Help Me With This Flat Screen

Toxis

There's no way a plasma could look as good as a tube in any way. The problem with Tubes are their weight and size restriction. I would say go RP CRT but no one makes one of quality unless you can find an old Mitsubishi Diamond 55". As for plasma, they are restricted to 720p. I'll take 1080i at 34" (more information on a smaller screen = more detail/clarity). What I see every day while watching people drooling over Plasmas is that they're not actually looking at the picture, they're just impressed how bright the colors are. If you actually stand back and look at the detail of the picture, how 3D it looks, how sharp the lines are, how accurate the colors are, it starts to show that they really are like your 5 year old's kindergarten pictures. Not staying within the lines, crayon like colors but hey, you can see it's a tree so that means it's a good picture.... right? I've calibrated a lot of them and while it helps, it didn't cure it. Plus, I've seen a rash of plasma's come back defective due to weird issues. Problem with the CE market is everyone wants next years better technology cheaper. To do so, everything in it has to be cheaper to build. If you can build it cheaper but up the resolution, it must be better! To many people go off of resolution and contrast ratio to show how good a TV is. Nevermind that Panasonic is not a quality video company who does not use a quality video processor or scaler. They're a good middle of the line company. They make a decent product for cheap and they'll last pretty well. Now why is it the Panasonics can be found EVERYWHERE for dirt cheap but no one ever mentions the Runco or Fujitsu plasmas that are still insanely expensive? You get what you pay for. Even in the last area of the world NOT effected by inflation.

hearingimpared

Toxis wrote:

There's no way a plasma could look as good as a tube in any way. The problem with Tubes are their weight and size restriction. I would say go RP CRT but no one makes one of quality unless you can find an old Mitsubishi Diamond 55". As for plasma, they are restricted to 720p. I'll take 1080i at 34" (more information on a smaller screen = more detail/clarity). What I see every day while watching people drooling over Plasmas is that they're not actually looking at the picture, they're just impressed how bright the colors are. If you actually stand back and look at the detail of the picture, how 3D it looks, how sharp the lines are, how accurate the colors are, it starts to show that they really are like your 5 year old's kindergarten pictures. Not staying within the lines, crayon like colors but hey, you can see it's a tree so that means it's a good picture.... right? I've calibrated a lot of them and while it helps, it didn't cure it. Plus, I've seen a rash of plasma's come back defective due to weird issues. Problem with the CE market is everyone wants next years better technology cheaper. To do so, everything in it has to be cheaper to build. If you can build it cheaper but up the resolution, it must be better! To many people go off of resolution and contrast ratio to show how good a TV is. Nevermind that Panasonic is not a quality video company who does not use a quality video processor or scaler. They're a good middle of the line company. They make a decent product for cheap and they'll last pretty well. Now why is it the Panasonics can be found EVERYWHERE for dirt cheap but no one ever mentions the Runco or Fujitsu plasmas that are still insanely expensive? You get what you pay for. Even in the last area of the world NOT effected by inflation.

Thanks for your feedback.

Holydoc

Toxis wrote:

So maybe you should do better research than reading a Consumer Report in which Panasonic paid a TON of money to get the ratings they did. Thank you drive through.

Toxis,

You were right! Consumer Reports did rate the Panasonic as the best plasma TV in the new March 2007 issue that just hit the streets.

#1 overall Panasonic TH-58PX600U
#1 50" Plasma Panasonic TH-50PX600U
Best Overall 42" Plasma Panasonic 42PX600U

Thanks again.

Rivrrat

As for plasma, they are restricted to 720p. I'll take 1080i at 34"

I have a 50" Philips I bought last year that's rated at 1080i. My Oppo dvd player connected with hdmi recognized it to be 1080i. The latest greatest plasma's are coming out at 1080p now.

What's with the restricted to 720p comment. Is there something we all need to know?

Toxis

yeah. Just because the TV accepts a 1080i signal doesn't mean it's 1080. They're all 720p sets. Look at the resolution. The second number needs to be 1080 to be able to show 1080 lines of resolution. So a 720p set will accept a 1080i signal and scale it to 720p because that's all the panel can accept. Only analog CRT sets can show a 1080i signal. Fixed pixel sets will always make any incoming signal progressive and whatever resolution the chipset is.

Holydoc

CRT's are not the only sets that can display 1080. CRTs may display 1080i, but Plasma's are now displaying 1080p 1080p being the "Holy Grail" of HD now.

Read more about the difference in the 1080i and 1080p here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6361600-1.html

The TH-65PX600U is the first off the Panasonic line to be true 1080p with resolution of 1920x1080. At CES there were 58", 50" and 42" plasma's with true 1080p display. All are designated with the PZ rather than PX designator. I have not even mentioned the new Pioneer line and Nec line of 1080 sets.

My 50" can accept 1080 and 720 signals as input but will actually scale those inputs to 768 before displaying them. My TV's actual resolution is 1366 x 768.

Rivrrat

interesting.

hearingimpared

Holydoc wrote:

CRT's are not the only sets that can display 1080. CRTs may display 1080i, but Plasma's are now displaying 1080p 1080p being the "Holy Grail" of HD now.

Read more about the difference in the 1080i and 1080p here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6361600-1.html

The TH-65PX600U is the first off the Panasonic line to be true 1080p with resolution of 1920x1080. At CES there were 58", 50" and 42" plasma's with true 1080p display. All are designated with the PZ rather than PX designator. I have not even mentioned the new Pioneer line and Nec line of 1080 sets.

My 50" can accept 1080 and 720 signals as input but will actually scale those inputs to 768 before displaying them. My TV's actual resolution is 1366 x 768.

Thanks for that article, it is very informative. . . I don't feel as intimidated about making a decision now. Costco here we come!~

Rivrrat

So, having said waht I said earlier about Costco's no question return policy, I was thinking maybe my plasma was about to have technical difficulties, until I saw what 50" 1080p plasmas are going for. :eek:

Maybe it'll have technical difficulties in a couple more years instead.

hearingimpared

Rivrrat wrote:

So, having said waht I said earlier about Costco's no question return policy, I was thinking maybe my plasma was about to have technical difficulties, until I saw what 50" 1080p plasmas are going for. :eek:

Maybe it'll have technical difficulties in a couple more years instead.

I looked into Costco and you weren't BSing. That is why I passed on getting the TV from Crutchfield and the extra 60 bucks off the SurroundBar. Sixty bucks is a small sacrifice for Costco's kind of service.

I-SIG

I've just got to ask:

Toxis, why should we believe you anymore than we should believe Consumer Reports, "fill-in-the-blank" Magazine, or what our own eyes tell us at the store, especially when you seem to be on some crusade and are brow-beating us like a Baptist preacher on the subject?

Hell, even LusH likes the Panny's and that guy seems like he'd send back 2-50lb sacks of $100 bills when he ordered a single 100lb sack! :eek:

To be upfront, yes I do have a horse in this race. If you've been paying attention, you know which one it is. Either way, I think I ask a fairly objective question.

Wes

Rivrrat

I've been giving this a lot of thought. We're all a bunch of techno/electronic geeks, or we wouldn't be here in the first place, but money does count, some can afford to have better, some can't. I know from personal experience (I install hi tech telco eq), that I can argue for hours over the merits of DSL over cable, and the merits of various manufacturers platforms, but if you're happy does it matter? I have firends that run HD on their rear projections that come over to my house and look at my 50" pasma at SD that claim my pic is as good, if not bettert than theirs, and why would I even bother with HD. I don't know, but I will go HD, there hasn't been enough programming to make it an issue, but I'm going to pull the trigger soon.

IF money was no object, I wouldn't have a Philips plasma, I'd have a Pioneer or an LG, or a Zenith. But in my room, when it got all set up, I'm very happy. The point is, get what you can afford, and be happy with it. As we all know upgrades are going to happen down the road when the time is right.