TV for blu-ray Movies and PS3 nothing else

[Glavinsolo]

• I'm looking for a TV that is 46" or more and will be used solely for ps3 and blu-ray. There will be no cable/sat hooked to it.
  
  TV will be 8-9ft away
  
  PS3 with blu-ray will be the only thing attached.
  
  I'm interested in black-blacks, fast action scenes where you can't see the previous frames... 120hz i guess, great looking video games
  
  480hz if a plasma I assume
  
  What is this 24p? do I need it to watch flawless movies?
  
  I have a 27" crt and a ps3 at the moment.
  
  I do not want buyer's remorse, the tv market changes so rapidly I want to be confident in the purchase.
  
  This set will need to last a minimum of 5years.
  
  Low energy usage
  
  non-dlp, viewing angles, we have an L-shaped couch

I've decided between the Panasonic Plasma th50pz85u or th50pz800u a difference of $500-600. I now need to talk myself out of the 800u.
+800u is THX certified - do I need this for future proof movie watching
+800u has 24p - people complain of some flicker?
+800u has an attractive all glass bezel

Both have Deep color
Both have nearly the same level of blacks
Both are 50"
Both are 1080p
Both have 100,000hrs operating life

 

[cmdrdredd]

The quality of the new Panasonic Viera Plasma sets with 480hz absolutely blows the current LCDs out of the water IMO. It's amazingly clear for motion, sports, and pretty much anything. IR is a thing of the past with the new technology used in plasma sets. The Panasinic sets have a anti-reflective coating which helps eliminate glare that plagues old plasma sets. The downside is the thing will be heavy. I think it's worth it to go with a Plasma from a Visual standpoint.

Best Buy has the 46" set on sale for $999 but they are extremely low availability. You might be able to do 50" at 8 feet but I'd say 10-12' is better for that size, but that's just what my eyes tell me. The 50" 1080p panasonic 480hz Plasma is about $1600 or so. 42" is surprisingly $1100, about a hundred dollars more than the 46" set.

If you have your heart set on LCD then the Samsung is about the best deal out there. I would say get a Sony as I feel it's an overall better set, but not for the prices they try to charge for them (Samsung builds the screens for Sony anyhow AFAIK). I do not feel LED LCD will be cheap anytime soon nor do I feel they're worth the price premium considering you can readily find 120hz LCD sets and really good plasma sets for just over $1k

If your room setup just doesn't work with a Plasma because of a window that will let excess light hit the screen and things like that then go with the LCD. As for the 850vs750 I don't know the exact differences, and I don't think it'll make a difference as far as the quality of the set goes.

 

[IamDavid]

Samsung.. I only have praise for mine and so far I haven't seen anything that compares.

 

[vi edit]

If you want smoothness and the best black levels you can get...buy a plasma and don't look back. Especially if you have an L shaped couch. Even the best LCD's lose contrast/wash out off angle. You didn't mention budget so I don't know if you are in Pansonic or Pioneer price ranges.

<---- former plasma current Samsung LN46A650 owner.

 

[Glavinsolo]

Originally posted by: vi edit
If you want smoothness and the best black levels you can get...buy a plasma and don't look back. Especially if you have an L shaped couch. Even the best LCD's lose contrast/wash out off angle. You didn't mention budget so I don't know if you are in Pansonic or Pioneer price ranges.

<---- former plasma current Samsung LN46A650 owner.

Thanks for the advice. How's the A650? These panasonic tvs are tempting. I think what bothers me is what bothers most people is the fact tvs change so often.

I'm not looking to spend more than $1500

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Glavinsolo

Originally posted by: vi edit
If you want smoothness and the best black levels you can get...buy a plasma and don't look back. Especially if you have an L shaped couch. Even the best LCD's lose contrast/wash out off angle. You didn't mention budget so I don't know if you are in Pansonic or Pioneer price ranges.

<---- former plasma current Samsung LN46A650 owner.

Thanks for the advice. How's the A650? These panasonic tvs are tempting. I think what bothers me is what bothers most people is the fact tvs change so often.

I'm not looking to spend more than $1500

Well, if you get a 1080p Plasma set now, you likely won't be wanting anything else for a long time. I don't look at the future because if you keep thinking "what about the next thing?" You'll end up never really buying anything.

 

[sivart]

TV will always change (isn't it every March when the new models come out??). They always have....just hasn't been as noticeable in the past 10-15 years with CRTs because they were a mature technology.

Get you a good 1080p TV (brand name) and then don't look at TV's for a couple of years...otherwise you will have buyer's remorse.

I'm a plasma fan, but if pressed would get a nice Sony XBR LCD. If I could have it my way, I'd get a 1080p projector (DLP) with 30,000:1 contrast ratio and at least 2200 lumens...ah, but that is out of your budget and mine

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: sivart
TV will always change (isn't it every March when the new models come out??). They always have....just hasn't been as noticeable in the past 10-15 years with CRTs because they were a mature technology.

Get you a good 1080p TV (brand name) and then don't look at TV's for a couple of years...otherwise you will have buyer's remorse.

I'm a plasma fan, but if pressed would get a nice Sony XBR LCD. If I could have it my way, I'd get a 1080p projector (DLP) with 30,000:1 contrast ratio and at least 2200 lumens...ah, but that is out of your budget and mine

Well said.

Space concerns in my bedroom prohibit Plasma sets because the smallest one is still too big for my area. Not the screen size, but the size of the unit while on the stand.

 

[Baked]

Sony Bravia. The menu option for current gen Sony TV is the same as Sony PS3. If I have the money, I would buy something I'm familiar with. Yeah sure, Sony TV's are more expensive than other brands, but I'm gonna buy it from Costco and chalk it down as extended warranty costco.

 

[sivart]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: sivart
TV will always change (isn't it every March when the new models come out??). They always have....just hasn't been as noticeable in the past 10-15 years with CRTs because they were a mature technology.

Get you a good 1080p TV (brand name) and then don't look at TV's for a couple of years...otherwise you will have buyer's remorse.

I'm a plasma fan, but if pressed would get a nice Sony XBR LCD. If I could have it my way, I'd get a 1080p projector (DLP) with 30,000:1 contrast ratio and at least 2200 lumens...ah, but that is out of your budget and mine

Space concerns in my bedroom prohibit Plasma sets because the smallest one is still too big for my area. Not the screen size, but the size of the unit while on the stand.

Really? The footprint of my 2 year old Vizio (casual watching only) 42" Plasma set is the same as the footprint of a friends 42" Sony Bravia. Unless you're looking at the super thin LCD's, but then I'd assume that the stands would be pretty close to the same.

One thing I did notice about the new Bravia's is that their stands are flimsy. You can rock the TV by gently pulling on the front of the unit. Definitely not good with kids in the house. My friend is going to have to secure his to the entertainment center to prevent accidental tipping.

 

[shempf]

Viera would be better than an 'A650'

disregard 480hz garbage, it's marketing.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Glavinsolo

Originally posted by: vi edit
If you want smoothness and the best black levels you can get...buy a plasma and don't look back. Especially if you have an L shaped couch. Even the best LCD's lose contrast/wash out off angle. You didn't mention budget so I don't know if you are in Pansonic or Pioneer price ranges.

<---- former plasma current Samsung LN46A650 owner.

Thanks for the advice. How's the A650? These panasonic tvs are tempting. I think what bothers me is what bothers most people is the fact tvs change so often.

I'm not looking to spend more than $1500

650 Pro's:
- Eye scorching brightness...wonderful in bright rooms
- Swivel base. Never guessed how useful this would be
- No ghosting/IR during games
- Auto-motion is cool for particular types of movies/shows
- Pretty nice upscaler for SD content, some SD sources look REALLY good

650 Con's:
- Blacks not as nice as plasma
- Sound sucks
- Off center contrast is no where as good as plasma
- Remote sucks (layout)
- Lots of lag/delay when inputing from remote
- Very direct aim required for remote to work
- Menu's and picture setup options are not very intuitive
- ToC bezel is put together incredibly cheap and cost cutting is very apparent
- Still not as "natural" a picture as plasma
- Eyes just feel more fatigued after watching a movie vs the plasma

My only real negative about plasma was my model (an older LG 42") had horrible image retention while gaming. Even a few seconds of bright images in a game menu or HUD item would leave it burned on screen for a few minutes. The plasma eventually was replaced under an RMA issue because the panel started displaying thousands of red sparkles all over the screen in "black" areas of movies.

I thought I'd go the LCD route because of the IR issues while gaming. I still wasn't convinced that plasma was free of that. So I grabbed the Samsung.

I sill do a lot of movie watching though, and really miss the blacks and overal image quality of the plasma.