Page 1 of Panasonic Or Phillips??????

Thanks to all those that replied to my earlier post. I have seen the Panny 32DK1 for sale at Currys for £599, but the stand is crap (believe me it is important because I have to get my amp/vid/sat/dvd/centre speaker in it). Whilst I was there I spied a Phillips 32PW6515 for £949 (good stand!)

Does anyone know how these sets compare????

I have since seen the Phillips at QED for £749 and am finding out if Index would price match on the internet as they also have the model at £949. I am loathed to buy from the internet because I am always unsure where you would contact them if there was a problem....but £200???? (it`s tempting). Has anyone bought from QED? What was their service like?

Are there any stores that will price match the internet. I know Apollo200 will not (I vaguely remember someone posting something about John Lewis or Debenhams)

At the moment I am swaying towards the Phillips as you can play about with the picture format (something that the Panny seems incapable of - I might be wrong)

Any help would again be appreciated. Cheers

I have bought from QED before - no problem - my Panny DK1 comes on Friday from them too.
I think John Lewis have stopped proce matching now, but I was chatting to our neighbour, and he reckoned that you could get them to price match if you called their head office - after all, they have an internet presence now (buy.co.uk).
Re stand - I actually didn`t want a stand at all - I bought something substantial from Ikea a while ago (don`t mock - some of their stuff is OK). All their TV benches have a supported weight defined in the catalogue.
Picture format - what sort of playing about do you mean? I have downloaded the Panny manual from the website, and it seems you can switch auto or manually between 4:3 & 16:9 etc. You can also adjust for geomagnetic variations(!).
If you`re thinking of access to the service menu, I believe that you need a special remote for Philips - not sure about Panny.
The Philips you mention is obviously a "notch up" from the Panny - true flat screen, I think. Philips tubes have a good reputation, too. If you can hold on `til Friday/Saturday, I`ll let you know what I think of the Panasonic.
Richard

Hi,

I must admit I don`t know about the 32PW6515 specifically, but I`ve had a Philips 28" widescreen for about 3 years now and I simply can`t knock it in any way. More versatile screen modes and more reliable than a Sony, and only Sony is close in picture quality at a similar price.

Just my opinion of course, but hope it helps.

Thanks Richard and Vormulac for your replies.

I phoned John Lewis in Cheadle and they said they wouldn`t price match the internet. Index has the Phillips and their catalogue says "we will not be beaten on price" When I phoned to make sure they said that they will not price match, but I have to buy the TV at the higher price and then inform them that I can buy it cheaper whereupon if it is the same model and the terms of the sale are exactly the same they will refund the difference. Bizarre I knopw. The girl I spoke to assures me (after repeatedly checking wih her supervisor) this does include the internet. However call me a sceptic but I think they would use any excuse not to price match the internet.

I will phone the head ofice of John Lewis to see if this is the case and will post the result.

Being able to manually switch the Panny DK1 puts a whole new spin on things, as I wasn`t aware that this was possible, and was the main reason for looking at the Phillips. I would be interested to find out what you think of the Panny.

I am still not sure about Qed though. I would prefer a bricks and mortar place to be able to go and kick up a fuss if I am not hapy with the service. However from previous posts this is not always the answer either. Having said that a £200 saving is still £200.

I did look at Ikea for a stand but none suited. I was thinking maybe of going to Habitat?!? As I said it is important in that it will keep "she who must be obeyed" off my back if I could get my AV Receiver/DVD/Vid/Sat/Mission M72 Centre all under the TV. Even the Phillips stand may not suffice, but I know the Panny stand will not even come close.

Would appreciate your thoughts and will let you know what JL head office say. Does anyone know any other high street vendors that will price match the internet

I bought a 6515 28 inch from debenhams in Hull as they offered a free five year guarantee with it.As far as i know the 32 inch version also has the magnetic adjustment which just tilts the picture horizontally as the earths magnetism affects bigger screens more i think.There are six screen modes,4:3 ,14:9 ,16:9 zoom, subtitle zoom ,superwide and widescreen.Great picture and decent sound although i had to tweak a few geometry things with mine see

http://home.hccnet.nl/m.majoor/tv__service_mode.htm

Got so much gear,dvd,amp,video,cd player,cassette deck that i dont use the stand and invested in a cabinet called the magiker from ikea.
Only £80 and built like a brick outhouse and has sections for six full size video dvd player size units and two centre sections big enough for a few other odds and sods.

QED has excellent service. Last year I bought a washing machine, a digital camcorder and a vacuum cleaner. The only problem…you have to be at home when is delivered.

Good luck!

Well, I got my Panasonic TX32DK1 on Friday, and it`s pretty good.
Picture on TV is, well, TV. Only tried a couple of DVDs as yet, but R1 Toy Story 2 and Shrek both look stunning via RGB. Used the THX optimode thing on TS2 to have a look at the geometry etc - all seems pretty good out of the box - no convergence to speak of, and you can adjust contract, brightness, colour, sharpness and tint (if NTSC source). 3 options for colour balance - cool normal & warm. There is picture noise reduction and "AI" - which supposedly adjusts the picture for improved contrast and depth of field. Both can be switched off.

Widescreen modes are Auto (which tries to work out what the signal is and switch to the correct ratio - on TV it only works if the signal is supplied to tell it - Channel4's top 100 films worked a treat, switching in and out of 4:3 for the adverts.), 4:3, Zoom (zoom the image to fill screen - good for non anamorphic dvd, letterbox 4:3 videos etc), 16:9, 14:9 and "just" (short, I think, for "justified") - fills the screen with a 4:3 picture, but doesn`t stretch the centre portion - I thought this worked OK (better on some things than others), but She Who Must Be Obeyed`s eagle eyes prefer straight 4:3/14:9. All of the modes can be manually switched between at will.

**EDIT - 27 Dec 2001 ** Lived with the auto switching for a while, and it seems to be OK - only pain is it pops into widescreen when a film clip is shown on an advert, for example (but I guess that`s it doing it`s job!). One other thing - I wish it would do autoswitch to 14:9, as there are so many broadcasts in this format now, with the occasional 4:3.

Overall, we`re very pleased with it. Obviously not as "flat" as a true flat screen, but I`m happy not to pay the premium for that - I certainly noticed the difference when comparing screens in a shop, but now this beast is in situ, fine. You only really notice that there`s a slight curve on the furthest edge of the screen if you`re sitting at an angle to the tv.

We have it on an Ikea "OPPLI" cabinet, which is quite low and wide and can take 70kg. This has plenty of space for equipment (3 compartments, each would take 2 devices, however only comes with 2 shelves). Not even bothered to take the supplied cabinet out of it`s box.

One word of warning, whichever TV you buy. If you have kids, you will NOT be allowed to get rid of the huge box it arrives in. They will sit in it for hours, and watch tv through the small handhold cutouts.

Once I`ve spent some more time with it, I might submit my comments to the site as a review.... watch this space.

We bought it for £512 delivered from QED - service excellent - phoned to arrange a delivery day, two geezers arrived at 9:30am on the said day, and got the very large box into our house with cheerful ease.
Have bought from QED before (kitchen appliances) - again, no problems.

Hope this helps!

Richard

This item was edited on Thursday, 27th December 2001, 09:04

Thanks for all the replies. I have looked at the IKEA range and was going to visit the Warrington store.

I will let you know if Index are true to their word.

Thanks again

Richard