Plasma TV

A friend of mine (I wish it were me) is going the Home Theatre route. I told him about this forum but not by name (he's a pc novice) and the resources available here.

Is the any consensus on who makes (and what model) the best plasma tv?

His budget for the whole system is $10K but he's willing to go up a bit to get better quality.

Any reliable web pages/reviews on plasma tv?

Thanks,
mud-

 

Hi,

Me thinks it's a little early to be buying plasma..... more bang for the buck elsewhere. As the technology ages, plasma will come down substantially in price and probably improve in quality.

I've always liked audioreview.com and audio asylum for getting reviews on new A/V equipment.

-Jeffrey

 

Thanks guys. That's what I need to tell him.


What is the preferred type of big screen these days? I am really out of touch with this topic. Is it the HDTVs I see in places like Best Buy?

I have always had a bias against the projection tvs. Am I wrong on that?

mud-

 

Hi,

IMO, video is progressing just like audio..... many choices, many new formats, and good luck figuring out which will survive. Geez.... remember the good ole' daze when the only decision was beta or VHS?

This subject is highly debatable. I have always preferred the clarity of a tube and feel that a 32-40 inch tube is plenty of screen in the average size room. The Sony 36" XBR is an excellent tube and a great fit for the average room. If your friend has a very large room, then HDTV projection units are much better quality than they used to be BUT they still have issues as compared to a nice tube.

-Jeffrey

 

Hey King of Mud,

If your friend wants to spend his budget and have a more unique toy.... he may wanna check out a Loewe Xelos. Excellent tubes from the other side of the pond.

-Jeffrey

 

Hi Jeffrey, I'm a tube man myself. I bought the last 40" Mitsubishi in my area. Unfortunately, Mit stopped making tubes and put all it's efforts into the plasma game.

mud-

 

If you'd like to explore more of the pros and cons of plasma, or the various other types of display devices, including tubes and front/rear projection, I would highly suggest taking a look at www.avsforum.com and browsing some of their boards.

 

For What it 's Worth

I love my Pioneer Elite 64" rear projection Hi Def. I have had people tell me it's the best picture they have ever seen. It was seven large but that was two years ago.

Cheers!
Norm

 

Locally their advertising a 42" Panasonic plasma tv for under $5K now. So their starting to get in the affordable range.

 

Gentlemen,

The absolute best picture IMHO is the Sony Wega XBR Trinitron hands down and plasma's not even close to this kind of picture quality. The 3D aspects of the picture are incredible! I'm not sure what the largest available is though.

 

Some of the plazma screens are quite nice, but even for computing I tend to want to go tube even if the price WAS right. The plazma screens are a bit too slow.

If I get another TV soon, I'm going to lean twords tube because of preference, but in only special situations would I want to use plazma.

 

danstone, thanks for the link to that site. They talk home theatre over there just as we talk music. Great site for that....

mud-

 

I just recieved a gateway flyer for a Plasma 42" for $2999!!!!!!

 

That Gateway unit is not HDTV by a long shot. It is ok for NTSC and DVD.

Richard.

 

The Gateway unit is not a good unit period. It's designed around this price point with no care at to quality of picture. There are many other unit's in that size that are not that much more, if you shop smart, that offer far superior picture. The bottom line with a plasma unit, vs other technology is that it really is a lifestyle choice. The other display technologies generally aren't going to have something that thin, that can hang on a wall, be accepted by significant others, and be that large. So if the lifestyle point is important, then you do your investigation and get the best unit for your budget. Best meaning the one that has the best picture.

 

But that's true of rear-projection TVs too (regular and bigscreen)

What I've read is that plasma TVs still don't handle black/grey values as well as
a good rear-projection TV. But they're gettting better all the time.

(But 10 grand won't get the guy anything bigger than a 42" plasma, yet).

 

well, a '`projection' TV arguably incoludes any cathode-ray tube TV (like the ones we're used to), as well as rear-projection,
as well as the 'front projections' units that appeared in the last decade or two.

REgarding big screen TVs -- I did soem research and ended up going with a relatively modest Mitsubishi widescreen TV for my first one. Cost about $2K.

Front-projection units are extremely expensive -- $10K and up, not counting the screen.

HDTV is a high-resolution format; most new big screen TVs are at least HDTV *ready* -- which means you can *add* an HDTV receiver to them later. The more pricey ones alreayd include an HDTV receiver.

How much HDTV broadcasting you can receive depends on where you live, though. It's not like getting an HDTV receiver will make *all* shows look 'High definition" ; only those that were broadcast in HDTV will benefit. And only if the stations near you and propagate the HDTV signal correctly.

NB along these lines that for 'regular' TV, a bigscreen picture often looks *worse* than a table-top TV. The mediocre quality of most broadcast signal really shows up on them. However, they're great for movies on DVD.

 

HDTV

While it is indeed true that there's not a lot of Hi Def broadcasting on television it is the wave of the future and there's more coming soon.
I have been loving watching football games in Hi Def and there is a Hi Def HBO channel. Also there is a channel called HD Net that's incredible. They show a lot of re-runs of the Olympics and stuff but the picture in beyond belief and they have concerts sometimes. I believe it's owned by the guy who owns the Dallas Mavs

Peace
Norm

 

Norm, curiosity question.

When you go from HDTV to regular does it take awhile to adjust the old eyes? I have a "similar" situation.

I have cable (they make me to get a cable modem connection) and DirecTv.

Everytime I watch a little cable (like during a rainstorm) I really appreciate DirecTv.



mud-

 

I'll second Jeffery's recommendation to check out the Loewe line of televisions. Compared to any of the Sony's, it's NO contest. The Loewe's come out of the factory set closer to ISF standards than any TV out there. FWIW, the biggest XBR is 40" 4x3 set. The main Loewe sets are 30" and 38", both 16x9.

Not true. You can get several 50" plasmas for under 10K including the excellent Fujitsu PDS-5004 (handles blacks better than many tubes) and models from Sharp and Pioneer that are nice.

 

My favorite source for such info (the info being all I can afford) is The Perfect Vision, the Absolute Sound's sister publication. Check out www.theperfectvision.com also. Right now, rear screen CRT projectors are looking better than they ever have, and they're more affordable than ever, as well. WHen my current 32" TV dies, that'd probably be my choice.

 

I thought all of Mitsubishi's HD RPTVs were going to TI's DLP system (where burn-in is not a problem), not LCD based plasma.

BTW, plasma is much more susceptible to burn-in than tubes. And, as always, you need turn the insanely adjusted contrast down once you get a new set home - unless you buy from a decent HT shop that can calibrate for you.

Joel

 

That's not correct. You can get an excellent 50inch Pioneer or Panasonic plasma for under $8,000.00. Depending on the exact place you get it and time, etc. significantly under that amount.

As far as the black level are concerned that is generally true. However, the Panasonic properly calibrated come awfullllly close. On the other hand a lot of people who have plasmas use them in extremely bright, lit, etc. areas, where as the black level issue is not as noticeable. In a lit room the increased brightness and lower reflection off the screen is going to win over a rear projection TV.

 

Eyes Have It

Mud:
Never had that "eye" adjustment you mentioned. Sometimes I have to play with the picture to get the scores of the ballgames to appear across the top of my screen though. I love to watch sports with the sound off and listen to music. I too have DirecTV and the cable modem since I can't yet get DSL at home but I didn't have to get cable TV here. I also have an antenna on my roof which kicks butt. It was in the attic but that wasn't cutting it so on the roof it went. Those old home owners covenents about no roof antennas are illegal now I believe as the result of some type of freedom to easy access to the airwaves litigation or something.
Happy viewing y'all
Norm