The Battle of the $699 Flat Panels! Cast Your Vote!

[TrueKnight]

I'm looking to get a new tv for my new place. Actually, let me rephrase that. I've gotten two tvs for my new place and I need to return one of them (both are still unboxed). Please help me choose the set to keep. Below is the type of usage I will use on the tv.

This is for the living room. It will be wall mounted. I will not have cable tv service or any other paid programming service (i.e. DirecTV, Dish, etc). This tv will only be used to watch movies and maybe some YouTube clips off of a MediaPC. I am not using this tv as a desktop monitor (will only use it to navigate to various websites and to start media player to play video clips). I will watch DVD movies but they will not be BluRay or HDDVD formats (just the standard ones)

Recap:
-No cable tv service or paid subscription service
-Watch DVD movies but not HDDVD or Bluray formats
-Will connect to a MediaPC but not used as a monitor

The two contenders:

Panasonic 42" 720p plasma TH-42PX80U
Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD VK-42F430S

 

[coldmeat]

$699 for the TH-42PX80U?! I really wish I could get it at that price. It's $1100 minimum here in Canada.

 

[BigJ]

If you're not going to us it as a monitor, I'd say the Panasonic. At Thanksgiving I managed to score the 80U's previous revision (75U for about the same price) and use it similarly for the computer. Work's great.

 

[Tiamat]

Not as a computer monitor? get the 720P plasma. Especially if you sit more than 9 feet away from the screen.

 

[Shawn]

Panasonic 42" 720p Plasma

 

[gplracer]

My dad has the Panasonic 42" 720p plasma and it looks great! I am picky too. I still have my ISF calibrated rear projection 65".

 

[Squisher]

I was looking at the Vizio and the Panny at Costco the other day. They were $699 and $799 respectively. They both looked good.



The wife wants a new TV for the bedroom

 

[kRocket]

I read an article that convinced me to buy the Pan TH-42PX80U. It was about repairing it after the 1 year warranty period and about the fact that most brands from discount stores don't work on their machines after 1 year. Panasonic is one of the exceptions. BTW I love my Panny.

 

[sivart]

Really comparing Panny to Westinghouse and then Plasma to LCD with both the brand and plasma going to the Panny.

Resolution is just one part of the picture component. The most import (in my opinion) is contrast ratio and the ability to reproduce faithfully colors. I've had a Westinghouse LCD (notice the past tense) and have friends with the Panny Plasma. The Panny wins easy.

Oh, by the way, I have a 42" Plasma in my living room. It is used to watch over the air TV (HDTV), to watch movies, and I have an HTPC hooked up to it which I used to record OTA TV, watch hulu (and the like) and stream media from my NAS box.

It works great and I love it.

 

[hans030390]

There's a 42" 1080p Dynex LCD at Best Buy for that $650. There's a huge thread in the AVS forums about it, the DX-LCD42HD-09 model. Tons of people are extremely impressed by it.

My friend just picked one up, and after you calibrate it, it really does look fantastic. Thankfully, there are near perfect calibration settings in the same AVS thread.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

Bah to these choices.

Toshiba REGZA 42". Got it at newegg for $799 tax free & shipped free. Looked better by leaps than anything I saw (but maybe I didn't see everything). Spend the extra $100 and get something that will last 3+ years. 1080p is the shiz and watching antenna HD via rabbit ears still looks delicious (I dont pay for cable either)

Can you say SPURS games in HD? Oh yes, I want to see sweat droplets FOR FREE.