EDTV Plasma recommendation?

attgig · 03-28-2005, 01:00 PM

So, a few of us are pooling together to get one of our friends a nice wedding gift.... a new tv. we decided in the end to go for an EDTV plasma considering their small living room, and price considerations.

Can anyone recommend a good plasma for a good price? we're thinking about 2k or less

thanks.

Apex · 03-28-2005, 01:28 PM

Panasonic 7Uy is nice. There's also this "HD" model:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A3996%3A182304

Great specs, uses the latest LG panel.

attgig · 03-28-2005, 01:45 PM

interesting. so that LG is the same monitor as the panny, huh?

also, in researching... I saw this:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...efinition.html

is it really that little of a difference btw ED & HD?

zippyjuan · 03-28-2005, 03:18 PM

Here is another good place to learn about them.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...php?forumid=40

Chgoman · 03-28-2005, 07:54 PM

I got the 7UY about a month ago and I can say it's an incredible TV. I ordered mine through Visual Apex and I can't say enough good things about them. If you go through the link at www.avsforum.com, you can get the TV bundles with a tilting wall mount for a great price from a top notch company.

Apex · 03-29-2005, 03:26 PM

LG is not the same as the Panny. Panny makes their own.

That Hyundai from Walmart uses the LG panel.

guiseppewv · 03-29-2005, 03:49 PM

Doesn't plasma still have some really bad "problems"? Burn-in being one of the worst.

FYI: For those who don't know burn in is happening on plasma tvs b/c the station identifiers and ticker lines on certain channels do not change which causes burn-in kind of like what happened with computer screens years ago.

Apex · 03-29-2005, 03:56 PM

Depends on what you use it for. For computer applications, where you have a static screen for days at a time, it's not a good choice. However, for your typical video application, you don't really have to worry about burn in.

The propensity of a plasma panel to burn in is related to its half life (the time it takes to reach 1/2 brightness). Those plasmas that you see horribly burned in tended to be the older ones, with 10-30k hour halflives. Most of the top tier plasmas today, like those ones I mentioned above, have a 60k hour halflife. They're far more resistant to burn in than older panels. Panasonic has already announced their next gen 100k hour halflife panel.

Also, there are some common sense things you can do to help control burn in. Perhaps the most important one is to calibrate your display soon after getting it. If you're buying a $2000+ panel, it would seem to me to only make sense to splurge on the $16 it takes to buy a Digital Video Essentials DVD. Calibration takes like 30 minutes of your time.

AlpineJay · 03-29-2005, 05:34 PM

So Apex, that Hyundai's a good panel for the money? I'm looking into picking up a unit sometime in June for my new place.

What would be a good option given approx. a 2K budget looking for an HD solution? As this is an apartment I wouldn't want anything too horribly heavy so plasma seems to fit the deal. I've looked at DLP/LCD RPTVs and not sure which to choose. Wondering come June what your recommendations on plasmas would be (HDTV, please) - thanks.

cheapie · 03-29-2005, 06:58 PM

if i'm not mistaken, t's not HD...it's ED.

hey apex. should i buy a Digital Video Essentials DVD for my new sammy HD dlp? if so...any special place to pick it up?

IrishSS · 03-29-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheapie

if i'm not mistaken, t's not HD...it's ED.

hey apex. should i buy a Digital Video Essentials DVD for my new sammy HD dlp? if so...any special place to pick it up?

Yes, or have it calibrated by an ISF technician to ensure the best picture. The calibration tneds to cost around $300, but most people swear its worth it. I'd like to have mine done, but I'm having trouble finding anybody in the area to do it.

You'll be surprised how different the picture is after you calibrate with DVE. It will appear darker, but it is truly the best way to view things. The colors will be better and richer and things will be much sharper.

cheapie · 03-29-2005, 08:03 PM

ok. i'm freaking out after reading the reviews of the Digital Video Essentials DVD. is it really that hard to use? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...ing=UTF8&s=dvd

btw irish...you might want to look here for a professional: http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm

Apex · 03-29-2005, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlpineJay

So Apex, that Hyundai's a good panel for the money? I'm looking into picking up a unit sometime in June for my new place.

What would be a good option given approx. a 2K budget looking for an HD solution? As this is an apartment I wouldn't want anything too horribly heavy so plasma seems to fit the deal. I've looked at DLP/LCD RPTVs and not sure which to choose. Wondering come June what your recommendations on plasmas would be (HDTV, please) - thanks.

I'd suggest going to walmart and seeing it if possible. I haven't seen it myself, but I've seen the LG, which is very good.

The unit is called an "HD" unit, however, that's not technically correct.

ED displays should be able to fully resolve 480p.

480p is 720 x 480 in a 16:9 format.

When you display that on a fixed pixel square pixel device, it requires 854 x 480.

HD is defined as 720p or 1080i.

720p = 1280 x 720 progressive
1080i = 1920 x 1080 interlaced

That Hyundai uses a 1024 x 768 panel in a 16:9 format (non-square pixels). So, while they call it HD, it cannot truly resolve 720p. Functionally and practically speaking, it's close enough that most people will not be able to see the difference from normal viewing distances. Technically speaking, they're fudging on the specs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheapie

ok. i'm freaking out after reading the reviews of the Digital Video Essentials DVD. is it really that hard to use? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...ing=UTF8&s=dvd

It's very easy to use. The problem is the navigation is poor, so it takes a little getting used to. The actual use is easy though. If you're too lazy to take the time to muddle through the navigation (I'm actually pretty lazy myself, but not quite to this level), there's the much easier AVIA, but it's $45 and seems to be missing some of the features DVE has.

Merlin · 03-30-2005, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishSS

Yes, or have it calibrated by an ISF technician to ensure the best picture. The calibration tneds to cost around $300, but most people swear its worth it. I'd like to have mine done, but I'm having trouble finding anybody in the area to do it.

You'll be surprised how different the picture is after you calibrate with DVE. It will appear darker, but it is truly the best way to view things. The colors will be better and richer and things will be much sharper.

I have one of the DLPs as well and it is fairly new. Is calibration needed on a new unit? Or is it something that should happen later as it ages? And then how often should it be done.

This is the first I've heard of this so please keep it simple.

attgig · 03-30-2005, 06:48 AM

ok, here's another question....how do people like the Dell plasmas? I don't know how much better the panasonic is vs the dell.
Also, what makes the panny so good?

Quote:

Originally Posted by attgig

also, in researching... I saw this:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...efinition.html

is it really that little of a difference btw ED & HD?

so, just to clarify what the article said:

Quote:

So, is it really worth it to shell out extra for an HDTV?

As you decide whether you want (or need) an High Resolution plasma, you might want to consider the following:

(1) DVD material may look better on an EDTV 853 X 480 plasma because it matches perfectly at 480p with the 480p native pixel resolution of the plasma. This depends more upon the manufacturer than it does the resolution.

(2) 90% of the content available to viewers -- whether on TV or on DVD -- is NOT high definition.

(3) EDTVs sometimes (again depending upon the manufacturer) have higher contrast ratios, which make for better-looking dark scenes.

(4) Good quality EDTV plasma TVs can display HD content nearly as well as HDTV plasmas can. This would seem counterintuitive, yet the relative "fullness" of an HD signal makes it easy for an EDTV to display that signal -- and to do it fairly well. There is not much more than a 10% difference in picture quality between EDTV plasma showing HD content and HDTV plasma displaying such content.

(5) The manufacturer quality should be of more concern than the resolution of the plasma display. Purchasing a plasma from a quality manufacturer can make the biggest difference of all. I would rather have an EDTV 853X480 plasma TV from Sony, Panasonic or Pioneer than an 1024X768 HDTV plasma from lesser Taiwanese, or Korean manufacturers even for the same cost.

(6) Displaying comuter images will look better on the higher resolution display where video processing is not as much of a concern. This is especially the case for static images. The extra expense of the higher resolution plasma display will be well worth it for these uses.

is that all true?

aglio412 · 03-30-2005, 11:15 AM

i ordered the panny 7UY yesterday, with a 3yr warranty extension and in house setup/shipping for a few bucks over $2k. the way i see it, i'll take the EDTV for $1000 less than a comparable HD panel. i've never been a fan of buying a hyundai or sampo or dell or gateway whatever just because someone else makes the screen...

hit eBay for a copy of Digital Video Essentials, i just grabbed one for $17 shipped.

my rationale? all i really watch right now is TiVO and DVDs, and i don't have the loot to get an HD TiVO [i have DirecTV]. i was looking for an upgrade of what was currently in the livingroom [don't ask] and i don't plan on immediately ordering HD satellite service as i may be moving soon, and might have the option to get digital cable instead.

which brings me to the real reason i bought an EDTV, the price and its function. the thing will be in the living room of our new place...our new place with a room in the basement dedicated to theater activites, which will surely contain a 60+" DLP or projector. so it makes sense for me.

i guess what it boils down to, is get what you feel comfortable with. i'm a brand whore, so sampo/maxent/etc... were out of the question, and considering this will not be the main TV for HD viewing in the house, it makes total sense.

i'll try to pop back in once i get it set up and calibrated for a little review, i don't come by here much these days, but i'll try.

good luck.

oh, i ordered it from www.drplasma.com

attgig · 04-01-2005, 02:13 PM

thanks for the link Aglio. just pulled the trigger on the panny at dr plasma, and got a tabletop stand from B&H.

thanks for the tips guys.

guiseppewv · 04-01-2005, 03:32 PM

Hey,

Here is an article that realted to this thread:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/28/pf/g...vice/index.htm

Quote:

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The worst job in the court of Henry VIII -- other than queen -- may have been "groom of the stool."

When the king relieved himself, it was the groom's duty to clean up. Down there.

A subsequent monarch abolished the position, perhaps after realizing that wiping was a task even a king should do for himself.

Still, I wouldn't be completely surprised if some entrepreneur were to launch a modern-day groom business.

If a service saves effort or time, after all, a certain breed of consumer will probably pay for it.

A poll in the U.K., for example, found that a majority of those surveyed prefer to hire people to perform even simple tasks, from sewing buttons on clothing to fixing breakfast.

Stateside, it's hardly worth asking whether we would rather have things done for us than to do them ourselves. The answer is obvious.

We're all worshippers in the cult of convenience.

Help is on the way
No chore is too small for the growing "personal services" industry.

Take shopping. Americans are the greatest consumers the world has ever known, yet we now need help buying stuff.

The use of personal shoppers is growing at about a 20 percent a year, according to the Association of Image Consultants International, a trade group.

This sort of extreme consumer pampering isn't just happening at ritzy enclaves on Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive, either. Macy's offers personal shoppers.

Some parents even hire consultants to help get their kids ready for the school year.

"In a small but burgeoning movement, parents are hiring personal shoppers and image consultants," USA Today reported, "to ease the back-to-school shopping burden."

Pictures need hanging? Hire a hubby. Closets need organizing? Rent a wife. When gutters or sinks need cleaning, the modern solution is to contract out the work.

On Craig's List, the Web classifieds, one entrepreneur offers to go to Ikea to buy furniture for you. Another will charge you $15 an hour to assemble it.

Meanwhile, out in San Francisco, a "Jane of all trades" makes money organizing other people's photographs. She can work with digital images, too.

In New York, a service called HungryPod will take your CD collection and burn it onto your new iPod (prices begin at $1.50 per disc).

For $50 more, owner Catherine Keane will make suggestions about other bands you might enjoy. She'll even buy them from iTunes for you, at a price of $25 an hour for labor, plus the cost of the song.

In fact, technology has spawned a raft of other new services to help with fancy electronics gear. My favorite: TV color consultants.

Say you just bought a giant-screen plasma TV. You get it all set up, turn it on, and somehow the color doesn't look quite right. You tinker with the remote control, but nothing seems to work.

Turns out, you can hire a specialist.

He will come to your house, take a measure of the room's light, the placement of the television and other factors. He will then readjust the system, pixel by pixel, to give you a perfect color picture. Cost: $225 to more than $1,000.

According to the Los Angeles Times, they do a brisk business in southern California.

aglio412 · 04-07-2005, 07:57 AM

got mine yesterday, it's pretty slick...definitely needs calibrated tho. i ordered the home essentials dvd, and i should be receiving it htis week.

so far..it's good...regular tv, through s-video is a bit grainy, but that's expected as it's not calibrated and plasmas have the tendency to emphasize imperfections in a signal. hopefully i'll have VOOM sooner rather than later and can at least use an HDMI cable. of course that requires an add-on board for the plasma. [under $200, so not bad]

progressive scan dvd performance is GREAT..again a bit grainy, but i definitely need to adjust the settings, hopefully i'll get that home essentials disk soon!!!

over all, i'm happy as hell, it's dead sexy and has a ton of potential. just playing with the black levels on the settings, i'm already seeing why it gets such high ratings for its blacks and contrast.

that's my ghetto review for now, let me get it calibrated and i'll give ya some more. it took almost 2 weeks to arrive from dr plasma [cali to VA], even though 3-5 day shipping was in the ballpark of $300...just in case anyone is shopping around and was wondering about delivery time.

OremuS · 04-12-2005, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aglio412

hopefully i'll have VOOM sooner rather than later

Sorry to burst your bubble, but as of April 30, 2005, VOOM is no more. Link

03-28-2005, 01:00 PM	#1
attgig Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: the burbs of baltimore Posts: 11,924	EDTV Plasma recommendation? So, a few of us are pooling together to get one of our friends a nice wedding gift.... a new tv. we decided in the end to go for an EDTV plasma considering their small living room, and price considerations. Can anyone recommend a good plasma for a good price? we're thinking about 2k or less thanks. __________________

03-28-2005, 01:28 PM	#2
Apex Can you hear me now? Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Here Posts: 5,506	Panasonic 7Uy is nice. There's also this "HD" model: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...A3996%3A182304 Great specs, uses the latest LG panel. __________________ The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge. Daniel J. Boorstin (1914 - )

03-29-2005, 05:34 PM	#9
AlpineJay Commander Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Medford, MA Posts: 1,011	So Apex, that Hyundai's a good panel for the money? I'm looking into picking up a unit sometime in June for my new place. What would be a good option given approx. a 2K budget looking for an HD solution? As this is an apartment I wouldn't want anything too horribly heavy so plasma seems to fit the deal. I've looked at DLP/LCD RPTVs and not sure which to choose. Wondering come June what your recommendations on plasmas would be (HDTV, please) - thanks. __________________ If con is the opposite of pro, then what's the opposite of progress?

03-29-2005, 06:58 PM	#10
cheapie Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: raising my pimp hand strong Posts: 13,038	if i'm not mistaken, t's not HD...it's ED. hey apex. should i buy a Digital Video Essentials DVD for my new sammy HD dlp? if so...any special place to pick it up? __________________ 70% of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Bob Sanders

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03-28-2005, 01:45 PM	#3
attgig Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: the burbs of baltimore Posts: 11,924	interesting. so that LG is the same monitor as the panny, huh? also, in researching... I saw this: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...efinition.html is it really that little of a difference btw ED & HD?

03-28-2005, 03:18 PM	#4
zippyjuan Picture of the Day Guru Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Sunny San Diego Posts: 8,756	Here is another good place to learn about them. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...php?forumid=40

03-28-2005, 07:54 PM	#5
Chgoman Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Posts: 696	I got the 7UY about a month ago and I can say it's an incredible TV. I ordered mine through Visual Apex and I can't say enough good things about them. If you go through the link at www.avsforum.com, you can get the TV bundles with a tilting wall mount for a great price from a top notch company.

03-29-2005, 03:26 PM	#6
Apex Can you hear me now? Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Here Posts: 5,506	LG is not the same as the Panny. Panny makes their own. That Hyundai from Walmart uses the LG panel.

03-29-2005, 03:49 PM	#7
guiseppewv Admiral Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: East coast Posts: 7,116	Doesn't plasma still have some really bad "problems"? Burn-in being one of the worst. FYI: For those who don't know burn in is happening on plasma tvs b/c the station identifiers and ticker lines on certain channels do not change which causes burn-in kind of like what happened with computer screens years ago.

03-29-2005, 03:56 PM	#8
Apex Can you hear me now? Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Here Posts: 5,506	Depends on what you use it for. For computer applications, where you have a static screen for days at a time, it's not a good choice. However, for your typical video application, you don't really have to worry about burn in. The propensity of a plasma panel to burn in is related to its half life (the time it takes to reach 1/2 brightness). Those plasmas that you see horribly burned in tended to be the older ones, with 10-30k hour halflives. Most of the top tier plasmas today, like those ones I mentioned above, have a 60k hour halflife. They're far more resistant to burn in than older panels. Panasonic has already announced their next gen 100k hour halflife panel. Also, there are some common sense things you can do to help control burn in. Perhaps the most important one is to calibrate your display soon after getting it. If you're buying a $2000+ panel, it would seem to me to only make sense to splurge on the $16 it takes to buy a Digital Video Essentials DVD. Calibration takes like 30 minutes of your time.

03-29-2005, 08:03 PM	#12
cheapie Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: raising my pimp hand strong Posts: 13,038	ok. i'm freaking out after reading the reviews of the Digital Video Essentials DVD. is it really that hard to use? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...ing=UTF8&s=dvd btw irish...you might want to look here for a professional: http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm

03-30-2005, 11:15 AM	#16
aglio412 Still Unbanned Commander Join Date: May 2001 Location: Suburbia Posts: 1,362	i ordered the panny 7UY yesterday, with a 3yr warranty extension and in house setup/shipping for a few bucks over $2k. the way i see it, i'll take the EDTV for $1000 less than a comparable HD panel. i've never been a fan of buying a hyundai or sampo or dell or gateway whatever just because someone else makes the screen... hit eBay for a copy of Digital Video Essentials, i just grabbed one for $17 shipped. my rationale? all i really watch right now is TiVO and DVDs, and i don't have the loot to get an HD TiVO [i have DirecTV]. i was looking for an upgrade of what was currently in the livingroom [don't ask] and i don't plan on immediately ordering HD satellite service as i may be moving soon, and might have the option to get digital cable instead. which brings me to the real reason i bought an EDTV, the price and its function. the thing will be in the living room of our new place...our new place with a room in the basement dedicated to theater activites, which will surely contain a 60+" DLP or projector. so it makes sense for me. i guess what it boils down to, is get what you feel comfortable with. i'm a brand whore, so sampo/maxent/etc... were out of the question, and considering this will not be the main TV for HD viewing in the house, it makes total sense. i'll try to pop back in once i get it set up and calibrated for a little review, i don't come by here much these days, but i'll try. good luck. oh, i ordered it from www.drplasma.com

04-01-2005, 02:13 PM	#17
attgig Chief of Naval Operations Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: the burbs of baltimore Posts: 11,924	thanks for the link Aglio. just pulled the trigger on the panny at dr plasma, and got a tabletop stand from B&H. thanks for the tips guys.

04-07-2005, 07:57 AM	#19
aglio412 Still Unbanned Commander Join Date: May 2001 Location: Suburbia Posts: 1,362	got mine yesterday, it's pretty slick...definitely needs calibrated tho. i ordered the home essentials dvd, and i should be receiving it htis week. so far..it's good...regular tv, through s-video is a bit grainy, but that's expected as it's not calibrated and plasmas have the tendency to emphasize imperfections in a signal. hopefully i'll have VOOM sooner rather than later and can at least use an HDMI cable. of course that requires an add-on board for the plasma. [under $200, so not bad] progressive scan dvd performance is GREAT..again a bit grainy, but i definitely need to adjust the settings, hopefully i'll get that home essentials disk soon!!! over all, i'm happy as hell, it's dead sexy and has a ton of potential. just playing with the black levels on the settings, i'm already seeing why it gets such high ratings for its blacks and contrast. that's my ghetto review for now, let me get it calibrated and i'll give ya some more. it took almost 2 weeks to arrive from dr plasma [cali to VA], even though 3-5 day shipping was in the ballpark of $300...just in case anyone is shopping around and was wondering about delivery time.

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