TV Time

[halo]

My sister needs advice on what to purchase.

She is looking to but two new flat panel TV's. She wants a 50" & a 42".

Has to have a built in tuner for over the air HD. Must have attached speakers. Speakers can be detachable as a Surroundbar may be in the distant future.

The more she saves on the TV the more she has left for extras later on. ;)

Think she'd prefer Panasonic plasma(s) but I don't know how Sony's new LCD sets stack up. Any other recommendations?

Best picture, refresh rate, blackest blacks. Its going to be connected to a roof-top antenna for over the air local HD programs, a DVD player, and a VCR. A BRP may be in the cards for the future but not right now.

Where to buy? Best prices / deals along with CS?

720P? 1080P?

She wants something that is going to LAST. Her old Sony Trinitron CRTV is over 20 years old and still looks / functions fine.

Any & all advice is greatly appreciated :)

[MacLeod]

Hard to say. In the 50" range you almost have to go with a plasma as quality plasmas can be had at that size for $1500 or so where LCD's are way over 2 grand by then. With 42" sets, the prices are closer to each other but plasmas are still cheaper. Panasonic for instance has their 42" for $1000 at CC right now and their 50" for $1500.

The Sony LCD's are excellent and Im leaning heavily toward them. The problem I have with them is the motion blur which LCD's tend to suffer from. On anything less than HD, youre going to get it, especially on SD cable. Plasma doesnt have this problem.

But the problem with plasmas is burn in. Not much chance of images being permanently burned into the screen anymore especially if you properly break them in low chance is still more than no chance on an LCD. And while images likely wont be permanently burned in, after 20 minutes or so of watching ESPN or playing a video game, the image will remain and youll have to wash it out by watching another channel or other programing that doesnt have still images for 15 to 20 minutes. That could get annoying.

After 6 months of shopping, I STILL havent decided what to get. Some days I lean towards the 46" Sony LCD so I dont ever have to worry about burn in when playing video games or when my wife pauses a DVD and goes to talk on the phone for 2 hours. Then somedays I lean towards the Panasonic 50" plasma for the better picture quality and no motion blur when Im watching NASCAR or football.

Thats really the only differences to me. The plasma has better PQ but the LCD isnt very far behind and doesnt have all the burn in issues but has problems with motion lag.

As for 720 vs 1080 - I dont think it really matters unless youre getting into the 60" screen size range or sitting very close to the screen or are just uber-critical of PQ. Go to Circuit City and watch the 720 vs the 1080 sets of say the Sony LCD's and see if you can see a differene. I cant. If you can get it in your price range, great. If not, dont worry about it.

As for where to shop, hard to beat Best Buy and Circuit City. Plenty of excellent quality set to chose from and view along side some cheap ones so you can see the difference in quality. Plus big box stores can come off with soem great prices more often.

[halo]

Thanks for the input.

No video game system in her house and no interest there for her at all - non issue.

No satellite or cable provider either - no ESPN.

Just HD from the over the air antenna on the roof, DVD's, and VCR tapes. Possibility of an upgrade to BRD in the future.

Looks like it'll be plasma if the prices are that far apart.

Value is the key word here but not at the sacrifice of PQ.

[billbillw]

Halo,
Virtually every new flat panel consumer model will have a built in HD tuner. The only ones that don't are the pro models. In a 50" size, I'd tell your sis to find a closeout Pioneer 5080 if she wants one of the best pics available. Next in line, one of the Panny plasmas. I agree with MacLeod that 1080p vs 720p (which is actually 768 in most plasmas) is not noticeable in the smaller sizes unless you are really close; however, the 1080p sets tend to have a little better picture because they have newer electronics behind them. I just got a warranty replacement from Panasonic that happened to be 1080p, and the picture is noticeably smoother than with the previous 768p model that I had. Not so much increased detail, but rather a reduction in noise/artifacts. Mind you this is with the Panny. I wouldn't worry at all about the Pioneer 768p.

BTW, the Panny plasmas have the lowest repair rate in the industry right now. Something like 2-3% repair rate.

[Joe08867]

I have a Panny Plasma and love it. At the time they were the only ones on the market with an actual glare screen and not just a coating.

Big selling point for me.

I would definately go Plasma for the 50". The price jump from 42-50 for an LCD is pretty steep.

[halo]

Looks like the differences between the base sets and moving up the line you get better contrast (15000:1, 20000:1, 30000:1), longer panel lifespan (60000, or 100000), higher resolution, and additional inuputs.

[billbillw]

Looks like the differences between the base sets and moving up the line you get better contrast (15000:1, 20000:1, 30000:1), longer panel lifespan (60000, or 100000), higher resolution, and additional inuputs.

Contrast numbers are usually meaningless and exaggerated. Any real contrast of more than 2000:1 is going to look great. Panel lifespan is not something I would worry about either. 60000 hours works out to more than 20 years of 8 hour/day viewing. That hour rating is until half brightness, so it doesn't just die. Most of the time, some other component is going to fail long before the panel does, and on something that is 10+ years old, it probably won't be worth fixing.

[MacLeod]

Thanks for the input.

No video game system in her house and no interest there for her at all - non issue.

No satellite or cable provider either - no ESPN.

Just HD from the over the air antenna on the roof, DVD's, and VCR tapes. Possibility of an upgrade to BRD in the future.

Looks like it'll be plasma if the prices are that far apart.

Value is the key word here but not at the sacrifice of PQ.

Definitely go with a plasma and the Panasonics are the best. Techincally the Pioneers are the best but theyre only marginally better but they cost nearly twice as much. You can still get the Panny 50" at Circuir City for about $1500.

Bill is right about lifespan. Youll be on to your 2nd or 3rd upgrade by the time your current set dies out. I wouldnt worry about that.

I agree with MacLeod that 1080p vs 720p (which is actually 768 in most plasmas) is not noticeable in the smaller sizes unless you are really close; however, the 1080p sets tend to have a little better picture because they have newer electronics behind them. I just got a warranty replacement from Panasonic that happened to be 1080p, and the picture is noticeably smoother than with the previous 768p model that I had. Not so much increased detail, but rather a reduction in noise/artifacts.

I kinda think this is more that the '08 Pannys may have some better processing and have cleaned up their PQ rather than the 1080 sets having better processing over the 720. I could be wrong but Ive spent countless hours at CC staring at TV's the last 6 months and honestly, I cant tell any difference at all on 720 sets from 1080 sets.

[CAvolleyballguy]

www.bestbuyplasma.com no affiliation to best buy. ive bought 4 tvs from them... they will call you after the order to sell you cables and junk, just say no, send me my tv... hard to beat the price..

[halo]

www.bestbuyplasma.com no affiliation to best buy. ive bought 4 tvs from them... they will call you after the order to sell you cables and junk, just say no, send me my tv... hard to beat the price..My sister has pretty much decided on the new '08 Panny plasmas - TH-42PX80U & TH-50PX80U. I haven't seen any difference in price anywhere I've looked. For what she needs I think they're a heck of a bargain. She only wants to purchase from an authorized dealer. The whole report of the concierge service put Panny above anybody else too.

Thanks again for all the input :)

[billbillw]

My sister has pretty much decided on the new '08 Panny plasmas - TH-42PX80U & TH-50PX80U. I haven't seen any difference in price anywhere I've looked. For what she needs I think they're a heck of a bargain. She only wants to purchase from an authorized dealer. The whole report of the concierge service put Panny above anybody else too.

Thanks again for all the input :)

Halo,
Tell your sister to jump on this deal:

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5391798

That's a 1080p 50" plasma with an antiglare screen, free shipping from Fry's. That's an outstanding price on that set. This one will be better than the PX series no matter what. Even the higher up models for '08 will not be that much better than this one.

I have a feeling this deal will sell out fairly quickly, so if she is ready to buy, have her jump on it!

[halo]

Nah, she'd have to pay sales tax on that set as we have a Fry's close by (We now have the highest sales tax in the country).

I think the reason your new 1080P set is better than your old 768 is due to the newer technology, higher contrast, etc available on the new sets.

[billbillw]

Nah, she'd have to pay sales tax on that set as we have a Fry's close by (We now have the highest sales tax in the country).

I think the reason your new 1080P set is better than your old 768 is due to the newer technology, higher contrast, etc available on the new sets.

Still worth it with tax if you ask me. FYI: The one I linked is the same generation as mine and I think the pic quality will still be better than any of the '08 PX (768p) models. Having it in 1080p means that the set does not have to scale any 1080 signal (most HD channels and all Bluray/HDDVD). This is where I think the pic quality improves. On the 768p sets, the TV has to scale virtually every signal it receives.

EDIT: Again, regarding contrast numbers. They don't mean much, if anything. My old set was 10000:1, the new set is only rated at 5000:1, but the new set looks better. Between 10000:1 and 15000:1, you are not going to see a difference. They probably just changed the way the measure it, or the panel goes brighter, but has the same blacks.