• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

new HDTV questions

bym051d said:
1. Panasonic makes great tvs.
3. Why? It depends on application. LCDs don't have the pq plasmas do unless you're buying a real high end one.
Click to expand...

We have a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma in our den and a 32" Panasonic Viera LCD in our bedroom and I have zero complaints. We have HD receivers from DirecTV and could not be any happier with the picture.
 
It's been a while but I finally pulled the trigger on a Panny GT50. It replaces the 42" Panny I've had for almost 6 years now, bumping up to a 50" as well. Maybe could have fit a 55" in the same spot but the price difference wasn't worth it since they were running a special on it for under $1,000. Top of the line Samsung LED's are gorgeous sets, but dollar for dollar plasma is still the better value depending on what you use it for. The one disconcerting thing I've been reading about the GT is a fair number of IR complaints. I use my Xbox for some gaming and ESPN3/HBOGO so we'll see. Also probably jailbreaking an AppleTV for it as well. Just couldn't pass up the deal.

Also gotta love Monoprice. Have 4 hdmi sources and one non-hdmi audio receiver I don't want to mess with - they make a 4 hdmi input switch that outputs all the hdmi audio to a toslink out for $40. Still under $100 with cables - I remember when you'd pay 4 times that for cabling alone...

Should get it next week, will be running the slides and reference settings per d-nice (highdefjunkies).
 
DCDeac said:
It's been a while but I finally pulled the trigger on a Panny GT50. It replaces the 42" Panny I've had for almost 6 years now, bumping up to a 50" as well. Maybe could have fit a 55" in the same spot but the price difference wasn't worth it since they were running a special on it for under $1,000. Top of the line Samsung LED's are gorgeous sets, but dollar for dollar plasma is still the better value depending on what you use it for. The one disconcerting thing I've been reading about the GT is a fair number of IR complaints. I use my Xbox for some gaming and ESPN3/HBOGO so we'll see.
Click to expand...

Mainly be careful with news. I play lots of Xbox and haven't had any HUD problems. But, even with pixel shifting and low contrast I have a faint white MSNBC bar on the top of my Samsung D8000 plasma.

I now utilize screen zoom when I watch news to crop the static bars and bugs out.

P.S. your picture will be shitty since you didn't buy the $$$ monster cables. ;)
 
I've had my Panasonic plasma HDTV for at least 8 years (maybe longer), and its still going strong with a great picture. Watching bowl games on it now. Purchased my second Panasonic about a year ago - this time LCD - and it is terrific too. Went with CR top rated both times.
 
Anyone know anybody in the Winston Salem area that fixes tv's. I am one of those idiots that buys a new tv every year just for the next big thing. I had plasma up until about 22 months ago when I went and bought a nice 46" LG LED for $1500.00. Now I have a rectangle in the bottom left of the tv that is lit a little darker than the rest of the picture. I might just have to get another.
 
bym051d said:
1. Panasonic makes great tvs.
3. Why? It depends on application. LCDs don't have the pq plasmas do unless you're buying a real high end one.
Click to expand...

My neighbors have had a plasma since they came out, and the colors are turning all shitty and stuff. Idk, I just don't believe they're built to last. I've never heard of longevity issues with LCD/LEDs.

Panasonic isn't bad. I just prefer Samsung and LG much more.

When it comes to picture, let's be real. In this day and age, just about anything 1080p will be more than satisfactory. I don't care about the picture being "Amazing" vs "Amazing-er". I would rather invest in a better brand, the right size, and in something that will last quite a while.
 
Last edited:
WT901 said:
My neighbors have had a plasma since they came out, and the colors are turning all shitty and stuff. Idk, I just don't believe they're built to last. I've never heard of longevity issues with LCD/LEDs.

Panasonic isn't bad. I just prefer Samsung and LG much more.

When it comes to picture, let's be real. In this day and age, just about anything 1080p will be more than satisfactory. I don't care about the picture being "Amazing" vs "Amazing-er". I would rather invest in a better brand, the right size, and in something that will last quite a while.
Click to expand...

I'll take anecdotal evidence for $1,000, Alex. Panasonic Plasmas are some of the best in the business. If your room doesn't have a lot of natural sunlight, there is almost no reason not to get one.
 
If your neighbors have had plasmas since they came out, their tv's are probably going on ten years old.

I have a Sony plasma from 2005 that's still going strong.
 
Plasmas from 2001 or earlier had expected lives of under 30,000 hours. At that time the reliability of LCD's wasn't any better.

Current plasma technology is rated at 100,000+ hours for the top brands like Panasonic and Samsung.

TW is right - you have to realize how much the industry wants you to rely on anecdotal evidence to push you towards the more expensive sets. They'll talk about plasma burn-in, LED brightness, reflections, picture degradation, etc - and if you're at BestBuy it's a guarantee that a piece of junk Westinghouse LCD that costs $2k will be at it's brightest setting right below a $1k Panny plasma that will be have contrast and sharpness both set to -10. My favorite argument is how much more power Plasmas consume and how LED's "pay for themselves in energy savings" when the actual yearly difference for a 50" set is around $40.

I also strongly disagree that everyone will be happy with anything 1080p. Cheap sets that can't handle 24p sources or have terrible processing produce noticeable screen stuttering. Cheap LCD/LED sets can make darker movies borderline unwatchable as every black melds together into a blog of dark grey. Sets that offer "120Hz" processing via poor implementations leave every movie looking like it was recorded by a handheld camera by some guy on vacation.

Most people aren't happy when they buy a set with obvious issues - they just assume it's normal, don't know any better, or simply won't admit that the $2,000+ toy they just bought isn't what they thought it would be.
 
Yeah, I have a Samsung 50" plasma from 2005 that still has a better picture than anything I currently see in a store. The bad part is that it only has 1 HDMI input, which I broke in 2011 when using a cheap adapter trying to stream the Sunday Ticket app from my Mac. So I've been running it on component cables ever since. Per the repair guy, it was going to cost $500 to fix it because the entire board needs to be replaced (assuming he isn't full of BS), which I couldn't justify because of the price of new TVs. However, whenever I go look at TVs I conclude that my existing one even on component cables still has a better picture.
 
Ball State Deac said:
Went with this one: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_05775592000P
Click to expand...

Awesome set, pretty much the same as the GT50 I just got. Highly recommend following the dnice prep and settings - absolutely stunning picture. I have two settings on mine, one for his recommended settings and then a tweaked version of the "game" preset that is a little better for bright room daytime viewing on my DirecTV box which seems to darken the picture a tad.

Also recommend setting whatever outputs you have to native and let the TV handle the conversions - it's far superior to my set top box.
 
DCDeac said:
Awesome set, pretty much the same as the GT50 I just got. Highly recommend following the dnice prep and settings - absolutely stunning picture. I have two settings on mine, one for his recommended settings and then a tweaked version of the "game" preset that is a little better for bright room daytime viewing on my DirecTV box which seems to darken the picture a tad.

Also recommend setting whatever outputs you have to native and let the TV handle the conversions - it's far superior to my set top box.
Click to expand...

Excellent suggestions. Thanks. We get her tomorrow - excited!

Did you do D-Nice's panel prep? Calls for 100 hours... which will making watching hockey tomorrow a challenge.
 
Last edited:
I have a Samsung plasma attached to a Samsung home theater system. I'm using an optical digital cable to get tv sound through the surround sound speakers. Should I run the cable from the tv or from the cable box to the hts. Is one way better than the other.
 
Cable box to receiver. No need to run a cable from tv to receiver unless you want to run streaming apps that are on your tv.
 
dubs21 said:
Jealous too. That's the set I want. Could settle for the UT or U models but i think i need the AR filter for the light in my great room.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have the GT and a friend of mine has the UT. The anti-reflective treatment on the upper tier models (ST and up) is a huge improvement. If you have windows/reflections in the room it's a must unless you can't stomach the price difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top