Need to vent about a 50" plasma

Dapperdan

Dapperdan

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
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I just got back from costco with my second maxent , I got it cause of the price $1640 with tax and the return policy. All I have now is another head ache from this crap. Both sets the component inputs wont work. I had to go out and get a HDMI for the cable box which works but IMO is still a crappy pic even on HD. I tried to hook up my dvd, which is component only to find out that it nulls the HDMI out completely. I have to unplug the component and restart the cable box to get cable back. Even out of the box I already see lines on a blank screen from burn in. I read some reviews on the avsforum and thought this tv was actually ok from what everyone was saying. Moral of this story is stay away from maxent, even with the great price its just not worth it. Now I just have to figure out which one of these I should get, Philips or Toshiba or Samsung.
[/end rant] :(
 
travbomb said:
get yourself an LCD.
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for the price and size Im going to have to stick with the plasma :(, then again with costco I can just take it back next yr if a better deal pops up for lcds. :)
 
what do you guys think of this Sharp I know the 42" next to the 50" is a major difference but not sure how a 45" would look. I like the 50" size.
 
Dapperdan said:
what do you guys think of this Sharp I know the 42" next to the 50" is a major difference but not sure how a 45" would look. I like the 50" size.
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I have read a review of the new 1080p Sharp screens and they seem great for the money but are not the best quality around.

From what I've read (in a ton of HD magazines) if you want the best LCD then go for Sony (great spec generally but colour is amazing), the BXR range have the best software features but lower model are also good. If you want the best plasma got for Pioneer, the 50" 5000EX is amazing and I think they are updating it soon with something even better.

Of course these screens are not cheap and other brands probably offer better value for money at the moment because all this 1080p stuff is pretty new. I myself want something like the 52" Sony XBR screen but I can't afford it yet so will just have to save up and wait for the prices to drop, which they will.
 
The main advantage a LCD would have at 50" is resolution. 50" plasmas still do better on picture quality elements such as color and contrast, although some LCDs like the Sonys are starting to catch up.
 
sethk said:
The main advantage a LCD would have at 50" is resolution. 50" plasmas still do better on picture quality elements such as color and contrast, although some LCDs like the Sonys are starting to catch up.
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Personally i am not a big fan of the Sony's. I seen the 46 inch bravia (the one with the wierd glass boarder) tested and it doesnt have a very large color pallett. Watching anything in HD it was having trouble rendering bright blues. I would wait for newer LCD TV's with larger LUT's in the 10 bit range.
 
sethk said:
The main advantage a LCD would have at 50" is resolution.
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The Pioneer plasma has 1080p just like most large LCDs. Also the black levels of the large Sony LCD screens are reported to be practically as good as the best current plasma screens. So it seems like there is not a great deal of difference between the two technologies although I think LCDs use less power and are generally lighter/cheaper.
 
LCD is the future. But for now, a Panasonic plasma will provide some of the best image quality you can get in the 50" range for home theatre applications. Better than any LCD, way better than a rear projection.
 
artmonkey said:
The Pioneer plasma has 1080p just like most large LCDs. Also the black levels of the large Sony LCD screens are reported to be practically as good as the best current plasma screens. So it seems like there is not a great deal of difference between the two technologies although I think LCDs use less power and are generally lighter/cheaper.
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The Sony LCDs claim a "dynamic" contrast up to 7000:1. In reality it's 1300:1 static. The set automatically modifies the image to enhance the contrast depending on the scene. In many cases it just crushes the blacks so you cannot see shadow detail.
 
Dapperdan said:
Moral of this story is stay away from maxent, even with the great price its just not worth it.
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As it is always. Except for Black Friday I guess. Well, I guess you pay for that via standing outside all night/morning and fighting off soccer moms and illegal immigrants for some cheap electronics, which most of them don't even know how to operate. /end rant
 
asmielia said:
LCD is the future. But for now, a Panasonic plasma will provide some of the best image quality you can get in the 50" range for home theatre applications. Better than any LCD, way better than a rear projection.
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I have to disagree with that, not the bit about LCD being the future, I agree there. The bit about Panasonic plasmas being better than any LCD, I strongly disagree with that. I think they're extremely similar and also equal amounts of pros/cons both of which are negligable. Also every review I've seen says the Pioneer PDP-5000EX beats the Panasonic TH-50PX600, for one thing the Pioneer is 1080p whereas the Panasonic is not.
 
Vizio makes super super super good plasma's. Way better than sony, panasonic, samsung....you name it! I got their 50" model, and that thing is a beaut. The picture quality...WOW...and it futures the SRS sound system and I have got to say that you don't need a surround system for the tv because that thing has crisp clear sound quality.

I got mines for $1570.00 after taxes during that black friday sale, so now the TV retails for about 1800.00.

Tough luck for you. :)
 
brentsg said:
The Sony LCDs claim a "dynamic" contrast up to 7000:1. In reality it's 1300:1 static. The set automatically modifies the image to enhance the contrast depending on the scene. In many cases it just crushes the blacks so you cannot see shadow detail.
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Yes this is true, it sounds like a marketing twist but I have seen the Sony X2000 range in the flesh next to the Pioneer 50" plasma and the difference is subjective even then. Honestly there is hardly any difference between the two in real world situations. If you don't believe me 'Home Cinema Choice' magazine says the same thing.
 
jcll2002 said:
just picked that up and its great
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+1
just picked up the panasonic 42 inch plasma. still breaking it in, but so far so good.
 
ultimate360 said:
Vizio makes super super super good plasma's. Way better than sony, panasonic, samsung....
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Hmm, is that what they told you in the shop? I found a review of this screen and looking at the cons I wouldn't say it's better than any big name make. Oh and Sony don't make plasma screen btw.
 
artmonkey said:
I have to disagree with that, not the bit about LCD being the future, I agree there. The bit about Panasonic plasmas being better than any LCD, I strongly disagree with that. I think they're extremely similar and also equal amounts of pros/cons both of which are negligable. Also every review I've seen says the Pioneer PDP-5000EX beats the Panasonic TH-50PX600, for one thing the Pioneer is 1080p whereas the Panasonic is not.
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Alright. I never said Pioneer wasn't better than Panny. It is. But it's also way more expensive. Especially the 50" 1080p TV they make. I'm saying Panasonic is still better than any LCD when it comes to home theatre image quality. Home theatre includes TV and movie watching for the most part, not use as a monitor. Panasonic is still better than LCD when it comes to black levels, black details, color reproduction, white details, viewing angles, response time and contrast ratio. The only thing it would lose on is resolution and possibly brightness.
 
ultimate360 said:
Vizio makes super super super good plasma's. Way better than sony, panasonic, samsung....you name it! I got their 50" model, and that thing is a beaut. The picture quality...WOW...and it futures the SRS sound system and I have got to say that you don't need a surround system for the tv because that thing has crisp clear sound quality.

I got mines for $1570.00 after taxes during that black friday sale, so now the TV retails for about 1800.00.

Tough luck for you. :)
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Costco has that tv right now for $1640 with tax.
 
Dapperdan said:
Costco has that tv right now for $1640 with tax.
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Awesome! Mabey return the one that you have right now, and get the Vizio. I am serious, the Vizio 50" plasma is a great tv. You won't regret it.

artmonkey said:
Oh and Sony don't make plasma screen btw.
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Opps. I forgot. Yea. I was going to buy their 46" bravia model that was for sale during black friday, but I decided to get the 50" vizio, and I guess I made a good choice.
 
artmonkey said:
The Pioneer plasma has 1080p just like most large LCDs. Also the black levels of the large Sony LCD screens are reported to be practically as good as the best current plasma screens. So it seems like there is not a great deal of difference between the two technologies although I think LCDs use less power and are generally lighter/cheaper.
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I should have pointed out that you can get 50" plasmas that are 1080p but most of the "deals" including the Panasonic model pointed out in the original post are not 1080p.

The LCDs use a lot of tricks to get deeper blacks, they don't really have simultaneous contrast of > 1400:1, although a well implemented dynamic contrast works well enough in most situations as long as they attempt to maintain gamma levels as average brightness changes.

Regarding the limited color range of Bravias, I hadn't heard that before. The Bravia I've seen at a friends home looked outstanding after calibration, and all the primaries and secondaries were lined up close to perfect. The grayscale tracking was very flat at D65 too. Didn't see noticeable banding or dithering either. I liked the ability to fine control the backlight and defeat the dynamic contrast if needed.
 
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