LCD or PLASMA for gameing and HD movies

mikesaab

Hi my budget is about €1000 and have dilemma . First my question: is it better to buy plasma or lcd tv for gameing, movies and a bit of sky screening. Which would perform better.
Second question is: what brand would you recomend.
I have to add that it has to be min 40" and 100Hz with good quality of picture.
Regards
Mike

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Hi Mikesaab

You'll find a far wider range of LCD TV's nowadays - plasma seems to be becoming a little rear now...still some good 'uns out there though (RS Belfast guys will beable to help you there)

As far as gaming goes Plasma still can be a little prone to screen burn, especially if you have marathon gaming session!

LCD TV's have come on in quantum leaps in terms of picture quality in the last year - they look excellent.

We in the shop are very fond of the 42PFL8404H (as are Boardies!)
I've included it's specs below for you reading pleasure...

www.p4c.philips.com/files/4/42pfl8404h_12/42pfl8404h_12_pss_eng.pdf

It's a great TV for Sky, Movies (on Blu-Ray I hope!!) and games, Has 100Hz Clear LCD Processing as well as a 80000:1 contrast ratio.

This is available to Boardies for €1000 at the moment (€1300 in store) and I have them in stock - at last as we couldnt keep up with the demand for a while there......

call on into the shop and have a look, I reckon you'll be impressed.

atb
Ash

Kev.

plasma seems to be becoming a little rear now...?????

Are you serious?
-Any TV expert will tell you that a Plasma is the better of the two

And as for image retention its practically non existant anymore,ask any expert!
If you buy a Plasma for 1000 euro you wont get any retention especially if you run the TV in....

Anyway thats my 2 cents,Im sure Ash is trying to direct you in the right way but honestly to imply that an LCD is the inferior than a plasma ................well................ its just wrong!

If your looking for brilliant TV look no further than a Panasonic!

ei9go

Look at that Philips compared to any Panasonic plasma and there is no comparison.

Last week I looked at both side by side in Harvey Norman and the Panasonic is much better in skin and facial detail and has beautiful blacks.

There is no true black in the Philips at all.

However, the big advantage of LCD is much lower power consumption.

If you can afford the electricity buy the plasma.

mikesaab

First of all thanks everyone for quick respond.
Well I'm confused now. I checked 100's of forums and still don't know which would be best for me.
I have already 42" Philips Plasma for 3.5 years. I'm not happy of it at all. I've got replacement of tv already but the same hapened with second one unfortunately after warranty. I'm getting colorful snow on the screen for most of the time. It disappears from time to time. I checked cables and changed them but still the same.
Anyway Philips and plasma let me down, I don't know if it was just me unlucky or the quality is crap. Just don't won't to do the same mistake twice.
If someone want to comment it please feel free.
I've been thinking about sony/panasonic 42" plasma or few lcd's:
KDL40W5500
LE40B650
42PFL8404H
or good Panasonic.

Richersounds.ie: John

Kev. wrote: »

plasma seems to be becoming a little rear now...?????

Kev I think that's a typo - Ash meant rare!
And to be honest it is getting more and more difficult to get hold of decent supplies of Plasma and especially it is difficult to do a range comparison on Plasma as there really is only Pana and LG left in the marketplace (with very limited Samsung) Pioneer - The Plasma Maestros have unfortunately pulled out completely of TV manufacture :mad:.

I will confess to all and sundry that I am a Plasma fan (and I still have one as my main TV) however top end LCD really is making amazing strides this season
and for the 1st time with the Sammy 8 series and the Philips 9 series LCD is approaching Plasma in quality terms (see the October review of top-end TV's in What Hi-fi) however as ever these LCD's are damn expensive!

Mikesaab - if you have a Philips set with an issue (especially if it's your 2nd unit) could you drop it into us and we will do our best to get it sorted for you - the issue you report TBH is a strange fault on either a Plasma or LCD and honestly sounds like an external issue - however if you can get it into us ( I know you did not buy it from us!) we will do our best to get it sorted for you.

Thanks again and BTW you would probably have more success in your quest if you posted this query in the main HE forum??

ATB,

John Mc

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Hi Guys

Didn't mean to spark a plasma V LCD war!

For the record I have a 2.5yr old Plasma myself - I like it but it doesn't like Wii (takes a l o n g time for screen to settle down after playing it) and now has a little screen burn from different TV logos and Sky news clocks etc in different corners of the screen.

Whilst its a good TV it doesn't stand up against the latest gerenartion of LCD TV's....Dont think I can convince the wife we need a new new 47PFL9664:(

oh it was a typo, ment rare, not rear - sorry!

Cheers
Ash

mikesaab

Thanks guys,
I made my mind. I will go for Panasonic plazma P42G10. It looks like best solution for me.
Question for you do you have any deal at the moment for this particular model? How much it cost with shipping to Co. Dublin?
BTW I wish to pop up to your store with my philips and get it sorted, but it's just to far for me form Balbriggan.
Is there any other brunch in Ireland?

ei9go

Be careful with this one.

Read in some of the other boards forums about the difference between the
P42G10 and the P42G10L( Irish Model).

I cannot not verify but other posts suggest that UK model will not pick up Irish MPEG4 DVB-T.

I looked at the P42G10L and the P42S10L side by side last week and they are both excellent.

I just cannot see the difference in the picture between them, the only difference I can see is a couple of hundred euro.

Richersounds.ie: John

ei9go wrote: »

Be careful with this one.

Read in some of the other boards forums about the difference between the
P42G10 and the P42G10L( Irish Model).

I cannot not verify but other posts suggest that UK model will not pick up Irish MPEG4 DVB-T.

I looked at the P42G10L and the P42S10L side by side last week and they are both excellent.

I just cannot see the difference in the picture between them, the only difference I can see is a couple of hundred euro.

Ei9go (where did that name come from?)

Ei9go - thanks for that and you are 110% correct - the G10's that we sell are UK only models (Panasonic are pretty unique now in this respect as most manufacturers now supply Pan european models) The G10 we supply does not have either a VHF tuner or compatable MPEG4 tuner.

Again I agree with you on the S10/G10 debate - I don't think there is much/any difference even though according to the specs the G10 has a higher contrast ratio of 40,000:1.

As the G10 is a UK only model we currently don't ship it into the ROi but it's in-store price is £799.95

Thanks and drop me a line if I can assist in anyway,

ATB,

John Mc

Kev.

mikesaab wrote: »

Thanks guys,
I made my mind. I will go for Panasonic plazma P42G10. It looks like best solution for me.
Question for you do you have any deal at the moment for this particular model? How much it cost with shipping to Co. Dublin?
BTW I wish to pop up to your store with my philips and get it sorted, but it's just to far for me form Balbriggan.
Is there any other brunch in Ireland?

Great choice !

ei9go

My amateur radio callsign.

Google it and see

cnocbui

johnmc wrote: »

Ei9go (where did that name come from?)

Ei9go - thanks for that and you are 110% correct - the G10's that we sell are UK only models (Panasonic are pretty unique now in this respect as most manufacturers now supply Pan european models) The G10 we supply does not have either a VHF tuner or compatable MPEG4 tuner.

...

John Mc

The MPEG-4 decoder in the Panasonics IS compatible!

The issue was with the Panasonics was them not interpreting a particular service type descriptor RTE were using in DTT test transmissions. This meant that the Panasonics would not scan and store the DTT channels, even though they were perfectly capable of displaying them and decoding the MPEG-4.

In recent DTT test transmissions, the service type was changed and the Panasonics - at the moment - will scan and store the DTT channels. My PZ5081B is currently receiving the DTT test channels.

No one really knows whether the UK market Panasonics will be able to scan and store the DTT channels when the service is actually introduced. I suspect they will as it is probably the raising of the issue here on Boards that resulted in the service type in test transmissions being changed back to something the Panasonics will recognise. But I could be wrong. I won't be doing a re-scan until I know for sure and will save the channel info I have to SD card as insurance.

So at the moment, my UK market PZ gives me satellite, HD satellite, Irish DTT test transmissions and all the terrestrial TV stations on UHF.

Sorry if I appear picky.

I think the P42G10B is an excellent choice. The worst case scenario is the DTT will not function when the service is finally introduced, meaning a cheap box will be required for DTT. Buying the Euro/Irish version of the set is a an absolute guaruntee from the outset that an additional box will be required to receive satellite.

At least the G10 option promisies at least a chance at a box free existence.

The lack of VHF is not much of an issue. DTT will be UHF only and sometime after DTT is introduced, VHF transmissions will cease altogether.

I can assure the OP that Panasonic HD Plasmas are utterly superb for gaming and viewing HD content.

Colourful snow sounds like a reception / poor antennae issue to me. I had poor terrestrial reception until I recently installed a high quality high gain UHF antennae. Now my reception is perfect.

Richersounds.ie: John

cnocbui wrote: »

The MPEG-4 decoder in the Panasonics IS compatible!

The issue was with the Panasonics was them not interpreting a particular service type descriptor RTE were using in DTT test transmissions. This meant that the Panasonics would not scan and store the DTT channels, even though they were perfectly capable of displaying them and decoding the MPEG-4.

In recent DTT test transmissions, the service type was changed and the Panasonics - at the moment - will scan and store the DTT channels. My PZ5081B is currently receiving the DTT test channels.

No one really knows whether the UK market Panasonics will be able to scan and store the DTT channels when the service is actually introduced. I suspect they will as it is probably the raising of the issue here on Boards that resulted in the service type in test transmissions being changed back to something the Panasonics will recognise. But I could be wrong. I won't be doing a re-scan until I know for sure and will save the channel info I have to SD card as insurance.

So at the moment, my UK market PZ gives me satellite, HD satellite, Irish DTT test transmissions and all the terrestrial TV stations on UHF.

Sorry if I appear picky.

I think the P42G10B is an excellent choice. The worst case scenario is the DTT will not function when the service is finally introduced, meaning a cheap box will be required for DTT. Buying the Euro/Irish version of the set is a an absolute guaruntee from the outset that an additional box will be required to receive satellite.

At least the G10 option promisies at least a chance at a box free existence.

The lack of VHF is not much of an issue. DTT will be UHF only and sometime after DTT is introduced, VHF transmissions will cease altogether.

I can assure the OP that Panasonic HD Plasmas are utterly superb for gaming and viewing HD content.

Colourful snow sounds like a reception / poor antennae issue to me. I had poor terrestrial reception until I recently installed a high quality high gain UHF antennae. Now my reception is perfect.

Cnoc,

Thanks for the post and I know that The Pana nominally has MPEG4 - however at the moment they will not give us a cast iron assurance that the UK versions will continue to operate with the Irish MPEG4 - as you know we have sold lots of PZ81 series (yummy TV) and they work/don't work/work with MPEG4 - we do understand that it is changes being made to the trial broadcasts and not a fault of the Panas - however as a retailer it is better for us to err on the side of caution.

Re the VHF issue, yes I agree - it's really not an issue - however again the problem arises if a Customer wants to access VHF some time down the road and then discovers they have an issue - Panasonic are currently the only manufacturer we stock who supply a UK only TV to us - life would be much simpler if they just supplied UHF/VHF/MPEG4 units like everyone else!

On the 'snowy' front, again I agree 100% with you and I feel it's an external issue either in reception or cable screening.

And finally, yes I agree again that I think that Boards and Watty & STB in particular is responsible for huge influence both on RTE and on Customers in a positive manner as a result of their excellent forum here on boards and I woudld urge all boardies to pay it a visit every so often!

Thanks again,

ATB,

John Mc

mikesaab

johnmc wrote: »

Cnoc,

... On the 'snowy' front, again I agree 100% with you and I feel it's an external issue either in reception or cable screening.
...

John Mc

Hi John,
Regarding the philips, I had the same issue with the first one which was replaced or repaired. Everything was ok for about a year, then it started again. I changed cables already when I was with NTL. After this I moved to new house and swiched to SKY. I've got new box and again new cables still the same. The funny thing is, it doesn't snow when is "cold" for about 30 min. After this snow is getting stronger and disappear after a while, then comming back again. There is also snow when I use xbox 360, so it's not only on sd channels. It's very annoing aspecially during a night or when is dark in the room.
Any advise?
Thanks
Mike

ei9go

cnocbui wrote: »

The lack of VHF is not much of an issue. DTT will be UHF only and sometime after DTT is introduced, VHF transmissions will cease altogether.



Remember that large portions of the Irish population in cities are on cable which uses VHF Band III and "Hyperband" and will continue to do so.

You are perfectly correct if people are receiving TV with their own aerials.

With Freeview HD about to begin in England region, there is bound to be cheap HD Mpeg4 boxes once the launch phase is over.

Richersounds.ie: John

Mike,

without seeing it and getting it on a bench I can only guess - can you get it into us and even though you have not bought it from us we will do our best for you?

ATB,

John Mc & Crew

iceman777

AshMiller wrote: »

We in the shop are very fond of the 42PFL8404H (as are Boardies!)
I've included it's specs below for you reading pleasure...

www.p4c.philips.com/files/4/42pfl8404h_12/42pfl8404h_12_pss_eng.pdf

It's a great TV for Sky, Movies (on Blu-Ray I hope!!) and games, Has 100Hz Clear LCD Processing as well as a 80000:1 contrast ratio.

What stand would you recommend for this TV or for Philips TVs (or any others) in general?

If someone was to purchase the TV and stand, is there a good deal to be had on the package?

The stand would have to take an Xbox 360, DVD player, UPC digibox and router.