TV Audio
 

My parents have recently (month ago) brought a new Panasonic 42" plasma TV (TH-42PZ80B) and the sound it gives out is quite frankly poor and when we watch DVD's the sound echo's, so I have let them borrow my Creative Inspire 5700 Digital 5.1 speakers (one with the box) to rectify this on a temporary basis.

I suggested to them perhaps get a home cinema system like this Panasonic SC-PT860 DVD Home Cinema System - John Lewis although it does not have to be panasonic. or get a system that we can use all the time for watch TV's and something that will work when watching films (5.1) but I am unsure what to get to buy and I am not really an area I know a lot about.

can someone give shed some light info an what would be ideal for us.

Many thanks.

P.S. I have looked on AV forums and it was like jumping into the deep end at a swimming pool if I could not swim.

Have you checked the setup in the audio menu on the panasonic ? If the sound 'echoes' they might have the 'spatial' setting enabled (or whatever they call the fake surround these days)

I have played around with the sound and its still the same :(

There might be a problem with the telly then. Unless the room they're in is quite bare and has bad ecoustics.

Is the TV the only speakers it's running though? (before yours were added)

Yes, Carl.
The sound for watching TV (bbc1, bbc2, itv1...plus digital chanels) is is fine, but when we watch DVD's the sound changes and becomes echoey. When watching videos through the VCR they are fine.

Have you tried connecting a different DVD player to the TV to see if it's actually the DVD player producing poor sound?

It sounds like the DVD player is at fault.
Make sure all the connections are ok between the dvd player and TV. Try a different lead if possible to rule that out.
See if there's any menu settings that can be changed.

I'd go for a budget receiver such as THIS and a 5.1 package from the likes of Tannoy, Mordaunt Short or KEF. Connect the DVD to the AV receiver via HDMI, and then the AV receiver via HDMI to the TV. Use Richer's £2/m speaker cable too to keep the quality, and get your HDMI cables from HERE for a couple of quid each (there is NO NEED to buy expensive digital cabling, only analogue cable needs quality).

Some Pana TV's have individual settings for the tuner and AV inputs, just check that the settings on the menu are correct when actually playing the DVD, also check on the menu on the DVD player as some machines have audio options for the player itself ie. SRS sound, 3D spatialiser and all the other b*ll**ks names for messing about with the sound. It seems unlikely that the TV is faulty if the sound is fine on other sources ?

Going 5.1 may not cure your problem if the DVD player is faulty. Try connecting it to the tv via an optical cable if it has the facilities.

Thank you for that info. it was kind of the reply I kinda wanted. So thanks

Its not what you know, its who you know. I have just had a play with the settings on the TV and DVD whilst watching NT2 and in the system menu for the DVD player, under reverb mode, it was on movie setting. Turned it off and hay presto. The echo has gone.

But the sound is good, but could be better, more powerful and warm rather than hash and cold. So thats why I suggested getting something like 'corradoboy' said.

Glad you got it sorted, if you want to improve the sound I suppose it depends on how keen your parents are on extra speakers,wires and boxes. If you just want to improve on the sound of the small speakers built into the TV, just check whether it has external speaker outputs and if it does connect a cheapish pair of 'bookshelf' speakers, you would be suprised at the improvement.

This is the spec for the TV: Panasonic - ideas for life - Specification

and by the looks of it I am not sure you can connect up additional speakers like you say?

I thought for a moment that the set was in the bathroom!

Les :)

NO, there are no additional speaker outputs and no digital output to an external amp.

There's usual an audio output on the SCART socket - that's what I use to get TV sound into my A/V amp.

As 5.1? or just stereo

Just stereo. You only get 5.1 via satellite, in which case there will be a digital audio output on your satellite receiver.

Rear panel of a Panasonic TH42PZ80.....

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/image/hdtv...onnections.jpg

I see a pair of analogue audio out phono's which will let you connect an amp. Any decent AV amp will use the embedded NICAM matrix to extract reasonable surround sound using either Dolby Pro Logic II or DTS Neo 6. I have my Pana connected to the TV like this so I can use the surround with just the TV and it's fine. When viewing stuff from my Sony DVD/HDD/FV unit it is connected via HDMI so any digital surround signal is then used.

That's wierd.

The Pani's spec lists:

Audio Output: Headphone jack (1 front)
Digital Audio: Output n/a
Headphone Output: n/a

But then again... It also says THIS

Full HD: n/a
HD-ready: n/a

Good for an HD TV lol