Buying a new Plasma HDTV. Suggestions?

[dabuffguy]

I am realy looking at the Panasonic Viera 58" TH-58PZ850u.

It seems to be a pretty smokin TV and I can find it on the net from $2699 + free S+H (suggested retail $3699)



All the sites and reviews I have read have said it is really great. Great blacks and color. Excellent screen resolution. Picture quality is great. 1000000:1 contrast ratio.

I am looking to spend in the 3K range. Is this probably the best TV for the 3Kish price?



All you electronics and home theatre gurus post up!

 

[ortiz34]

Pesonally I'd go with LCD over plasma bro
Plasmas eat twice the power to run and are being phased out due to them burning out in only a few years(some)

Buy the Best Sony 46" it'll run you about 2800$

Quality over quanity

 

[75th]

If you had your heart set on a plasma, the Panasonic you mentioned is the best of the bunch.

I personally got a Sony Bravia KDS-50A3000 DLP LCD. Ill put the picture quality up against a plasma any day of the week. Its no longer in production, though.

 

[theoldone]

I am realy looking at the Panasonic Viera 58" TH-58PZ850u.

It seems to be a pretty smokin TV and I can find it on the net from $2699 + free S+H (suggested retail $3699)



All the sites and reviews I have read have said it is really great. Great blacks and color. Excellent screen resolution. Picture quality is great. 1000000:1 contrast ratio.

I am looking to spend in the 3K range. Is this probably the best TV for the 3Kish price?



All you electronics and home theatre gurus post up!

Get it!!!

I have a Panasonic 50 in Plasma HDTV. and its is the best picture of all of them.....all the reviews have nothing but great things to say about Panasonic HDTV's especially the Plasmas.

One thing though....I dont know if I would spend the extra $$ for the "Viera" line....although great tv's I beleive the only difference is the ability to plug in a "CAT 5" (high speed internet cable) into the tv and watch limited stuff from the internet...youtube...sites like that.

Mine was a wedding present but I think it cost him around $1,200.00 or so.

"burning out in only a few years"

Not true unless maybe you buy some off brand shit...which the picture quailty sucks anyways.

 

[shrimp poboy]

Sony bravia

 

[dabuffguy]

Get it!!!

I have a Panasonic 50 in Plasma HDTV. and its is the best picture of all of them.....all the reviews have nothing but great things to say about Panasonic HDTV's especially the Plasmas.

One thing though....I dont know if I would spend the extra $$ for the "Viera" line....although great tv's I beleive the only difference is the ability to plug in a "CAT 5" (high speed internet cable) into the tv and watch limited stuff from the internet...youtube...sites like that.

Mine was a wedding present but I think it cost him around $1,200.00 or so.

"burning out in only a few years"

Not true unless maybe you buy some off brand shit...which the picture quailty sucks anyways.

I could get the 800u without the Viera feature for less, and am going to do that. I don't need to be on the internet through my TV, lol.

 

[dabuffguy]

The reason I want to get a 58" is because my current set is a 57" , and I would like to keep the screen roughly the same size.



My dad just bought a 40" Sony Bravia set and it looks really nice.

The 55" Bravia is too expensive, and the only other size offered that is a larger TV is a 70". It's too big, and cost 20K.


The Panasonic 58" TH-58PZ800u kind of fits my needs I suppose. I think I am going to go with it.

 

[AAP]

A friend just bought this one :

LG Electronics LG 42LG50 42" 1080p Full-HD LCD

It is decent for his small space. They make a bigger one (I think). You can have the board electronic gurus check it out to see if it is decent.

 

[wootoom]

LCD is way better

Go with Sharp Aquos Limited edition series. Check one out. Really expensive though.

 

[wootoom]

any 1080p or i is good..you wont notice a big difference trust me when you're watching HD

make sure you get 1080p though because that is blue ray defenition

 

[txbondsman]

I didn't like the way the guys at BestBuy talked about plasmas, I don't want to have to be careful watching TV, or glare problems, the burning in time, watchout when your playing Wii you can ruin it by pausing it too long, shit like that. I really wanted a 65" or bigger for the room, I watch from the kitchen about 35' away. The LCD's would have been my first choice, but we have cable and it doesn't have the resolution to match up to the 1080p, it's half that, so I opted for a Mitsubishi projection 65" 1080p for 2400.00. The picture is very good (of course I don't have a plasma or LCD sitting next to it either for the side by side comparison, that helps)but the TV is good, gaming is excellent. My only gripe is that it has a slight delay in the sound from a 13" TV I have in the kitchen, I used to turn the sound on there while cooking and watch the other set, I still do, but the sound has to be turned down on the big set or you hear the delay, that is a pain. Other than that, I'm happy...

 

[canadianhitman]

After comparing the hell out of TVs, I bought a 50inch Panasonic Viera plasma in April. The picture was better than any of the LCDs I compared to (and I looked at pretty much all of them), and with Panasonic you don't have to worry about burn-in from video games ect (they solved that with a 'game mode').

 

[theoldone]

After comparing the hell out of TVs, I bought a 50inch Panasonic Viera plasma in April. The picture was better than any of the LCDs I compared to (and I looked at pretty much all of them), and with Panasonic you don't have to worry about burn-in from video games ect (they solved that with a 'game mode').

Mine has "pixel wobble" or some shit like that and also another thing you can do that has a bright white vertical scrolling bar that basically erases any residual image left on the screen. Although I have never seen any images left behind or anything.

 

[Dial_tone]

No matter what you get go to AVS Forums and try some the calibration settings people post for that model. I bought a Samsung LN46A550 and out of the box the picture quality was alright but sound was pretty much crap. With mine you can set different video/audio settings for each input individually. tuned the settings for component video and one HDMI input and I am ecstatic about my tv now. I have a Sony HT-CT100 soundbar arriving on Monday for even better sound. I don't have a stereo as of yet so I needed something else for theater sound.

 

[dabuffguy]

No matter what you get go to AVS Forums and try some the calibration settings people post for that model. I bought a Samsung LN46A550 and out of the box the picture quality was alright but sound was pretty much crap. With mine you can set different video/audio settings for each input individually. tuned the settings for component video and one HDMI input and I am ecstatic about my tv now. I have a Sony HT-CT100 soundbar arriving on Monday for even better sound. I don't have a stereo as of yet so I needed something else for theater sound.

Yeah, I was wondering what calibration options there are for this model.

My friend got a new 1080 a few months back, and it looked pretty damn good. He had someone do a calibration on it, and now it looks so much better.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Plasmas are a waste of money. Overpriced, overweight, overeats electricity, and pretty much useless if you get dead pixels/burn-in.

Go with DLP or LCD. Picture quality is much more natural looking and with much better contrast of color, plus DLP usually has more intense whites and darker, richer blacks.

 

[2evil]

Plasmas are a waste of money. Overpriced, overweight, overeats electricity, and pretty much useless if you get dead pixels/burn-in.

Go with DLP or LCD. Picture quality is much more natural looking and with much better contrast of color, plus DLP usually has more intense whites and darker, richer blacks.

I have a 65" Toshiba DLP 1080p. BUT - I bought based on the value equation since I got it for $1300. I like Plasmas and LCDs better but I couldn't pass up the deal and it's a great set.

Blacks on a plasma are unsurpassed and so is the contrast. LCDs and plasmas are the way of the future and I'm sure we won't be seeing too many DLPs soon.

The Bravia is an awesome set and when paired with a BluRay it's unbelievable.

Make sure you check out Newegg.com if you haven't already...

 

[EnderJE]

Wow. 50 inches? I still got have my 32 and thinking of replacing it with another one when it burns out. The stuff that I got gets cheaper every year so I can put more towards paying off my house and other stuff. I guess it helps that I'm not really a movie buff.

 

[Dial_tone]

Newegg is where I bought my tv and all my computer stuff, but they're local for me.

 

[75th]

Yeah, I was wondering what calibration options there are for this model.

My friend got a new 1080 a few months back, and it looked pretty damn good. He had someone do a calibration on it, and now it looks so much better.

Some Blu Rays (Casino Royale, Ratatouille) have calibration programs on them.

But yeah, I got my settings through the AVS forum and now my tv pwns.

 

[UA_Iron]

Definitely agreed on the AVS forum to check out what people are calibrating their sets too - some people spend a ton of time and money on expensive calibration. Usually they just post their settings. Turn off the cartoon appearance.

I think LCD >> Plasma. Better value, longer life, doesnt need to be in a dark room, lower power consumption etc.

Best value is the Samsung LED DLP's - light engines that will run for 8 years continuously, lowest power consumption of any TV set and you can get a 67" for under $2000.

 

[goin on 4T]

Yeah right now Samsung has the best deal in the business. Might not be the best picture, however for the price you just can't beat the size!
Also, you might think about looking on Ebay. I bought my used 60" Sony XBR-1 Wega for $500, it is a $3,000+ TV. Had to drive 225 miles to get it but whatever that TV rocks!
Also check craigslist for used TV's.

 

[ortiz34]

If you are in the $900-1500 range for a new LCD go with Samsung

$2000 and up go with Sony, Sharp or pioneer

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I have a 65" Toshiba DLP 1080p. BUT - I bought based on the value equation since I got it for $1300. I like Plasmas and LCDs better but I couldn't pass up the deal and it's a great set.

Blacks on a plasma are unsurpassed and so is the contrast. LCDs and plasmas are the way of the future and I'm sure we won't be seeing too many DLPs soon.

The Bravia is an awesome set and when paired with a BluRay it's unbelievable.

Make sure you check out Newegg.com if you haven't already...

Most movie theaters are using DLP. Of course that's front projection vs rear but it'd be sad if plasmas were given the nod over DLP in general, considering it's a much better value.