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Gateway 42" Plasma for $2500 any good?

Plasma is relatively antiquated in terms of flat panel technology. LCDs and the new LCoS technology are suppose to be a vast improvement in picture quality.
 
My friend has a 42" Gateway Plasma, the EDTV version. I personally like it as far as Plasmas go. I'm not a huge fan overall but it looks and performs nice from what I have seen.

- Kevin
 
It's one of the worst plasmas on the market. You have to determine for yourself if that's worth it for $2500.

The Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY uses the best 42"quality ED plasma panel. It has the highest contrast on the market, rated at 4000:1, though real world numbers are lower than that. It starts at $2700 or so.

Computer Online

Edit: Oh yeah, also, these plasmas have a lifespan of 20,000 hours or so. This lifespan measures the time it takes to reach half brightness.

If you watch 4 hours of tv a day, 7 days a week, every single week of the year, year after year, a 20k lifetime means it'll last 13.7 years. If you watch 10 hours a day, every single day, it'll still be 5.5 years away.

You also have to keep in mind, plasmas are EXTREMELY bright, or at least good ones are. At half brightness, they're still much brighter than a tube television set EVER gets.
 
Originally posted by: Apex
It's one of the worst plasmas on the market. You have to determine for yourself if that's worth it for $2500.

The Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY uses the best 42"quality ED plasma panel. It has the highest contrast on the market, rated at 4000:1, though real world numbers are lower than that. It starts at $2700 or so.

Computer Online
Click to expand...


That's a smoking deal.
 
Originally posted by: Apex
It's one of the worst plasmas on the market. You have to determine for yourself if that's worth it for $2500.

The Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY uses the best 42"quality ED plasma panel. It has the highest contrast on the market, rated at 4000:1, though real world numbers are lower than that. It starts at $2700 or so.

Computer Online
Click to expand...

What the hell? That store regularly sells it for $7,999 and now it's on sale for $2,679? 😕

Obviously something is very wrong with this picture...
 
Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
Originally posted by: Apex
It's one of the worst plasmas on the market. You have to determine for yourself if that's worth it for $2500.

The Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY uses the best 42"quality ED plasma panel. It has the highest contrast on the market, rated at 4000:1, though real world numbers are lower than that. It starts at $2700 or so.

Computer Online
Click to expand...


That's a smoking deal.
Click to expand...

That's not a smoking deal. Mine's getting here monday (tomorrow) from Dell, and it costed $2150 or so plus tax. $2700 is a reasonable deal for a great panel.
 
NO, they are VERY susceptible to bun-in on the screen!!!! I know, I used to work for gateway. Our display model had the gateway logo burned into it when the logo showed up on screen for 20 seconds in a two minute demo. Not fun - it's reason enough for me to NEVER buy a plasma TV.

It's a great deal, but if you're not worried about the burn in (all plasmas are susceptible to it), then get it.
 
Also remember that plasma screens have pretty bad burn in problems. For example the CNN scroller will burn in after a few days of usage (not continous).

We install plasma screens where I work... they're not ready for the consumer market in my opinion. We've mostly switched to >40" LCD panels now that they're on the market.
 
Plasma is relatively antiquated in terms of flat panel technology. LCDs and the new LCoS technology are suppose to be a vast improvement in picture quality.
Click to expand...

LCOS has a lot of potential, but LCD does not, in my opinion. LCD isn't exactly new. Big problems are a 'washed out' picture compared to other technologies - poor black levels.

More efficient as far as electricity useage than plasma, but that's about it.

Also, do not believe the 2-3 year life or 'plasma gas leaking out of the TV' crap you hear from Best Buy and Circuit City employees.

And burn-in is an issue for many television technologies - you just need to bring the brightness down to a reasonable level.

I agree about the Panasonic - great unit.

Is that Dell deal still available?
 
No, the gateway plasma is generally considered to be one of the worst. You can get any number of better ones for a few hundred $ more
 
Originally posted by: Apex
It's one of the worst plasmas on the market. You have to determine for yourself if that's worth it for $2500.

The Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY uses the best 42"quality ED plasma panel. It has the highest contrast on the market, rated at 4000:1, though real world numbers are lower than that. It starts at $2700 or so.

Computer Online

Edit: Oh yeah, also, these plasmas have a lifespan of 20,000 hours or so. This lifespan measures the time it takes to reach half brightness.

If you watch 4 hours of tv a day, 7 days a week, every single week of the year, year after year, a 20k lifetime means it'll last 13.7 years. If you watch 10 hours a day, every single day, it'll still be 5.5 years away.

You also have to keep in mind, plasmas are EXTREMELY bright, or at least good ones are. At half brightness, they're still much brighter than a tube television set EVER gets.
Click to expand...


Also if you live at a high altidude it cuts its life span even more.
 
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