Plasma T.V.

[Puke]

We have a 6' x 4.5' space above the fireplace that would be perfect for a large-screen plasma HDTV.  But these things are a bit pricey, so before taking the leap, I'm hoping for some suggestions and tips from those knowledgable in this community for what to look for and/or avoid when shopping for one.  I plan to purchase something in early July, so I do have some time to shop around.  Thanks!

PS, thinking on this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11177738&m=1&cat=24&scat=1222

[CyranoAH]

We got to compare a lot of them before we actually bought one not long ago for the company (works great for presentations), and we chose the Fujitsu PHAA10 monitor. It comes with no speakers or TV tuner, but it has a 3000:1 contrast, 1024x1024 pixels, and it has great brightness.

From what I have learned, it seems Fujitsu Plasmavision screens are top of the class right now.

Just my € .02

Daniel

[rpm]

I almost bought one a few months ago, but opted for a 65" RCA Projection HDTV model. The Best Buy salesman actually talked me out of the plasma after going thru all the maintainence requirements. Plasma screens must be "recharged" on a regular basis (12 to 24 months) or you will lose clarity and the cost of it is close to $1000 every time. If you want to get the most out of it, you will need to buy a HDTV adapter ($600-$1000). If you absolutely HAVE to get one, check several online sources such as EBAY, Gateway and Pricewatch. You can find 42" Plasma's for under $3000. Good Luck!

[Maniac]

My cousin bought an plasma TV about an month ago, all i can say is HOT DAMN!!!

If i had the money i would buy one instantly... It does wonders for the living room...

[Curval]

We were going to buy one but having thought a great deal about it we decided to wait.  If I was in the US I would probably make the investment, but with shipping, duty and the risk of breakage it simply isn't worth it.

I was looking at this one:

Sampo 42"

Sampo makes all of the internal components for all the plasma TVs apparently.  Fuji, Sony etc buys the parts from them, puts theirs together and then doubles the price for the name.   Check the features of this against the Fujis and Sonys...practically identical and half the price.

[Eagler]

I heard they burn out in less than 5 years ... burn out as in lose their in the store sharpness, clarity and color.

[nuchpatrick]

Same burn out apply's to your flat panel monitor on your PC.  I would wiat to buy one in anohter year or two when they imporve the technology.

Other wise your just wasting your cash.  Better off buying a flat tube TV, that is HDTV

[CyranoAH]

They need a recharge (which is not cheap, granted) after some 30.000 hours (roughly 5-6 years), but then again, airplanes need an overhaul after 1500 hours, don't they?

If you need a huge flat screen and have the cash for it, go plasma.

As I said, it works wonders for astonishing potential customers (working in the IT consulting business...)

Daniel

[Eagler]

Originally posted by CyranoAH
...As I said, it works wonders for astonishing potential customers (working in the IT consulting business...)

Daniel

yeah, they don't have to wonder if you are charging too much, they know ..

[CyranoAH]

LOL!!

Actually we are considered pretty cheap (small company, gotta survive by low prices, you know )

Daniel

[Puke]

Thanks, I enjoyed reading the replies.  I know the flat-panels are way expensive, but I'm having a banner year with work and my family move into a new place June 29.  I already purchased almost all new furniture and the regular (fat box) HDTV we have will go in the bedroom and our living room would be perfect for a flat-panel over the fireplace.  I didn't know they needed recharging, but I think I can handle that.  The Sony model I linked above so far looked the best when shopping around and it's 1024 x 1024 but only 1000:1 contrast ratio.  I've also noticed all the 42" models run pretty much the same exact price so was looking for tips on the must-have features.  Cyrano, I'll look for the Fujitsi but I don't think any of the places here in San Diego carry that.  Nuch, I'll look into flat-tubes, I assumed all flat-panels were plasma.

Oh yeah, should I buy those extended warranty things places always try to sell?  

Thanks all!

[GRUNHERZ]

A flat tube is not a flat panel tv. Its a regular sized tube tv but the screen is totally flat instaed of curved.

[lord dolf vader]

flat tube trinitron will often last 30 years with very little quality loss.

i sold tvs for years ending last year. i dont really keep up with plasma displays but nothing i ever saw looked better than the middle level sony trinitron tube. its like a k98 mauser for rifle ,they will never get much better. when i worked at best buy they didnt display the hd tube ( with line tripler, sony calls it some sony crap like dreamvision but all the others had line doublers )sonys as they made the other tvs look like crap literaly.

the line doubler you get with the hd is an amazing thing, its one of those things that migrated from the high dollar stuff to consumerware now. makes a picture go from 350 lines of resolution to 700 ( near hd) its a effect i know but somhow it really makes it all clearer and nicer to look at. the units that had doublers were all hd in both the tube and bigscreen.


we didnt sell plazma except thru order ( no display at the time) and had to sternly warn you about the maintinece and the picture fade the ones we sold lost 50% brightness in 4 years from the company rep thats alot. id get a garentee on the brightness.


hope it helps.

[GRUNHERZ]

A line doubler produces a progessive scan image instead of a regular tv interlaced scan. So it takes a standard interlaced signal from lets say regular broadcast tv and converts it into a progressive signal. Of course if you are using progressive scan DVD players it can just display the DVDs signal.

Anyway the reason the picture looks better is due to less flicker and eye strain.   Another plus of course is that you can view closer to the tv as you wont see the blank interlace strips on the screen - you dont see them in regular viewing because you sit far back and they blend away. This of course means only half the picture is visible at any one time with interalced tv. A line doubled tv will show you the whole image and so, again, results in better picture quality.

I agree with ldv, Sony direct view flat tube XBR Trinitrons are by far the best consumer tube tv on the market.

[DiabloTX]

I found this while researching plasma tv's.  Can the gas in a plasma be refilled?

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Plasma recharging/filling: Nonsense!

Plasmas contain an inert gas which is somewhat similar to neon gas at a lower pressure than ambient air. There have been stories of a few sales people in electronic stores who claim that plasmas need to be refilled. This is not so- plasmas and LCD's never have to be refilled!

Apparently, because of the zeal in which some vendors want to sell other technologies (e.g., rear projection displays and direct view displays) or by ignorance, these sales people claim that plasmas must be serviced annually. Such service, as claimed, consists of recharging the plasma gas. The cells have their brightness restored, and any burn-in that was there prior to the "recharging" is history. The actual facts are that once plasmas are sealed, they are sealed forever (so the gas does not escape). There is no way to open the plasma, or recharge the gas in any way. Opening the the plasma would destroy it.

While the gas does not degrade over time, the phosphors on the inside face of the plasma screen can degrade over time (just like in a normal CRT based TV). One way to help extend the life of your plasma is to set the contrast and brightness correctly- this helps prevent overdriving the phosphors, and lengthens their effective life. If you take care not to burn-in your screen (look at the "burn-in" section of this FAQ), the reduction of brightness is fairly minimal over time. The industry standard is about 30,000 hours of use before brightness drops to 50% of the out-of-box brightness. A rough calculation given 8 hours of TV viewing each day will give you about 10 years before you drop to 50% of original screen brightness. That's roughly the same as directview TVs average replacement. In 10 years, we suspect that plasmas (or their post-successor) will not be as costly as they are today.

Thanks to Ofer, Rogo, and yubyub

---Mark Rubin
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Seems like there is a lot of DISinformation going on out there.  Can't ever be too careful.  

Here is the link;
http://www.avsforumfaq.com/~plasma/#top