Plasma TV question

[vshah]

only 3 manufacturers are avail in india:

Samsung
Panasonic
Phillips

dad & i saw the samsung 42P3 at the store. anyone have any experience/advice on this?

or another forum which would be more helpful?

tia,

-Vivan

 

[DingDingDao]

AVSForum is your friend.

I own a Panasonic 42" HD plasma, and love it. Samsung's panels are good, too. Haven't heard much about Philips.

 

[Ilmater]

Plasma sucks. Overpriced, only last a few years, burn-in is bad (if you play any games on it).... get something else. Buy a really good projector or rear-projection TV or even an LCD.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Plasma sucks. Overpriced, only last a few years, burn-in is bad (if you play any games on it).... get something else. Buy a really good projector or rear-projection TV or even an LCD.

Uh...no, no, and no.

I don't know where you get your info, or if it's just outdated.

1) Overpriced: the price on HD plasmas has been coming down in last few years. While it is still quite expensive, it is comparable in price to equivalent LCDs. EDIT: A 43" DLP projection TV averages close to $2200.00. A 42" Plasma or a 40" LCD averages around $2300.00.

2) Only last a few years: The plasma half-life (time at which brightness will be 50% original brightness) for current plasmas is around 60,000 hours. This means that if you watched the TV for 6 hours a day, every day, for 10 years, you'd only be at 21900 hours.

3) Burn-in is not really that huge a problem with newer plasmas. I've done some marathon sessions of Far Cry, Doom 3, Xbox, PS2, with no burn-in problems at all. There are people on AVSForum that work at AV stores that have stories about how they ran the plasmas in the store in torch mode with a fixed image for a week straight without burn-in issues.

All of these problems you're describing are things people said like 5 years ago.

EDIT: Read your post again. Where on earth are you going to find a projector that will do HD and still be cheaper than a plasma?

 

[Rufio]

panasonic

 

[woowoo]

Originally posted by: Rufio
panasonic

Yep
They are great

 

[Kelemvor]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com is also your friend.

 

[vshah]

kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Plasma sucks. Overpriced, only last a few years, burn-in is bad (if you play any games on it).... get something else. Buy a really good projector or rear-projection TV or even an LCD.

Uh...no, no, and no.

I don't know where you get your info, or if it's just outdated.

1) Overpriced: the price on HD plasmas has been coming down in last few years. While it is still quite expensive, it is comparable in price to equivalent LCDs. EDIT: A 43" DLP projection TV averages close to $2200.00. A 42" Plasma or a 40" LCD averages around $2300.00.

2) Only last a few years: The plasma half-life (time at which brightness will be 50% original brightness) for current plasmas is around 60,000 hours. This means that if you watched the TV for 6 hours a day, every day, for 10 years, you'd only be at 21900 hours.

3) Burn-in is not really that huge a problem with newer plasmas. I've done some marathon sessions of Far Cry, Doom 3, Xbox, PS2, with no burn-in problems at all. There are people on AVSForum that work at AV stores that have stories about how they ran the plasmas in the store in torch mode with a fixed image for a week straight without burn-in issues.

All of these problems you're describing are things people said like 5 years ago.

EDIT: Read your post again. Where on earth are you going to find a projector that will do HD and still be cheaper than a plasma?

Well I agree somewhat that yes plasma's arent bad like rumors say. However I can't find much in what you said that is correct. A 42" Offbrand EDTV Plasma can cost 2000-2500, however their not HD nor will they hold a candle to higher EDs that are closer to 3K-4K. Halflife isn't quite 60,000 hours, but yes they will last a long time, it will typically be 6-10 years before it gets to half brightness and that is if you use it a decent amount like 6+ hours a day. How many people have a TV over 10 years old anyways?

As for Burn-In.... you can greatly reduce any risk by not leaving the contrast ratio at 100. But a week straight and no burn in? If it was on all the time Im sorry it would burn it, did that turn the contrast down to 10? Then I might see that.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

Correct, the ones that do that low of a resolution are only ED, they will still look nice on a HD signal, but never as good as a HD plasma.

As for which would I pick? Well I dont have a huge urge to have a TV on the wall myself... so for me I would prob have a nice 50" LCD or LCoS TV. Like the JVC-HDILA, or Hitachi's new Cineform LCD Projection, or some of the new DLPs also.

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

Which plasma will do that res? I've yet to see one.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

Which plasma will do that res? I've yet to see one.

It's not a native resolution, but the TV will display it without problems. I think the native resolution on my TV is 1024x768...

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

Which plasma will do that res? I've yet to see one.

It's not a native resolution, but the TV will display it without problems. I think the native resolution on my TV is 1024x768...

Ok that makes more sense. EDs dont look so hot when used with a PC, but the HDs look great.

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

Which plasma will do that res? I've yet to see one.

It's not a native resolution, but the TV will display it without problems. I think the native resolution on my TV is 1024x768...

Ok that makes more sense. EDs dont look so hot when used with a PC, but the HDs look great.

Oh, right, my bad. Forgot to specify that.

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Dulanic

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: vshah
kickasss thanks 🙂

one thing i noticed when looking at specs and such is that the PC input resolutions are low-ish, like ~840x~480 if i recall correctly. doesn't this mean that they can't support higher HD resolutions like 720p/1080i?

also if you had to choose between a 54" rear projection HD set, and a 42" plasma, which would you pick?

-Vivan

No they can...

I have an HTPC hooked up to my plasma and I have it running at 1776x1000 with no problems.

As for picking between a projection HD and a plasma, I would have to say that it really depends on your home theater setup. If it's a small room, the plasma would probably work better. For larger rooms/longer viewing distance, I'd say the projection TV might work better.

Which plasma will do that res? I've yet to see one.

It's not a native resolution, but the TV will display it without problems. I think the native resolution on my TV is 1024x768...

Ok that makes more sense. EDs dont look so hot when used with a PC, but the HDs look great.

Oh, right, my bad. Forgot to specify that.

while i won't be using it with a comp, i will be hooking the xbox up to it. i've been reading the plasma faq over at avsforum and looking around online, and it seems that not many 42" plasma sets support resolutions higher than 480p without downconverting first.

-Vivan

 

[Apex]

No currently produced plasma TV under 50" can fully resolve HD, you need to go to at least 50" for that.

This being said, they still look very good with HD feed.

Of those, the Panasonic is easily the best. The next gen from Samsung do seem to hold some promise, but we have yet to see how they actually compare.

 

[0roo0roo]

get dlp, as the guy above said, most plasma just don't have hd resolution.

 

[Skiguy411]

Wait for OLED....suppose to be the a lot better and cheaper....

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Skiguy411
Wait for OLED....suppose to be the a lot better and cheaper....

That's a long time to wait for a TV. 😉

 

[Skiguy411]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Skiguy411
Wait for OLED....suppose to be the a lot better and cheaper....

That's a long time to wait for a TV. 😉

Really? I thought it was suppose to come out within the next year or 2....

I suppose I could be wrong.....

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Skiguy411

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Skiguy411
Wait for OLED....suppose to be the a lot better and cheaper....

That's a long time to wait for a TV. 😉

Really? I thought it was suppose to come out within the next year or 2....

I suppose I could be wrong.....

Seiko Epson is on the cutting edge of OLED production for home theater, being the first to display a 40" prototype (made with smaller panels put together). They estimate a 2007 launch.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Plasma sucks. Overpriced, only last a few years, burn-in is bad (if you play any games on it).... get something else. Buy a really good projector or rear-projection TV or even an LCD.

Uh...no, no, and no.

I don't know where you get your info, or if it's just outdated.

1) Overpriced: the price on HD plasmas has been coming down in last few years. While it is still quite expensive, it is comparable in price to equivalent LCDs. EDIT: A 43" DLP projection TV averages close to $2200.00. A 42" Plasma or a 40" LCD averages around $2300.00.

2) Only last a few years: The plasma half-life (time at which brightness will be 50% original brightness) for current plasmas is around 60,000 hours. This means that if you watched the TV for 6 hours a day, every day, for 10 years, you'd only be at 21900 hours.

3) Burn-in is not really that huge a problem with newer plasmas. I've done some marathon sessions of Far Cry, Doom 3, Xbox, PS2, with no burn-in problems at all. There are people on AVSForum that work at AV stores that have stories about how they ran the plasmas in the store in torch mode with a fixed image for a week straight without burn-in issues.

All of these problems you're describing are things people said like 5 years ago.

EDIT: Read your post again. Where on earth are you going to find a projector that will do HD and still be cheaper than a plasma?

2) Nobody has owned a plasma that long so nobody can really verify. With most electronics, the numbers greatly decrease once they are overheated or overworked.

3) Since nobody knows if burn in was an issue or not, I doubt any store would risk a $3000 screen just to "see what happens"