plasma tv

[jlasich]

I went to Best Buy on Saturday and fell in love. They had a huge selection of plasma and tv's there. My favorites were the 50" Pioneer ($8500), the 42" Sony ($5100), and the 42" Toshiba ($5500). Those three seemed to have the best picture, even though all of the tv's were incredible looking. Some honorable mentions were the Panasonic and the Phillips. Next summer or fall, I will hopefully be buying my first home and am thinking of buying a plasma screen for a house warming gift. Yes it's very expensive, but that's what credit cards are for. Does anyone here have a plasma screen? If so, what brand? To those in the know, how long do the tv's last? Any suggestions on features that I should look for? Thanks

 

[rmrc]

No doubt that the plasma TV's look fantastic!!! I'm also in the market for a large screen due to my rear projection Sony slowly going south after 15 years.



I'm opting for a DLP set. (Digital Light Processing). It costs half of a comparable plasma and doesn't have the problem of burning the screen due to a static image being left on the screen for an extended period of time.



I'm waiting for the RCA Scenium 61" to be available shortly after the new year. I've already seen the RCA 48" and I challange anyone to tell the difference between a plasma and the RCA. The picture was fantastic,,,, again for half the price of a plasma of the same screen size. The 61" RCA should be around 4 grand. The only draw back to the DLP sets is that after aproximately 3 to 4 years, you have to replace a special buld which currently costs around $250. 00. It can be done by the owner.



(NOTE): The RCA DLP chip is supposedly superior to other DLP sets such as the Samsung. I don't know all of the technical aspects, but I can tell you that I've seen both, and the RCA definitely has a superior picture compared to other DLP sets!



By no means do I want to discourage anyone from Plasma or LCD, but I definitely think you should check into the DLP sets mainly due to the price difference!!!!!

 

[TowPro]

Find a Sony outlet near your house and go see there prices. they sell "factory reconditioned" stuff with the same warrantee as new.



I have bought 2 Wegas from them and both are great. I feel most of these TV are from people that took them home and had buyers remorse, returning it to where they bought it, thus Sony has to sell them as remanafactured.



On the flat screens, I have found that you can get the top of the line sony model in the size you are looking for, for the price of the bottom of the line sony model new.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I know it's tough... . but if I were you... . I'd wait as long as possible.



Plasma stuff is bound to come down in price even more than it already has.



We've come a long way in the last 2 or 3 years with regard to price and picture quality. Give it at least another year and I'm positive that you'll see a similar drop in price.



Remember when the smaller plasma screens were at least $15,000? - that wasn't too long ago.



I know of a few plasma screens that have been in operation for about 4 years... . so far, so good.



Matt

 

[jlasich]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I also agree that prices on plasma sets will be dropping soon and fast. Just 4 months ago, I saw a 42" Pioneer at Best Buy and it was $11,000 so prices are already dropping fast. Figure that I'll be ready to get serious about a new set next summer/fall and prices should be real nice. Thank you also for the suggestion of DLP. I had never heard of that before so I will research it some more. The $250. 00 bulb sounds nice and no screen burn-in. I've read that screen burn-in is a problem with plasmas but some manufacturers are finding ways to lessen it.

 

[Doc Tinker]

I've been looking and watching the plazma tv market. I think the plazma and LCD tvs will go down in price quite a bit by next fall. In comparison, I prefer the LCD TV, if you don't want something over about a 32" - The plazma tvs look rather choppy during the action scenes, like the refresh rate is rather low.



I'm thinking about bolting a 20" or so wide screen LCD flush to the ceiling over my bed, so I can lay flat on my back and watch TV. No nore propping up with a bunch of pillows, and when I want to fall asleep, all I have to do is close my eyes.



Even ViewSonic has gotten into the LCD TVs



http://www.viewsonic.com/products/lcd_n2700w.htm



You can get a 30" LCD TV at Gateway right now plus they trow in a 13" LCD TV



http://products.gateway.com/products/GConfig/proddetails.asp?system_id=lcd30tv&seg=hm





A good place to start



http://www.how-to-buy-a-plasma-tv.com/









Doc

 

[jlasich]

Doc Tinker, thanks for the links. I have a Viewsonic 19" monitor that I'm using to write this post and it's great. I'll have to take a look at both them and Gateway. It seems everyone is getting into the market. When I was at Best Buy, there were some brands that I'd never even heard of.



Pretty funny about the tv above the bed. It reminds me of that commercial a while back with the guy watching sports and everywhere he went and everything he did, there was a tv there so he wouldn't miss it. He opened his dresser drawer and there was a tv, opened his medicine cabinet, yep a tv in there also. Pretty funny.

 

[KBennett]

I don't want to bash Best Buy because I have had really good service from them but I was recently shopping for digital cameras and saved $100 by buying from a different online source. Check out www.pricegrabber.com before making a purchase. The vendors are all rated including Best Buy.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker

I'm thinking about bolting a 20" or so wide screen LCD flush to the ceiling over my bed, so I can lay flat on my back and watch TV. No nore propping up with a bunch of pillows, and when I want to fall asleep, all I have to do is close my eyes.

Man, what I do for you guys! I have an LCD monitor hung from the ceiling right now so that I can use my laptop while I'm laid up after the surgery to keep this place up and running! Literally, hung it from the ceiling so I can lay back in a recliner in the living room and work.

 

[nickleinonen]

i don't think plasma tv's are quite ready for the average home consumer. they burn in way too easy [i work for an electronics store part time] and the images still ghost a bit on the trailing edges of moving objects. the contrast levels on them are also not enough yet, leaving you with dark grey's instead of black [makes a huge difference when you sit down and watch a movie on them] but they have gotten a lot better in the last few years. my personal favorite right now for picture is the pioneer elite 40 ish" [don't remember if it is 40" or 42"] and for still images and HD images it is good, but for standard ntsc cable images it is not that great, but progressive scan anamorfic dvd looks pretty good [except for black levels ]



if you are dead set on a plasma, wait until the next models come out. i have seen plasma's here in canada for under $3000 now [canadian funds] and the prices are droping on all of them too...

 

[WyoJim]

Take a look at this

Prices will crash



http://www.mercola.com/2003/dec/20/lcd_televisions.htm

 

[TPCDrafting]

A friend bought his plazma here:

http://www.etronics.com/index.asp

and saved a bundle.

 

[Eric Kahn]

Make sure you watch some normal TV broadcasts on what ever you are going to buy before you get it, the HD pictures look great because the units were designed for that resolution but Plasma's and LCD's and DLP are all of a "fixed" resolution (fixed number of pixels) and only will look good if their input matches the design resolution or exactly half the resolution, otherwise the unit has to "interpolate" the picture and it is not as sharp as you would expect



I have seen both LCD and DLP projectors, the DLP ones are better

 

[Andy Perreault]

I read somewhere a few months ago that there are some huge factories being built right now in Korea that will be mass producing plasma TV's soon. More competition and high volume production will mean much much lower prices. It won't be long before the CRT-type TV will go the way of 8-track tape decks and record players.

I think I'll wait.

Andy

 

[Eric Kahn]

the worst part of that is they still do not compare to the high end CRT projectors, just cost alot less