42" Plasma

[mercturbo]

  Mondie said:

Hi Rob,

l guess you would have seen my thread on buying a plasma a little while back? Anyhow, my 2 cents worth.

If you want the best bar none, buy a Fujitsu.

Value for money, NEC.

The best warranty combined with a great screen and asthetics, then Pioneer.

l was keen on the Pana but your correct, it doesnt have DVI/HDMI. There are updates on these coming in the next 4-6 weeks that do so they may be an option if you are not in a hurry.

If you havent already, checkout the DBA forums (www.dvtforum.info) there are a lot of tools there but some good info. been a while since l vistied, but the occasional used Plasma does come up for sale.

l ended up buying a 3 week old Pioneer Plasma off ebay and have been very happy with it 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Top stuff gents, thanks yeh Simon you got great info on your thead, thought I'd run one of my own, such helpful informative advice here, top blokes, after giving my local HN dealer the sh*ts this arvo viewing and connecting various plasmas and cables STB's DVI dvd players, one Toshiba "personal HD video recorder" which records actual HDTV to its 160GB hard drive and has HDMI output, I connected this PVR to the Phillips "Ambi light" 42" HD plasma via the HDMI connection and saw the best most beautiful picture by far of the lot including the Pioneer and Pana, this combination has to be seen to be believed and I cant get it off my mind, only trouble $6.5k the lot inc a high quality HDMI cable. The Phillips and its "pixel plus" technology have a hell of a picture when fed a decent signal, just need a nice dealer who will give it to me for around my budget.

Cheers and thanks

Rob

[axr-jet]

  crisso said:

  Geeseman said:

Make sure you get a 1024X768 panel either Panasonic or NEC.

I concur, we bought a 42" NEC, cannot fault it, pic quality superb! Was a little over your budget, but that was about a year ago...shop around for a good deal.

crisso

I also have a 42" NEC paided $800 :o fell off the back of a truck.Great plasmavision would highly reccomend!! Thinking of selling it. :o

[jetute]

  bugster70 said:

  SIXRT said:

I just bought a 42" LG LCD panel instead as I found the resolution and picture quality was much better.

Sigh, I would LOVE a plasma screen, but the wife says no. Having said that, if I were to buy one, I'd opt for the LG too, mainly 'cos it's an outstanding price (now under $3K!!) and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it.

Sorry Rob, I know that ain't much help if you're looking in the $5K bracket. I'm just envious. :o

The LCD actually retails for around $9000... but your right... you can now get plasmas for around $3000

[jetute]

I tried to bid for one (42" plasma) on ebay.... a no name brand with, I think Hitachi or samsung bits in it??? went for $1997. I didnt get, too tight to pay that much

[Dagabond]

  axr-jet said:

  crisso said:

  Geeseman said:

Make sure you get a 1024X768 panel either Panasonic or NEC.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I concur, we bought a 42" NEC, cannot fault it, pic quality superb! Was a little over your budget, but that was about a year ago...shop around for a good deal.

crisso

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I also have a 42" NEC paided $800 :o fell off the back of a truck.Great plasmavision would highly reccomend!! Thinking of selling it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:o $850.......

[Geeseman]

  Turbofalke said:

  Geeseman said:

Make sure you get a 1024X768 panel either Panasonic or NEC.

Im not specifically commenting on the panel above, but 1024X1024 panels are actually 1024X512 pixels in progressive mode. They are ALIS panels and provide an inferior interlaced image to normal progressive panels.

Not too sure why you think this, but as I understand it unless your panel's got 1920x1080 lines of resolution then you strickly dont have a HDTV. that's why manufacturers use "Progressive Scan" which is essentially is "line doubling" to eliminate the distracting black scan lines increasing the appearance of brightness.

Since all manufacturers use software to do this, it comes down to who has the best electronics and software.

Hi There,

ALIS panels draw 1024 X 512 pixels at 50hz PAL or 60hz NTSC.

Progressive panels draw 1024X768 pixels at 60hz pal or 60hz NTSC.

The effect of this is that the ALIS panels image can never be as clear as the progressive panel. ALIS takes the image, interlaces it and then displays it just like a conventional TV. Progressive panels take the image, make it progressive and then display (often doublling lines).

The difference between the two is not as pronounced when displaying normal interlaced TV signals, but when you use HD signals (non interlaced) the difference is quite noticable.

ALIS panels are supposed to be way cheape than normal progressive panels so if you buy one make sure it is cheap.

[DallasQLD]

I have the new LG 50" with Hi Def tuner built in. Its great.

[mercturbo]

Top advice thanks. For anyone that's interested, after spending around 12 hours at various shops I ended up being able to compare Pioneer 43 inch HD, Pana 42" Viera, and the Phillips 42" Ambilight HD pf9966 side by side with the latest Toshiba dual hd tuner/160gb HDD STB/PVR with HDMI output. The Pioneer and Phillips both had the HDMI inputs and thus the Pana was disadvantaged from the start, as it had no digital input. The results suprised me, the Phillips had simply the better picture quality than both the others in all digital tv modes and channels tested, on all types of programmes. The sales guy tried everything to disprove what we were both seeing and improve the Pioneer to match the Phillips to no avail even going to analog connections, component etc but the Phillips was just better. The HDMI Toshiba produced amazing pictures and was simply stunning on the Phillips, and very nice on the Pioneer. In the end I got the Phillips Plasma, the Toshiba STB as above and a Phillips DVD recorder with Ilink and a High quality HDMI cable for $5.8k. The Pionner was going to be around $1000 dearer and with no recorder.

[Dagabond]

  Dagabond said:

  axr-jet said:

  crisso said:

  Geeseman said:

Make sure you get a 1024X768 panel either Panasonic or NEC.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I concur, we bought a 42" NEC, cannot fault it, pic quality superb! Was a little over your budget, but that was about a year ago...shop around for a good deal.

crisso

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I also have a 42" NEC paided $800 fell off the back of a truck.Great plasmavision would highly reccomend!! Thinking of selling it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

$850.......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that's amusing.......... I just paid 4000k for one of these with stand and speakers plus an LG HD set top box thrown in for good measure.

[Cro]

  bugster70 said:

  SIXRT said:

I just bought a 42" LG LCD panel instead as I found the resolution and picture quality was much better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sigh, I would LOVE a plasma screen, but the wife says no. Having said that, if I were to buy one, I'd opt for the LG too, mainly 'cos it's an outstanding price (now under $3K!!) and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it.

Sorry Rob, I know that ain't much help if you're looking in the $5K bracket. I'm just envious.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Re-arrange the TV room so the couch is 20cm from the TV with no room for a coffee table. Perfect opportunity to get a wall mounted plasma

Mercturbo,

Due to a massive lack of space (no there was nothing that could be done about it) we got a 42" LG Plasma. It's one of the older ones (over a year and a half ago) and at the time it cost $6500, but I snapped it up for $5500. Top TV no burnt pixels yet and the contrast is awesome.

Take Geesemans advice on the resolution though, one thing I didn't think about at the time and now I'm regretting it.