Re: TV Help
Plasma technology is rolling over so darn fast that everything I though I knew could be out of date by now. When I last looked at plasmas, about 8 months ago, the Pioneer would blow a Sony way, way out of the water. But Pioneer cant compete sitting next to a Panasonic or Fuji without pushing the brightness limits of the Pioneer, and thus potentially creating burn in and seriously shortening the Pios displays usable life. Pannys have the brightest screens, image stabilization that rivals Pioneer (Pios strongest feature), and the fastest pixel processing, more colors. Actually, all of the plasmas will create more colors than the human eyeball can see, so kind of a moot point. Pioneer also has a huge, shiny piano black frame that creates distracting reflections. You can argue whether the Fuji or the Panasonic has the sexiest looking hardware. The new series 8 consumer Pannys have a 1 matt black frame, thinner than my series 7 pro model.<br /><br />My Panny has 3 card slots in back for input options. I have a component (3 cables), a DVI with HDCP (avoid HDMI whenever possible, HDMIv2 is supposed to be good), and a composite for OSDs if/when needed. The PC (computer) input is the only built in input. I can swap any of those 3 optional inputs for whatever input card I want. It also has built in display array functions. If you have too much money, you can hang a 4x4 array of 50-inch Panny plasmas and have a whole friggin wall that is your 200-inch hi-def display without any addl hardware.<br /><br />The Panny display is silent, the Pio isn't. One of the major complaints about Pio is the display noise. Also, Pio has that cheesy external box that you are required to use unless you have a pre/processor that do the input switching for you. I compared the Pio Elite, not the lower end models, so may be diff for them.<br /><br />Fwiw, hardcore video gamers target the pro model hi def Panny plasma displays. I dont play video games so cant comment on it from that angle. Maybe because of the processing speed?!?<br /><br />All of the plasma spkrs suck. Panny has the worst, total garbage. Even Pannys tech support people say dont waste your $$$ on the optional Panny spkrs. If you dont already have spkrs you should prob consider the cost of those as well when budgeting.<br /><br />If you are going to wall mount your panel, post back for some tips, tho I suspect Pony is going to know more about it than I do. There are some basics to be aware of.<br /><br />Best Buys sister/child company, Magnolia Audio Video is a better place to compare the Pio, Fuji, and Panny displays. Best Buy is in the process of putting a Magnolia A/V store inside of every Best Buy store. If its not in your BB store, Pony, it soon will be.<br />
<br /><br /><br />Edit: when looking at plasmas, you also need to be comparing "black" in the display. Pio, Fuji, and Panny are all acceptable in my book. Here's the new Panny:<br /><br />
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=94538&catGroupId=14624&modelNo=TH-42PHD8UK&surfModel=TH-42PHD8 UK<br /><br />Also, as far as setting it up, yeah, it's something you will need to deal with, Pony can prob be a big help in that area. The pro line of Panny's come out of the box pretty much tuned in, often requiring no add'l adjusting.
<br /><br /><br />There are a couple of downsides that I may have mentioned already. These TV's are expensive to begin with, but expensive to own. The bulb lifespan on these things doesnt seem to be very long at all.....looks like a year or two of average usage. This is important considering new bulbs for these are over $400. FWIW this new technology hasnt had any problems really (Sony at least)......its just the short lifespan and cost of the bulbs turns me away. I havent heard the sound out of these in a home environment.....hard to judge will so much noise going on all around.<br /><br />The upside is the incredible picture......one of the highest if not THE highest screen resolutions (If you have something capable of generating that sort of picture). I see people bring back TV's all the time comlaining that the picture they get on the TV isnt the same quality they see in the store....so keep that in mind too. At least where I work, not sure about other eletronics stores, we have the video feeds amped and everything wired with the best cables that monster cable offers. The amp alone probably retails for close to $800 (not consumer grade though), the cables prolly $200. You may already know that, just wanted to throw it out there, cuz as great as that TV looks it wont look that good just hooking it up with regular cable coming out of the wall.<br /><br />I know you have mentioned DLP.....have you looked at the Mitsubishi DLP's? or just the Samsung?<br /><br /><br />Rabbit.....you mentioned the shiny black being a distraction on the Pioneer sets.....I agree. That being said however the 61" (the more expensive series) looks almost identical to that Panosonic you linked to.
