Is it safe to buy plasmas these days?

Tifababy

Senior member
Feb 5, 2001
654
1
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No, the half life of plasmas is somewhere around 10 years I believe. Which means they will be half as bright in 10 years. DLPs have bulbs which can burn out in 3-4 years. I'm not sure of any drawbacks of LCDs right now, other than screen door effect.
 
Apr 17, 2003
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Originally posted by: Tifababy
No, the half life of plasmas is somewhere around 10 years I believe. Which means they will be half as bright in 10 years. DLPs have bulbs which can burn out in 3-4 years. I'm not sure of any drawbacks of LCDs right now, other than screen door effect.

i dont plan on keeping the tv for more than 10 years...

prolly not even more than 5.
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.
 

LS20

Banned
Jan 22, 2002
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while they wont display HD, as defined, pixel for pixel.. theyll take in HD and rescale... all that matters is the end picture and they look awesome. a good quality 1024x768 plasma will look superior to a cheap hdtv with "true" hd resolution
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,855
355
136
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169
 

ScottFern

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
3,629
2
76
Originally posted by: Chunkee
eye cancer

Yup, seems like a pandemic these days.

I would even argue depending on how much TV you watch that it might last longer than 10 years.
 

KaChow

Senior member
Nov 21, 2006
219
0
71
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169

I have that model of Panasonic and I will say that it's beautiful.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Plasmas are the best display choice out there. Very safe. Most of them move the image around slightly. Plus you don't generally want to run a TV at full blast contrast - it's just way too bright and sacrifices picture quality.

Make sure you get a 1080p one for real HD resolution.
 

Tifababy

Senior member
Feb 5, 2001
654
1
81
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169

EDTV is something like 852x480, so it's able to display 480p dvds, but has to scale down HDTV feeds. 1024x768, is kind of considered hdtv, since it can display the 720 lines for 720p, but it can't display the 1280 horizontal pixels, 1024x768 is either a 4:3 display or it has rectangle pixels (not ideal) instead of square.
 

LS20

Banned
Jan 22, 2002
5,858
0
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Originally posted by: RossMAN

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

ed is 480 or 576 lines... so usually 720x480 or 852x576 or thereabouts
 

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
162
106
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169

Actually the EDTV resolution is generally 852x480. The Panasonic that you list has 1024x768. That seems to be the commong HD resultion for 42" Plasmas. For 42" LCD TV's, the usual resolution for 42" displays is 1366x768.

That Panasonic will also be at Best Buy on Black Friday. They have a couple of BF deals that they are only listing on the web.

linkie ...EDIT: sorry, didn't notice your second link for that item
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
15,993
14
81
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

The problem with buying a 42" HD plasma is that it has a fvcked up res (normally 1024x768). How is that 16:10 or 16:9? It sure isn't a full 720p res (1280x720). I'd either recommend an EDTV plasma 42" (GREAT for viewing SD TV and DVD movies), OR something larger (50"+). If you HAVE to have a 42" plasma AND want it to be HD, go for it, but that res irritates me. :|

As far as burn in, don't worry about it. Check out avsforum on plasma break in guidelines and you'll be just fine.
 

LS20

Banned
Jan 22, 2002
5,858
0
0
Originally posted by: JackBurton


The problem with buying a 42" HD plasma is that it has a fvcked up res (normally 1024x768). How is that 16:10 or 16:9? It sure isn't a full 720p res (1280x720). I'd either recommend an EDTV plasma 42" (GREAT for viewing SD TV and DVD movies), OR something larger (50"+). If you HAVE to have a 42" plasma AND want it to be HD, go for it, but that res irritates me. :|

As far as burn it, don't worry about it. Check out avsforum on plasma break in guidelines and you'll be just fine.

16x9 via non-square/round pixels. seems f'ed up.. but as long as the scaler and processing of the tv is good, the end result is good. ends > means. sdtv looks good for me
 

brandonbull

Diamond Member
May 3, 2005
6,362
1,219
126
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169

Where the hell is this 10% coupon?

 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: Tifababy
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: RossMAN
What size and $ are you looking at?

42 incher

I would be very careful in buying a Plasma TV in that size range. Many are low resolution...some of them aren't even HD.

Yeah you want to avoid EDTV resolutions which I think is 1024x768

What if you could buy this Panasonic 42" Plasma for only $999?

I hope you have warm clothes, comfortable shoes and a foldable chair :thumbsup:

Or you could order it online today from CircuitCity.com for $1,299 - 10% coupon - free shipping to your home = $1,169

EDTV is something like 852x480, so it's able to display 480p dvds, but has to scale down HDTV feeds. 1024x768, is kind of considered hdtv, since it can display the 720 lines for 720p, but it can't display the 1280 horizontal pixels, 1024x768 is either a 4:3 display or it has rectangle pixels (not ideal) instead of square.

Insert comment about how DVDs are 480i here :p
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
what about the burn in issue guys?

I think as long as you take good care of it for its initial period of usage and get the settings set right, it's not really much of an issue anymore.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
Which plasma are you getting? Vizio from Costco or Panny from Bestbuy? I'm thinking about getting the Vizio from Costco on BF.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
Originally posted by: Tifababy
No, the half life of plasmas is somewhere around 10 years I believe. Which means they will be half as bright in 10 years. DLPs have bulbs which can burn out in 3-4 years. I'm not sure of any drawbacks of LCDs right now, other than screen door effect.

Same light bulb issue with LCDs.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
I'm getting the Panasonic Plasma Ross mentioned above. Looking forward to it.

Plasmas are delicate in their break-in period, which is their first 100 hours of operation. Go easy on the brightness and contrast and you'll be fine. Panasonic says their new gen plasmas aren't any more susceptible to burn-in than traditional tubes were.