But, not having bought a TV for some time, surprised to find a 50" Panasonic 4K smart (aren't they all now?) TV for £420 at Costco with 5 year warranty.
Price history shows it was £700 on Amazon from June to mid-August, down by degrees to £500 by December, and to £400 (£20 cheaper than Costco but no 5 year warranty). on 9 Jan.
We shall now be able to read the questions on Pointless and the captions for F1.
Amazing really - in nominal terms about the same price as a colour TV in the 1970s, now far cheaper in real terms and much more reliable.
I gather Panasonic quality has deteriorated a bit but I suspect it will do what I want.
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TV's are astonishingly cheap now compared to what they used to be, but no more than any other electronic gizmo (Car ECU's excepted).
The biggest improvements have been in picture quality and reliability. When I were a lad we were on first name terms with the TV repair man and like many people we would not buy a telly because as well as the purchase price running costs would have been enormous.
The only downside now is having to add a soundbar because the wafer thin speakers are crap.
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I got a 'smart' 40", HD TV a couple of years ago to replace the 26" CRT. Can't say I notice any difference in picture quality between HD and LD(?), other than HD transmissions take up much more space on the PVR HDD.
Kept the ability to pass audio through my audio amp, speakers and sub bass woofer. Particularly useful for Saturday morning's SOTS.
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>>LD(?)
SD. (standard)
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 22 Jan 20 at 20:31
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>> >>LD(?)
>>
>> SD. (standard)
So what was 405 line B&W tv?
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 22 Jan 20 at 21:15
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>> >> >>LD(?)
>> >>
>> >> SD. (standard)
>>
>> So what was 405 line B&W tv?
Crap.
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Particularly useful for Saturday morning's SOTS.
>>
What's that?
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>>>> SOTS
>> What's that?
Sex On The Sand ;)
A quite gritty drama IIRC.
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>> Particularly useful for Saturday morning's SOTS.
>> What's that?
Sounds Of The Sixties - Tony Blackburn R2 06:00 - 08:00. His jokes haven't improved!
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 19:40
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>> Sounds Of The Sixties - Tony Blackburn R2 06:00 - 08:00. His jokes haven't improved!
He was at his very best on the Saturday back to back Top 20 show; Pick of the Pops.
He was sacked from that for spurious reasons associated with his reaction to disclosure of activities of his ex colleague Savile.
Current presenter Gambaccini is good but not in Tony's class.
Does he still fill the old Desmond Carrington slot on Friday night?
His Music Goes Around programme introduced me to so much stuff I'd never have heard otherwise; Cherish The Ladies rendition of the Ballad of the Foxhunter is but one.
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>>
>>
>> Does he still fill the old Desmond Carrington slot on Friday night?
>>
>> His Music Goes Around programme introduced me to so much stuff I'd never have heard
>> otherwise; Cherish The Ladies rendition of the Ballad of the Foxhunter is but one.
>>
He fills the slot, but not with the themed music selection which as you say was brilliant. It cost me a fortune on iTunes, downloading lots of forgotten gems and plenty I'd never heard before.
Blackburn just does random oldies, mostly soul and Motown which is not my cup of tea.
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>> Blackburn just does random oldies, mostly soul and Motown which is not my cup of
>> tea.
I'd forgotten what material TB was using but you've reminded me. For a while I was working until 7pm on Friday and enjoyed catching The Music Goes Around in car on way home.
Motown not my bag either. Can't remember whether I stopped listening before I got my finish moved back to 6pm.
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>>I gather Panasonic quality has deteriorated a bit but I suspect it will do what I want.
The very cheapest Panasonics are made in Turkey & badged Panasonic - they use different remote control codes than the "Real Panasonics".
The Turkish factory turns out dozens of brands, having bought up brand names of now defunct brands e.g. Finlandia. Different TVs but essentially the same innards just different badges.
Your TV if it was a £700 set is a Real Panasonic
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Is there a "I can't believe it's not a Panasonic" ?
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You must mean Vestel. I didn't know Panasonic had gone that route, I find that shocking if not totally surprising. It's probably behind the comments I have heard from a couple of people about Panasonic quality. I'd call it brand damage. It won't help Panasonic long term unless the products are comparable in quality, style and function which seems unlikely - I suppose it's possible they could be assembling a Panasonic design but the usual thing with Vestel is white labeling for supermarkets, electricals multiples, and lesser brands.
The whole point of brands is that they stand for something. Unfortunately, that led a long time ago to the prostitution of well known brands to sell something inferior. I recall Comet renting the Garrard brand from the multinational that then owned it for use on audio products. Despite a good intention to use it on quality products it was soon applied, unsuccessfully, to cheap tat and dropped not long after.
Vestel are actually pretty good at what they do. But they aren't Panasonic.
Having said all that I don't think either Sony or Panasonic makes the display panels they use.
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>> Having said all that I don't think either Sony or Panasonic makes the display panels
>> they use.
Sharp, LG and Samsung are the major makers of leading edge panels, and Sony* & Panasonic** will source from any or all of them as required.
Vestel will get their panels from a plethora of cheap Chinese makers based on bulk cost.
*Sony make *some* panels
** Panasonic used to, but no longer make them.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 15:06
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>> I'd call it brand damage.
15 odd years ago when I was working with the various TV companies they maintained that there was no material brand loyalty and little in the way of margin, hence their constant drive to reduce costs and their habit of playing the odds with reliability.
I cannot imagine it has particularly changed.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 16:20
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"We shall now be able to read the questions on Pointless and the captions for F1."
I reckon there's some kind of backhander going on here. Broadcasters and telly manufacturers.
"If you make the scores smaller, we'll sell more big tellies. We'll split the difference."
I've got a 50" telly and I still have to get up to see who's playing and what the score is. With my specs on, too. It's crisp and clear, just too damned small. I either need a bigger telly, or I'm going projector.
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>>
>> I've got a 50" telly and I still have to get up to see who's
>> playing and what the score is. With my specs on, too. It's crisp and clear,
>> just too damned small. I either need a bigger telly, or I'm going projector.
There's nowt wrong wi' t'elly.
It's your minces.
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>> There's nowt wrong wi' t'elly.
>>
>> It's your minces.
And we all know what's caused that!
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 12:44
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Yep. Sure do
Proper Wensleydale with your mince pies. Nothing else will do
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>> I still have to get up to see who's playing and what the score is.
www.amazon.com/Professional-Hands-Free-Binocular-Watching-Upgraded/dp/B07CK1CZ9J
No doubt you could find other uses also.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 16:23
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No doubt you could find other uses also.
>>
Looking like a complete berk?
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That's what you or I might do. I suspect that BBD has a wider repartee.
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"No doubt you could find other uses also."
How about one of these. Low tech, perhaps a bit bulky for a 50" telly.
tinyurl.com/rvvfntz
Interesting piece of film.
I'd leave a few coins on the floor in front of one when the wife's sister visits. Watch her bend over.
Last edited by: BiggerBadderDave on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 17:45
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>> I'd leave a few coins on the floor in front of one when the wife's
>> sister visits. Watch her bend over.
>>
Believe it or not, I used to sell those door to door in the early seventies. Square ones rather than round in my case, but I did manage to shift a few too. Not too many mind, two weeks of trudging the streets with a sample was enough.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 19:17
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>>I'd leave a few coins on the floor in front of one when the wife's sister visits. Watch her bend over.
Zippy - QED.
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>> >>I'd leave a few coins on the floor in front of one when the wife's
>> sister visits. Watch her bend over.
>>
>> Zippy - QED.
>>
Que!?
Last edited by: zippy on Thu 23 Jan 20 at 21:21
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>> >> Zippy - QED.
>>
>> Que!?
>>
Ignore me. I am a man gradually falling apart. I was making a point to Sooty which wasn't very funny at the time and certainly isn't now.
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>>
>>
>> I've got a 50" telly and I still have to get up to see who's
>> playing and what the score is. With my specs on, too. It's crisp and clear,
>> just too damned small. I either need a bigger telly, or I'm going projector.
>>
Don't you keep count as the game goes on, or is the short term memory going too?
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>>I gather Panasonic quality has deteriorated a bit
I wonder about that. The picture quality of my Panasonic Viera 32” Model TX-32LZD80V HD. (non-smart, £799.99 in 2008) is superior in definition and colour rendering to that of my Panasonic Viera 40” TV Model 40DX600B. LED, 4K, Ultra HD, Smart, Freeview Play, Built in Wi-Fi. (£459.00 in 2-2017). Picture quality seems frequently related to size as this is evident if sets of different sizes are viewed in stores such as Currys; small is usually best.
The larger set has Freeview and satellite, with Freeview definition the best of these but our set-top box is for Freesat.
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>> Freeview definition the best of these but our set-top box is for Freesat.
Erm, I've got an 8 year-old 42" Panasonic Plasma TV and I've often thought the same actually.
I use Freesat via a Humax all the time but, I'm sure the Freeview picture is better than the Freesat one.
Freeview reception is carp up here on 'the moor'.
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>> >
>>
>> I use Freesat via a Humax all the time but, I'm sure the Freeview picture
>> is better than the Freesat one.
>>
>> Freeview reception is carp up here on 'the moor'.
>>
I find the same. The Freesat picture seems a bit flat compared to Freeview, but like you I can't get the full Freeview service here and reception also becomes unstable in poor weather.
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>> I find the same. The Freesat picture seems a bit flat compared to Freeview, but
>> like you I can't get the full Freeview service here and reception also becomes unstable
>> in poor weather.
Hardly watch TV at all but there must be some pretty heavy compression to get all those channels into the available UHF bandwidth.
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Although its a multiple group of satellites, Some of the single satellite freesat transponders have to carry up to 15 channels* so data rates on some channels are cut down. In Short quality varies by channel much more than Freeview.
*freesat has to transmit every regional variation for the entire country, your local TV transmitter does not.
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>>like you I can't get the full Freeview service here and reception also becomes unstable in poor weather.
Cornwall .. poor weather, you're having a giraffe.
:o}
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God, Robin, do you find your Humax, like mine, continues spinning when left on standby, overnight for example? This seems to involve unnecessary wear and electricity consumption but I leave it switched on for fear of forgetting and missing a recording.
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Mine is a Manhatten without a PVR. For recording I use a Youview box which I have for BT Sport.
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Rambo … My Humax is about 7 years old, and it's a refurb. Still going strong though, and it's in use everyday.
I have occasionally heard the disc spinning while on standby funnily enuff - I've just checked it though and it's as quiet as a Remoaner/Rejoiner at the mo.
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>> I have occasionally heard the disc spinning while on standby funnily enuff
Perfectly normal.
It will do it approx. 20 mins before a scheduled recording, and also at around 4am when it wakes up to do its daily update of the EPG and check for any other updates.
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Could it also be the cooling fan running? .. the fan in my Plasma telly is beginning to get a tad noisy.
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Does it run round the clock, like my Humax?
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No, it pretty much stays in the one place just looking at the clock.
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...my Haley rocks around the clock.....
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>>Does it run round the clock
No guvnor, as I said earlier it was all quiet on the sou'western front at 1:00pm when I checked it.
You could always try a software update maybe.
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