confused- lcd or plasma

jem

Hi I am totally confused.
geting new tv for my 40th from she who must be obayed.

willing to spend a fair amount for the right tv.circa 1500-2k
will be used mainly for the following:
skyhd,
sports
film's
going to get blueray as well

size 38/40"

not sure whether to go lcd or plasma
and which model/make.
totally lost at this stage, please help.

Idleater

Without any desired looks/features - narrow it down to just 1080p screens.

Victor_M

I have yet to see an LCD that can match Plasma depths of contrast and darkness levels. They are backlit (LCD's) and there is always a glow regardless of how dark the scene on the screen is supposed to be. Refresh rate is also an issue although much improved LCD refresh rates still leave streaks across very fast moving scenes.

Plasma sets are heavier, not an issue if it's hung correctly, Plasma also uses more power ( not sure how much more but they do run warm).

I have 1 42" Plasma and 3 LCD's around the house and there isn't a patch on the pic quality between the LCD and Plasma, If plasmas came smaller than 37" I wouldn't have bought any of the LCD sets at all.

Zonda999

They now do.:) LG sell a 32" plasma. This one here. Hav'nt seen it on sale here anywhere, though.

trabpc

Pioneer Plasma if you can afford it otherwise A Panasonic Plasma.
If you can wait till next yr those new LED LCD's, look the Biz. Trusted reviews reviewed one today says it as close to a Pioneer Plasma they have seen!!

jenno86

I purchased a 42" Panasonic HD Ready TV two weeks ago, and I am very happy with it! Use it for Chorus NTL, PS3 AND XB360. Great Picture quality with the NTL, thats why I opted for the plasma. The standard def pictures always look way better on a Plasma rather than an LCD. I got a HDMI 250gb Recorder & DVD Player (upscaler) worth €349 and a stand worth €299 with it for free aswell. Cost me €1099 for the lot and I got a 5 year warrenty aswell! Got it from Expert Electrical in Wellpark, Galway.

Rew

trabpc wrote: »

Pioneer Plasma if you can afford it otherwise A Panasonic Plasma.
If you can wait till next yr those new LED LCD's, look the Biz. Trusted reviews reviewed one today says it as close to a Pioneer Plasma they have seen!!

Saw a Series 9 Samsung tonight playing Transformers BluRay and it out classed the Kuro they had on display. The black bars top and bottom were almost as black as the frame, colours were very vivid and life like. Price tag was unreal but thats just the Irish retailers for you.

big_moe

Rew wrote: »

Saw a Series 9 Samsung tonight playing Transformers BluRay and it out classed the Kuro they had on display. The black bars top and bottom were almost as black as the frame, colours were very vivid and life like. Price tag was unreal but thats just the Irish retailers for you.

the pioneer musn't have been set up properly. there is no LCD on the market at the moment that can out class the Kuro, i've tried the best of them.

the new sony X series with RGB LED backlight is about as close as you can get, but its still not a Kuro. and at €6500 (ish) for the sony in 55", i'd spend €3000 on a 50" kuro or €6500 on a 60" Kuro.

adam

iMax

Hope it's not too late, but I got a flyer in for Harvey Normans yesterday - 42" panasonic Plasma with free Blueray for €1199

I spent €1500 on my 42" samsung fifteen months ago (only for a capicitor to blow in it at month 13.5 - small red sparklies in bottom right hand corner). If I was buying again I'd go for this deal.

M00lers

Pioneer plasma all the way, if you want the best nothing else comes close, oh and avoid judging picture quality in shops, samsung outclassed a Pioneer , yer having a larf...:D

trabpc

Never herd of a lcd out classing a Pioneer Plamsa before. As Adam said It prob was not set up properly.

Don't firstly go looking for 1080p. Look at which ever has the better picture quality. obviously if you are spending over the €1300 look for 1080p.

Most HD Ready Pioneer or Panasonic Plasmas out peform thir Lcd Counterparts with analouge feeds or regular sky/DVD. Granted your 1080p Lcd will look Fab on Blue Ray once or twice week for 2 or 3 hours but the rest of you time you spend watching regular non hd TV is more important!

Ask The shop assistant to set it up with DVD or regular sky and see how it looks?

Rew

The 956 is very close to a X4500, an X4500 is very close to Kuro do you see where im going with this?

I've read all the reviews going and they all say that the LED sets are achieving very impressive pictures and black levels.

With my eyes looking at the 956 and the Kuro on display the black bars above and below the picture were better on the 956 then the Kuro. Now they were both playing different BluRays from different players and the 956 was a much bigger screen size.

Flashraziel

Can Anyone tell me if there is anything I should be wary about with the 42" Panasonic Plasma in the Harvey Norman Catalogue? Full HD 1920x1080 res. 10,000:1 contrast, 2xHdmi inputs and High definition digital Tuner.
Comes with a blu ray player too.
I don't know a lot about this kind of thing but It will be mostly used for movies.

big_moe

it doesnt have a High definition digital tuner. thats a mistake that harvey norman ALWAYS make.

other than that, yes its a great TV.

one bad thing about buying from harvey normans, they dont give you a free 5 year warranty from Panasonic... they charge you for their own extended warranty program.

adam

Flashraziel

Maybe someone should get onto them for false advertising then...
What exactly does a HD Tuner do?

big_moe

it's been tried already! they've done it with other ads as well but they claim E&OE and tend to get away with it.

the idea of an HD tuner is that you plug in your ntl cable, an aerial or a satellite and the tv will decode those channels in HD (if available). like the way the TVs do at the moment with regular ntl... except in the future they will decode HD channels.

Unfortunately in Ireland, there's no HD channels yet from ntl or via aerial. so the only way to get HD channels is with satellite. the panasonic TVs available in Ireland don't have an HD tuner built in for that. so you would have buy a decoder box to receive the HD channels.

the 2 options are sky or freesat

www.freesat.co.uk


adam

Flashraziel

Thanks. That's a great help. I have sky anyway so If upgrading to the HD package wont be overly difficult along the line.

Victor_M

Flashraziel wrote: »

Thanks. That's a great help. I have sky anyway so If upgrading to the HD package wont be overly difficult along the line.

TBPH If I were you, I'd buy myself a couple of magazines, Home cinema choice, WhatHifi or the likes and have a look at their review section. Shortlist and have a look in store, don't make the mistake most people do and buy the cheapest one on offer showing the animated movie which look great on all but the cheapest of sets. Spend a little bit extra, you are going to be looking at this for a long time.

Most Important to note is the Analogue pic quality (if you are an NTL customer) & the RGB Scart pic quality (if you are sky or NTL Digi) as you will be watching this most.

jem

hi bit the bullet and bought the samsung 7 series lcd 40".
Have to say that through sky the picture is brilliant and through Skyhd out of this world.Havea friend who has a pioneer plasma and he recons the lcd is 10 times better picture.
Also bought the philips home cinema box and it is fab.
realy happy with purchases.

Rew

Where did you buy it/how much? Have to say im still drooling over the series 9.

jem

1500 currys

Rew

Not bad, I'd say ill go to http://www.1staudiovisual.co.uk/ when i bite the bullet.