Need Help from TV Gurus

[SmokinLoon]

The local Best Buy has 50in plasma tv's for $549.99, the basics are: 1080p, 600hrz, HDTV.  I know nothing else, the advertisement does not offer any other info.  Oh, the brand is LG.

The TV would be wall mounted, in a dim living room in the basement, and watched (turned on) for no more than 4-5 hours a day (more like 2-3 hours), tv just isnt a big deal in my house.  We watch movies but dont really care about the "best" graphics or picture.  I'm more concerned with size, picture "refresh" rate (no hesitation), and cost factor.  Supposedly plasma tv's are on the way out, but that doesnt scare me much.

This seems like a heck of a good buy.

Thoughts? Advice? 

[1Boner]

Sounds like a pretty good deal.

I don't think refresh rates matter too much on plasma.

1080p is great for bluerays not much else.

Even HD channels are broadcast in 1080i.

Burn in isn't really an issue with newer plasmas anymore.

However, they're pretty heavy, use ALOT more power than an lcd/led and can be fairly noisey compared to the lcd/led.

They also throw quite a bit of heat.

For the money, that seems like a pretty good deal.

LG makes some pretty fine stuff.

I purchased a LG blueray networking 5.1 system and its great.

[Soulyss]

Can't speak to LG specifically as I'm not familiar with their TV's.  That being said I will always buy plasma over any other TV technology currently available given the option (ie over 42").  Plasma renders a far more accurate picture and does it at lower cost than LCD/LED.

LED do use less power than Plasmas but considering how much usage they typically get in an average household you're probably looking at a few extra bucks a year.

[Shuffler]

I have a 61" LED with DLP. We really like it.

[Wiley]

Based on the specs, that sounds pretty good to me given the restrictions you described.  Being in a well-lit area likely wouldn't be a good environment for it, but being in the basement should be swell.

I've been around several LG monitors, they seemed ok.  I can't speak firsthand to their TVs.

Wiley.

[rpm]

If you can hold off for a little bit, I'm sure you will find a better deal after Thanksgiving. As far as quality, compare contrast ratios. My first plasma was 15,000 : 1, now they are over 5,000,000 : 1. Night and day difference in picture quality.

Of the 4 I have bought (Phillips, Panasonic and Vizio lcd and Vizio plasma), my 42" Vizio LCD has the best picture and is about 50 lbs lighter than the same size plasma. It also has the highest contrast ratio.

[SmokinLoon]

If you can hold off for a little bit, I'm sure you will find a better deal after Thanksgiving. As far as quality, compare contrast ratios. My first plasma was 15,000 : 1, now they are over 5,000,000 : 1. Night and day difference in picture quality.

Of the 4 I have bought (Phillips, Panasonic and Vizio lcd and Vizio plasma), my 42" Vizio LCD has the best picture and is about 50 lbs lighter than the same size plasma. It also has the highest contrast ratio.

I've been waiting and waiting for quite some time.  I'm not sure just how much longer I should wait, especially for this size, this quality, and the cost factor involved.

Thanks for all the input btw... I was just making sure there was something obvious I was missing. 

[Estes]

I could be mistaken here, I often am (especially when it comes to TV's), but don't plasma TV's have a tendency to burn out sooner at higher altitudes? Having said that, I bought my dad an LG LCD TV, and he seems quite happy with it. I own a Toshiba and a Vizio, and I'm still pleasantly surprised that the vizio is as good as it was, considering it was considerably cheaper than the Toshiba (same size, refresh rate etc.,)

[kilo2]

I've been waiting and waiting for quite some time.  I'm not sure just how much longer I should wait, especially for this size, this quality, and the cost factor involved.

Thanks for all the input btw... I was just making sure there was something obvious I was missing. 

Good buy. Buy the protection plan its a hell of a good deal. 

[SmokinLoon]

I could be mistaken here, I often am (especially when it comes to TV's), but don't plasma TV's have a tendency to burn out sooner at higher altitudes? Having said that, I bought my dad an LG LCD TV, and he seems quite happy with it. I own a Toshiba and a Vizio, and I'm still pleasantly surprised that the vizio is as good as it was, considering it was considerably cheaper than the Toshiba (same size, refresh rate etc.,)

Sioux Falls, SD is about 1400ft above sea level.  No worries of high altitude. 

[Soulyss]

I could be mistaken here, I often am (especially when it comes to TV's), but don't plasma TV's have a tendency to burn out sooner at higher altitudes? Having said that, I bought my dad an LG LCD TV, and he seems quite happy with it. I own a Toshiba and a Vizio, and I'm still pleasantly surprised that the vizio is as good as it was, considering it was considerably cheaper than the Toshiba (same size, refresh rate etc.,)

Plasma TV's can be affected by altitude, they don't burn out but rather hum/buzz. It can be hard to get the TV manufacturers to list altitude restrictions but you are probably good up to 4000-5000 feet.

Plasmas generally do much better in grayscale rendering and motion processing than LED's.  They also have come out ahead in 3D tests if you're into that sort of thing.  I've watched a movie scene side by side on an LED and a plasma, I think it was Golden Compass (horrible movie, but I digress) there is a scene in a dimly lit room and one of the characters is wearing a dark blue or black jacket.  You can see that he has a dark coat on when watching the LED, that's one thing that LED does better than traditional LCD panels, it can actually get BLACK, but you miss all sorts of gradation and detail in those blacks.  Looking at the same scene on the plasma you could see his jacket had embroidery and other subtle details going on, that you just couldn't see on the LED.

[Tyrannis]

The walmart close to me had a 50in plasma HD TV in full 1080I for $430. The brand was Sanyo. not a bad looking tv IMO, great sound and picture, except the black background gets really statically.can only tell it tho in between commercials/loading screens/etc.