The Great Cheapest & Best Plasma Hunt

Aceman88888

Cheapest Plasma TV onsale AFAIK is the Vision 4241 available from https://www.flattelly.co.uk. It is, and has been for several months, £899 inc VAT. Delivery was about £40 and only additional items you need are speakers (£100) if you havent got a surround sound amp and a bracket or stand (major bargain at £100 also)

I've had one for approx 6 months and its awesome. Great picture, much better than an equivalent Tiny one. Only gripe is that the onscreen menus are a little slow and the remote is a bit cheap looking but otherwise an awesome bargain!

Lopo

Just my 2 pence worth:

Plasma's by far give a far superior overall image in all aspect over an LCD assuming you go for an appropriate model and of course, budget allowing.


Those who state LCD's or Plasmas have a longer life span over each other are simply talking rubbish. They are measured differently and are simply 2 different technologies. If compared directly with each other your simply wasting your time and your approach is wrong. Buy what suits the environment the unit will be going into and ensure you have GOOD QUALITY cables and appropriate complementing equipment to use with it.


Most plasma units are tested in the 40-60000 hours range.

If you worked 50000 hours out as an average of 8 hours a day, for 365 days all year...it equates to around 17+ years (!!!). Even if your screen lasted half that amount of time....you would be happy with its lifespan usage -- I kid you not! In 9 years from now, there is likely to be another technology everyone will be chasing...so if you want a large screen, enjoy it now!


Both Plasmas and LCD's will lose their brightness over time....it is more noticeable during the halfway point of the products natural life usage and is simply normal operational behaviour. There is nothing to fear. If you do fear this aspect, buy an extended product cover that includes wear and tear...they do exist - generally, product cover is a sensible buy if your item is considerably valued.


Before you buy...do some real research....read a magazine or two....


Watch out for idiot salesmen, and learn to read between the lines if you do end up dealing with one! Your own knowledge and research will save you!


Hope that clarifies things a little...


Edit: No idea why that font size grew - I never did it!!

s.c.

Lopo, no need to shout :eek:


Plasma salesmen will quote an estimated life of 5 years, Washer salesmen 3 years for their goods. Not entirely true, and how much of that is coloured by their commision on breakdown insurance. Tvs tend to last accordingly, more to the quality of the capacitors used, and the waste heat generated in creating the voltages required by the display technology used.
There is some truth in "you get what you pay for" .
The displays all have their disadvantages, so not really worth splashing out at mo.
DLP is an alternative, for large sceen HDTV but the lamp life is limited, and expensive to buy.
LCD depend on the backlight life, cheaper to buy spare,but more expensive to fit.
Palsmas are power hungry, ( so I doubt the high life predictions), when the display goes , that is it, landfill.

TV pics are made up of lines, so the larger the screen the more visible the lines and the further back you need to sit to get a reasonable impression, so the bigger the room needs to be, Catch 22?

Edge21

I would advice everyone who is interested in buying a plasma/LCD to definitely adhere to Pixel's post on Page 4.

I have been looking around for a TV for a year now and its amazing the amount of information Ive picked up along the way.

The "general" consensus is:

For great picture quality- look no further than a 36" CRT TV (like a Toshiba 36ZP48) You can pick these up for around £800 and are great value.

If you definitely want to go flatscreen, then do try and go for one that is "HD Ready" (you'll begin seeing this logo in all the retailers now)

I would advise most people to stay away from the flatscreens that do not support Hi-Def (Hi-Def= the 720p, 1080i formats, HDMI/HDCP) mostly for "future-proofing" purposes.

Im sure you would have seen a ton of retailers now dropping their prices on these plasmas, mainly because they do not support HDTV. I guess they are trying to get rid of stock quickly before the "HDTV Ready" logo kicks off and customer become more aware. I certainly wouldnt want to spend over a grand now only to find that it doesnt support Hi-Def.

Perhaps we can change this thread into finding flatscreens that are HDTV Ready and those that are not? That way everyone is more aware of what they are parting their hard earned cash for...

Froggitt

Aceman88888 wrote:

Cheapest Plasma TV onsale AFAIK is the Vision 4241 available from https://www.flattelly.co.uk. It is, and has been for several months, £899 inc VAT. Delivery was about £40 and only additional items you need are speakers (£100) if you havent got a surround sound amp and a bracket or stand (major bargain at £100 also)

I've had one for approx 6 months and its awesome. Great picture, much better than an equivalent Tiny one. Only gripe is that the onscreen menus are a little slow and the remote is a bit cheap looking but otherwise an awesome bargain!

Richer Sounds got a 37in Panasonic for £899. Rather have a Panny Plazzy from RS than a Vision 4241 from Flattely.

Frog

PS No its not HD ready.....but do I really care.

scattycat_3

Just rcvd Aldi email for 21st July, and they have a 42" Medion? HDTV ready for £999.

Details:-
Watch all your favourite films and programmes in crystal-clear, panoramic style.

• Amazing 10,000:1 contrast ratio
• 1,500 cd/m2 brightness
• Free tilting wall bracket
• Fully inclusive 3 year manufacturers warranty worth over £500
• HDTV ready
• 2 x 10W NICAM speakers

Also includes:

• 42" (106cm) plasma display manufactured by LG in 16:9 format
• 852 (H) x 480 (V) pixel resolution
• Full HDTV compatibility (480p, 720p, 1080i) via DVD input including HDCP decoding.
• Over 160º horizontal/vertical viewing angle
• 16.7 million colours.
• Full dual TV tuners manufactured by Samsung for full Picture-in-Picture functionality.
• Multi-picture function and full split-screen viewing
• 99 TV channels
• Optimal solution 1280 x 1024 over VGA.
• 2 x 10W built-in speakers
• NICAM Stereo Sound
• On-screen display menu
• Full Teletext with 100 page memory
• Automatic channel search
• Sleep timer
• Picture freeze function
• Size: 1045 x 640 x 88mm (without stand) 1045 x 700x 240mm (with stand)
• Approx. weight 50kg
• Remote control (batteries included)
• Customer helpline available
• Three year warranty

Scat
PS and a gold plated scart for £1.99
and a Divx dvd with 5.1 for £32.99

Edge21

scattycat wrote:

Just rcvd Aldi email for 21st July, and they have a 42" Medion? HDTV ready for £999.

Details:-
Watch all your favourite films and programmes in crystal-clear, panoramic style.

• Amazing 10,000:1 contrast ratio
• 1,500 cd/m2 brightness
• 852 (H) x 480 (V) pixel resolution
• Full HDTV compatibility (480p, 720p, 1080i) via DVD input including HDCP decoding.

I would be very wary of this model :think:

Sure it looks like a good deal on paper with the 3 yr warranty and wall bracket but 852 x 480 is NOT the native resolution for HDTV. The resolution should be 1024 x 768...

Maybe someone else can help me out on this, but am I right in thinking this deal is not as good as it sounds?