I worked in a store that sold both plasma and lcd, lcd gets fade and dead pixels and plasma eventually burns out. For the price they should last for 25+ years, your lucky if you get 5-7 before something happens.

In my honest opinon I prefer my old sony wega trinitron 42" flatscreen. It maybe heavy but it wont be burnt out in 5-7 years.

I am not knocking you guys for buying them, but for the money they should last longer.

 

Thanks reggie, but I got another one (third post above yours).

 

Just put in a 42" one yesterday. We like the Samsung displays. They have a pretty good picture. We have no problem using them in our customers theaters. The bang for the buck ratio is really good.

Watch the model numbers when you go to places like Sams and Costco, sometimes they have special models just for them.

Second thing be very careful getting these of the net. plenty of horror stories around about people getting displays that were suppose to be sold over seas (wrong power set up) Having damaged screens or housings, 25 work day shipping's, ect. As good as the deal is it is going to be a gamble on the savings. We inspect ever Display before it leaves the distributors WH, and if there are issues upon installation or later we handle it for the customer for the life of the manufacturers warranty.

I still stick to my earlier comments about finding a Custom installer. We try to match prices, another benefit is we will know whats what and head off any installation problems, and issues with set up and calibrations.

Usually in the long run you spend less money and you have a go to guy for future things.

 

Sorry
Big jobs are keeping us busy.

We use that set regularly too. Good prices and Quality.

 

DLP does have its draw backs. But the big benefit will be screen size. You will be able to afford a much larger screen for less money than a flat panel. Samsung and Toshiba Cinema series are what we roll with when we start looking for DLP. It all boils down to what you like. and where is it going. I personally like the DLP sets we have used, and have designed my upgrade for the current set up to a 61" DLP.

Every display out there has advantages and drawbacks. CRTs are heavy and dated. Plasmas burn out, LCDs get dead pixels, DLP don't look good from the side. But, No display can reproduce blacks as well as the old CRT tube. Plasmas produce sharp pictures, LCDs can be used with game consoles/computers. DLPs use a replaceable lamp.


Choices are staggering. If you seem overwhelmed, find a Custom Installer, let them worry about pleasing you.

 

Reviving a thread to say LCD kicks ass and minimal heat and no static around the screen and no worry of burn in from video games.

Just picked up a 42" LG and football looks incredible on it.

 

I didn't read through the whole thread but I highly recommend going with Costco for TV's. They stand behind their products (such as TV's) with a lifetime satisfaction guarantee (try getting that for "free" at Best Buy or similar) and they will actually give you CASH back if the TV drops in price over the time period you own it. Can you believe that? I personally don't think that's right to do, but it's a crazy-cool perk that no other retailer will match (that I know of). LCD and Costco all the way. Going shopping today as a matter of fact.

 

Just one word of caution.

WE have customers that toss us the Costco line all the time. In our research it seems that the good ol lifetime warranty has gone away especially on high end electronics. Seems they got tired of people buying a TV, computer ect, then returning it in a couple of years to upgrade.

Also Costco gets its own make of displays. Go look up the P/N on the display @ the manf website, some of them are Costco only. Thing is the one made for everyone else is just a few bucks more but the Costco one has things left out to make the price.

Big box retailers you are right do not have a great rep for standing by their products true. But us Custom shops try to do as much as we can. If my company was to come in design you a system install it and you were unhappy, we will make it right. We have a lifetime warranty on the labor involved, standard manufacturers warranty on the equipment, but we will handle getting it all fixed if that need arises.

Its true you cant generally beat Costco prices, but you will never ever be able to beat our Customer support and satisfaction.
We do not advertise anywhere, we use a word of mouth type of advertising campaign. And we are looking to double our man power requirements. So if anyone around here can install....


Good luck in your purchase, please make sure you did all of your homework first, there are way to many people that go out and make uninformed decisions and regret it latter.

Remember High def will look good on almost every High def display. Its the standard def stuff you should be worried about!! Lots more of that out there.

 

Reggie, great advice as always, thanks. It's the same thing my shop told me. They had the Costco spec sheet on hand to show the de-contented version of the TV Costco was selling for more than the better quality version I bought from the shop.

I'm sure the LCD shoppers are aware that although the highly saturated picture in the stores tends to look better than plasmas, the refresh rate is slower leading to some motion blurring. I understand that's been corrected in the newest and greatest LCD's...at a price.

 

Not to be the voice of decent but no one has mentioned the half life of plasma. The rare gasses in plasma TV's will loose approximately 50% of their brightness after a few short years, I thinks it's not more then 5 years. So if you're planning to buy a new TV every 5 or less years then plasma is the best picture quality/response etc. I opted for a little less brightness (I can't tell the difference but every report says so) for longevity rather then spending a few thousand dollars every few years.

I opted for the JVC HD-ILA technology rather then the DLP for two reasons. 1. The DLP system has many more parts to break down and I just don't like the idea of the spinning color wheel. 2. When it comes time to replace parts because they are wearing out and loosing their brightness your pretty much going to pay half the price of the TV or more. The HD-ILA just replaces the bulb, true at $300 a pop but still a lot less then anything else.

I was also a bit sour on the whole projection idea due to sets I have seen in the past but this one sold me. It's very thin about 16 inches (less then my old Zenith CRT), I can see it from all angles and the 56" TV weighs just less than 100 pounds.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Just wanted to add something that I didn't do before we bought ours (hitachi 50vs810, couple years old now) If you can bring a dark movie and compare it on each. Some tv's really seem to lack any real depth or definition in shadowed and dark areas. Sometimes it's just the movie, but not as often as you would think .Unfortunately upping the brightness often makes everything look gray and washed out.

Also try to see which handles motion better. (response time?) I don't know if it's a problem with current technology but our tv definitely doesn't do fast motion all that well on xbox360 even set to 720p. (makes me a little "seasick" some days)

 

We have a 65" Mitsubishi DLP television and it is probably the nicest looking TV I've ever seen. The picture is extremely clear *given the correct programming* and the viewing angle is very good. I can sit at 170* and still see the whole picture without distortion.

We also have a 37" LCD tv, that too looks amazing but it's no 65".

Here is a picture of the movie Ice Age 2 running at 1080P over Blu-Ray on our Mitsubishi tv.

Caution: Picture very big.

 

my little 19" monitor wouldt knww the difference.


as for all the other comments,
They are all good.
Especially the one from BT17R

Just do your research first and don't skimp out.
Industrial displays are a good alternative. The plasmas we use are Pioneers and Panasonic's industrial. Good thing about indust displays is that they need an add in card to get the upper end connections. At first this seems to be a BS expense, but when you realize this makes your major purchase very fluid in the type of connection you can use. For those that follow such things, The newest HDMI format is soon toe be released, and the new security conscious connections are on the way. makes it nice that you don't have to go out and buy a new display to go with that super cool High def player.
( general consensus on the BLu ray/ Hd cluster- wait.)

Good call on a dark movie. please be aware that the big box retailers generally don't adjust the displays they put out. out the box they are generally set pretty high. if they do adjust them its to make the sale. So a good research item would be on how to adjust a display. We have a couple of inexpensive DVDs we use to calibrate displays we install. good investment for both purchasing a new display and maintaining you new purchase.


if all else fails find you a good custom installer. We try to keep up with all the good stuff. I personally will match any big box retailers price on the same model. And you just cant beat the service. how many of you have had Best Buy come out and show you Again how to work you system and fix all the stuff you Tweaked since i left last week?

 

Costco's policy on TV's is not going to change. They had to put a 6-month guarantee on computers because people were abusing that beyond belief and there were some proprietary concerns with software, etc.

Anyway, my dad has worked for Costco for years and the CEO just came and spoke to them about the policy on electronics such as TV's. Bottom line: Nothing is going to change. The CEO even mentioned the loss (in millions) of revenue from TV returns and price-change cash-ins (some legit, some not); yet the policy remains in place.

I am not surprised that other retailers have since come up with stories about Costco's policies and product line. I personally could care less if a manufacturer brands a special P/N on a product-made-for-Costco. As long as it works the way you want it to, who cares? The last thing I am going to do is tack on some absurdly-priced service agreement from Best Buy or similar on a TV that Costco probably sells for less money anyway.

 

I am in now way affiliated to any of those big box places. I am part owner of a custom Av business.
The warranty story i heard stating that they changed it was from a Costco member, who bought a Costco LG display and was having problems with it a short time after.

The only problem is the special Costco priced TV is not just like the one somewhere else. That's like saying my 4runner is just like yours cause its a Toyota.
If its a cheaper display its for a reason. just one example: Check out the number of connections in the back, the type of connections they are. Things are going Digital, the more digital connections the better. How many of you out there have AV switches to switch back and forth from the cable box, Game Console, DVD player cause there just wasn't enough connections.

What are you going to do when you get that HD player and get it home and you cant hook it up digital cause they skimped out to save yourself a few bucks.

Not saying its a bad place just don't go there and tell me they are the same, its apples and oranges. wont even start on the online shipping prices for them.

And no you shouldn't be paying for some over priced service plan either. We go into the new Magnolia HiFi section now to get good laughs. My brother(who is the better subject matter expert) usually gets a few of the managers giving him pissed off looks before we leave.

The last trip out i almost had to drag him out after he started ranting on
" how are you going to sell a $2000 remote and not have any programming on it to show it off"


Again to each their own if your happy so be it.

But just remember there might be better.

 

reggie, what are your thoughts on this Hitachi?

http://www.hitachi.us/tv/browse/plas.../42hdt79.shtml

I've read about the flicker issue some report on earlier versions, but it sounds like it's cured with the latest firmware update, a free d/l.

I like the ability to display a full 1080i screen without cutoff or the Panny's compression.

This will go in another room to replace what I thought was a good CRT SD, until I went HD!

 

Let me check into it some more. We don't deal a lot of Hitachi. But i do have it available to me thru a distributor i am going to see this afternoon. Let me pick his brain a little on it. I should be able to compare the two also, he is my Indy Panasonic dist.

I would like to see it in action too, might need to add it to the inventory.

 

All right now i have some info.

Very good display. Some nice additions coming out this year.

If you check out the specs you will notice it is one of the only 42" displays that actually put out HD with out a conversion, which is what the Panasonic is doing. you have to have a 1 million or better in you second number for true 1080 res. hence the 1080 number.
The Hitachi does 1.1 million.

There are two types. The normal everyday one, and the Directors series. http://www.hitachi.us/tv/browse/plas.../42hdx99.shtml
The prices are comparable with the directors being a few hundred more.

The directors series will offer a handful of high end extras, like anti glare glass, the ability to fine tune your picture for each input. and a few others. The directors series most importantly carries a 2 year warranty verses the 1 year on the standard line.

Personally i would go with the directors series the warranty alone is worth the extra few hundred.

We knew we had them available, but have not had but a few inquires, want to thank you for bringing it up. We are in the middle of a major reorganization, looking for installers opening a small office space ect. After talking to my distributor (guys been around for ever, think he sold Noah a TV for the trip) we decided to become a dealer, paperwork in process ( they are kind choosy) look like we might be the only dealer in our area .

I might possibly be making a run up to Seattle next month , if all goes well let me know what you decide about the display.

Hope it helps, let me know if you need anything else, i will find out.

 

I bought a 42" Panasonic plasma about 4 years ago. I got the industrial and purchased it from http://www.visualapex.com/. I've been very happy with it. Never had any burn in problems, no pixels dead, nothing. I do agree with earlier posts that it puts out a lot of heat. But that doesn't bother me so much. We use the TV about 4 hours a day. I did my research using this website: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/

There's a lot of good advice here and I thought I'd add my two cents as a happy longer term owner.

 

We do a lot of industrial Panasonic.
One thing to keep in mind when getting these types of things using the Internet is they are a little cheaper for a reason.
There are quite a few people up here in the Sacramento area who purchased a Panasonic ind thru the Internet and got it only to find out that they had to dish out more money for a card to give them more than just the VGA input.

Also you lucked out on the dead pixel deal. Some displays will have dead pixels, you call up the seller and they say go to the manufacturer for warranty, but some manufactures require that a percentage of the pixels be damaged before they will warranty it. Me i just take it back and let the distributor deal with them.

There was a run of overseas displays making the rounds that was messing up some people. Kinda hard to run you display on our power when its set up for Europe.

Not all places are bad, if you go that route just do some major research first. Its not like buying a $10 do-hickey on EBay.