Plasma screens?

[Jeffbx]

Anyone here use a plasma screen as a PC monitor? I'm looking for a couple of 42 or 50" screens to hang in my company's lobby, but it seems that most companies maket plasma screens to showing video rather than as a PC display. I'm looking for something that:

- Will display at least 1280x1024 resolution
- Has VGA (or DVI) input
- Is less than $10k

The price is probably not that realistic for a 50", but I'd be happy w/42.

Any sugestions?

[Jcranmer]

Originally posted by Jeffbx
Anyone here use a plasma screen as a PC monitor? I'm looking for a couple of 42 or 50" screens to hang in my company's lobby, but it seems that most companies maket plasma screens to showing video rather than as a PC display. I'm looking for something that:

- Will display at least 1280x1024 resolution
- Has VGA (or DVI) input
- Is less than $10k

The price is probably not that realistic for a 50", but I'd be happy w/42.

Any sugestions?


http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_plsmtv_proddetail.shtml

I belive this one can be used as a monitor, and it's well in your budget. ($2999)

[seqiro]

Originally posted by Jeffbx
Will display at least 1280x1024 resolution

At least?! I don't know of any plasma display that has that resolution native. Pioneer's 50" is 1280x768, for example.

So hopefully you don't mind that the image is going to be scaled down. :) In the Gateway model Jcranmer posted, it can accept 1280x1024 but it will scale it to 852x480.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

check out plasmatvguides comparison (http://www.plasmatvguide.com/plasma_tv_comp.asp). there are some 1280x1024 screens there but it looks the picture on those are scaled down to 1280x720. i dont know how reliable the site is but the specs look accurate. gl

[rajatQ2]

i have a Pioneer 44" as my main monitor in my office and i never run it at > 1280 just because it looks like poo higher than that. YOu might want to go to a store, maybe a gateway store might have one on display, they sometimes have fancy floor displays, and see it there. or if you live in illinois you can come to my office on a weekend :)

The picture is really not very good. I use that to code on, and sometimes play some games, but its not suited well as a monitor.

[Jeffbx]

THanks for the imput, folks. The Gateway was the first one I looked at (because of the cost), but it has pretty crappy resolution (as a monitor, that is).

There are a couple of NECs & Viewsonics that can go up to 1280x1024, but I guess I'd have to take a look at them to see how it really looks at that resolution. We're a software development company & we usually run our product demos at 1600x1200 (3D modeling stuff), so I didn't want to limit the screen size too much for the marketing people.

I've seen a few models (Pioneer, I think?) that you need a special video card to run the off of - probably due to odd resolutions (like seqiro mentioned). I'd rather be able to use a regular video card, as our software requires a pretty high end card to run. I've also noticed that some of these monitors will emulate higher resolutions - don't know how that works...

RajatQ2 - thanks for the offer! I'm near Detroit, so close, but not driving distance close! You must have a pretty big office if that's your primary monitor...

[rajatQ2]

Originally posted by Jeffbx


RajatQ2 - thanks for the offer! I'm near Detroit, so close, but not driving distance close! You must have a pretty big office if that's your primary monitor...

Hey Jeff,
i wouldnt suggest the Pioneer if you guys want to do fancy graphics on it. We play warcraft in the office sometimes and it doesnt look so great, so i cant imagine yours coming out good enough to give demos on. If you're going to spend $$$$ why not a nice projector and silver screen?

About having that screen in my office, government budget ;-P

[seqiro]

Originally posted by Jeffbx
There are a couple of NECs & Viewsonics that can go up to 1280x1024, but I guess I'd have to take a look at them to see how it really looks at that resolution. We're a software development company & we usually run our product demos at 1600x1200 (3D modeling stuff), so I didn't want to limit the screen size too much for the marketing people.

They may accept 1280x1024 (SXGA) signals, but I strongly doubt that they support those resolutions natively. Even the $20,000 NEC 61MP1 has a native pixel resolution of 1365x768, but it can support a signal of up to 1600x1200 (UXGA).

So I'm pretty sure you're going to have to be able to live with scaling.

[Tico]

Originally posted by rajatQ2


If you're going to spend $$$$ why not a nice projector and silver screen?


I agree, Would be my suggestion.........

[Jeffbx]

You know, I'm also leaning toward the projector idea, even though they don't have the impact of a plasma screen. They are a lot cheaper, tho...

[rajatQ2]

Hey Jeff,
Dont rule out plasma screens. I did some research on mine and found out that its one of the ****tier plasma screens ever made. I had some time today to play with the resolutions .... it tops out at 1024 x 768. Pioneer doesnt provide drivers for it either. It was one of the earliest models, 502MX, and cost over $15,000. Some one in my group had too much cash, i'm thinking, and i just got lucky getting this instead of a monitor.....

So, dont rule out plasmascreeens :) They are decent. But maybe a projector WILL serve you better for your purposes....
I know that when i build a house i will make a movie room with a Projector, rather than a plasma screen.

[Jeffbx]

Well, according to the marketing folks it WILL be a plasma screen or else nothing at all - it's purely for showcasing the lobby, and a projector & screen hanging from the ceiling just doesn't have the same impact.

I'm still looking around, but I figure that if the computer display is really weak then they will just have to spool the demo onto DVD rather than displaying it live... they've done that in the past.

I'll let you know what we end up with & how it looks.