ED Plasmas / SD or HD service??

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

No one can make any judgement unless they have actually seen a modern enhanced definition very high contrast ratio 42" plasma in a shoot out with a 42" HD plasma.

I am not trying to sell less expensive TV's. In fact, only a truly honest dealer would go through all of this trouble and go against a the forum members that I sincerely like and respect if it was not absolutly 100% truthful. The margin of gross profit and actual gross dollars are far less than the profit potential of HDTV's.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[EEJay]

Why would I buy an ED plasma that will fade and burn-in when I can buy an HD DLP for the same price with no possibility of fade or burn-in?

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Because you could never be too thin.

Also, direct view TV look great from any angle.. DLP's are terrific, but suffer from the tunnel view restriction of all rear projection TVs.

Today's plasmas are rated for 60,000 hours, which is about 40 years of average use.

If you want to wall mount your TV, plasma or LCD flat panels are your only choice.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[fkostyn]

either way - I wouldn't mind an ED plasma in the bedroom..... anyone offering???

 

[MarkG]

Re burn in and fade: The ED I am considering is a 42" Panasonic new model,with 8th gen panel,with high density phospher,and 60,000 hours that some write-ups have said is virtually burn in proof,(although Panasonic doesn't actually claim that themselves.) Prices are lower now ,plus as a subcontractor for a local retailer I can even get a bit of a discount. After not considering HD,or plasma til down the road ,This ,and as Robert stated,the image is pretty impressive now,is why the EDs recently got my attention .

 

[discodol]

Robert, Is the ED display on your display wall the RU42PX11?

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Robert, Is the ED display on your display wall the RU42PX11?

Yes it is.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[cr0mag]

MarkG, If you are going to invest in a ED television you will want a high definition tuner. All comparisons aside, if you connect your ED television to a SD tuner, you will see the same bad picture that someone with a HD set will see. I offer no suggestions on the ED vs. HD debate, as that has been addressed enough. I do know however that if you connect your ED television to a SD signal (either D*, E*, or cable) it will look like poop. These new tv's will bring out all the junk that old SD television sets hid from us, so fork over the $$$ for a HD tuner. You'll be much happier.

 

[chazcbh]

Re burn in and fade: The ED I am considering is a 42" Panasonic new model,with 8th gen panel,with high density phospher,and 60,000 hours that some write-ups have said is virtually burn in proof,(although Panasonic doesn't actually claim that themselves.) Prices are lower now ,plus as a subcontractor for a local retailer I can even get a bit of a discount. After not considering HD,or plasma til down the road ,This ,and as Robert stated,the image is pretty impressive now,is why the EDs recently got my attention .

MarkG, I have the 42" Panasonic in my bedroom with HD receiver it is wonderful
I compared both the ED and HD Panasonic and there was hardly any difference close up. I have it mounted on the wall about 15 feet away from my bed.

 

[EEJay]

DLP's are terrific, but suffer from the tunnel view restriction of all rear projection TVs.

Yeah, I'm always placing my recliner at the most extreme angles to my TV.

 

[Dknow]

I'll chime in here on this. Remember way back when Fox digital was only ED? I remember the widescreen baseball games and shows looking much better than regular SD, but when they finally went HD the difference was immense. ED is to SD as ED is to HD. The difference in PQ is intangible. The sparkle of someone's eye or actually seeing the blades of infield grass. I truly think that more of the differences have to do with the individual's ability to see. Those with good vision want HD, but those with less than stellar vision would be just as well served with ED. I for one have great vision and nobody can tell me that ED looks as good as HD.

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

I'll chime in here on this. Remember way back when Fox digital was only ED? I remember the widescreen baseball games and shows looking much better than regular SD, but when they finally went HD the difference was immense. ED is to SD as ED is to HD. The difference in PQ is intangible. The sparkle of someone's eye or actually seeing the blades of infield grass. I truly think that more of the differences have to do with the individual's ability to see. Those with good vision want HD, but those with less than stellar vision would be just as well served with ED. I for one have great vision and nobody can tell me that ED looks as good as HD.

I'm sure we're all getting tired of this conversation, but I do want to respond one more time about the latest advanced EDTV on 42" direct view flat panel plasma TV's. Simply put, a 42" EDTV does not need higher resolution as anyone with 20/20 vision or even better can not see with the naked eye any difference when a 42" HDTV is placed exactly next to each other with the same feed.

In fact, LG's 5000:1 contrast ratio displays so many fine details because of its superior tonal quality that the enhanced gradation provides a smother transition between light and dark images and better detail then the more expensive HD 42" plasma with lower contrast ratio.

Resolution is not the only factor that delivers the image quality or even the sharpness of the image. And on a 42" size you don't need more resolution as much as you need more shades of gray and every other color.

This information is 100% factual and if anyone who is buying a 42" plasma wants to spend $1,000 to $2,000 more and likely end up with the same or possible even a lower image quality, then so be it.

If you could see a difference, and on some scenes you might see a marginal improved image quality on some HD plasmas, the actual difference is certainly not worth the price. You will also see a better image quality on some scenes with a 5000:1 contrast ratio ED plasma vs. a HD plasma.

The bang for your buck in ED technology is limited to 42" plasmas only and your price/performance ratio gets even better if you get the latest 5000:1 contrast ratio ED plasma model.

The biggest problem is salesman who either are uninformed or greedy for profit that misinform the public. Another issue is that most people have not seen a 5000:1 contrast ratio modern 42" ED plasma on a shoot out with higher priced 42" HD plasmas.

EDTV's need a HD source and will never be obsolete. They will always display HD source material in excellent compatible HD quality.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technologies Dealer

 

[mike123abc]

I have a 42" ED plasma (panasonic) in the bedroom. It is a fantastic set for the bedroom and I am about 13.5 feet away from the TV when in bed. At this distance I was unable to really tell the difference between HD and SD sets. If I sit on the foot of the bed at about 7 feet away I can see the difference, but it is slight and it was not worth the $1000 difference (at the time I bought it) to me.

The tradeoffs of ED vs HD plasma are:

1. If less than 8' viewing distance people start to see the pixels (referred to as the screen door effect). It is something I can easily see even at 10' (I have very sharp eyes), but it does not bother me. If it is not a big deal not really an issue.

2. HD sets tend to have more features. Last year's panny's models had cable card and PC inputs for the ED sets. This year they took them out.

3. More pixels is only a small part of the equasion. A high quality ED set can offer a **FAR** better picture than a low quality HD set. On plasmas the black level is one of the key items. Companies like panasonic have exceptional black levels. Contrast ratio is not as important because increasing brightness for a higher level without dropping the black level down does not help as much. Color accuracy and reproduction is also important. A lot of sets have 256 shades of each color/256 shades of gray, better sets have 1024 or 4096 shades. The internal electronics are very important. There is no HD signal that is 852x480, 1024x768 or 1366x768, 1024x1024 (common plasma resolutions) the internal scaler has to do a lot of heavy lifting in a plasma (or any fixed pixel device that is not 1280x720 or 1920x1080, even these have to do scaling).

The newer plasmas are substantially narrowing the gap between HD and ED. If you look at a site like http://www.tvauthority.com they have the new Panasonic TH-42PD50U at $2195 and the HD version TH-42PX50U at $2895, only a $700 difference. I suspect by the end of the year the ED version will be close to $1500 and the HD version will be $2000. I suspect in 3 years or so ED will go away all together in plasma, as the price difference between the two narrows to the point that it is not worth the electronics to make ED any more (probably when HD plasma breaks the $1000 barrier).

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

We have the best ED plasma on the market for $2199. delivered to your door with a free 2 yr. LG factory warranty. The HD version is $3299.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[robbiee19]

After reading the form I went to BB the weekend and looked at the 42" ED plasma (panasonic) next to a LG HDTV plasma showing the same content. I connot tell the different. As matter of fact the ED tv looked better then some of the other 42" HDTV plasmas. I have a 61" HDTV Samsung and believe in HDTV, but that EDTV plamsa picture looked the same! I do the know the differences. I just saying the picture looked the same.

 

[asousa]

After reading the form I went to BB the weekend and looked at the 42" ED plasma (panasonic) next to a LG HDTV plasma showing the same content. I connot tell the different. As matter of fact the ED tv looked better then some of the other 42" HDTV plasmas. I have a 61" HDTV Samsung and believe in HDTV, but that EDTV plamsa picture looked the same! I do the know the differences. I just saying the picture looked the same.

I myself went into both Best Buy and Circuit this weekend to look at the EDs. They looked the same to me as well...both perfect! You wouldn't believe it if you saw it, but at both store there was a plasma on the wall with BURN IN and also dead rows of pixels. It was a really turn off to me especially seeing that these things are reasonable new.

 

[robbiee19]

Well the big thing for me was the size of the tv I went with. There is a differences as the size gets bigger. For some people that difference in price can make or break the bank on buying a plamsa. I don't like plamsa so far.

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Burn-in and especially a row of dead pixels is very rare in modern plasmas.

I have 4 RU-42PX11s left in inventory. This is the best 42" ED plasma ever made and is the only one with 5000:1 contrast ratio.

-Robert

VE Advanced Digital Technology Dealer

 

[blueguy]

After reading the form I went to BB the weekend and looked at the 42" ED plasma (panasonic) next to a LG HDTV plasma showing the same content. I connot tell the different. As matter of fact the ED tv looked better then some of the other 42" HDTV plasmas. I have a 61" HDTV Samsung and believe in HDTV, but that EDTV plamsa picture looked the same! I do the know the differences. I just saying the picture looked the same.

But BB and those other hack places aren't feeding individual HD signals to the TVs individually. The quality of the images in costco/bb/cc/etc is really lacking. Get a single feed to each TV. There's a major difference. I can spot an ED tv instantly over HD if they're receiving HD signals.

 

[robbiee19]

Go look. Saw the same thing at high end store too. Even the high end sales guys agreed on it.