AlexM

I'm getting very tempted...

I have been looking at 42" Plasma models, and am considering the following:

LG MZ42PZ17 £2499 inc. vat
Panasonic TH42PW5B £3299 inc. vat
Toshiba 42WP27B inc. vat

There seems to be a dearth of reviews of these models on the net, but I have heard good things about the Panasonic models. The Toshiba is apparently a rebadged Panasonic TH42PW5B with a different remote for £200 less.

I would be grateful for opinions of anyone who owns one of these models, or something similar. I'm also interested in the more general experiences of ownership - Is it overkill, what is the picture like with terrestrial (digital cable) sources (as well as DVD), do you wish you'd saved the money and bought a conventional tv - anything at all.

Thanks in advance for the info!.

Cheers,

Alex

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

plasmas are as good as normal tv, try richer sounds if you want the cheapest price, once you purchase a plasma you will also need an amp ans a set of speakers as these have no way of producing sound. i own a sony projector but plasma is much better picture quality and far superior to projection tvs which if you are not in the perfect position for the picture is cr*p, the picture quality will be much better on a plasma screen than a tv because it has pc monitor type resolutions which a normal tv cannot produce

stevenuk300

Try importing from Hong Kong. They sell for £500 over there. Even with paying shipping and tax, it should be a lot cheaper.

polarbearit

Any details on where to pick one up for £500 then?

chiark

Sorry, but imho the quality isn't as good as normal TV, particularly in terms of contrast on dark colours.

I'm waiting until this is sorted out. Take a DVD, in particular minority report, and tell me a plasma is as good as a CRT. For vibrant colours, plasma is superb. For darker scenes, I think it has got some way to go.

Try it BEFORE you buy!

Cheers,
Nick.

pslewis

I was on the verge of buying one over Xmas - HOWEVER, when I heard that they only last for 2-5 years and then need re-gassing, I decided against!!!

This has been confirmed by engineers and salesmen alike, as for price of re-gassing - they dont know because it is a new market _ could be anything!!

I'll be waiting until the 'picture' becomes clear!

Pete

AnDy_PaNdY

Pete, the regassing thing is a bizarre myth.

pslewis

Well, its a myth that the best engineering minds in the country seem to go along with??? I will take their advice if you dont mind!

Not saying its actually TRUE - just ask the question BEFORE you buy!!

Get a 36" 100Hz Panasonic for £1200 - saves you a wad

Pete

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

try one of these


these might suit you better

was supposed to go to a sony 42 hdtv which is at the bottom of the page

[Edited by stevebt - 1/24/2003 7:11:02 PM]

Fulham71

get a 5 year warranty from Richers then you dont have to worry !
but i dont think the picture quality is that great either !

chiark

Should explain, really... Looked at the Samsung (? cheapo one in Richers) and it looked superb until there's dark areas on the screen, when I thought I could see steps in the transitions of colours.

Also, my dad has bought a 32" sony plasma just before xmas. (Went into the sony centre to buy a DVD player, ended up buying plasma screen "but I got a free DVD player". D'oh!)

Anyhow, we watched Minority Report on it at Christmas, and it really looked poor. Looks great on the 32" Sony FX65 or whatever it is that we've got though? High colour stuff, such as Ice Age, looks stunning though

Re-gassing, according to Sony, is a complete myth and Richer say the same thing. Other retailers do still argue that it'll be necessary though! Truly a daft situation for a marketplace to be in!

Hope this is some use. Give anything a thorough work-out with a full range of films to see if you like what you see before parting with hard-earned

Newbie123

They had an expert on Five Live the other day about new technology and they talked about Plasma TV's, and he didn't recommend buying one because apparently they are going to be replaced by large LCD screens within the next 12 months, and the quality of these is going to be very good.

pslewis

Would agree that LCD will be the way to go - a £4000 Plasma is going to look pretty sick in 4 years, when it needs re-gassing AND 42" LCD's are selling at £1495!!!!

If you have money to burn, do it - NO, actually, I HAVE - and still wouldnt!!

Pete

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

go for a projector i have sony vw10 picture is superb and the screen is 7ft makes plasma etc look like portables

mj

I have also been thinking about getting a plasma screen, and a ferrari,nice big house, fit new bird....etc,etc.

Luke

Plasma.....waste of time. Look at the return level. Look at all the bullsmit about selling them "Gasing"!!! buy a proper TV or wait for LCD

Suresh

Plasma screen - form over function. It's the Audi TT of the television world!

Unless you're really stuck for space, I can't see the point of something that offers no perceivable benefit in picture quality AND sells for 2/3 times the price of the crt equivalent. I'll be getting the EISA award winning Philips 32" in a couple of weeks and it's under half the price of the plasma jobbie.

Early adoptors will pay no heed of course.... :O

IWatkins

Plasmas do not need regassing. It is b*llocks made up by those sales sharks to sell you an extended warranty to 'cover the process' when it needs doing 'in a few years time'. I.e. trying to earn themselves more commission on the sale of the warranty.

This is straight from the horses mouth of one of the boss engineers at Sony's Service Centre at West Drayton.

The only thing that I can think of is plasma lasers that do need regassing at times but they have nothing to do with plasma screens.

IMHO plasmas are not that good picture quality wise. I spent a lot of time looking at them and it seems everywhere you go, they are showing films such as Ice Age. I.e. with very bright colours, very bright images overall and are almost always being fed by a signal over component (rather than SCART) from a high end DVD source.

Stick an analogue TV channel on them and most look poor indeed with the contrast being poor to very poor.

Add the cost of the screen, plus the stand, plus the tuner box and it gets expensive. Of course, you then need some speakers and an amp to drive them.

Oh, and they are heavy.

Plus sides are that they are very thin, so if room is an issue, they are ideal.

Overall, I decided if I was going to spend that kind of money on a TV it would actually have to perfect. And none of them were.

I would add though that some of the newer screens are getting better with regards to blacks actually being black (rather than grey) and contrast improving as well.

Even so, with the LCD plants now coming on stream over the next year it won't be long until large LCDs will be available for the same kind of money (initially). And they don't get hot and they actually weigh very little and they are even thinner.

We shall see.

I'll stick to my widescreen CRT for now. The picture on that is very good.

Cheers

Ian

PG

A good quality projector and screen is the way to go
I think that is what I will go for once my 43" rear projector is done.
As long as the input is digital the pic is never that bad. IMO

logiclee

Plasma's do loose contrast over time. Some manufacturers quote figures for this loss. Can be upto 50% over 5 years and this is where the gassing story comes from.

It is not ecomomical to sort out a five year old panel thats why the market is flooded with second hand plasma panel's used by presentation companies.

You can buy plasma's that will match crt or lcd but not at richer sounds prices.

If watching the latest DVD with a mega sound system, in the dark is your thing don't buy a budget plasma. If you just want a life style type set up it might suit you.

Lee

AlexM

Hi,

I took the plunge and went for the Panasonic TH42PW5B, so here's my mini review..

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the picture quality on DVD and digital cable sources. Dark scenes retain good detail, and there is no banding. Contrast or 'dynamic range' is good as maximum brightness is high at 'normal' setting (almost too bright).

Skin tones are good (no sunburn victems), and the colour balance is natural.

I know that high end CRT widescreen tvs have better image quality, but I had to rule them out due to space considerations (and the fact that it looks very cool doesn't hurt!).

A projector was also ruled domestically unacceptable - our existing tv was too poor to retain as a primary display so running costs for a projector would have been excessive.

I'm very happy with it so far, and get over the sticker-shock eventually.

Cheers,

Alex

P.S. The Samsung was rubbish - just as described (negatively) by others - avoid. The LG was somewhere in between (acceptable), and the Toshiba and the Panasonic were very similar, and much better than either.

[Edited by AlexM - 1/26/2003 1:31:30 AM]

[Edited by AlexM - 1/26/2003 1:32:09 AM]

Stueyb

I too am looking at plasma units for my new house (dreaming a bit at the mo but not for long I hope)

The units i've been looking at are all LG units, but 60 inchers. Would these things be safe when wall mounted ?

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Depends on your wall, I imagine. My walls are all plasterboard, so that'd be a 'no' then

I have to say that plasma screens don't really excite me - at least, not yet. I've never seen one showing anything other than Toy Story, Monsters Inc or any of the other CGI movies, and unless you're a long way away the individual pixels are far too obvious. I don't have the room for a projector either, so it looks as though the 32" CRT will be a feature of my lounge for a while yet.

A.

Stueyb

Well, wouldnt want it comin off the bloody wall the day after !

chopper

Had an NEC 42 inch for a couple of years now. Haven't looked back, but one bit of advice - some of the earlier models have cooling fans that are quite noisy - bear this in mind when shopping for one.

subevo

ive got a fuji 42" plasma and i love it.cost£4200.then bought surround sound speakers and an amp cost£5000 altogether.only downside is that football matches arent too good unless its a close up.great for playstation games.which is what its used for most.

AlexM

Hi,

When it came to mounting the bracket, I wasn't taking any chances so I monted via eight 3-inch coach bolts... it isn't going anywhere.

Assuming you have solid walls, I can't imagine that any size plasma would be a problem. If you have dry-lined walls, you may need some re-inforcement . My screen is about 29kg, and the 50" displays are 45kg.

Chopper - is the fan noise that bad? luckily mine is convection-cooled