To all Plasma/LCD users - Please help me to choose a 40'+ TV

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › To all Plasma/LCD users - Please help me to choose a 40"+ TV

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10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#47632 5-Oct-2006 11:24

Sure, they don't have it in stock so it will be coming on Friday. Will post a review of this TV after I have played around with it.

Frankei

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Master Geek

#47740 6-Oct-2006 11:33

cynthony: I bought the Sony Bravia S Series 40" TV yesterday from Harvey Norman. They offered $3500 (TV + a $299 worth of TV carbinet). They charged us $3300 for the TV and $200 for the carbinet. Free Delivery too. I think it was quite a good deal. Thanks everyone for all your help.

Cyn

oh man why did you do it...

The new 'S' LCDs suck the fat one... horrible contrast and colours...
Seriously dude go back now and pay the $600 for the 'V' or another $300 ontop of that for the Panasonic 42PV600

LCD is well and trully overated...
They are great during the day; bright w/ a matte screen means for easy viewing and no reflection just glare
BUT at night time the black glows and appears to be grey and just generally sucks...

Plasma on the other hand is the exact opposite...
Average during the day; blacks are a bit greyish and reflection
At night the blacks are pure and the colours are amazing

Side note... if you do choose to keep it turn off the Black Correction.. it basically makes anything thats supposed to be dark grey black and anything light grey white... giving the ilution of a better contrast but just screws up all the details

richms

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#47799 7-Oct-2006 02:18

The first thing I do with any tv now is to turn off all the enhancements.

my 29" panasonic CRT was on the verge of going back till I found that turning off DNR and 3d comb filter solved all the blurry motion and whacky colours that happened on scene changes.

Then a friend got a LCD tv, same things happening, same things to solve it.

Now if only pixel plus was an on/off option on the philips ones, they are quite nice sets other then that rubbish.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#47801 7-Oct-2006 06:57

I'm going to be in the market myself for a new TV in a month or so (other half has a new house!) and have my heart set on a 50" Plasma. Has anybody got any comments on any particular models to avoid? I will be needing something that is PC friendly for my PVR so will be wanting to try things out instore with my PVR.

sbiddle

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#47823 7-Oct-2006 13:24

After looking around this morning I've fallen in love with the new Sony 60" SXRD Bravia even though it is a little on the expensive side!

Does anybody have any comments on this TV?

Super8

73 posts

Master Geek

#47827 7-Oct-2006 15:18

cynthony: Sure, they don't have it in stock so it will be coming on Friday. Will post a review of this TV after I have played around with it.

Experiment with the settings listed here

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/sony-kdl46s2000-review.shtml

and here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=681195&page=1&pp=30

I almost had to get welding goggles when I first started up my 32". From memory everything was cranked up and vivid was the default setting.

Shin

274 posts

Ultimate Geek

#47861 7-Oct-2006 21:17

cynthony: Hi there,

I would like to purchase a 40"+ Plasma/LCD TV

There are too many choices in the market and I really don't know what to get. If you are using a LCD/Plasma TV, could you tell me how good/bad they are? Any recommendations?

My budget is no more than $4000

Thanks so much

Cyn

You could find Samsung 42" DLP under $1700(720p/1080i), and you can spend another $2300 for top of the line (upscaling 1080p(or i) to HDMI output) receiver and speaker sets.

Receivers usually depriciated lower than displays.

Then next(or couple of) year you can invest your money into serious 1080p displays with Bluray or HDDvd players.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

richms

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#47879 7-Oct-2006 22:33

Dont bother with an upscaling reciever, the display is perfectly capable of converting to its native resolution on its own.

Having svideo and composite upconverted to component is however very useful however.

Richard rich.ms

Jazsaxman

51 posts

Master Geek

#48144 9-Oct-2006 23:44

Hi all,

Yes that 60inch SXRD is a ripper isnt it. i see from the US Sony website that there is also a 70inch version as well as all their fancier models. Back here in NZ I see that Sony are advertising the 50inch SXRD now although I havent seen it yet.

Also, Noel Leeming are advertising online the replacements for the 42 and 50inch Grand Wegas (KFE42A10/KFE50A10) that have been runout models for the last month or so. There is a 50 and 55 inch model. KF50E200A/KF55E200A. Has anyone seen these yet?

I guess that kind of sorts out the sizings with the Bravia up to 46inch, then LCD rear projection 50/55 and 50/60 SXRD?

Cheers

Steve

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#48151 10-Oct-2006 06:46

After looking at the new 55" Grand Wega I must say I am very impressed. It suffers from the usual rear projection of crap viewing angles but the picture is very stunning in a dark(er) room. I was looking at one of the 50" Philips Plasmas but am tempted to go for the 55" Wega which is also 2K cheaper.

The new 60" is really only a HD TV and the simple fact is we don't have HD stuff in NZ yet to take advantage of the TV. I believe the 70" model only has a DVB-T tuner which may explain why it's not being launched in NZ at present (but is available in oz in a few weeks).

lchiu7

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#48173 10-Oct-2006 10:41

The LCOS sets like the SXRD and the JVC D-ILA have much better off-angle viewing brightness. I often watch my 56"D-ILA from more than 45 degress off angle and the brightness holds up well

Of course $4K for the 55" LCD is a great price compared to $6K for the 50" LCOS!

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

sbiddle

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#48193 10-Oct-2006 13:21

lchiu7: The LCOS sets like the SXRD and the JVC D-ILA have much better off-angle viewing brightness. I often watch my 56"D-ILA from more than 45 degress off angle and the brightness holds up well

Of course $4K for the 55" LCD is a great price compared to $6K for the 50" LCOS!

How does the lamp life compare between the LCOS sets and the LCD's?

My main requirement for a TV is something that is PC friendly since I have built up a new PVR. This certainly appears to be far less of a problem with current model TV's vs last years, the TV manufactuers seemed to have realised that people expect a TV with DSUB input to work first time and users shouldn't be subjected to hours of fiddling with overscan settings!

Nety

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#48199 10-Oct-2006 13:54

Concerning brightness of the LCD rear pros. It is very easy to get a bad inpression when you are looking at them in the show room. This is because they are often placed on the floor and you are standing. Although they have improved a lot in sideways angle viewing they still are very bad if you are looking down at them. Make sure that you are looking at them from around the same hight as the screen.

I have a Sony 42" Grand Wega and the brightness is comparible to any other TV. If fact I have turned it down quite a bit from the setting out of the factory.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

lchiu7

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#48200 10-Oct-2006 14:09

sbiddle:
lchiu7: The LCOS sets like the SXRD and the JVC D-ILA have much better off-angle viewing brightness. I often watch my 56"D-ILA from more than 45 degress off angle and the brightness holds up well

Of course $4K for the 55" LCD is a great price compared to $6K for the 50" LCOS!

How does the lamp life compare between the LCOS sets and the LCD's?

My main requirement for a TV is something that is PC friendly since I have built up a new PVR. This certainly appears to be far less of a problem with current model TV's vs last years, the TV manufactuers seemed to have realised that people expect a TV with DSUB input to work first time and users shouldn't be subjected to hours of fiddling with overscan settings!

No idea about lamp life - presumably similar to LCD.

As for PVR usage, well this has been a bit of a hassle for me. Can't use the DSUB connector since that limits the signal to 1024x768 and the image is windowed. Should use the HDMI input but it doesn't work for me (yet). I have a Nvideo 6200 card with DVI out but when I send the signal to the JVC, it flashes HDMI briefly and then blanks out. e-mail to JVC Australia got a response from JVC NZ who said the set needed a firmware upgrade. Well it's been a few months and nothing yet but in a week they say.

At present I drive the from my PVR using a VGA to component adapter, sending the set a 1280x720 signal. I then use Powerstrip software to remove the overscan so the Windows desktop is not cut off. That way the PC image fills the entire 56" nicely :-)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

davemarsh

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#51080 5-Nov-2006 08:41

I'm running MCE and recently bought a Panasonic 42" 1024 * 768 model. It is fantastic. I considered LCD. They catch your eye, but I find them to intense for night time viewing and regardless of the refresh rate, I could always see trailing images on fast action DVD.

When I went into the stores, the first thing I got them to do was put live tv through them. The Bravis looked good in the shops, as they are nearly always putting there promo hi-def promo disc through them. I've seen so many people amazed at the coloured balls bouncing down the street.

I did hear that Sony are pushing LCD so heavily as they screwed up with plasma. I' think it's short sighted to suggest that Plasmas are on their way out. Panasonic do both and Pioneer (arguarly the best) specialise in plasma.

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