J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Remember a couple of weeks ago my freid Yasmin asked for Scoobynets help (indirectly) about buying a big tv, well you put her off a Rear Projections so she is after a plasma, its a Panasonic TH42PE30, its 2799, is this a bettter deal, she has heard you have to service Plama's but it costs more than the TV, I dont know enough to comment so cant advise her, hence why I ask for the Scoobynet collective wisdom.

Tiggs

if she had room for a rear proj then why get a flat one??

lot of money to get a slim unit if there is no need for that?

djuk

Ive seen these sets running when set up properly and the picture quality is amazing and at 2799 for a 42" integrated digital tv its not bad.

With regards to 'servicing', theres a big old myth which I believe originated from currys/dixons/comet trying to sell expensive extended warranty packages that these units have to be re-gassed every few years. This is true to an extent but its more likely to be 10-15 years down the line rather than the 2 years or so people would have you believe.

Hope this helps

David

Regulator

This is very true, i have a 50" pioneer one, and after research, we found the comments made by staff at comets/dixons/currys hilarious.
Its best to talk to a specialist, they know wht they are doing, but dnt trust them all.
One tried to sell us a universal remote control touch screen thingie for £500, when on later inspection it came with the av amp.
so basically do you research at home and talk to experts in a speialist shop

Diesel

If you have the space then you will get a better pic from a projector and save thousands - setup is a piece of cake. If it needs to sit slim on a wall and look swish, then fine!

r32

I have a Panasonic Plasma and its cracking, had it since March and I wouldnt be without it. Superb picture and sound. amazing, just amazing.......

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the info, looks more promising, will call her back tonight, cheers.

Keep them coming !

rik1471

Tiny were selling a 42" plasma with TV tuner and wall mounting kit for £1300 in the paper last week. Not sure if the offer's still on. Does anyone know what Tiny's screens are, I presume they're rebadged.

djuk

At that price I would guess it to be about the same quality as the rest of the budget screens.. cack

C h a z II

Give me a ring if you like I can talk you through the options


Charlie 015395 64417

www.visionarysystemsuk.com

corradoboy

I was in my local Sevenoaks HiFi yesterday and was astounded by the picture on the 2 plasmas they had in the shop. I got chatting and they were being fed by a dedicated (1080) high res tv satelite station (not Sky) which as yet has limited programming and is mostly European content. One was the Pioneer 43", which has the HDMI digital hi-res video connectivity, the other was a Fujitsu. I was reliably informed that Fujitsu actually make the panels in most of the better screens (Panasonic/Hitachi) and that they let them have the older technology, keeping the new stuff for themselves. The one I was watching was certainly a match for the £4000 Pioneer which is reputed to be about the best 42" on the high street. Was shown one connected via PAL progressive from a DVD, which was also very good. As my current DVD doesn't have PAL prog, I would be using component which would result in some smearing of fast movement in strong uniform colour images. I suppose for what they cost, I could always upgrade the DVD shortly after. I've seen many plasmas displayed in Currys/Comet et al and none have ever looked as good as what I saw yesterday, it really is worth seeking the advise of experts when considering this kind of outlay. We also discussed some of the cheaper panels and the sales bod assured me that if you have any respect for quality electronics and want a screen that will impress and (more importantly) work for many years, it really is a case of "you get what you pay for". The only thing which would push me to buy anywhere but a specialist such as them, is the 5 year warranty bundled in by John Lewis, and their price matching policy. As for reliability, the guy reckoned they are now more reliable than conventional CRT sets (not entirely convinced ) but if they do go pop, it's normally terminal As for the old regassing myth, complete b011ox. A plasma is effectively 000's of miniature fluorescent tubes, and to regas each would take weeks, that's providing each had a valve to connect to

scooby L

Went looking for Plazma's the other day.

The Sony did not impress me at all, a really poor picture, but the panasonic was a fantastic quality.

Interesting to hear about Fujitsu's involvement with supplying there older technology, the guy in the HIFI store I was in said Panasonic had the best "new generation" software on the market...

Anyway, Panasonic had my vote, even if it was £5000..

corradoboy

The Fujitsu was £3700, before haggling and I was refering to the panel hardware. The software can and will improve things. I agree, Pana's are up there with the best and was no.1 in my list before yesterday and still would want to audition side by side with several others before parting with any cash. The big feature on Pana's seems to be the very high contrast ratio, giving richer blacks and a deeper more realistic image. This seems to be achieved by mounting the panel behind tinted glass, effectively darkening everything, and then bumping up the brightness to compensate. I would be worried about longevity if this is indeed how they achieve such a CR figure from what is reported to be the same panel as the Hitachi and several others. Like most things, hard use wears quickly.