Plasma TV, what brand...

[Go Aweigh2452]

OK, we plan to bite the bullet after Christmas and have decided to go with a Plasma TV but am still looking at different brand names. So, I would like some input. We decided on the Plasma verses the LCD due to possible placement in our family room and the angles we would watch it from. Plasma gives us a few more degrees of angle to work with. Weight is not an issue. I can either hang it above the fireplace or on a TV stand the 150# 37 inch TV currently sits.

So, what brand? We are thinking of 50 to 52+ inch size wise...

 

[Uplate]

Probably Pioneer would be my first pick and Panasonic #2. I have both as well as a Sony and the Pioneer appears best to me.

Keep in mind that while a Plasma has a slightly better picture (especially the blacks) the have shiny screens with possible unwanted reflections in brightly lit rooms. LCD's are better for that type of environment.

 

[First Born]

The easy answer is to tell you Sony but check out Vizio LCD's as well. I have always bought Sony Wega TVs and when we went to get a LCD we decided to go with Vizio and the picture is incredible. Saved alot of money too. We got ours from Costco.

Personally I would buy an LCD over plasma. Also make sure you go ahead and spend the $80 on the monster HDMI cable. I have never understood why people skip that step.

Wesley

 

[BRBSTA]

Buy it from Costco or Sams club you will have a 90 day no questions asked return policy. What ever you decide on you can try it and return if you are not satisfied.
My opinion is the Samsung 50 inch 500/600 series are very reasonable 700/800 series are their latest and greatest but pricey

brb

 

[Larry&Leisa]

+1 on the Vizio. I have 3 of them now in various sizes and up to 4 years old.

 

[douglee25]

Look at Samsung. I would say Samsung is right behind Pioneer in terms of quality and picture. If you're looking for good advice, register at www.avsforum.com They will point you to the right direction.

Doug

 

[Summerwind]

Plasma is compared to Beta as LCD is compared to VHS.

 

[douglee25]

Plasma is compared to Beta as LCD is compared to VHS.

Lol. Where did you come up with that one? :smt043

Doug

 

[Westie]

Plasma is compared to Beta as LCD is compared to VHS.

While beta was a tecnically better product than VHS, VHS won the marketing war.
Beta was used for many years in the commercial area because of the better quality of picture.

 

[fc3]

Do some research and think twice.

In general plasma screens:
Are brigter
Better color rendition
Better color saturation
Wider color gamut
Sharper picture without a screen door effect
Have been know to suffer burn-in
Less expensive to make in larger sizes
CRT like responsiveness to quickly changing images

LCD generally are
Expensive to manufacture in larger sizes
Suffer from dead pixels
May have slow response to quickly changing images
Do not suffer from burn-in issues
Rugged
Long life

Generally, you get better imaging from a plasma screen. It's as close to a CRT as you can get and CRTs still give the best image quality. Both Plasma screens, like CRTs did have a burn-in problem. I do not know if this still is true. However, you probably do not want to use a plasma for your Ninnytendo. On the other hand, LCDs are very solid. Last large screen I bought was 4 years ago. Back then plasmas burned in and the few larger LCDs were awful. Shop carefully. These things are very new with little track record. Thousands of dollars is a lot of money just for a !$# TV.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[Weave]

Frank makes some great points.....If you are dead set on a plasma that usually has a shorter life than an LCD, I would look at the Pioneer Kuro line. They are said to be the only ones keeping top notch plasma standards and keeping plasma demand alive.
As others mentioned, Samsung is a solid performer.
I am looking at the same size televisions as well. Research and comparisons I have done show that Samsung TOC (red bezel) LCD is best bang for the buck. It compares to the Sony Bravia XBR only a bit cheaper.
If you do consider an LCD, pay specific attention to the contrast ratio and secondly the refresh rate. I guess it depends on how critical of a viewr you are. Plasmas tend to offer more screen glare so while you like the viewing angles you may not be able to realize the benefit due to the glare.
Many newer LCD's like the Sony and Samsung have really decent angles.
Check out cnet.com for reviews also
Just my 2 cents

 

[Robski97]

Price no object. 52" PLASMA Fujitsu ... Truly breathtaking

Rob

 

[wingless]

The Panasonic TH-42PZ80U VIERA plasma is our first HD and first flat screen. This has their anti-reflective filter.

This is an excellent TV, made even better 'cause I won it at Kareoke at the company Christmas party. I wasn't gonna go up, 'cept the wife to me to do it and told me to win. What was I gonna do?

The down-side is now everyone's calling me Wild Thing. And, I gotta share the remote...

 

[fc3]

Sharp Aquos LCDs are also supposed to be very good. Sharp is investing fantastic sums into their LCD manufacturing technology. They are one of the LCD standard bearers and therefore worth a look.

 

[douglee25]

If you are worried about Plasma burn in, there is a copy of a plasma burn in CD that you can run on your DVD player (search for it on avsforum). One of the best things you can do with your plasma is turn down the brightness when you use it for say the first 100 hours.

Doug

 

[Weave]

FWIW, two of the big box stores told me that Sharp has fallen off heavily on their quality. That is what has allowed Samsung to gain so much marketshare.
Not agreeing or disagreeing just passing along.
Wwhatever you buy, it is probably worth the extra money to have it calibrated

 

[Banagy]

I have three Pansonic plasma 42" that I have purchased from Costco. Two at home and one at the cottage. Consumer Report had them rated best buy and best t.v. the previous two years. So far no problems with any of them and Costco has a two year warranty. Mu8st have the proper cable to get the best picture.

 

[uraldyx]

I have had the Panasonic TH-42PX50U Plasma TV for over 3 years now and currently looking at another one, just a 1080p. My initial research had 'burn in' and longevity as the only issues. As far as 'burn in' goes, we have watched many movies that are in the the ratio or 2.35:1 putting black bars on top and bottom of the tv. We also have played Nintendo Wii on it for the last year. We have not had any issues with 'burn in'.

As for longevity, the reviews stated that the tv would have gone to half brightness after certain period of time. When I looked into this, the specs stated it was something like the 60,000 hours of use before it would become 'half bright'. By my calculations that was almost 7 years at 24 hours a day. Our TV is on a lot, but not that much. The only one I could find that was better all around was the Pioneer, however it came with a great deal higher price.

Since then, I have had several friends buy Samsung, Sony and Panasonics LCD's and Plasmas. I have not found a better picture than the Panasonic Plasma TV's other than the Pioneer.

One thing that sold me on mine was that it had the best reviews for non High Def signals. As there are many more High Def channels now then when I bought mine, many channels are still not in High Def. Also not all the TV's in the stores are properly calibrated, so they may look different once in the house. Now I am done rambling.

 

[Presentation]

My tips:

Spend some time looking at the TV with it turned off. This will force you to look at the rest of the TV. Ask yourself if it looks good or ugly. Just my opinion, some of the TV’s mentioned above are ugly however beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

If you are going to punch a hole in the wall to run cables, pull a piece of ENT or ‘smurf tubing’ or other conduit. The cables do change from time to time so you are better off having the ability to pull the old and in with the new.

This may all go wireless soon so other then power you may not need any other cables in a few years. This exists today but there is presently no standard that syncs video with sound. This means you get the effect of watching a Japanese movie that has been translated. The movement on people’s lips do not match the sound. It’s very annoying. A developing technology will fix this but….it’s not combatable with the blue-ray formatting nor HDMI cables so it will be years until this becomes available.

.....Also make sure you go ahead and spend the $80 on the monster HDMI cable. I have never understood why people skip that step.....

When it comes to HDMI cables, I have two tips.

#1) Make sure you get a HDMI cable that is version 1.3. If you don’t and you buy newer electronics like a blue ray player you will be watching your show at, gulp….480, not 1080. Older HDMI cables have the ability to process the higher definition signal but the 1.3 standard will prevent you from ripping (copying) the movies. So the newer technologies like blue ray players will only put out 1080 if they detect the coding of 1.3 in the cable.

#2) CNET has done a lot of testing, from picture quality to durability and they can not tell the difference between an expensive HDMI 1.3 cable and one form Amazon for under six bucks.

Don’t spend over $6 for a HDMI cable. Get them at places like Amazon.com OK, you may have to spend an additional $4 (or less) for shipping. Heck, at under $6, buy a few, you will likely upgrade other electronics then you will have the cables. Don’t go too crazy buying extra cables, there is already non-compatible new standard in development so even a HDMI 1.3 will at best be around for only a few years.

 

[Groucho]

Samsung makes the LCD screens for many high end brands. I have 4 of them and think they are very good. Contrast ratio is important..the more..(like 15,000/1) is better. If thickness is not an issue...take a peek at the rear LCD projection.