Brendan Hughes

Sorry, am sure this has been done before...

Am following the mkt with a view to purchase following lottery win. Haven't a clue what's out there, what should I be aware of?

Info I've gleaned so far is:
They have to be carried and mounted with extreme care
Plasma lasts longer than a CRT TV
The decoders (?) keep changing software worryingly often - can this be updated?
Look for functions which they may or may not have (I think the options of switching btwn widescreen, 16:9 etc were one).

Points to an FAQ greatly appreciated.

Thanks
BJH

P1Fanatic

Hmm we have 6 50" Pioneer hi-res ones at work used for monitoring boards (but for Cable, DVD's etc at night). One problem is they have no receiver but I guess in this day and age when everyone has a sky or cable digital box it doesnt matter.

Weve had them just over a year and if anyone tells you they dont suffer from screen burn then they are lying. Admittedly ours never get turned off and are stationary outputs from PC's. However even the TV one has the SKY NEWS logo burnt into the top left corner.

Brendan Hughes

Thanks. I heard something about decoders, but provided you can upgrade them separately, I don't see a problem. Damn silly if you have to chuck a five grand TV just because a black box has been outdated.

Not sure I like the sound of screen burn, but OTOH how long would a CRT last?

mccltd

I've just bought the Pioneer 50" plasma for home.
Cost £8000 including table stand and tuner module.
Very impressed with it on DVD, lasredisc but Sy can be great at times but a bit hazzy other times.

SiCotty

Been looking at this as well. Have a look on www.avforum.com. A lot of information but don't take things to literal or you will never buy anything like me.

Simon

PS. You might want to look at the Arcam FMJ-27 which will do both NTSC and PAL progressive scan output via componet connections. This will produce a very very good picture.

Brendan Hughes

Is the tuner module (assuming it's the same as the decoder) easily updatable? A friend says Philips are sending him the latest version of their DVD software so it stays up to date... if this is possible, sounds good.

Mufasa

I haven't seen the latest ones so this might no longer apply....

But I was gawping at about a 50'' flat screen TV in John Lewis a year or so ago and for £12000 I thought it was crap.

The screen reacted so slowly that when a football was booted across the pitch it left a white trail behind it for what seemed like .5 sec or so....

C h a z

My advice would be to go to a specialist retailer. Somebody who has experience of installing and setting them up. The screens are so critical they will quickly highlight poor quality signals and connection leads. Try and get one with a "tuner box" these will give you an easy way to connect sky, DVD etc. You should be pretty future proof if you have scart, component and S-VHS connections.
Again have a good look round. Try and see the same plasma in different shops. You will see what a difference the correct installation can make. It's a bit like suspension. Anybody could bolt the bits together, but it takes an expert to make them work well.

mccltd

I got mine from Musical Images in Bexley.
They have always been very helpful.

DavidBrown

I bought a Pioneer 503HDE (50" inc receiver) for £7500 over Xmas (I think they're a bit cheaper these days).

It's ace !

Make sure you buy one with a good contrast ratio, and that does NOT need a fan.

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Is it still true that these plasma screens have a finite lifetime and will usually last a few years only?? Seem to remember people saying this when they first came out and I thought it was a bit of a drawback.

Kevin Greeley

They suffer from burn-in.
They get hot and use loads of power.
Brightness decreases over time, about 50% after 1 year IIRC.
Slow response time.
If one small tube fails, whole screen needs to be replaced as they cannot be repaired.
Dust and dirt can collect inside which cannot be removed - spoils picture.

Buy one if you like but I wouldn't.

Neil Smalley

Why not buy an LCD projector and screen?
They produce a waaay bigger image thats just as clear and you can now get a decent set up for under 2 grand?

Fullonloon

I work in the same building as a company called Flatscreenz.

http://www.flatscreenz.com

They sell plasmas, we have 3 in the building including a nice 50", I think either the NEC or Panasonic are the ones to go for.

Talk to David on 01628 481019, let him know I sent you

Quentin

[Edited by Fullonloon - 4/18/2002 10:26:50 AM]

DavidBrown

Erm.. Dunno what screens you've been looking at..

But my plasma is 100hz. (perfect response time)

The screen is "hermetically sealed" to prevent dust ingress onto display area.

It doesn't get hot, and doesn't even need a fan.

The screen life of a Pioneer 50" is estimated to degrade to 50% of original after 8yrs (assuming 8hrs a day, 365 days a year)

Brendan Hughes

SiCotty, avforum address doesn't work, are you sure it's the right one?

I searched and found a few FAQs but they are from plasma sales companies, so all positive. Nice if I could find an objective view with the disadvantages too.

Thanks guys for your sales recommendations but I think delivery out here would be a bit risky for something so fragile!

BJH

TopBanana

Get a decent CRT projector (LCD's aren't anywhere near as good). Much better picture than an LCD projector or plasma screen

Diesel

Projector TV's have come a long way - enough for me to buy one!

Don't view one from 2 foot away and 2 foot above in a low voltage halogen lit showroom, and you might consider one too! You should get a very decent bit of kit for less than 2K now.

What's v good is that they can optically (rather than digitally) blow up pix to fill the screen if you havent got a pukka 16:9 anamorphic source.

My 40" Tosh is top, but the sound is crap, so get a separate Dolby 5.1 AV amp and speakers. Lovely!

DavidBrown

How can a CRT produce a better quality picture than say a 1280p Plasma, given that most DVD discs are usually encoded no greater than 480 lines or 720 lines at the most ?

Sure, a CRT will blur the edges of each pixel, making the image softer.. but that's actually a bad thing if you want to run your PC through it.


[Edited by DavidBrown - 4/18/2002 5:19:08 PM]