Sdallnct

Good that you have narrowed it down. I have been reading a lot about that 42" Panny, check Wal-Mart, Sams & Costco, there are reports of it dropping to the $1,2XX range wich is a very good deal on a very nice set.

I think going with that 42" plasma gives you a lot of versatility. Personally, I would go bigger if you watch a lot of 4:3 material, but it is a nice TV. You can hang it on a wall, use a stand, use a stand now and move it to the bedroom wall in a few years, etc, etc.

I hate to say anything to change your mind or cause you to "open" back up your choices, but keep in mind LCD is NOT the worse picture. All these have their pro's and con's. And I would not disagree with GreenMonkey in the fact for him, the single most important thing is black level. If that is indeed your single most important thing above all else, I would stay about way from LCD as well. But there is more to a tv then black level. And in fact if that is your single most important thing I would (as GreenMonkey list) look at a CRT (tube) or CRT RP (rear projector tubes).

There is no "perfect" set. I highly recommend you make a decision (IMHO that Panny is a good choice) and continue to read and learn about to get the most out of it. As mentioned, there are a couple of good easy to use set up discs, check out the threads on the "tweaks" over at AVS, etc. You will then know you are getting the most out of your set and no doubt be very happy with it.

Dead

It sounds to me like either this person's bias was overflowing or he simply didn't know what he was talking about. The Panasonic has been praised by both professionals and owners. They are rated for 60,000 hours of use and burn-in risks are minimal. Mine probably produces a bit more heat than my friends Westinghouse LCD or our prior CRT based TV, but not enough to notice unless you're standing over it.


Sports look wonderful on the Panasonic plasma... HD broadcasts are simply stunning. The logo might present a risk if you leave the TV tuned to the same channel 24 hours a day, day after day. But, that's not very likely. ESPNHD has a logo as do several of the other channels that we watch regularly. I've never seen any thing the resembles burn-in though.

Pierrot

This is a question regarding my parents' tv. They have old-fashioned CRT RP. And the picture quailty is quite bad. It's kind of blurry and dark. So I thought it has worst picture among all types. Does one need to calibrate CRT RP? In fact, does one need to calibrate LCD RP? A guy at a store said that one doesn't need to for LCD RP and plasma, too. And does one have to do this regularly?

As for me, since I have many 4:3 movies, 50'' is really tempting, which is why I still can't quite decide. And I want to have peace of mind while watching them.

At least for now, I don't plan to order HD package, so in that case, which is better - plasma or lcd rp? (I don't think I'll be able to install outdoor hd antenna at my apartment, and Directv's hd package is just a few channels. Would HD box improve other non-HD programming also? Otherwise, it seems worthless.

Sdallnct

Yes, CRT RP tv's need to be calibrated. Some things you can do yourself, others need a professional. And BTW, it is generally still agreed on that CRT RP properly calibrated gives you the best overall picture of any technology currently available. The newer technologies "for the most part" have introduced more people to bigger pictures not because of a better picture but because they are physically smaller sets. You no longer have to have a tv that takes up a 1/4 of your living room to have a bigger picture. There are other things the new technology does (brighter, etc) but IMHO the real reason for the surgance of bigger screen TV's is that they physically can take up less room.

You might do some research on antenna's. It is against FEDERAL law for an apartment/condo/homeowners association to prevent you from putting up an antenna. Now, there is some specific wording about "area you control", etc but in most cases these organizations are just scaring you. Now you could have in issue if your particular apartment is not facing the direction you need to point the antenna. I live in far N. Dallas, all the broadcast antenna are about 26 miles away. I use a directional antenna mounted in my attic to get all major (FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS) local channels in HD. Depending on where you live, you might even be able to use an indoor antenna. Go to Antenna.org come to give some idea of type/size antenna you might need and where to point it. IMHO taking the time to research getting OTA HD is so worthwhile as it is "free" (after paying for the TV, STB if needed, and antenna). Right now my only HD is from my OTA antenna, and I love it! I am looking at moving to HD Dish Network however.

I think your Panasonic 42" plasma is a good versatile choice. Great picture, solid brand. You should be able to get a bigger picture for the same or less money going to a LCD/DLP RP, but then some folks really prefer the image of a Plasma and you lose some versatility as you can't mount these on a wall.

Slayer2005

1: Many still find CRT provides the best overall picture; It is still the technology of choice for hardcore videophiles. Nothing out there can touch CRT rear projection's black levels or on/off contrast. Nothing.

2: By CRT RP I am no referring to the old fashioned models. I'm referring to the HDTV models.

3: Yes, one has to calibrate CRT and yes all technologies are better when calibrated. However, CRT is the most difficult to calibrate properly.

4: The guy at the store has no clue what he's talking about. I guess technically you don't "need" to calibrate. You only "need" to if you "need" the best picture quality the set is a capable of. Calibration is simply a word for setting up the tv for its optimal picture quality which involves properly setting the white level (contrast), black level (brightness), gamma, greyscale, sharpness, etc. Calibration is to also improve the accuracy of the image.


That contrast/black level crown still belongs to CRT. In the world of digitals it belongs to SXRD. CRT still has by far the best on/off contrast. We're talking 20,000-30,000:1. Nothing else is close. A gamma corrected CRT has untouchable dark scene contrast and black levels. I have a CRT front projector and it's pretty incredible. Of course it's very well calibrated. Nothing can do inky blacks in dark scenes like CRT. CRTs need gamma correction though.

Pierrot

Thank you.

Just one more quick question: With B&W movie (DVD), is plasma better than lcd rp? If so, how much? And how about non-HD TV programming?
I want to decide today and end this headache.

Slayer2005

LCD is the worst technology you can use for black and white movies, so yes, Plasma is better. Of course, I'd say LCD is the worst (or "least best" ) for just about any film, but I'd have to stress that when talking about displaying B&W films.

dleedlee

Pierrot, I went through the whole pain you're going through now. I spent about nine months helping my dad pick out a new TV. He ended up getting the one I recommend for him to get originally, the Panasonic 42 EDTV. He's had it about 4 or 5 months and he's very pleased. Burn in is not a problem, baby it the first 100 hours and turn down the factory delivered settings, after that, no worries. Heat is not an issue, this model is only a hundred-some watts. The bigger HD panels go up to three hundred some as I recall. The nice thing about the Panasonic is that is the built in QAM (?) tuner, so it can receive the local digital channels through cable even without subscribing to digital cable. (Not sure if all cable companies send these signals or not.)

Some people will say get a real HDTV but at 6-8+ feet viewing most people can't tell the difference. The other reason that swayed me towards ED over HD is that pops mainly watches SDTV and a little DVD, so in this regard I think the ED actually is better picture wise (less upconverting?). If he was going to get digitial cable then it would have been a tougher choice.

This is what he ended up getting from Circuit City.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont.../> Navigation

Also considered the new Samsung EDTV but mom nixed that one. 'Don't get the black one, the dust will show !"

GreenMonkey

Oops, well, yeah, CRTs are better. Then again, there's not a lot of quality CRTs being made these days. It seems like as production slows on CRT quality has deteriorated. I've got a 24" widescreen CRT monitor for my PC

My coworker bought a Panasonic CRT RPTV less than 2 years ago and the green gun bit the dust a few months ago. It was going to cost too much to even get the TV looked at; he ended up replacing it with a 42" Magnavox plasma.

Slayer2005

That's too bad about the green gun. It's very rare for a tube to go out.