mugwump

Well, thanks to SoSpacey's post I now have a Panasonic TH-42PX600U on its way. I've always had issues with LCD PQ but decided to try one myself. I'm happy to be going back to plasma.

General Zod

OK gonna need more help. I got the 42" LCD shipped today and it looks OK... but when I look at it close up it looks like an internet movie or something (really pixelated). From a distance away it looks ok.

So, being a newbie at this, what is the problem here. I don't have HD. I have just a regular satellite connection and I've got 2 choices coming out of the DVR box.. component and svideo. So I connected both and whichever input I choose it looked the same. Is this what happens when you view standard tv with these larger sets? Is this why people scream they want HD? Or should I have a nice sharp picture even close up and something else is wrong? I haven't hooked up a dvd player yet or anything to see if that picture is any better. Anyones $.02 is appreciated.

Patman

LCDs are not all that good with the Standard Definition programming, they are much better when you send it High Def programming/material.

General Zod

So.. let's assume I'm probably not going to be getting HD any time really soon.. I'm better off switching to Plasma? General agreement? Or am I not going to see that much difference?

Patman

Plasma's handle SD material better than LCD (on average). But you still might not like how your SD programming looks on plasma either.

Kaiser Soze

We have this exact same model and could not be happier. That's a great price too!

SoSpacey

Kaiser Soze and SoSpacey replying to one another. Are they the same person?

virgil?

Cosmic Bus

Can I be in the "undecided" camp?

After months of reading comparisons and reviews, and looking at quite a few sets in person, I decided on my first HDTV a couple of days ago, a 40" Samsung LCD, and honestly, I'm not feeling terribly impressed. First off, I may have been a bit overzealous with the size -- a 37" would've been a better choice, given my seating distance.

Secondly, the picture just isn't what I hoped for. I've gone through calibration with Avia and tried a number of settings recommended by other owners and none of it is proving satisfactory to my eyes. There appears to be a great loss of detail in dark areas no matter what I do, and the image has sort of a "smeared" look in SD (expected) and on my DVDs; even the OTA HD content isn't really grabbing me as anything special. Granted, I've been seeing everything on a 27" CRT for the past tweleve years, but the much larger size isn't a good trade-off for the loss of that crisp, colorful picture I'm accustomed to. Without getting my hopes up, I'm planning to try out an HDMI upscaling player this weekend and decide then if I'll be exchanging the LCD for a smaller model and brand or switching to a plasma.

The downside of this whole situation is that the only 37" plasma I'm aware of is the Panasonic and I hate the cheap silver design on the current model. Also, I'm wary of the potential issues with burn-in and the lengthy break-in period is sort of off-putting...

SoSpacey

these are all typical complaints about LCDs. My LG, with the XD engine, does a very good job with SD content, but it is only a 26".

how close do you sit that a 40-42 is too large?

the new panasonic plasmas have a black bezel and can be pre-ordered for around $1350 on Amazon. They were supposed to be released a week ago.

burn-in is not an issue with plasma anymore. dont let it worry you. there is a slight issue with image retention, but that is different than burn-in as it is temporary and goes away. i have never had this issue though and over the weekend i mistakenly left my ps3 paused for 3 hours.

the break-in period for me was easy. they suggest 100 hours. i left mine on for a week.

Sdallnct

I think you would be better off with a SD TV. But that is just me.

That is why I have not pulled the trigger on a new set in my living room. Can't decide how much I want to spend on HD sources or if I really need HD in there. In any case, I see no reason to get a HD set if I have no HD sources.

No my media room, I have a HD PJ and hooked up to OTA HD. In my bar, I have a 26" HD set with OTA HD. But haven't decided what to do in the living room so since living with SD source, going to stick to a SD display.

sniper308

I recently picked up a 32" Samsung LCD which was open box (LN-S3241D) and I got a significant discount on it, and I'm in about the same boat. I haven't tried the OTA, but I did pick up an upscaling DVD player and connected it via HDMI. I have an SD DirecTV receiver connected and its pretty much what I expected as far as picture (as I didn't expect much).

Where it seems to hit the sweet spot (as expected since this is the only HD source I'm feeding it) is gaming with the 360 in HD, and watching downloaded content, etc.

My other TV is a 27" Panasonic CRT that has an excellent picture with a DirecTV SD receiver and a DVD player connected via the component inputs.

Main reason I picked up the LCD was that the SD TV it was replacing was starting to die (turning off, etc), and so I could dabble in HD with the 360. I picked LCD over Plasma for concerns with others in my house possibly burning in an image due to leaving static images, etc on it.

So, I'm not overly impressed either, but then again I didn't expect to be with what I was inputting into it.

Kaiser Soze

HA! Didn't even notice that until you pointed it out.

And like that. Poof. He was gone.

Cosmic Bus

I'm about 7' or so back, which I don't believe is particularly out of the ordinary (maybe a little closer than average) but to me, the numerous image flaws (from both standard DVDs and the general picture quality of the set) are just far too apparent at this size. I'm not even convinced that a 37" is going to magically fix things, either; this being my first foray in HDTV, I think there was a certain expectation - possibly unrealistic? - I went into this with and it simply isn't being met, and may not be unless a full 1080p, HD/Blu-Ray upgrade were possible for my entire collection, and that's a pretty silly idea really...

Do you have a model number available for the upcoming Panasonics? I don't see anything new or recent listed on Amazon, only the current PX60 series and older. But again, am I going to run into the same gripes with the picture on a plasma? The blacks might be better and color more "true" but it seems unlikely that my DVDs and standard programming will come out significantly better looking than on an LCD.

Honestly, I feel like I'm too practical to even have bought this in the first place since my old 27" CRT was perfectly fine! I'm wondering now if maybe a Sony XBR tube is better option in my case, although the TV table I have isn't spec'd quite high enough to hold something of that weight. Yeesh! What a lousy week.

Patman

I think a lot of folks with DVD collections are going to be disappoint in how the newer HDTV sets will show too much of DVD's (and SD's) video limitations. This is "progress".

But then you get some good HD content, and you'll be salivating for more HD, and simply tolerate the not-as-good-as-HD DVDs and SD programming feeds with the newer HDTV sets.

leest3

If you can't decide between plasma and LCD, Go LCoS. The Sony SXRD blows away anything I've seen (although I hear the new Pioneer plasma's coming out rival SED). Plus they're cheaper, relative to size of Plasma's and LCD's.

leest3

I think my LCD looks fine with SD programming. OTA or digital cable, both looked fine. The next TV I get though will probaly be a plasma though. When I bought my LCD, the 42" plasmas were nowhere as cheap as they are today.

Cosmic Bus

Well, I brought back my LCD this morning. Unfortunately, no one in the area has any good plasmas in stock (aside from floor models. Uhh, no thanks), so it looks like I'll be waiting until mid-April when the new models are available.

Sdallnct

Actually, I'm still pleased with 480p DVD. I have recently gotten a PS3 and a few blu-rays, but it has not convinced me to buy only blu-ray. In fact, I recently purchased a nice up converting DVD player to see if I can squeeze just a touch more out of SD DVD. But even if I can't, I'm still good with it.

Mr. Salty

I bought an Oppo 981 upscaling DVD player to go with my Sony SXRD and I'm amazed at how good SD DVD looks on it. If the transfer has flaws, they show, but DVDs look damned close to HD with this player using HDMI.

mugwump

So the Panasonic TH-42PX600U arrived on Wednesday and I'm in plasma heaven. Everyone has their PQ pet peeves and the weak black levels on the LCD just bothered me to no end so I had to go back to plasma.

Patman

Congrats on the 42PX600U! It's killing me that I have my 50" version and it's just sitting in my garage while I get my carpet situation sort out.

Spiky

So, you're carpeting your garage?

Patman

I recently suffered a flood in my house by a water heater giving up the ghost.

Jadow

I get so freaked out by the idea of burn-in, I side with LCD.

Dane

I'd go with a plasma as well. LCD still not good enough.