42" Plasma Screen TV help please

The_Goat_3

I'm after some help please.
After much research and money saving I have gathered together up to £2300 to spoend on a 42" plasma tv.

Bearing in mind that I need a stand aswell I have found these 2 that seem the best quality for this sort of price:

Sony KE42M1S

Hitachi 42pd5300

Which is better - the Hitatchi or the Sony.
Whats more important - pixel resolution or contrast ratio?

Any help is most appreciated
Also, if anyone can suggest a better t.v. for the price it would be most appreciated.

Cheers

link shortened

crmcatee

Personally I ignore the technical specs unless you're the sort of nerdy person who gets off on that sort of stuff. (Apologies if you are).

I apply the same logic I do when I'm looking at buying a new piece of hifi equipment. I don't care what the magazines say (don't buy them), I don't listen to what the salespeople say - however I do take recommendation. I'll make my own mind up when it comes to hifi - if it please my ears I like it - just because the tech specs say this one should be better over the others doesn't mean to say it will sound better.

The same applies to visual devices.. I'm also in market for a flatscreen but I've chosen LCD as my interest due to the longer life span - but I've been doing the rounds of the stores seeing whats available and what's pleasing to the eye. If it's got a garbage picture on it - forget it, if the pictures pixelated - forget it.. Look at them side by side if you can..

Whilst your out and about - get them to put the lights on in their demo rooms (why do they always have them dark) - this gives you a more realistic visual experience as you would generally have the room lights on when watching TV.

If it's got the functions you want - fine it's on the short list apart from that it's down whats pleasing to your eye...

Lopo

Repeated elsewhere on this site:

HDTV is around the corner...if your going to part with £2k+...consider at least spending a little more, and get a HDTV ready screen otherwise, less than 2 years from now, your going to have a BIG screen lemon and will be looking to part with more money in order to get HDTV.

We are talking 35mm quality pictures on screens here by the way!!  High Definition TV.

Pioneer and Philips I believe have models that are ready for it all....

crmcatee has a valid point, as far as on aesthetics of the unit only and DO look at the tech specs, they are important. There is a lot connectivity wise where you may error on and realise your in trouble with down the road.

Of the units you mention...the Hitachi is technically the better model.

Ho-hum...!

hawkelove

I agree with the previous comments but bear a few things in mind.

1. You pay for what you get ... cheap plasma's are ... well cheap! Picture quality and refresh rates are usually not very good on cheap screens.
2. Plasma TV's, usually have a built in tuner. This tuner is normally not very good! I would imagine you have a Sky Digi box or similar which are usually miles better than most of the in built devices.
3. HDTV will be coming soon ... but when I don't know. It has been promised for a while now and yes the Pioneer range is currently set up for accepting this signal. I wouldn't let it worry you too much at the moment.
4. Plasma vs. LCD Ooooo now this could take a while. Simply, Plasma is better for reproducing standard TV pictures. It reproduces better skin colours and re-acts to fast moving images better. LCD's use less power, last longer and have better resolution for PC images. It also re-acts badly to fast moving images or if you have a busy image (a lot going on in the back ground) Plasma's 'burn' (if you leave a static image on the screen for a long time it will leave a ghosted image or if you leave the static image long enough then for ever!!!) LCD doesn't (well not in the way plasma does. You can get 'sticky' pixels but it takes a lot longer to get them to do that!!)
5. Life of screens. Yes LCD's last longer but at the moment there is a bit of confusion over this. Most Plasma manufacturers will claim a life of 20000 to 30000 hours, which if you watch TV 4 hours a day, 7 days a week is between 13 and 20 years! LCD manufacturers claim 50000 to 60000 hours, which is up to 40 years! Now my understanding is that Plasma is 'half life' (when the screen becomes half as bright as it was when you bought it ... they then want you to throw it away and get a new one!!) and LCD is when the screen fails!!

Plasma's have come down a lot over the past few years and will continue to drop in price next year.... LCD's are relatively new technology, hence the cost difference. The refresh rates on the LCD panels are getting better with each generation which means that they are getting better at dealing with fast moving images.

If you need anymore help just let me know and sorry it went on for a bit.... I sell both technologies so I get a bit geeky about it!!! ;D

The_Goat_3

Cheers for all the info.
Very useful.
Still have no idea what to get though ;D

Hopefully I will find a good HDTV plasma for a reasonable price after xmas

alictait

Check out https://www.avforums.com, Personally I would buy the latest panasonic model. It looks great and gets great reviews.

manhattan

i would reccomend that you look at the panasonic 7 series high definition screen.
i have had a 5 series sd panny screen for 2 years now and the picture is by far the best standard definition screen i have seen,the picture with sky is superb also dvd is very good.

i do work in the tv industry so i do get to see a few different makes of plasma in action,pioneer are also very nice higher definition than the panny but not as good picture with sky but better through dvd or laptop.

try avsales for the panny 7 series high definition i think they are about £2600 if i remember correctly.

1 panasonic
2 pioneer
3 hitachi/fujitsu
4 philips/sony
but i would highly reccomend that you view the tv before you make a choice!

remember you get what you pay for
hope this is of help.

alex69

Hmmm

Anyone thinking some plasmas will go into the sales?

vansboy

I'm surprised that the comments here, have so far, not mentioned Samsung!

I thought that they were THE company, that more established Japanese (& philips, judging by their lack of profits) brands were worried about.

They certainlly are a fast moving & inovative & better value for money, company, in soooo many electronic markets. & I didn't say CHEAP, but certainly cheaper!!

VB

condyk

>>try avsales for the panny 7 series high definition i think they are about £2600 if i remember correctly.

1 panasonic
2 pioneer
3 hitachi/fujitsu
4 philips/sony
but i would highly reccomend that you view the tv before you make a choice!<<

Good advice ... based on lots of viewing and research I have done myself. Spot on manhattan. I was actually on the same quest a few weeks back and this is what I did ... hopefully, provide at least some food for thought.

I decided that plasma's and LCD's are not yet decent enough value to spend my hard earned cash on. I had the money, but could see huge depreciation over the next 12-18 months and no real gain in quality over my excellent Sony 32FX68 CRT TV.

Also, the kinds of changes that are likely in broadcasting means I wanted a stop gap, to let the technology and the price get more in my favour: I wanted a superb TV that will do me for 18 months or so. Hopefully, plasma or LCD technoilogy will be good value by then. Currently, it isn't ... personal view!

As a long time hi-fi nut I knew that the basic equipment price was only the start if you're after something A1. Even when you get a decent plasma then adding on the required input board/s (if required) and interconnects, etc. then ones original budget starts to grow out of control. Depends on how fussy you are though ... I am very fussy!

So, I looked at some rear projection TV's instead and found the quality variable. But then too was plasma quality. Some great, others rubbish and lots simply mediocre. However, I evenually decided upon the Toshiba 42WT29B, which is a full digital TV, 42" screen with built in freeview, real surround sound ... and well reviewed so, at least, offering option to sell on later at a still decent price.

After more research found a supplier via Ebay offering it at almost half the best price I found after searching online. Brand new and delivered for around £750 ... almost a 1/3 what I was looking to pay for the plasma and various add on's. Picture quality as good, if not better than most and I get surround and freeview built in. This means I can sell all my current home cinema equipment (it'll be on ebay in next week or so!!)

Installed it three days ago and absolutely outstanding in every way. I am also left with £1500 change ... and any money I get back from selling my existing gear (already sold TV) so that's fantastic. Tthe quality really is as good as any plasma I have seen. Takes time to get everything set up perfectly, but worth the effort.

I am totally NOT connected to the ebay sellers I got my TV from, but may be worth checking out the model number via ebay and see if you can find them still. They had 3 or 4 on sale, as well as some without nthe freeview/dolby surround (these about £100 cheaper I think!)

Dave