Thanks,

[Raj]

[QUOTE=tneal]I'm looking at at 50 plasma and the 50U gets high praise. My question is why should I buy a Panasonic over the 50HP95. I'm not trying to start a battle, I'm wondering if I'm overlooking something. I know the Toshiba uses the Panny Panel. Some of my questions are:

1. The Panny has very good black levels. Will the Toshiba have the same? Or does the electronics contribute to the black levels?

2. Are the Panny electronics superior?

3. Is Panasonics customer service better?

I guess what I'm getting at is why do most people go for the Panasonic. Going so far as to wait for it. Like I said, I'm not pushing Toshiba. If the Panny is better, I'm just trying to understand why so I can make a decision which to buy. I haven't able to compare the two side by side as the only places that have the Panny in don't carry the Toshiba.

Thanks,[/QUOTE]

I'll chime in... As a soon to be former Toshiba owner, I have first hand experience that their customer service is not good. Many calls and many delays.....

I haven't ever tried Panasonic service (but do own a 37" Panny panel) but based on all the positive feedback here I would think their service is better.

[mastercaster]

i just ordered a toshiba 50hp95. don't have it yet though. i did get to compare it side by side in best buy against the panasonic. played with the adjustments on both. i am no videophile, and could tell no real difference in the picture. i went with the toshiba for a couple of reasons. first, i have owned several of their products and been very happy with them. also i happen to like the looks and extra features on the toshiba better. can't speak for toshiba customer service as i have never had to use it. on the other hand, my dad bought a panasonic 50" 8UK coming up on 2 weeks ago. right out of the box the component (bnc) card is not displaying a picture. it has now been 10 days since his first of several contacts with panasonic, and he still has not got got a technician to come out or scheduled to come out! that is unacceptable to me. he wanted to give them a chance to replace the card before just returning the tv. anyway it's like most things, you can probably find both good and bad experiences with each company. kind of a crap shoot.

[TommmyJ]

I had the Toshiba 42HPX95 and wasn't impressed by it. I watched the Toshiba right next to the Panasonic and they looked comparable in the store but when I got it home I didn't like it. I ended up exchanging it for the Pioneer 4360 and find the Pioneer to be much better all around.

[Spur]

[QUOTE=TommmyJ]I had the Toshiba 42HPX95 and wasn't impressed by it. I watched the Toshiba right next to the Panasonic and they looked comparable in the store but when I got it home I didn't like it. I ended up exchanging it for the Pioneer 4360 and find the Pioneer to be much better all around.[/QUOTE]


Tommy the 50hpx is one of the panels i am considering. Can you elaborate on what you did not like about the Toshiba?

[TommmyJ]

The picture was very noisy, it had bad banding(on a grey scale you could see every step), if I turned the brightness up you could see a distinct line running across the center, separating the top and bottom of the screen(it was slightly brighter on one half and could be seen in some movies). On SD a lot of the programming looked like paint by numbers or something(just didn't look good). I found the fan to be slightly noisy compared to others and I have heard the set consumes a fair amount of power even when in standby(compared to others). I also heard that this is Toshiba's first generation of plasmas(not sure if that is correct) but if so that is a little concerning for me. A lot of these problems even my wife noticed and most of the time she doesn't see things that I do. This is just my experience with one tv and who knows maybe it was defective or something because other Toshiba owners are very happy with the set. Hope this helps.

[Spur]

Thanks Tommy. You are right, could just be a bad set, although if this is Toshiba's first crack at a plasma I would be concerned as well.

[PaulyC]

I definately dont have any banding or lines running through my plasma, Ive run color charts and amazed at how clean they are actually.

I have the 42HP95, Ive been impressed and have little to no complaints, and the small complaints I am more then willing to live with, one being black shift, which happens very rarely, and if you have any lights on youll never see it. this is not a Toshiba only issue though, the other is some dark shades having a little more noise then perfect, i think every plasma ive seen has this except maybe the newest panel Pioneer which seemed to be a little bit above the rest but at a cost.

I was able to do the Toshiba vs. Panny comparison at over 4 stores and it wasnt till I was able to see them at various stores was I able to conclude the Tosh was just as good if not better then the Panny. If you go to the store and the Tosh looks terrible and the Panny looks great, i can almost guarentee the Tosh is not being fed the same or as equal a signal.

Bytheway Im not a huge fan of the Panny nor the Tosh 50's this season. so I guess Im not the best person to comment here. heh

[tneal]

[QUOTE=TommmyJ]I had the Toshiba 42HPX95 and wasn't impressed by it. I watched the Toshiba right next to the Panasonic and they looked comparable in the store but when I got it home I didn't like it. I ended up exchanging it for the Pioneer 4360 and find the Pioneer to be much better all around.[/QUOTE]

If everything was equal, my choice would be the Pioneer as well. But I'm not willing to pay the extra $$$ for it. That's why I wanted to comare some sets in a similiar price range.

[tneal]

[QUOTE=Spur]Thanks Tommy. You are right, could just be a bad set, although if this is Toshiba's first crack at a plasma I would be concerned as well.[/QUOTE]

I guess this could be a knock against Toshiba's electronics, build quality. I wonder if this is a common problem.

[TommmyJ]

Sometimes the Toshiba would look good on DVD or HD but it seems like the set isn't very forgiving on a lesser quality source. The Pioneer's processing may be better to handle these sources better. I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the more money on the Pioneer but after the excellent ratings and the amount of people who had and liked them I thought I couldn't go wrong. My first Pioneer set however had a burnt or stuck pixel and had to be exchanged, so Pioneer isn't perfect either.

[RickGr4]

I too have been comparing Panasonic and Toshiba sets. Like most others, black performance is important too me. I like the feature set on the Toshiba. When I was at a Best Buy store about two weeks ago, they had a 42PX50 and 42HP95 sitting side by side. The remotes were not available so I could not adjust settings. At first glance, the Panny looked sharper and deeper, but again I could not adjust the settings.

One thing I noticed that really jumped out at me was the Panny's screen is much darker when both sets are turned off. I have always thought the darkness of the screen when off was at least a small indicator as to the black level performance. I think this could be a substantial advantage to the Panny if both sets were in a darkened room.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Rick

[Macfan424]

[QUOTE=TommmyJ]..I also heard that this is Toshiba's first generation of plasmas(not sure if that is correct)...[/QUOTE]
For what it is worth, there have been at least two previous generations of Toshiba plasmas before this one, probably more.

I'm a happy Panasonic owner, but a year or so ago when I was shopping, Toshiba seemed competitive to me.

[slider33]

Another happy 42HPX95 owner here. Only complaint I have is the floating blacks... something I can live with, and Panny has the problem too. Other than that I am very happy. The Pio might be a slightly better set, but for 25% more money. The simple fact is that the Toshiba is in the top tier of plasmas, along with Panny, Pio, NEC and Fujitsu I guess is another step up.

Good luck!

[greenlantern88]

I heard the same, the Toshiba screen is made by Panasonic. Sounds like they are similiar, and it could come down in preference of name brand. My buddy worked at the local video store, and he told me to get the Toshiba because it was made by Panasonic. So, I thought to myself, why am I getting a Toshiba just to get a Panasonic screen, just by the Panasonic. hmmmm

So, Instead I was deciding between the Pioneer and the Panasonic 50" TV. The guys here have convinced me that Pioneer is the one to go. Anyways I like the Pioneer because of the clean media player connection with the Plasma.

http://www.reviews-plasma-tv.com/pi...sma-review.aspx

Good luck

[lipcrkr]

[QUOTE=greenlantern88]I heard the same, the Toshiba screen is made by Panasonic. Sounds like they are similiar, and it could come down in preference of name brand. My buddy worked at the local video store, and he told me to get the Toshiba because it was made by Panasonic. So, I thought to myself, why am I getting a Toshiba just to get a Panasonic screen, just by the Panasonic. hmmmm

So, Instead I was deciding between the Pioneer and the Panasonic 50" TV. The guys here have convinced me that Pioneer is the one to go. Anyways I like the Pioneer because of the clean media player connection with the Plasma.

http://www.reviews-plasma-tv.com/pi...sma-review.aspx

Good luck[/QUOTE]

Actually, the Toshiba has more features than the Panny like 2 RF inputs, ability to stretch HD sources, and firewire (to name a few) so if you feel the PQ is on par with Panny (like i do) and somewhat less expensive, then the Toshiba is a no brainer.

[slider33]

[QUOTE=cireaasirefan]Toshiba plasma TVs are made by Toshiba with a Panasonic plasma screen. Toshiba makes its own electronics and components.[/QUOTE]

After digging into the service menu personally and having found the menu options the same as older Tosh TV's, I believe this to be true. I am 100% certain it is an 8th Gen Panasonic screen (I have seen the Matsushita logo through the grill, built July 2005) and after seeing the differences between the inner workings and menu systems of the two sets, I am sure they are both made by their respective manufacturers.

[andy sullivan]

This thread makes me wonder just how many screen mfgrs there are. Anybody have a breakdown as to who makes screens and who uses what?

[slider33]

[QUOTE=andy sullivan]This thread makes me wonder just how many screen mfgrs there are. Anybody have a breakdown as to who makes screens and who uses what?[/QUOTE]

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/whomakeswhat.html

[gordongordo]

Thanks Slider, a very informative link.

Do you or others know where HP and Dell get their panels and other components?

Michael

[RickGr4]

[QUOTE=slider33]http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/whomakeswhat.html[/QUOTE]

One more company to add in. There is a large company in Taiwan called Chunghwa that OEM's plasma panels. I heard Chunghwa did Gateway's panels at one time.

[slider33]

[QUOTE=gordongordo]Thanks Slider, a very informative link.

Do you or others know where HP and Dell get their panels and other components?

Michael[/QUOTE]

HP's are literally Panasonics in a different colour... even the buttons on the case are the same.

Dell I am 90% sure are Samsung panels.

[pizzakid13]

i currently own a sony 50in LCD projection tv. i am not happy with the SD. these problems mentioned with the toshiba like floating blacks etc. are they something that i would never notice since i would be switching from a projection screen?

[dmiratsky]

My two cents...

I have had the 42HP95 for about a week and a half now. I'm no videophile, but I can see by my own standards when something looks "perfect". I have tried this set in a number of diff't situations and it excels at bright or at least normally lighted programs, especially images in the foreground. However, images in the background, such as trees, the sky, etc. will not "focus" completely. It also has the same issue with darker-based programs, such as movies (Batman Returns) or concerts, etc. and with faces on certain HD programs. It's not terrible and by no means a reason not to get this tv, but....

After I played with the TV for a good week and got really good with setting the adjustments, I went to Sears and compared it first-hand to the Panansonic TH-42PX50U cause they were side by side. At the time, a computer animated dinosaur program was on Discovery HDTV. I knew the issues I was looking for on the Toshiba and basically looked at the Panny to compare. I was able to see, although not terribly noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for, that the Panny was "sharper" in the same areas where the Toshiba seemed to be slightly out of focus, such as the sky in the background, etc. Again, everything in the foreground was roughly comparable. However, I did also notice that the Panny also had better color variances with some items on the screen, such as trees, etc. The Toshiba had green trees and branches in the background, but the Panny showed the shadows and detail between the branches, which gave it just that bit more kick of detail.

I then had to test my theory cause maybe this Toshiba hadn't been optimized to look the best for this program. Since I own the Toshiba, I grabbed the remote and messed with EVERY setting to get it to look like the Panny. I couldn't do it. You could argue that the Panny had a better feed, but I was at Sears (c'mon), so I personally don't believe that is the reason.

For me, this was visual proof of how one TV is better than another and in this case, why the 42PX50U is slightly better than the 42HP95. Is it enough to not get the 42HP95 at all, I wouldn't say that. But if you are stuck on always getting the better one, in my case I would go with the Panny.

Of course, this is only my two cents...

[Treasure Hunter]

I bought my Tosh 50HPX95 back in November...one of the first to come out. To this day I have not had a single complaint or problem. I love watching movies, SD, and HD from my cable company. BTW, the Super Bowl was awesome, and Congrats to the Pittsburgh Steelers...my hometown team!

[TTuck]

Go out and look at all of the possibilities, and buy the one that you think is best for you. I was comparing the Panasonic 50's , the Toshibas 50HP95, and the Pioneer 5060. I have friends who have all of these sets, so I was able to do some comparisons that others might not be able to do. I found that visually, when all three sets were optomized to my viewing preferences, they all had truly outstanding PQ and I really couldn't tell the difference. Blacks were a trace better on the Tosh and the Panny, but the overall PQ of the Pioneer was outstanding as it was on all three sets. I liked the features of the Pioneer and the Toshiba better, they provide more inputs/outputs, and more special features than the Panny. In the end, after much time, anquishing, debate,etc, I finally went out and bought the Toshiba, becasue I felt it had the best overall combination of PQ, features, and price. I couldn't justify the 25% price difference for the Pioneer based on what I had seen. I had my first Toshiba for three hours and it malfunctioned! My dealer came out the next day and repalced it with another, and I've had it for almost two weeks now and I don't regret the purchase for a second. It is an outstanding TV, the Super Bowl on Sunday looked incredible. All HD stuff is awesome, and it handles SD channels pretty well also, although that is somewhat dependent on the quality of the source. DVDs look excellent as well. I am very happy with this TV. If I were you I'd make sure to buy from a reputable dealer who has a 30 day return policy, just in case - no matter which set you choose. My friend had an issue with his first Panny (a 500u)and it had to be returned , and I had a major issue with my first Toshiba, there can be issues with any set from any manufacturer. The thirty day no questions asked return policy is a bit of protection in case you aren't pleased with your purchase. Bottom line is that you really won't go wrong with either the Panny, the Tosh, or the Pioneer. Take a good look at all and follow what your eyes tell you !
Just my two cents,
ttuck

[rcubed]

Getting my first HDTV and need some help deciding. In all I have read plus checking them out in person, I have narrowed it to the Toshiba 42HP95 and Panny 42PX60U. Seems both are good but not sure which to get. Anyone have any comparisons or suggestions??

[rcubed]

The Toshiba 42HP95 only supports 720p according to CNET where as the Panny 42PX60U will support 480p, 720p, 1080i. Is there a reason I should not get the Toshiba because of this?

[dark1x]

I'm happy with the 42HPX95, but dark images are noisy (in addition to a couple other minor issues). The noise issue is present on the Panasonic as well, however. Heck, every plasma I've seen seems to suffer from it except for the newest Pioneer (which I first used in Japan last fall). I would prefer the Pio, but the price is a LOT steeper and I managed to obtain a HPX95 for significantly less than MSRP. It was worth it.

[plazman]

[QUOTE=tneal]If everything was equal, my choice would be the Pioneer as well. But I'm not willing to pay the extra $$$ for it. That's why I wanted to comare some sets in a similiar price range.[/QUOTE]
-------------------------

Most experts who have compared the latest Pioneers to the Panasonics will tell you that the Panasonics have the best picture quality. However, you should trust your own eyes in the end.

In every single review where the Pioneer is stated as the best Plasma - you can be sure they have not tested the latest Pannys.

My two cents. I have closely looked at several sets, and can honestly say the difference between the top sets are very very minor.

-----------------------------

Here is an exerpt from one such review that I just happened to be reading a few minutes ago - courtesy someone from this forum pointing it out to me - He was comparing the new Panny 42 inch with the Pioneer 4360.

Picking your new plasma set requires that you decide what its primary function will be and how it will connect into your ultimate entertainment system. Each of these sets has its strengths and weaknesses and none does everything right; yet, after calibration, these three could often look remarkably similar—sometimes almost indistinguishable—depending on the program material. Nevertheless, were you to compare them for yourself using something other than bright, vivid source material, you’d likely give the Panasonic the hands-down nod for best picture. There’s nothing like those blacks. —RT

Randy Tomlinson is an independent ISF-certified calibrator in the Atlanta area and can be contacted via his Web site at www.advancedtechservice.com.
---------------------------

Probably explains why people are waiting to buy the Panny....

[slider33]

[QUOTE=rcubed]The Toshiba 42HP95 only supports 720p according to CNET where as the Panny 42PX60U will support 480p, 720p, 1080i. Is there a reason I should not get the Toshiba because of this?[/QUOTE]

Both of those sets support 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i.

[jaybone]

Got a Toshiba 50hp95 about three months ago and like it alot.
SD can look pretty crappy, but DVDs and HD channels are amazing, like looking at a 50" photograph.
Toshiba remote stinks, but that's a quick fix with a logitech harmony.
I did not really comparison view, so I can't speak to that.