Decent 4K TV with good/excellent colour/contrast/blacks/motion/input lag and one of the few that has FreeviewPlay (Freeview on demand) as only Panasonic TVs (680b and above) have FreeviewPlay.
Found in Costco Birmingham for £647.98 and should be national.
£699 elsewhere
In store / offline deal only - See link for more info and specs
Top comments
deaglecat
9 Nov 154#18
Cold. Not Vestel.
Latest comments (49)
500miles
13 Nov 15#49
Bought the Panasonic 50" yesterday, £599 with 5 year guarantee, from hydro electric shop black November deals.
Yes and some manufacturers lie even further. My current tv LG LB650v was sold to me as having an IPS screen. I had a brief conversation with someone else on here who advised me it may not. After making a few checks it appears my LG50LB650v may not have an IPS panel after all. It is still advertised on LG's website as having an IPS panel. I see the TCON boards available for my tv on ebay are by AU Optronics. Not sure if this is relevant or not. Just waiting for a better magnifying glass to arrive but the panel doesn't seem solid and distorts quite easily when running a finger along the screen which I understand it should not do if it was IPS. I think the model which replaced mine was the LF652v although cannot be certain and I see that this model is not advertised as having an IPS panel.
I suppose in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter too much although I would prefer the LG panel as I would prefer a Samsung panel in a Samsung tv but I guess its just a panel lottery at the bottom and mid-range scale.
gg1pl
11 Nov 15#46
Not all brands are on there though i.e Panasonic.
The motion processing numbers or PQI are misleading as most people would think higher is better even though they are made up and not comparable across TVs i.e LG - Motion Clarity Index (MCI), Samsung - Clear Motion rate (CMR), Philips - Perfect Motion Rate (PMR), Sony - Motionflow XR and Panasonic - BLS (Back Light Scanning).
Smartguy1
11 Nov 15#45
Looks like Samsung are top at the Rtings site. I bet Samsung ensured their test tv's all had Samsung panels in them and not the 'cheaper' ones. Interesting also to see that Sony have doubled their motion flow rates from last year but are no better in real terms. They must think we are stupid but then most people are naive of the true specs.
geraldfitzsimons
11 Nov 15#44
mind ya member ship fee to join too
gg1pl
11 Nov 15#43
It is useful, refresh rates and real numbers are covered here in detail Your text here
Learn page covering everything from size vs distance, 4K vs 1080, curved vs flat and other TV related issues are here Your text here
gg1pl
8 Nov 151#2
[url=]Your text here[/url]
Smartguy1 to gg1pl
10 Nov 151#42
Thanks. I have been on their site before. Refresh rates are quite interesting now all the manufacturers are using their own figures !!
I nearly bought the 6400 in January but couldn't get my hands on one at a decent price. The 48" now is down to £499 and all rumoured to have a samsung panel.
gg1pl
10 Nov 15#41
RTINGs is excellent, providing information and hard numbers on all aspects of a TV, reviewing in 2015 nearly all new TVs released by LG, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Vizio (American brand)
If you like Samsungs then here are the newer models as reviewed by RTINGs, with top models ascending down to the lower end, click on "See our Review" in blue for a full, in-depth review
Would probably go for the 4k though. I will do a bit more research as the next tv I buy I want to ensure if it's a Samsung it has a Samsung panel. The same with LG and Sony. I don't want a CPT, CMO, AUO or any other make panel. It's still a lottery at the lower end of the market so think I will ensure whatever I get will be from Richer Sounds as at least then I can see the tv in the real world.......on standard definition tv which is what most of us watch anyway. Still no guarantee on Samsung though as they can have different panel manufacturers within the same model number according to the forums.
Smartguy1
10 Nov 151#38
Confirmation that the 300 and 400 I checked in Currys today say 'Assembled in Turkey'.
I can also confirm that the model posted says assemble in the Czech Republic.
Moneyspider
9 Nov 15#7
As an aside - how did you determine that this was not made by Vestel. I've heard that Panasonic has out sourced some TV manufacture to this company and that the quality is not up to the usual Panasonic standards.
gg1pl to Moneyspider
9 Nov 152#9
Looking at the back of the TV, it is not assembled in Turkey plus it won't get 5/5 from several review sites and 9/10 and BestBuy Award from avforums.
This is a mid-range TV, only budget range units are outsourced to Vestel to produce cheaply for those wanting cheap TVs.
You won't find a Vestel TV returning anything close to the picture quality i.e contrast, colour, black levels or local dimming as this unit.
memphisjaxx to Moneyspider
10 Nov 15#37
Panasonic 300 & 400 series are Vestel panels from Turkey. 500 series and upwards are not.
macdaddy408
10 Nov 15#35
rohitmkiller is right the 5 year panasonic warranty is only available at selected stores,i purchased the 40 inch version & the picture quality is better than my samsung curved i sent back the panny 300b it was awful,purchased from panasonic outlet when ebay had that £50 off code panasonic outlet have fantastic returns policy.
gg1pl to macdaddy408
10 Nov 15#36
If the store is offering their own warranty like Costco/John Lewis/Currys/Richer Sounds then you wouldn't need to apply for the 5 year warranty from Panasonic
sikh_warrior
10 Nov 15#33
can you download android apps on to it?
trickytree1984 to sikh_warrior
10 Nov 15#34
No. That means no kodi. Sony is what you want. Just be prepared for a laggy POS
Smartguy1
9 Nov 151#31
.[/quote]
With a decent upscaler, HD content can be noticeably improved on a 4K set but there's little or nothing that can be done to improve SD or DVD content.[/quote]
Thank you, looks like my son was right. Presently I think my tv has a very good picture in HD and DVD so there would be little point in me upgrading to 4k. I may as well get a better model of 1920 x 1080 tv for the same money.
gg1pl to Smartguy1
9 Nov 15#32
Fair enough though a Full HD TV with the same level of picture quality will be a similar price anyway without the benefits of HD content being improved to somewhere between HD and 4K.
gg1pl
9 Nov 15#30
Like we both said it's cheaper than elsewhere instore and I went to Costco with a member or you might be a member already
Even if you became a member, it's still cheaper and it brings other discounts. You can make your membership fee back easily, there are so many cheap alcohol deals etc.
gg1pl
9 Nov 15#29
Looks like it's up to national retailers to offer their own 5 warranty as Currys/Costco/John Lewis do offer 5 year warranties
yoyo59
9 Nov 15#28
not sure how this is a deal? barely £50 cheaper than other places and requires you to be a costco member..
With a decent upscaler, HD content can be noticeably improved on a 4K set but there's little or nothing that can be done to improve SD or DVD content.
macdaddy408
9 Nov 151#3
the 5 year warranty is available where ever you buy it just google panasonic 5 year warranty.
Dodger21 to macdaddy408
9 Nov 152#8
The difference is Costco will let you take it back for 90 days and get a refund, no questions asked. Also if it can't be fixed under warranty you get a full refund of the price you paid for the full 5 years.
Specific Seller Exclusions : Products purchased from participating retailers via Ebay or Amazon whether listed as new or otherwise will not be eligible for the promotion. National retailers, such as: Currys, John Lewis, Costco, Argos, Amazon or Supermarkets - are not eligible retailers).
Please check with your retailer for further information to avoid disappointment.
Sulphur Man
9 Nov 15#24
We have this tv, bought from JL for £799 in September. it delivers an excellent contrast and blur-free image. I'd also like to commend the Firefox OS which is clear and highly responsive - iPlayer and Amazon Prime work very well. Netflix subscribers will appreciate that the remote has a dedicated Netflix button. My only gripe is that to shift between picture presets requires going into the settings menu, there's no dedicated button on the remote to cycle through them. However, the 'General' setting does a good job in most situations.
At this price and warranty, this is nicely hot.
Smartguy1 to Sulphur Man
9 Nov 15#25
Nice to see someone giving a good report on a true Panasonic. They would have been better off staying out of the low end market with Vestel or calling it something else because it definitely hasn't done them any favours in the 'brand' sector. Every Panny posting now has got a question .....is it Vestel. Or the person posting is stating it's not Vestel.
I jumped in when I bought my LG 50LB650v in January. gave it a quick review check and bought it. I didn't look at any of the Panasonics on offer at the time due to the Vestel link and really wanted a Sony. The LG's ok but the Sony i really wanted was another £180.00 and couldn't warrant it. 2 months later a new model Sony comes out and the one I been looking at was reduced to just £40.00 more than the LG. My next tv will be researched very carefully in order to ensure that it and the panel in the tv is made by the same company as the badge on the front although that may prove difficult if I buy Sony as rumour has it that all of their tv's in my price range, have a panel that is made by someone else, but to Sony specs. So we will see. Some may say that I should not have bought a 1920 x 1080 tv in January with 4k coming out but I disagree. At present I do not have sky and wouldn't be buying their services again. There are limited channels on HD let alone UHD. I don't have a 4k bluray and my internet isn't fibre as it's not available yet where I live and struggle to get 4 to 5 mbps at best of times. Sometimes it can be as low as 2 mbps which is a bit of a joke as 3g on my phone where I live is faster.
My only question on 4k tv's which nobody appears to want to answer is because they have twice the amount of pixels or thereabouts, will standard definition and high definition programmes look better on a 4k screen compared with a 1920 x 1080 tv. In theory I would expect the answer to the question to be yes but my son disagrees. He says that of a transmitted image is at a certain level it cannot be enhanced to make it look better or superior. I disagree but am open to suggestions or I could just go down to my local Richer Sounds and see for myself as they have sky and do not submit their tv's to cheating like Currys do via the manufacturer's usb sticks.
rohitmkiller
9 Nov 15#23
Panasonic are making curved as well. I can send you a link to one if you want, depending on if you live in Hertfordshire or nearby. My brother in law is thinking of getting one there as it's the cheapest price in the UK. Made properly by Panasonic, curved 4K.
Smartguy1
9 Nov 15#22
Yes I have been having a look too but couldn't get to the back of the one I mentioned. I see the A300's in Asda say 'Assembled in Turkey". It's an awful tv. Motion blur on the HD loop or usb that Currys had playing really showed up the lack of quality in the set but I was very impressed by the 4k CX400B. Still doubt if I would be buying one though. I bought a new tv in January and just found out through another helpful reader that my tv maybe isn't all it it's cracked up to be. It's an LG sold to me with an IPS panel but I don't think it has LG's IPS panel in it at all. It's still advertised on LG's website as having an IPS but not 100% sure it has.
Before I found out about the IPS issue I had been thinking about swapping the LG as not 100% happy with the menu system and webos. Was thinking about a Samsung but already aware of the panel lottery with them with 3 or 4 different manufacturers of panels in their tv's with no particular guarantee of getting a samsung panel. Then I find out that some of the cheaper Sonys in my price range don't have Sony panels in them either. Looks like I may as well just bite the bullet and buy a curved tv as I think only LG and Samsung are making them.
gg1pl
9 Nov 15#21
I looked at the back of the CX400B in Currys and I think that was assembled in Turkey.
Vestels also look similar i.e leg stands at either end of the TV, not a great indicator but all the cheap Vestel TVs have the same split v-shape leg stands.
Best thing to do is look at the back of the TV and not get one assembled in Turkey if you don't want a Vestel.
Smartguy1
9 Nov 15#20
I thought the CX400B was also made by Vestel as well as the A300B. Was having a look at both of these in Currys yesterday. The A300 was awful. Hadn't seen motion blur as bad as that tv in a long long time but a couple of tv's along was a 4k CX400 in 55" guise. Now if that is a Vestel tv it is very good. Not cheap though at £749.00 but I thought the 300B and 400B models were made by Vestel. This is it below.
I am not a Vestel lover by the way but who knows where they may be in a few years time. Also it's about time manufacturers were honest about who's panel is in their tv's.
read the terms and conditions. only from a participating independent retailer I can get it from my local store for £675 with free delivery and installed on the day I order, which will most likely be tomorrow in Hitchin.
PRCdirect for a few quid more if you fancy the headphones, £649
moneybag
9 Nov 151#14
"from a participating Independent retailer in the UK or Republic of Ireland" so doesn't sound like participation is mandatory for all retailers, I'd be slightly cautious of the claim that everyone offers it.
gg1pl
9 Nov 151#13
If anyone goes to Costco and can confirm if the 55" is available and the price, that would be appreciated.
Link was to Costco's homepage but now its been replaced by pricerunner :confused:
Thanks Mods for editing the post to link to specs and saying offline/instore only
Here's a link to the 27 Costco locations via dropdown or postcode/town search Your text here
"In its own right, it's a good value set that flies the flag for 4K, offering a fine picture and good stack of features with it." '
What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision magazine'. 5-star review.
50" Review with 5 stars and 9/10 with avforums Bestbuy award Your text here
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
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Opening post
Decent 4K TV with good/excellent colour/contrast/blacks/motion/input lag and one of the few that has FreeviewPlay (Freeview on demand) as only Panasonic TVs (680b and above) have FreeviewPlay.
Found in Costco Birmingham for £647.98 and should be national.
£699 elsewhere
In store / offline deal only - See link for more info and specs
Top comments
Latest comments (49)
£609.50 with 5 year Panasonic warranty
I suppose in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter too much although I would prefer the LG panel as I would prefer a Samsung panel in a Samsung tv but I guess its just a panel lottery at the bottom and mid-range scale.
The motion processing numbers or PQI are misleading as most people would think higher is better even though they are made up and not comparable across TVs i.e LG - Motion Clarity Index (MCI), Samsung - Clear Motion rate (CMR), Philips - Perfect Motion Rate (PMR), Sony - Motionflow XR and Panasonic - BLS (Back Light Scanning).
Your text here
Learn page covering everything from size vs distance, 4K vs 1080, curved vs flat and other TV related issues are here
Your text here
I nearly bought the 6400 in January but couldn't get my hands on one at a decent price. The 48" now is down to £499 and all rumoured to have a samsung panel.
Your text here
Your text here
[url=
I can also confirm that the model posted says assemble in the Czech Republic.
This is a mid-range TV, only budget range units are outsourced to Vestel to produce cheaply for those wanting cheap TVs.
You won't find a Vestel TV returning anything close to the picture quality i.e contrast, colour, black levels or local dimming as this unit.
With a decent upscaler, HD content can be noticeably improved on a 4K set but there's little or nothing that can be done to improve SD or DVD content.[/quote]
Thank you, looks like my son was right. Presently I think my tv has a very good picture in HD and DVD so there would be little point in me upgrading to 4k. I may as well get a better model of 1920 x 1080 tv for the same money.
Even if you became a member, it's still cheaper and it brings other discounts. You can make your membership fee back easily, there are so many cheap alcohol deals etc.
John Lewis for 699 http://www.johnlewis.com/panasonic-viera-tx-50cx680b-led-4k-ultra-hd-smart-tv-50-with-freeview-hd-and-built-in-wi-fi/p1961422
Specific Seller Exclusions : Products purchased from participating retailers via Ebay or Amazon whether listed as new or otherwise will not be eligible for the promotion. National retailers, such as: Currys, John Lewis, Costco, Argos, Amazon or Supermarkets - are not eligible retailers).
Please check with your retailer for further information to avoid disappointment.
At this price and warranty, this is nicely hot.
I jumped in when I bought my LG 50LB650v in January. gave it a quick review check and bought it. I didn't look at any of the Panasonics on offer at the time due to the Vestel link and really wanted a Sony. The LG's ok but the Sony i really wanted was another £180.00 and couldn't warrant it. 2 months later a new model Sony comes out and the one I been looking at was reduced to just £40.00 more than the LG. My next tv will be researched very carefully in order to ensure that it and the panel in the tv is made by the same company as the badge on the front although that may prove difficult if I buy Sony as rumour has it that all of their tv's in my price range, have a panel that is made by someone else, but to Sony specs. So we will see. Some may say that I should not have bought a 1920 x 1080 tv in January with 4k coming out but I disagree. At present I do not have sky and wouldn't be buying their services again. There are limited channels on HD let alone UHD. I don't have a 4k bluray and my internet isn't fibre as it's not available yet where I live and struggle to get 4 to 5 mbps at best of times. Sometimes it can be as low as 2 mbps which is a bit of a joke as 3g on my phone where I live is faster.
My only question on 4k tv's which nobody appears to want to answer is because they have twice the amount of pixels or thereabouts, will standard definition and high definition programmes look better on a 4k screen compared with a 1920 x 1080 tv. In theory I would expect the answer to the question to be yes but my son disagrees. He says that of a transmitted image is at a certain level it cannot be enhanced to make it look better or superior. I disagree but am open to suggestions or I could just go down to my local Richer Sounds and see for myself as they have sky and do not submit their tv's to cheating like Currys do via the manufacturer's usb sticks.
Before I found out about the IPS issue I had been thinking about swapping the LG as not 100% happy with the menu system and webos. Was thinking about a Samsung but already aware of the panel lottery with them with 3 or 4 different manufacturers of panels in their tv's with no particular guarantee of getting a samsung panel. Then I find out that some of the cheaper Sonys in my price range don't have Sony panels in them either. Looks like I may as well just bite the bullet and buy a curved tv as I think only LG and Samsung are making them.
Vestels also look similar i.e leg stands at either end of the TV, not a great indicator but all the cheap Vestel TVs have the same split v-shape leg stands.
Best thing to do is look at the back of the TV and not get one assembled in Turkey if you don't want a Vestel.
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/panasonic-viera-tx-55cx400b-smart-3d-ultra-hd-4k-55-led-tv-10132386-pdt.html
I am not a Vestel lover by the way but who knows where they may be in a few years time. Also it's about time manufacturers were honest about who's panel is in their tv's.
read the terms and conditions. only from a participating independent retailer I can get it from my local store for £675 with free delivery and installed on the day I order, which will most likely be tomorrow in Hitchin.
clubcard points available back as well
Thanks Mods for editing the post to link to specs and saying offline/instore only
Here's a link to the 27 Costco locations via dropdown or postcode/town search
Your text here
Membership page or grab someone who does
Your text here
Your text here
Reviews for 40" version
Your text here
Your text here
"In its own right, it's a good value set that flies the flag for 4K, offering a fine picture and good stack of features with it." '
What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision magazine'. 5-star review.
50" Review with 5 stars and 9/10 with avforums Bestbuy award
Your text here
Your text here