Hi All

As the right sort of community to be interested in high-end AV, home cinema, etc., I'm interested in people's views on:

42" plasma TVs:
- desirable?
- and at what price point?
- too big?
- installation too much grief?

15"/17" LCD TVs (like the new LG thing):
- at what price are these a bargain?
- at what price is a 15" LCD monitor a bargain?
- is 4:3 a problem?

Cheers

Lee.

 

Have you considered a projector?

I bought an infocus lp340 a year ago for under 2 grand and while not the perfect image you might get with plasma it gives a real cinema exprience, huge picture, and is cheaper, portable, and can be offset against tax bills as a data projection device.

It really is the way to go for home cinema and it is so much fun, eg you can beam imagery onto the trees in the garden in the summer for parties etc. Visitors love to see films etc on it.

Adrian

 

A week or so before christmas there was a large thread on Plasm vs rear projection vs projectors for TVs etc. Its a shame Search is knackered - try sifting back to the threads before xmas for info.

Deano

 

I have a 100hz 50" Pioneer 503 Plasma screen and it's the dogs bo11ocks.

Razor sharp image, that even puts my computer monitor to shame.

As it's a glorified monitor, they'll display multiple inputs.. so I've had the screen split 50:50 with the PC output on the right hand side with normal TV on the left hand side... very cool.

Arguments against them a year ago have now been eliminated.

A good screen won't need a fan.
It'll last for 8 yrs (assuming 8 hours a day)
Black it PITCH black.
Dead pixels are rare.

Installation with mine was a doddle, just plug in and go (as it's aimed at home cinema users and not PC-based presentations)

As for desireable.. very ! Mine's going to be hung on the wall like a picture. Which frees up a huge amount of space in the room.

The argument against projectors ran a few weeks ago, but to summarise, the downside with projectors are:

You need a dark room to view.
They're nowhere near as sharp as a plasma
You need somewhere to mount it.

NOTE: Plasmas can also be offset against VAT + TAX for "Presentation purposes"

If you don't NEED one, I'd say wait about 6 months to let the prices drop some more.. mine RRPd at £12,500, but good 42" screens can be got for around the £3-4K mark.

 

Just got myself a Samsung 15" TFT TV. I am very impressed. It looks great, even the remote is stylish. £600. Still a little on the expensive side. But looks ace in the bedroom.

Also got Samsung 15" TFT monitor for PC. Fantastic again.

The image is sharp but takes a little getting used to when watching TV. Different viewing experience to tube TV's.

As for Plasma. A very expensive technology. I do not think we will ever see cheap plasma TV's. They are too expensive to manufacture. It is not a case that consumer volumes will drive prices down, as with LCD technology.

I believe we will see a new hybrid technology which is somewhere between LCD and Plasma in a few years which will see us all having flat screen 32 / 36" wide screen for around 1500-2000.

errr used to work in Fujitsu R and D thats all I'm saying.....

 

Go to Harrods audiovisual department [4th floor I think].
They have all makes and models of plasma tvs. Very good for picture comparison tests.
Flat speaker technology is also coming on strong. Prestige Audio in Harrow have a 42" Fujitsu with flat panel left/right/centre speakers which is an excellent solution for wall mounting. Sound quality was good but it wasn't playing too loud.

 

To plasma or not? It's a good question; it largely depends on what you want to do. If you are after a dedicated home cinema room then a projector is the only way forward. SIM2 have just released some new models. I forget the number, but the one around 8k is stunning. It’s as close to a plasma picture as you will get, and it could be argued better than some. Plasmas are cool however, you've got to go for something like a 50"
Installation worries, pay a professional to do it for you.
If you have got any further queries mail me, I've been installing and designing home cinema and multiroom audio systems for the past six years.

 

it was myself that started the debate a few weeks back about rear projection tvs.in the end i bought the fujitsu plasma 42inch from 7 oaks sound and vision in glasgow for £4299.which was a lot more than i had originally budgeted for.they had it in stock i.e. stuck it in my mates people carrier.i researched avforum and found that lots of people were having loads of problems with rear projection although my mate has had no problems with his sony kp41.also i was going to buy the sony grand wega 50 inch l.c.d. rear projection from robert whyte in glasgow but he gave vague promises of when i could get it plus someone gave him a bad write up after his set took 5 weeks to be delivered + 2 months later his rear projection developed a fault and he was told he had a return to base warranty but as he said what good is this warranty when you live in london and ordered a hulking great rear projection you cant exactly stick it in the back of your car and take it back.anyway the plasma does look good but the shop gave me the impression that they wanted paid to set it up in your house i.e. £100 delivery+£60/hour setting it up.also i had to buy an amp ,speakers, cables to set it up and was very close to taking it back to the shop as they seemed reluctant to give me clear instuctions to set it up.its easy when you know how.however being totally new to the home cinema experience it was a nightmare. result is im happy watching dvds picture is perfect but the screen is linked to cable digital via my amp with an expensive co-axial cable but the quality of the picture is not as good as my old tv plus the amp display says analogue im sure there is a better way to set it up but its all new to me.anyway rant over but im impressed so far.