Plasma / LCD TV - be careful

George_Bray

I guess that 42" flat screen TVs (or even slightly smaller models) are the latest must-have, cool feature for many folks' living rooms these days.

Be careful, though. The product descriptions can be so misleading. For example, Panasonic 42'' Plasma Television, Model No:TH42PE30B
has a Market Price of £3,699.99 and a Sale Price of £2,350.00 at:
http://audiovisual.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/c_120501_electronics.html

I predict that anyone buying such a TV will be looking to replace it within 1 or 2 years when they realise the impact of high definition source material, which can now be picked up via satellite but not properly on the above TV, despite its price.

The above Panasonic is described as "High-Definition" yet I suggest it is not.
The set has a poor 852 x 480 VGA Resolution, which is nowhere near the high definition (HDTV) standards of 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080p).

I urge you not to purchase any of these televisions unless you confirm they have a resolution of at least 1280 x 720 (720p).

Regards
George

Johnnypanic_2

George,

it's not as straightforward a picture as you paint.

Way too complicated a subject to get into here, but visit somewhere like avforums.com for some helpful advice and guidance. In fact, anyone considering spending money on any audio / visual equipment, would be well advised to have a look around the forum.

Have a Panasonic PW6 and am more than happy with it at present and with it's ability to deal with HD in the future.

Johnnypanic

George_Bray

Firstly, if my tip is not a shopping suggestion, I don't know what it is. So why was it moved?

Secondly, the Panasonic PW6 is only 852x480, I understand. So pray explain how it can reproduce even the lower of the two high definition standards being 1280 x 720 (720p), other than scaling down the input to fit the very low resolution of the PW6. Would you not much sooner have an XGA display at 1280 x 720?

Regards
George

Jummy

We are in the process of starting to look around for a plasma tv.
At the moment we have a 28' JVC that is 8 yrs old and looking a bit tired (plus its black and i want silver).
Any advice on what to look for or where to buy from would be very gratefully received.
We will probably buy in the next 6 months.
Or, we may wait till all this HDTV is up and running.

L.S.D.

I can't believe that someone has told people on this forum to avoid the best Plasma TV on the market BAR NONE, so as to get High Def' TV that won't become mainstream for several years. Yes there's pay through the nose SKY on very limited channels, ITV BBC..I can't see that happening for at least 3 to 4 years. Within the next two years all LCD/Plasma TV's will be well out of date. The Panasonic model described is the best Plasma I've seen anywhere. We looked around loads of shops for several months & NOTHING but Nothing was better. I recon' that even with Hi Def' on other TVs the Panasonic will still outshine them in normal mode. Buy that TV with confidence.

George_Bray

L.S.D. wrote:

I can't believe that someone has told people on this forum to avoid the best Plasma TV on the market BAR NONE, so as to get High Def' TV that won't become mainstream for several years. Yes there's pay through the nose SKY on very limited channels, ITV BBC..I can't see that happening for at least 3 to 4 years. Within the next two years all LCD/Plasma TV's will be well out of date. The Panasonic model described is the best Plasma I've seen anywhere. We looked around loads of shops for several months & NOTHING but Nothing was better. I recon' that even with Hi Def' on other TVs the Panasonic will still outshine them in normal mode. Buy that TV with confidence.

I sort of understand where you're coming from here but I fundamentally and strongly disagree for a number of reasons.

Firstly, though, I agree with you that high definition source material is unlikely to be widely available for a few years; but hopefully sooner. I presently know of only 2 sources: (a) a subscription to an Astra satellite channel for whatever it is they broadcast, which almost certainly does not include anything like News at Ten or Coronation Street; more like specialised documentary material and perhaps some movies. I don't know. (b) Digital VHS tapes for some mainstream movies, if you import or obtain a digital VHS deck. So this source material is OK for demo purposes and to impress your friends but probably not for regular viewing.

My problem is that once you've seen genuine high definition footage on a plasma (or CRT) monitor which can really resolve at least 1280 x 720 (720p) pixels, then everything else becomes irrelevant to me. I would prefer to keep my ten year old bog-standard TV until I can justify a high definition monitor, rather than go via an intermediate monitor such as the Panasonic PW6, however good it is at making the most of a lowly 852x480 pixels. I suggest the inherent broadcast quality of BBC1, ITV etc (and even present day DVD) is so poor that no digital processing in the world can make it look very good on a large plasma monitor, compared to a genuine high definition display, but only if the genuine high definition display uses genuine high definition source material.

I understand there are many 1280 x 720 (720p) monitors sold at or below the price of the Panasonic PD6. I concede the display on these may not be as good as the Panasonic on BBC1 but they should be in a different league when fed with high definition source material.

Regards
George

L.S.D.

You should have seen Lord of the Rings on the Panasonic,using a DVD player with Progressive scan. Out of this world.

George_Bray

L.S.D. wrote:

You should have seen Lord of the Rings on the Panasonic,using a DVD player with Progressive scan. Out of this world.

I've no doubt it is impressive, relative to the low standards of display which we have suffered for decades.

But would you not sooner have a high-definition copy of the same movie, displayed on a genuine high definition monitor? I believe the quality would be in a different league.

I've no doubt the goal posts will be moved again and again, to ultra high definition or whatever, with at least 2560 x 1440 pixels before long.

Here's a good quote by 'Pixel' from another thread on plasma TVs, under the Shopping category:

Pixel wrote:

The big issue for me in deciding which model to buy is high definition TV. High definition TV is available in the US at the moment where the Discovery Channel is in Hi-Def as well as major sporting events. You can also receive hi-def in the UK via the HD-1 channel broadcast on satellite. Launched in early 2004 and broadcasting in 1080i the picture is simply stunning. I have it linked up to Sony MRX series plasmas in my stores and the difference between hi-def and Sky/Freeview is night and day. To receive hi-def you need a display with at least 720 lines vertical resolution and either component video or HDMI. Some screens are the right resolution but don't have the connections, some have the connections but not the resolution, so you really have to do your homework.

So why hi-def? Sky have announced they will start hi-def broadcasting in 2006. They will broadcast in 720p but will allow other channels in the package to choose which format they use. Now here's the spanner in the works. Sky content will only work on TVs with a HDMI input which supports copy protection (they don't want you copying the latest movie on to blu-ray). Quite simply there are hardly any plasma/LCDs on the market which do this at the moment.

So to summarise, if you must have something flat and cool looking go ahead and get something cheap but it won't perform as well as a good CRT TV.

I agree.

Regards
George