I love both of my Plasma's. One of them is an LG 1080p model and the other a Panny 720p. Haven't had any problems with either of them.
Recommendations for a big TV?
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Uh oh...... Conclusion - Panasonic TC-P50S30 Plasma HDTV Review
Time to re-think this.
They say it's not a great set but it's an OK set. It seems to have issues with brightness. My bedroom is bathed in eternal darkness so that shouldn't be a big problem. But I am worried about screen burn because I sleep with the TV on and it's almost always sitting on Me or This all night and they use the 4/3 thing or whatever you call it where there are black bars on the sides.
And there is this from Wikipedia: "Due to the strong infrared emissions inherent with the technology, standard IR repeater systems can not be used in the viewing room. A more expensive "plasma compatible" sensor must be used"
THAT 100% is a deal breaker. I use a pyramid repeater for the remote to my satellite tuner which is a PC in another room. If a Plasma kills that then there is no point at all in having one, it would be useless to me because that is what I plan to watch with it, satellite TV and IR remote is the only way to operate it. It's already weak and touchy as it is.
The more electric is not cool and the heat it generates is also not good. My old house is hot all the time, it's very poorly insulated and the air conditioner is under powered and doesn't really cut the mustard in the summer. I do not need anything else that's going to turn the house into an oven. It's already bad enough as it is.
As for hooking up the wires and stuff, I am certain I can do it. The wires can only go one way, it's ijjit proof these days.
My problem will be getting that beastie up on the wall.. It weighs 62lbs so I seriously doubt I can lift it. I don't want to get Dad in on it, he'll howl about it and claim I'm blowing through my money now. Pfffft.. Not hardly. I couldn't if I tried. I will likely have to get my friend over to help me so I guess between two girls we can manage it.
I'm going to keep digging though, I'm still not sold on this one, considering the review I read on it.
Maybe I should hold off and just set aside some $$ each month for a few months and get a 70" LED TV and have something really, really nice..
I'm world famous for making rash decisions. Going out and buying a TV tomorrow would definitely be one.
Besides, a 50" set is a little smaller than I was hoping for anyway.
Time to re-think this.
They say it's not a great set but it's an OK set. It seems to have issues with brightness. My bedroom is bathed in eternal darkness so that shouldn't be a big problem. But I am worried about screen burn because I sleep with the TV on and it's almost always sitting on Me or This all night and they use the 4/3 thing or whatever you call it where there are black bars on the sides.
And there is this from Wikipedia: "Due to the strong infrared emissions inherent with the technology, standard IR repeater systems can not be used in the viewing room. A more expensive "plasma compatible" sensor must be used"
THAT 100% is a deal breaker. I use a pyramid repeater for the remote to my satellite tuner which is a PC in another room. If a Plasma kills that then there is no point at all in having one, it would be useless to me because that is what I plan to watch with it, satellite TV and IR remote is the only way to operate it. It's already weak and touchy as it is.
The more electric is not cool and the heat it generates is also not good. My old house is hot all the time, it's very poorly insulated and the air conditioner is under powered and doesn't really cut the mustard in the summer.
I do not need anything else that's going to turn the house into an oven. It's already bad enough as it is.As for hooking up the wires and stuff, I am certain I can do it. The wires can only go one way, it's ijjit proof these days.
My problem will be getting that beastie up on the wall.. It weighs 62lbs so I seriously doubt I can lift it. I don't want to get Dad in on it, he'll howl about it and claim I'm blowing through my money now. Pfffft.. Not hardly. I couldn't if I tried. I will likely have to get my friend over to help me so I guess between two girls we can manage it.
I'm going to keep digging though, I'm still not sold on this one, considering the review I read on it.
Maybe I should hold off and just set aside some $$ each month for a few months and get a 70" LED TV and have something really, really nice..
I'm world famous for making rash decisions. Going out and buying a TV tomorrow would definitely be one.
Besides, a 50" set is a little smaller than I was hoping for anyway.
Last edited:
To clear up something in your over-thinking/researching....LCD's cause more IR interference than plasmas. I have a repeater and a Plasma in the same room...no problems.
Dee Ann, you need to read reviews with a grain of salt sometimes. This stuff tends to go through periods where someone will latch onto some specification and suddenly the set that was the best around last week is considered garbage. Same set, same picture.
Here is what I see:
1. power/heat. If the room is not a/c, this is a factor. The set definitely produces more heat than an LCD which produces more than an LED set.
2. Infrared emissions and remotes. Any fool can post to wikipedia. I don't know of a single case where this has been an issue with any set. Pure folklore.
3. Burn in. This can be an issue, but the sets are much better than a year ago. If you leave it on a channel with a constant logo or sidebars, it could be an issue. Burn in usually only shows on blank screens.
4. Darkness. I certainly don't see it.
5. Picture quality. This is what steered you over to plasma. I agree that the picture on a plasma has better color rendition, but it is not that clear cut. LCD sets, especially LED has come a long way in the last 5 years. I would have absolutely no problem using a newer LCD set. Again, we are splitting hairs, comparing specs and looking for things we only see with side by side comparisons.
My recommendation is to find the best LED set at the best price you can. Put it up on the wall and then stop reading reviews. If you want a 70" set, go for it. However the 50-55" sets are at the best price point this season. You will get the best bang for the buck there.
Here is what I see:
1. power/heat. If the room is not a/c, this is a factor. The set definitely produces more heat than an LCD which produces more than an LED set.
2. Infrared emissions and remotes. Any fool can post to wikipedia. I don't know of a single case where this has been an issue with any set. Pure folklore.
3. Burn in. This can be an issue, but the sets are much better than a year ago. If you leave it on a channel with a constant logo or sidebars, it could be an issue. Burn in usually only shows on blank screens.
4. Darkness. I certainly don't see it.
5. Picture quality. This is what steered you over to plasma. I agree that the picture on a plasma has better color rendition, but it is not that clear cut. LCD sets, especially LED has come a long way in the last 5 years. I would have absolutely no problem using a newer LCD set. Again, we are splitting hairs, comparing specs and looking for things we only see with side by side comparisons.
My recommendation is to find the best LED set at the best price you can. Put it up on the wall and then stop reading reviews. If you want a 70" set, go for it. However the 50-55" sets are at the best price point this season. You will get the best bang for the buck there.
I must reiterate what others have said about burn in being a non issue these days.
I have had panny plasmas in some form for 6 years (or so) and have NEVER had an issue with burn in. I game on them, watch news or shows with static tickers on them, 4x3 content on them, and will sometimes fall asleep with them on. Never an issue.
What you might have from time to time, which it NOT burn in , is image retention. This will go away within a few minutes of changing the channel, is not all that noticable to begin with.
There are also anti retention settings built into these sets, such as pixel orbiter, and a white was screen, just in case there are any problems.
Dont over think it too much. Do your research true, but dont just focus in on the negative. You will find bad on any set. (plus I put more stock in real world experience such as that of the members here than I do in most reviews).
Enjoy whatever you get.
I have had panny plasmas in some form for 6 years (or so) and have NEVER had an issue with burn in. I game on them, watch news or shows with static tickers on them, 4x3 content on them, and will sometimes fall asleep with them on. Never an issue.
What you might have from time to time, which it NOT burn in , is image retention. This will go away within a few minutes of changing the channel, is not all that noticable to begin with.
There are also anti retention settings built into these sets, such as pixel orbiter, and a white was screen, just in case there are any problems.
Dont over think it too much. Do your research true, but dont just focus in on the negative. You will find bad on any set. (plus I put more stock in real world experience such as that of the members here than I do in most reviews).
Enjoy whatever you get.
Oh, I want to add, as far as electricity usage and heat....you are talking a few dollars a YEAR difference, and the heat given off is not something that your AC will have to compensate for. It might be warmer to the touch, but its not going to radiate heat for 15 feet or anything like that.
Personally, those would be non factors in my decision making process.
Personally, those would be non factors in my decision making process.
I took your advice three years ago and have been extremely happy with my Panny plasma.
I took your advice three years ago and have been extremely happy with my Panny plasma.
And trust me, if Tigerprowler can prestige 50 times on black ops while using this set, that should prove that burn in isnt an issue.
Dee_Ann, I just want to repeat my earlier suggestion. Don't buy a TV set just because it's on sale or because it has good reviews (or someone recommended it).
Instead, visit several audio/video stores and spend some time watching different TV sets there. Only you can decide what works and what doesn't work for you.
Compare plasma to LED showing the same content and decide whether LED looks good enough to your eyes. If it does, then go with LED (at least you will avoid any paranoia about burn-in, whether it is founded or not). But if you discover that you definitly prefer plasma over LED, you will have a tougher choice to make.
Good luck!
Instead, visit several audio/video stores and spend some time watching different TV sets there. Only you can decide what works and what doesn't work for you.
Compare plasma to LED showing the same content and decide whether LED looks good enough to your eyes. If it does, then go with LED (at least you will avoid any paranoia about burn-in, whether it is founded or not). But if you discover that you definitly prefer plasma over LED, you will have a tougher choice to make.
Good luck!
Another way to look at the Plasma vs LCD thing. Why have you received so many recommendations for plasma? That would make one tend to believe that everything you read is NOT true.
What I feel a little sad about for you is, buying an HDTV, or a car, or any big ticket TOY should be fun and exciting. Your over-thinking, I suspect, are quelling those those two things, and making this more of a chore than it should be. As we've been saying, today it is hard to go real wrong, not matter what you get or who makes it. As Ilya suggested, get your eyes off the computer monitor and put them on the sets themselves.
What I feel a little sad about for you is, buying an HDTV, or a car, or any big ticket TOY should be fun and exciting. Your over-thinking, I suspect, are quelling those those two things, and making this more of a chore than it should be. As we've been saying, today it is hard to go real wrong, not matter what you get or who makes it. As Ilya suggested, get your eyes off the computer monitor and put them on the sets themselves.
And make sure you get a chance to tweak the sets individually, dont just go by what the store has it set on.
Another way to look at the Plasma vs LCD thing. Why have you received so many recommendations for plasma? That would make one tend to believe that everything you read is NOT true.
What I feel a little sad about for you is, buying an HDTV, or a car, or any big ticket TOY should be fun and exciting. Your over-thinking, I suspect, are quelling those those two things, and making this more of a chore than it should be. As we've been saying, today it is hard to go real wrong, not matter what you get or who makes it. As Ilya suggested, get your eyes off the computer monitor and put them on the sets themselves.
Yes, that's one of my flaws. I over analyze things and get so wrapped up in minutia that I find myself unable to make a decision.
Then I get frustrated and do nothing at all, walking away from it. OR, I'll flip out and in a fit of insanity, make an impulse purchase just to break the tie.
This is one of those times.
What I've done is decided to step back and take a few deep breaths.
One thing that annoys me to no end is that my PC feeds two displays and they are wildly mismatched..
I have an antique tube display on my desk. I watch satellite on it all day. It uses that connector with 15 pins, the old school. VGA I am pretty sure it is.
Then there is a weird cable that goes from the other connector on the video to my flat screen Vizio in the other room. (The screen I want to replace with a HUGE one).. This cable is rectangular and has like 50 little pins on it. I don't know how many but it's a LOT. It runs to the Vizio which has that one that looks like a fat USB cable. The sound does not go through it.
So to get sound into my bedroom, there is a laser cable with a red light in it and that goes to a 5 in 1 surround amplifier. There are actually 6 speakers on it, three over the TV, two on the wall behind me and a boom boom speaker on the floor.The problem is, because the two screen run at very different resolutions (I understand resolution because I dabble in photography) and when I turn the PC screen on my desk off, the other one freaks out and the satellite app locks up. And it does the same thing when I turn the PC screen on as well.
So if I want to go from one room to another room and turn screens on and off, I have to kill the satellite app, turn the screen off, go to the other room, turn the screen on, start the app. And I also have to open frickin control panel and change the sound from the pc speakers where the pc screen is on my desk to the laser sound so it plays in the room with the flat screen.
This is all a huge mess and a giant pain. Once upon a time it was setup so that things went to several screens around the house and it didn't matter if you turned any of them on or off, it just worked. My ex came in and changed things up, for the worse..
So now I'm going to fix it. I'm more than tired of this stupid BS!
So I just bought a pair of 24" back lit LED screens for my desk. One will go on my internet PC (it's display is old and has problems) and the other will replace the giant, HOT, clunky 100 pound tube screen that I watch the satellite on.
And to make sure that ALL the screens are getting the same thing at the same time I bought a box that you plug everything in to.
You plug the video card into this box then you can plug FOUR flat screens into it. It passes sound from the PC through the box to all the flat screens.
I bought new wires to go to the screens as well. And I bought a fancy new Nvidia to run it all.
Now, I will be 100% certain that the PC doesn't freak out about different screen sizes hooked up and turning on and off anymore.
The PC will only see one device, the box. The box deals with the different screen sizes.
I'm planning on setting everything to 720p mode.
So I'll have a 720p screen at my desk to watch TV on and my Vizio in my bedroom at 720p (it also does 1080i).
I really want to eventually have ALL the screens running at 1080p but for now I'm stuck with the 720p because of the Vizio.
I plan to buy a 70" tv for my bedroom sometime in the next 2-3 months and I'll move the 32" Vizio to my living room. Or maybe I'll set it up somewhere else for a different task and buy another big 1080p screen for the living room.
That will leave me one additional connector to add a fourth screen in the future. I would like to have one in the kitchen, a smaller on of course though. Maybe a 27" flat screen for the kitchen.
Rather than jumping off and buying something without researching it would be unwise I believe. So I'm going to do what you guys suggest and go to showrooms and check out screens and ask questions and read reviews and take my time. I've got a healthy chunk of cash coming to me in the near future so I'll be able to walk in anywhere and buy any size screen I want with cash. I talked to my friend and she said she would help me put it up on the wall. She's bigger than me so I'm sure we can manage. Worse case, we can get her man to come over and help us.
I think it was better to resolve this mess of all these mismatched screens first before I get the BIG screen.
Thanks guys!
Sharp - AQUOS / 60" Class / LCD / 1080p / 120Hz / HDTV - LC60E79U
This 60" Sharp was my latest tv purchase, last year I bought this model for $1100 from Bestbuy right before the Superbowl. It has performed great in a brightly lit living room mounted about 7ft high above a fireplace. Sorry the pic doesn't do it justice, to the right in the photo is a wall of windows that go up 12ft high and run along the entire wall.
I also have a 60" Mitsubishi DLP that I had to connected my htpc via HDMI before the pc blew up. It worked great as a computer screen and is still a great tv that I personally do most of my viewing on. I have a 50" LG Plasma that I bought last year the weekend after Black Friday because I wasn't quick enough to get last years Panasonic deal. It is in my bedroom and is a great tv also, but I did have some burn in when I connected a laptop to it shortly after I got it. I ran the screen optimizer to clear it and I haven't had any problems with burn in since. It runs OTA, sat and my WDTV nightly.
I don't think you can go wrong with any good name brand tv. You just need to decide what size is right for you. Go look at them in the stores and grab the remotes and adjust the picture settings to your likings. I would check to see what connections it has too. Make sure it has sufficient inputs for the amount of equipment you might want to connect to it.
This 60" Sharp was my latest tv purchase, last year I bought this model for $1100 from Bestbuy right before the Superbowl. It has performed great in a brightly lit living room mounted about 7ft high above a fireplace. Sorry the pic doesn't do it justice, to the right in the photo is a wall of windows that go up 12ft high and run along the entire wall.
I also have a 60" Mitsubishi DLP that I had to connected my htpc via HDMI before the pc blew up. It worked great as a computer screen and is still a great tv that I personally do most of my viewing on. I have a 50" LG Plasma that I bought last year the weekend after Black Friday because I wasn't quick enough to get last years Panasonic deal. It is in my bedroom and is a great tv also, but I did have some burn in when I connected a laptop to it shortly after I got it. I ran the screen optimizer to clear it and I haven't had any problems with burn in since. It runs OTA, sat and my WDTV nightly.
I don't think you can go wrong with any good name brand tv. You just need to decide what size is right for you. Go look at them in the stores and grab the remotes and adjust the picture settings to your likings. I would check to see what connections it has too. Make sure it has sufficient inputs for the amount of equipment you might want to connect to it.
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