120 Hz LCD vs. Plasma
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That is really a misnomer as plasma TV's don't use full power most of the time. The actual difference in electricity used between plasma and LCD is so minimal that over a years period of time it might equate to less then a dollar difference.
Comparing plasma TV's to LCD's in a high intensity lighting store gives an unfair advantage to LCD. Once you get the TV home, it will look much different, especially the black levels.
For all intents and purposes, plasma TV's have better/deeper balcks, more vibrant colors and look much more like a CRT then any current technology. The only time a LCD would be better in your home would be if there is a lot of ambient light and in particular shining directly on the screen. Plasmas rule and Panasonic makes the most reliable, affordable with the highest quality picture of any current brand today. Although there are a few other brands available, they are either more costly, less reliable or suffer from burn and/or image retention issues. Not so with Panasonic plasmas and the prices today for say a 42" Panny plasma are less than many brand name LCD TV's.
Better picture, lower cost = Panasonic plasma
For all intents and purposes, plasma TV's have better/deeper balcks, more vibrant colors and look much more like a CRT then any current technology. The only time a LCD would be better in your home would be if there is a lot of ambient light and in particular shining directly on the screen. Plasmas rule and Panasonic makes the most reliable, affordable with the highest quality picture of any current brand today. Although there are a few other brands available, they are either more costly, less reliable or suffer from burn and/or image retention issues. Not so with Panasonic plasmas and the prices today for say a 42" Panny plasma are less than many brand name LCD TV's.
Better picture, lower cost = Panasonic plasma
Picking it up today. Then I get to admire it... as I play the first 100 hours with a memory card to "calibrate" it.
I must note that while recently shopping, I noted significantly more heat being radiated from plasma sets than equivalent sized LCD sets. I'm sure a CRT of those sizes, if such existed, would be radiating FAR more heat.
Well I just picked up this television, and I won't even get into the whole story about what it was like getting this thing from the store into my bedroom, but here's my VERY early impressions:
The television itself (not just the image it displays) looks great. It has a nice thin black finish. The television is thin and has small handles in the back, which makes it rather easy to move.
As far as the picture itself, so far I am very satisfied. Unfortunately the room it is in currently is not very conducive for a great television viewing experience. When sitting down, I'm MAYBE 5 feet away from the screen. Also, it's on a clothing dresser, so you have to look "up" at it rather often. That all said, the picture still does look very good. I fired up Blade Runner and Iron Man on my PS3, and enabled 24p output. I didn't do a side-by-side comparison with/without 24p, but I was satisfied.
One thing I noticed, and I don't know if this is the result of a great picture or weird compression, but one thing I saw that I haven't seen much on my old CRT HDTV was that the movies actually looked like they were on "film." Like I saw all the slight "Dirt" and "specks" on the film itself, especially on Blade Runner (Which is understandable given how old the movie is.) At first I was a bit put off by this, but then I figured, "Why am I complaining about the fact that it looks like it does when I'm in the movie theater??"
One thing that really blew me away was how it did sports stuff. I watched the massacre, errr.. ALCS game on TBS HD and everything seemed to be more fluid. Like the action just had more of a "live" feel to it, even better than my CRT. Maybe I need to see them side-by-side, but it just seemed like the action had a cleaner and more fluid flow to it. I mean it even made me have a greater appreciation for WWE HD on Sci-fi, which is rather infamous for macroblocking, but again the action seemed more fluid.
There's one other thing that I noticed which I thought was just SUPER cool. I have the Panny hooked up to a standard Samsung HTIB system. The television isn't even really "directly" hooked up to the audio system. There is an optical output that is connected from my DirecTV to a switch, and then it is output to the television. The television is not hooked up to the optical output at all, and the D* is hooked directly to the television only with RCA cords. After I programmed my D* remote to work with the television, and when I was modifying the volume, I saw that it was modifying it on the STEREO and not the television, and that no volume was coming out of the tv. When I turned off the stereo, the television detected it and started outputting sound to the television, and when I turned the stereo back on, it muted the television and let the stereo take over. I guess this is probably more of a standard thing on televisions nowadays, but I was just shocked that it did it so SEEMLESSLY.
Of course I couldn't do much in terms of video game testing, as I read you should do your best to refrain from using game systems during the first 100 hours. I did fire up Rock Band 2, and it was a little intimidating to have all the notes flying at me at fast speeds on this HUGE screen (I had become accustomed to playing on a 30" screen.)
Anyways, as of now I am very satisfied with my purchase. The true test will be in 2 weeks for football on Sunday Ticket. I'm going to my dad's house this weekend to watch football since both our teams are playing against each other and I haven't been over for one Sunday so far this year. Actually I may just DVR a game and watch it after and see how football looks on it. So far I don't see much of a reason to expect a result much lower than "awesome."
FYI, it has a 20,000:1 Contrast Ratio.
20000:1, must be the 80u then.
We have some pretty good settings in the AVS calibration thread. Using Cinema mode and warm will give you the best starting point for an accurate picture.
We have some pretty good settings in the AVS calibration thread. Using Cinema mode and warm will give you the best starting point for an accurate picture.
While I dont disagree that Plasmas put out a lot more heat than an LCD, the sum of the heat is not very much at all.
With your hand about 3 inches from the screen or back, you can feel it but its nothing like the old Plasmas. Mine has 5 or 6 fans in the back and they cant be heard unless everything is off and the room is quiet.
Well, so far I'm happy with my decision to buy the Panny Plasma. I have a question though.
I do have one question about transporting this television. I know that you're not supposed to transport these flat panels "longways", (i.e. if the screen was laying face down on the floor) but short of waiting for the moving people to do it for me, the only way I may be able to move it is longways, as opposed to it standing up vertically. I had to do this anyways to get the television home from Costco, but that was for about 20 minutes, and before it had been turned on and broken in. Assuming that it's not for longer than an hour, should I still be concerned with transporting this television longways (in its box of course) or should I be ok?
I do have one question about transporting this television. I know that you're not supposed to transport these flat panels "longways", (i.e. if the screen was laying face down on the floor) but short of waiting for the moving people to do it for me, the only way I may be able to move it is longways, as opposed to it standing up vertically. I had to do this anyways to get the television home from Costco, but that was for about 20 minutes, and before it had been turned on and broken in. Assuming that it's not for longer than an hour, should I still be concerned with transporting this television longways (in its box of course) or should I be ok?
I had to pick up my Plasma I had a few years back from a warehouse about 1 hour away from my house. They did advise me the same, not to lay it down. The glass is just so heavy that I did not want to take a chance so me and a buddy got it in a truck and stood it up and tied it down. I have heard people riding in shorts distances like you and having no problems. I just did not want to take that chance on a $2000 tv.
I think it is just to protect the glass. When it is face down or on its back and you go over a bad bump you risk cracking the screen since the center can flex so much. When it is upright it does not flex.
In its original box, I dont know that its really as big a deal, but just lying the TV down flat in the back seat or whatever is not good. Too much stress on the glass.
