Best low-cost plasma

[MaleManGuy]

Hi Everyone...

I am a convert over to plasma. I was reading about the panasonics and thought 100,000 1/2 life was pretty good, great pictures on the Viera 50" PZ77. Altho these TV's don't support 24fps... I am hinging my choice on that it seems. The panasonics seem to have darker blacks than the samsungs. The Pioneers are like $1000 more it seems. Am I over-looking any? Which would you pick? I currently have a 46" Sharp 62U LCD which I want to replace :-)

thanks

[richteer]

Originally Posted by MaleManGuy

Hi Everyone...

I am a convert over to plasma. I was reading about the panasonics and thought 100,000 1/2 life was pretty good, great pictures on the Viera 50" PZ77. Altho these TV's don't support 24fps... I am hinging my choice on that it seems. The panasonics seem to have darker blacks than the samsungs. The Pioneers are like $1000 more it seems. Am I over-looking any? Which would you pick? I currently have a 46" Sharp 62U LCD which I want to replace :-)

I really like the Pioneers, but the Samsungs are pretty decent too. Might be worth checking out the P50X901 "Director's Series" from Hitachi. They have a feature Hitachi calls "Reel60", the description of which seems to imply 24fps support.

[so7o]

pioneer/elite are THE best plasmas


for the price and quality tho..panasonic is a close 2nd

[d_rob1031]

My personal heirarchy of plasmas is...

Pioneer > Panasonic > LG > Samsung (I really don't care for Sammy plasmas) > the rest

We just had the 50" 720p Pansonic go on clearance at BB for 1499.. great deal with the 3yrs no interest financing. I'm actully looking to pick one up myself.

[Beefbowl]

From what I seen, the Pioneer Kuro had the best ratings for the 50" plasmas. I thought about getting this one myself, but the whole 720p bugs me.

[btf1980]

Originally Posted by Beefbowl

From what I seen, the Pioneer Kuro had the best ratings for the 50" plasmas. I thought about getting this one myself, but the whole 720p bugs me.

So get a 1080p model then.

[ground chuck]

top dog PIONEER
next dog Panasonic

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by MaleManGuy

I am a convert over to plasma. I was reading about the panasonics and thought 100,000 1/2 life was pretty good, great pictures on the Viera 50" PZ77.

Only the Panasonic models ending with 700U and 750U are rated at 100,000 hours.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...82007093804965

Pioneers are the best with Panasonic a close second. I just couldn't justify the price difference for the minimal increase in picture quality so I went with Panasonic.

[rragland]

Originally Posted by MaleManGuy

Hi Everyone...

I am a convert over to plasma. I was reading about the panasonics and thought 100,000 1/2 life was pretty good, great pictures on the Viera 50" PZ77. Altho these TV's don't support 24fps... I am hinging my choice on that it seems. The panasonics seem to have darker blacks than the samsungs. The Pioneers are like $1000 more it seems. Am I over-looking any? Which would you pick? I currently have a 46" Sharp 62U LCD which I want to replace :-)

thanks

Pioneer ranked "Highest Customer Satisfaction with HDTV's 50" to 65""

[BLU STEAL]

the pioneers can display 1080p/24

[CharlestonLion]

I have a 50" Samsung 1080p that cost around $2,300.00 and LOVE IT! Great picture! The sound is decent, but I will soon have it hooked up to the new surround sound system, so it will soon be great! I know that you are looking for a budget TV, so that may be out of your price range. Try LG....many people have said they enjoy them.

[jorg]

my local big box stors has 50"(sammys i think)plamas for 1.1k but i would rather burn the money then buy one of those but if that what your looking for id suggest those or sonyr ecent dicontinued rear projection(great pq cheap as brick know i think 50" is 1.25k

[Dagger]

IMO, Panasonic for the best price/performance ratio.

[Sonny]

There are Panny's that support 24fps but its a bigger deal for LCD's since they have the PQ issues...

[MaleManGuy]

Thanks guys.
I am curious about the new Hitachi models... altho no one in town here seems to have them. Panasonic 750 will be it at $3100 for 50" here in canaduh. The Pioneer was $3650 and didn't seem as bright to me as the panasonic. Tough choice... I will miss having 24fps but look forward to the next TV in 5 years... LOL. Hmmm... anyone seen the new Hitachis?

[BluWave]

I personally would look at the Samsung for the budget panel. I think Panasonic looks OK as well but can look very digitized because of its video processor doesnt handle gradient color changes as well ( like a sky ) the shade changes look hard. I personally would invest a little more and get a standard Pioneer. Considering it shared the same Kuro panel as the Elite and all you lose is the Logo and the ISFccc calibration circuitry, it s the best panel at that price. I personally have an older Elite PRO1000HDI with the Elite BDP-HD1 and love the combo. It just kills me to know its only 720p though.

[shadowmoon]

try and find a pioneer pro-fhd1. 50" 1080p plasma, its an older model so it doesn't have HDMI 1.3, but should be well worth the price u can get

[Sling]

As seen in my signature I own a Sammy 5084

Owning it for just about 6 months I can recommend it.
3 forms of screen burn protection
2 year factory warranty
1080p 24fps
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...tag=prod.txt.1
.
.
.

[MaleManGuy]

Hey Everyone :-)

I finally picked THE plasma TV... and I must admit, it's got an impressive PQ... totally blows my old 46" Sharp 62U out of the water for contrast and color vibrancy and richness....wow. If I can say what it's like... an LCD TV is like an over-exposed photograph taken with the flash on... and a plasma TV is like a photograph with no flash, but a big expensive lens to collect all the natural light and expose the picture in it's natural appearance... I avoid using flash photography as much as possible.

For 10 years I have hated plasma (probably based on original plasma panels)... and in the last week I have just left LCD. The Panasonic is rated at 100,000 hours... which is 11.4 years on 24hrs a day.
Anyways... heavy sucker too... makes it tougher to mount these things.

One problem I had with the panel (more stand than panel) was that to mount it, the back of the panel requires stand-offs to mount the bars because the bottom of the TV flares out further... and there-fore longer bolts are required. The Bell-o kit didn't have the appropriate bolts... BUT... Canadian tire had the perfect metric bolts to hold this thing in 1.25 x 60mm is the exact size needed.

http://hdguru.com/?p=100

Somehow... I do not see an LCD in my future anymore... what a change huh?

Jeff

[Midnightsailor]

Nice choice.