Is this TV a better spec than the one I have?

Mottie · 20 Jul 2022

The line has come back on my TV and no amount of bashing and thumping has sorted it this time so probably going to get a new one. Decided against OLED for the moment so just looking at LED. Current one is 40” and Mrs Mottie hates 'big' TV's so it’s taken some persuasion to get her to agree to a 43” one and that’s only because it’s a Panasonic with Freeview play.

Current one is this:

Specs - 40 inch 4K UHD TV | Ultra HD TV | Panasonic UK & Ireland

Specs - Explore the ultra 40" TX-40CX680B Panasonic UHD 4K TV - Tuned by filmmakers to deliver breath-taking colour quality, contrast and brightness.

www.panasonic.com

The one I’m looking at is this: https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/televisions/4K-LED-TV/tx-43lx650bz.html

I'm sure the new one is a couple of hundred quid cheaper than what I paid for the old one that I bought about 8 years ago so I’m a bit concerned as to the quality - maybe things have just got cheaper over the years?

Any advice would be welcome.

Lucid · 21 Jul 2022

Simple answer: No.

The reason is that a year or so ago Panasonic announced its intension to stop making its own TVs for all but its high-end LED and its OLED sets. The plan was to outsource production. This is nothing new for the brand. It has been doing this with its small screen- and base-model- TVs for a number of years. The TV market is mercilessly cut-throat and Panasonic had been haemorrhaging cash so this was seen as a way to keep the brand visible whilst reducing the financial exposure. They went to Vestel in Turkey with some design ideas, and the manufacturer produced a couple of different performance levels in the basic sets. When you were buying your £799 40" CX680 the entry-level set would have been the £380 40" C300.

Whilst a Vestel at heart, Panasonic's influence in the design shone through. The set was basic in some respects - not great with sound - but in other areas respectable. It had variable dimming from the edge lighting, pretty reasonable motion processing, slightly over-egged colour, but nothing that couldn't have been tones down.

Fast forward 7 years and Panasonic are using TCL. It's a very different story.

The sets push the features hard but lack performance. You get 4K, and Android, and Chromecast, and voice control, etc etc but what's missing is Panasonic's picture processing and the colour performance. They don't go that bright and the backlight lacks a dimming feature. The menu controls don't provide the tweaks to dial the colours in. It's mostly glitter and very little real substance.

Your CX680 didn't have all the bells and whistles, but it does a credible job of producing a fairly accurate picture.

Mottie · 21 Jul 2022

Lucid said:
Simple answer: No.

The reason is that a year or so ago Panasonic announced its intension to stop making its own TVs for all but its high-end LED and its OLED sets. The plan was to outsource production. This is nothing new for the brand. It has been doing this with its small screen- and base-model- TVs for a number of years. The TV market is mercilessly cut-throat and Panasonic had been haemorrhaging cash so this was seen as a way to keep the brand visible whilst reducing the financial exposure. They went to Vestel in Turkey with some design ideas, and the manufacturer produced a couple of different performance levels in the basic sets. When you were buying your £799 40" CX680 the entry-level set would have been the £380 40" C300.

Whilst a Vestel at heart, Panasonic's influence in the design shone through. The set was basic in some respects - not great with sound - but in other areas respectable. It had variable dimming from the edge lighting, pretty reasonable motion processing, slightly over-egged colour, but nothing that couldn't have been tones down.

Fast forward 7 years and Panasonic are using TCL. It's a very different story.

The sets push the features hard but lack performance. You get 4K, and Android, and Chromecast, and voice control, etc etc but what's missing is Panasonic's picture processing and the colour performance. They don't go that bright and the backlight lacks a dimming feature. The menu controls don't provide the tweaks to dial the colours in. It's mostly glitter and very little real substance.

Your CX680 didn't have all the bells and whistles, but it does a credible job of producing a fairly accurate picture.

Thanks Lucid. I half expected that answer. I bought a 43” Panasonic for my mum a year or so ago and I was surprised at how light it was compared to my 40” one and thought it felt 'cheap'. I’ll put up with the line on my screen and start looking for an OLED tv - within the permissible size allowed by Mrs Mottie! Gotta have Freeview play though as we use that a lot - I can’t stand searching for a programme on catchup apps. I've not done too bad out of it - my mate liked the TV when I bought it and bought one a few weeks after me - his one packed up a couple of years ago.