Anyone got a big plasma screen/tv?

As the World Cup is approaching - I am thinking about shelling out on a 42" plasma screen - I need a new TV anyway.

I'm not after recommendations - just want to know if any Blitzer has one, or has seen one in home use (not just in a pub/bar/shop), and thought they were really good - ie worth buying instead of having say a standard widescreen TV.

I know they come with differing resolutions/numbers of pixels, some are HD compliant, they need time for the picture to burn in properly, etc - so don't need any help in choosing one.

I was interested in a hdtv ready tv once but the problem was that you're not just done just with buying the hdtv-ready tv. You also need a hd ready settop box for decoding the MPEG-4/H.264 stream. And the last time i was looking at this subject they were not ready with these...maybe this has changed in the meantime?

In the end it wasn't ready here and too expensive for me as i don't watch this much tv.

If you really want it big consider a projector - although it depends on the rooms natural lighting (daylight lowers the brightness and contrast of the projected image, but in a darker room they're amazing). If I ever build my own house it'll have a blacked out cubby hole for a behind wall projector :). Nothing can beat them for image size & quality.

My neighbour just bought a Toshiba 72 inch HDTV plasma tv for under $4000. Pretty amazing really, was expecting it to be more expensive. Had to help him stick it in the back of his truck.

I don't even have TV, To cheap to pay for the service lol. I'll be going down to the local pub to watch the world cup. There is one good one here in Sacramento thats actualy run by a couple of british gents :)

If you buy one for me puki I'll let you have kirsty. :)

I know you asked about Plasma screens, so this might not be any use to you, but what the heck.

At home I have a Toshiba 42" rear projection HDTV and I love it. It is not as crisp an an LCD or Plasma, but the image looks great.

At work we have a Sony 60" Rear projection and a 42" LCD. The LCD is awesome, but the rear projection is nearly as sharp, not to mention FREAKING HUGE! We have the XBOX 360 hooked up to the 60" and it's as if you are playing on a large computer monitor, it's that clear. Also, the big Projection screen cost about the same price as the smaller LCD if I remember correctly.

42" plasma is the way to go (at the moment), trust me, unless you can have it in a blacked out room, in which case projector.

Why bother? Its the same crap, on a bigger screen.

I'm sort of happy with my crummy 24" old faithful.

plasma is a bad choice, LCD or even a CRT is better. The problem with the plasmas are they still burn in, so if you watch 1 channel a lot you'll end up seeing their logo on all the other chans. And the part that breaks most often can cost 1000$ to replace.

LCD is a better choice, the worst thing you'll have to deal with is the light blowing, but thats only 300$ to replace

the best bet is still CRT, if you have the room for a projector but don't want to deal with having to have the room dark, you can get a pretty large size CRT. It is also about half the price of LCD or Plasma.

By the sheer number of stupid Football adverts lately you'd think the World Cup was in full swing. It's not even started yet :(
Hopefully we'll spoon it and be out in the 1st round.

I'll change over when FreeView (here in the UK) goes HD. I can't see the point in changing just yet, especially if you don't get to see it function properly.

I know Sky have a HD package, but I refuse to pay on top of my TV license for even more junk.

Hello.

Not interested in HDTV to be honest but I'd go for (and indeed have gone for) a projector. They're cheaper and less bulky than a plasma, with a decent blackout screen they work wonderfully. And, of course, you've got the benefit of being able to a) perform deformed rabbit on Jessica Alba's head and b) project enormous buttocks, boobs and bits into your neighbours house if they annoy you :o)

PS2, Sky+ and PC all through it. I'm loathe to sound 15, but it's wicked!

Goodbye.

I've got a 142cm LCD HD Rear Projection Samsung to watch the Aussies kick Brazil, Japan and Croatia arse at the World Cup!!

Go Aussie Guus!

"I've got a 142cm LCD HD Rear Projection Samsung"
For all us Limeys and Yanks that's 56", I think...

Sub-dialect translations available on request...

I've got a 37" LCD as my main computer screen (although its a TV)
Its NICE! :D

Totally agree with this, as I have a 32" Westinghouse myself. It served me well during the past half a year since I had it. It's better on desktop PCs, XBox/PS2, and HD in general. It's getting to a point that LCD TVs are getting to be built around the 42" - 46" range (Sharp's been doing this with Aquos for a while). It seems to me that since LCDs are getting into this size range, you can basically kiss plasma technology goodbye in another couple of years...

Dampe and RAM have the best handle on things...

There's basically 4 major technologies...

Plasma
DLP
LCD
CRT

If you want a throw away tv in 7-10 years, and want to worry about burn-in... buy a plasma, by all means. They look amazing hanging on your wall, but they aren't the best choice of bang-for-buck by any means.

DLP is great (it's what I went with) and is a rear-projection system but nowhere near the size of the CRT rear projections. You don't have to worry about burn-in (ANY of them will burn-in. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I've even seen an LCD burn in. It's just really hard to accomplish on a DLP/LCD.) And the picture only degrades as the lamp goes bad. Replace the lamp and it's back to perfect picture again. The only down side to DLP systems is that SOME people see a bit of a rainbow effect with high contrast pictures (it's a small flash occasionally of red/green/blue) that is really annoying. It does, however, go away as your eyes get used to it. I saw it occasionally when I got the tv and now I can't even force myself to see it.

LCD rear projection is practically the same as DLP without the rainbow effect, and the size is nearly the same. However there's a definite screen-door effect if you are sitting too close to the screen. Meaning that you can see a tiny amount of distance between the pixels. But it's only if you are sitting too close. As long as you follow the guidelines of how big a screen to get for the room you are putting it in... and sit back far enough you'll never notice it while watching tv.

LCD flat-panel displays are really nice and the prices are coming way down. They have all the advantages of a plasma without many of the pitfalls. But the larger screens are still pretty expensive.

CRT rear-projection... Best picture short of a 10,000 dollar front projection CRT (projector) with an expensive screen. These are by far the most adjustable of all the technologies and you can tweak them to perfection. Nothing beats a CRT for quality. However they are LARGE. HUGE even. You can tell the difference sitting them side by side certainly. They are also CHEAP because everyone wants smaller now. If you have the space to put one... A good 60+ inch CRT is the way to go bang-for-the-buck. However, when the guns start going bad in them they won't be a cheap fix. You can pay as much as 500 dollars per gun (red green and blue). BUT... you'll get FAR longer use from a CRT's guns than an LCD/DLP's lamp (50,000 hours compared to 5-10,000 hours).

Projectors... I lump these all into the same category because I don't see them as a real option unless you have a home theatre. Daylight will wash out the contrast and colors sometimes to the point of being unwatchable if you have large windows. Unless you have a good light-controlled room to put one in, don't bother. That said, however, the best picture you'll ever see is from a Sony G90 projector on a GOOD reflective screen. Nothing touches it at any size. Trouble is, you'll pay 10,000 dollars for a USED G90 if you are LUCKY. And a good screen can cost a pretty penny as well. And you are still limited by needing a light controlled room. DLP and LCD projectors aren't even in the same league as a good CRT projector. But they are lighter (a good crt projector can be hundreds of pounds in weight) and a lot smaller in size. And the picture is acceptable if, as before, you have a good room to put it in and a good screen to project it on.

My personal choices for my house was a 62" Mitsubishi DLP system for the living room and a 30" Dell LCD flat panel for the computer room.

As for the MPG4/h.264 thing... Dish has added mpg4 only channels recently and to get them you have to get their new box. They have begun moving channels to the new birds so it's not far off now.

And that... is my 5 dollars and 2 cents. :)

Yes, Kanati is on the ball.

With the money you saved getting a big CRT box HDTV you can cut a hole in the wall and sink the TV into the wall. Then still have enough to buy a decent 5.1 system and maybe even a cheap sofa.

Lets face it CRT *IS* this best picture followed by Plasma, then LCD, then projectors/rear projection. Plasmas are dirt cheap and have much better black these days, mine is bloody brilliant, it's massive and cool. Just get one, you won't be sorry.

whether plasma's picture is the best (outside of crt) is open for interpretation actually. It CAN be better. I've seen some unbelievable pictures on some high end plasmas. But I've likewise seen some pretty poor plasma pictures as well. The cheaper you go the more likely you are to get a bad picture. Comparatively speaking that is. They are all decent and watchable. But if you get a bad one you are stuck with the picture you get. DLP and LCD pictures? Pretty much universally good. It's hard to get a bad one. Even the cheap ones have pretty good pictures.

I just can't justify a plasma until a 60" is somewhere around the same price that I can get a DLP/LCD rear projection for nowadays. When they get below 3 grand. I'll start looking at them a bit harder. I mean... Why pay 3500 for a 50" plasma when you can get a 62" DLP for the same price, or a 50" dlp for 2000 dollars? The picture won't degrade on the DLP, it doesn't heat up the room like a plasma (they have active fans on them to cool them), and the picture just isn't THAT much better even on a good plasma to justify an 80% price difference.

BUT. If you go looking for a tv and you think you can see that much of a difference in quality... And you want the flat-screen approach... and don't need a 60-80" screen... By all means, get what you think looks best and fits your budget. The simple truth of the matter is that you can't go to awful wrong with a high end television these days. They will all give you a number of years of good service.

I got all my plasma wires embedded in the wall, plastered over and repainted so it just floats there on the wall, it's pretty good. BUT it's an early one and it's big but the picture isn;t as good as modern ones.

I have made my choice - I think you will find it somewhat impressive - i even got a very good price.

I have chosen a 26" Samusung - £596.99 inc. VAT and delivery - so £596.99 in total!

It is part of the new Samsung R74 Series

HDTV
HDMI
8 ms
Game Mode - optimized for gaming - H-sharpness and a faster response time in games
3,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio
10bit processing 12.8 billion colour
Digital Natural Image engine
SRS TruSurrond ZT - basically, surround sound
Multi-infotainment Experience - basically, various Picture in Picture modes

Samsung LCD TVs can function as a high-resolution PC monitor and a high-end TV without any sacrifice in picture quality. Outperforming PC monitors in brightness, response time, resolution, and of course screen size.

It is the first LCD TV in the world to receive the Nemko RoHS certification as an eco-friendly home electronics product

It only weighs 10 Kilos - how cute is that?





http://www.samsung.com/uk/products/television/tftlcd/le26r74bdxxeu.asp?page=Features

My plasma weights about the same as a human! (almost)

That's probably a pretty good choice for a smaller sized set. Don't accept no for an answer if it's got any dead pixels though. Send it back and get a different one. It'll do 720p obviously so you should be good to go on the HDTV front. :)

Ooooh, what an excuse to by an Xbox 360 - this thing was made for that sort of thing.

Plus, I want to buy a ZEN Vision:M too - I could hook that up to my new TV/monitor too.

Ooooh, I have never used/had 'Picture in Picture' before - can't wait.

Best get a fresh pack of nappies and some baby oil for this sucker - might get messy.

Just noticed that it has a faster refresh (by 33%) than my dell 24" too... bastich. :)

Yeh, I found it on Dixons website - did an online comparison check with similar priced HDTV monitors - realised this was the best, then Googled for a bargain price.

I forgot to mention - this baby is widescreen. Also has on-screen display - some models don't have OSD.

Plenty of connections:
R/F (television aerial)
Component(Y/Pb/Pr)
Scart x 2
S-Video
Headphone
Composite
HDMI™
PC D-sub
Monitor out, L/R

Got a remote control too.

Also it is 1049088 pixels which is meant to be 1366 x 768.

So looks like 1280 x 800 = 1024000 will be possible.

The number of pixels is a lot higher than that of the cheap plasmas - which is why I didn't go ahead with plasma - you need to pay a lot more than £600 to get a 1049088 pixel plasma.

Yeh, I think I am onto a winner here.

of course it's wide screen... if you'd gotten a 4:3 ratio HDTV I'd have come looking for you just to shove it up... err... :)

1280x800 is not possible... 768 most definitely will be it's max vertical res. You'll find that 1366x768 is a pretty standard res for tv's, but less so for software on a pc.

I got it today.

How do I set up GT4 on the PS2 to play in HD mode?

Apparantly, there is toggle option for 1080i and 480p. I cannot find that yet - I have only found 16:9 and 4:3 options.

You got the proper component cables for the PS2?

Also try holding Triangle & X (Cross) upon boot-up, it should give you an option to manually set the thing.

Not sure - I have the ones with the yellow, red and white AV sort of things.

Where is the 1080i setting actually set? Is it within GT4 or the PS2?

The component cables for HD I know of have 5 AV sort of things, the standard one for normal TV viewing have 3 iirc.

As for the setting within GT4 itself, cant recall off the top of my head, sorry.
(will take a look afterwards though if you havent by then, dont have access to my PS2 right now)

Bah - looks like I am going to have to buy these component cable things. I just looked at them on Google and I haven't got them.

I bet after that it still doesn't work.

Sniff.

don't even bother if you have it hooked up via the red/white/yellow cables. Those can only handle 480i resolution. You'll need to by a COMPONENT cable hookup for the PS2.

Also, if the ps2 (I have no idea on this) is gonna spit 1080i resolution at your tv, which has 720p capability you'll probably notice a little blurring as it gets downsampled.

http://www.monstercable.com/monstergame/ps2/

That's 60 dollars for the cable. You can get cheaper ones but you get what you pay for when it comes to cables.

Oh, well - it's only GT4.

How do I connect my PC to it?

Also, the screen is hot to touch - I don't mean warm, I mean hot - is it supposed to be like that?

connecting the pc...
DVI cable. Those can be cheap or hundreds of dollars depending on how much you want to spend.

Of course if it has a vga connector that will work fine as well, but not quite as good quality.

hot screen... if it were a plasma I'd say yes. Though none of my LCDs get hot. Suppose it depends on what kind of lamp they have backlighting it.

HERE IS MY VERDIT ON WIDESCREEN HDTV:


I got the required PS2 component leads.
Verdict - not impressed with PS2 gaming in HD.
Browsing the web led me to the conclusion that I really ought to be using an XBox 360 with this new screen.

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DVD movies are lovely on this widescreen.

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PC - general use - Mmm, not sure - I am typing this in widescreen. For general use, I think widescreen is rubbish with the screen height being limited to 768. 1280 x 768 is what I am using (and it looks great, you just wish it were not limited to 768) - 1360 x 768 looks horrible.

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PC - gaming - well, quite nice really - everything seems to run in widescreen, even if the game does not have a widescreen setting. I'd assume here that setting a game up as widescreen via the game's screen options is more efficent than letting the HDTV resize it.

With widescreen gaming you don't notice the lack of screen height which you will do when you return back to the desktop

The HDTV will happily, at the press of a button, convert you back to 4:3 whilst in the game - doing so is the equivalent of playing on a 21" monitor.

So, gaming is certainly a success.

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Watching television - depends on what you are watching - if you are too close to the screen (ie like a monitor) then you can see 'artifacting' - watch it like a normal television (from distance) and it is great.

Actually, I'd assume this is ideal for PC gaming.

Normally, I play games in 1280 x 1024 (1,310,720 pixels). With HDTV I use 1280 x 768 (983,040 pixels). That is saving the PC calculating 327,680 pixels.

Considering you don't really notice the loss of screen height/resolution in games, i think it is a case of permanent widescreen HDTV gaming for me.

I play at 1920x1200 on anything that'll support it. But any widescreen gaming is gooood. :)

I'd email Samsung about this and have a look at other Samsung LCD's on display to see if they got the same screen temp. My LCD screen only get's luke warm.

Wow, this thiggy looks nice.

Bah... the world cup starts soon here and I still have no plasma TV... :(

widescreen gaming on consoles is great. Stuff like SSX on the plasma rocks.

My wife and I bought a 42" Plasma made (allegedly) by LG. It had built in HDTV tuner and quite a good sound system. It worked for about 4 months and then would not turn on. WARRANTY!!! (for this type of purchase ALWAYS buy the extended waranty (if you get DLP or LCD or some form of projection locate a source for bulbs and / or make sure the bulbs are covered under warranty if at all possible))

The tech came to the house. It was one of the idiots my company hires when we have no tech to use... I know his certs and PLASMA has never been mentioned... He dipwad dorked around with it for an hour on the phone with LG Tech support then announced it would have to go to the repair center.

I took the phone and mentioned to them that I had a replacement warranty not a take and repair warranty.

New TV arrived that afternoon. Newer Model. No problems since...

You can all stop worrying now.

I fixed my problem with my new HDTV - it has various power settings - it defaults to high-power - I just turned it to the highest powersaving level - the screen doesn't get hot now and the picture is exactly the same. Technically, it is now using less electric and will probaly last longer.

I have no idea why it has various power settings if the picture looks the same on the lowest power setting. Maybe it is for winter use and you can use it to heat your room too.