Plazzzzzzzmaahhhh.....

[havanisda]

Any1 have or know anything about plasma TVs? I might be gettin 1 but I keep reading different things about break-in procedures. You gotta turn the brightness and contrast all the way down and don't watch any DVDs 4 the 1st 100-500 hrs?

[Dookie]

Nonsense. Turn them on and start watching.

[havanisda]

Do u have 1 from new and did that or is that just your opinion?

[havanisda]

Just read the last 2 reviews on this page: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1206141605017

[Dookie]

Bought my Plasma over 2.5 yrs ago, plugged it in, and started watching TV and DVDs. Let me ask you a question.... What is the difference between watching TV vs. DVD?

I confirmed my anwser with my buddy who is an IT guy and is very knowledgable in electronics. He told me the burn in periord was just a myth.

[havanisda]

The difference is w/DVDs if there's black bars on the screen they can cause IR or burn-in. I just have a hard time believing it's a myth when people claim it happens. I read lots of reviews where people say a whole line of pixels burned out on their new screen. They even have in their warrantys that a certain amount of pixels must be burned out b4 they will fix it.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6844370-1.html

[Dookie]

To be on the same side then, just run your Plasma for 12 - 24 hrs with regular tv/cable/sat. I've just never heard anyone having this problem before.

[2.5sbd]

Go with a LCD
And 1080 DLP ... no lower

[havanisda]

Looks like we started a TV thread. OK post up your brand, model, size, technology (plasma, LCD, DLP, CRT) & how long u owned it & any issues/complaints u have.

[Dookie]

Here's my TV set up.

42" Panasonic Viera 720i, at the time I bought it the 1080i was too expensive.



I've had for 2.5 yrs and haven't had any problems with. Colors are bright and clear.

[havanisda]

I currently have a 32" Sony CRT thats probably 10+ yrs old. I'm lookin @ gettin a 42" Samsung plasma 720p. http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/d...PN42A450P1DXZA
From the reviews I read 720p is good enuf 4 this size screen. 1080p is what u should get tho if u want a 50" or larger. I decided on Samsung since every review I've seen across mutiple sites I found consumers and experts alike give it on average 4.5/5 stars

[Dookie]

I like Samsung, my computer monitor is Samsung, the DVD/VCR is Samsung, even our Refigerator is Samsung. Never had a problem with any of them. Plus their prices have dropped alot in the past few years making them more affordable.

[havanisda]

Bumpin this cuz I'm finally gettin my plasma tomorrow. Samsung 42" $679 shipped.

[john]

We have a walmart vizio 37" lcd. Love it.

[jessickascarling]

sony bravia 42" 1080p lcd



and yes, dan loves resident evil he even has an umbrella logo on his sti. <3

[kagenmateer]

So I guess I should chime in here since I'm one of the few remaining career television salespeople...

To the OP- a break-in period is nonsense.

On burn-in- Yes, it's still possilbe, but the new panels are so efficient that it's extremely rare. They, in fact, are so efficient and run cool enough that most new panels are energy-star 3.0. You have to leave a static image on the screen for many hours before burn-in will start, and even if it happens, there are several technologies that allow it to work itself out. I'd say maybe 2% of new panels on the market will suffer from any kind of permanent burn-in.

One thing that can lead to burn in is the letterbox format (black bars) seen on most DVDs. Those bars are there because most Hollywood films are designed for the movie theatre where the screen is a "super-widescreen" format. This is where the aspect ratio is even wider than the 16:9 on our new TVs. 16:9 is the correct size for broadcast HD television shows, so when watching HDTV, the picture will fit the screen perfect. When watching movies, the bars on the top and bottom of the screen make your picture even wider than it is tall to simulate the aspect of the screen at the movie theatre. This is one reason why purchasing a bigger screen size is nice.

Dead pixels are different from a burnt in image. Dead pixels are when individual pixels have malfunctioned, whereas burn in is across the whole screen. When a whole row of pixels appear to have burnt out, that actually means the electronics that send the signal to that row of pixels have malfunctioned and the pixels are actually okay.


And if anyone is curious, I have plasmas in my living room and bedroom because they are the most accurate picture reproduction. I just have to minimize reflection and brightness in the room by closing the blinds during the day. If you have a crap-ton of windows, stick with LCD because the new ones still have a pretty respectable picture and can handle a bright room very well. For this reason I have an LCD in the work-out room. Then, I have a projector in the theatre because I can completely black-out that room. Don't do projection in any normal room unless you're only gonna watch at night (IMO).

On the resolution thing, a 720P television is also capable of processing 1080I and generally has 1024X768 resolution which works out to around 1 million pixels. A 1080P television is generally 1920X1080 which works out to around 2 million pixels (double the resolution of a 720P). This is only a benefit when watching blu-ray discs, and even then, some have a hard time seeing the difference. My input is that it is mostly marketing, but there certainly is a benefit on 1080P content. My bedroom and living plasmas are both 720P because all I watch in those rooms are HDTV broadcasts that will be no more than 720P native resolution for a long time. A GOOD 720P television will actually look better on 720P feeds because it doesn't have to upconvert or create extra pixels of picture like a 1080P has to in order to display its 2 million pixels (1080P). In my theatre, however, the projector is 1080P because I watch blu-ray in there. Note- My last projector was 720P/1080I and it looked almost as good on 1080P blu-ray content because it was a really nice 720P with a good video-processor and great contrast/color.

Note- Some cable and satellite boxes say they output 1080P, but they are only upconverting. On my 720P sets, I leave the boxes on 720P resolution.

Where this conversation gets a bit tricky is that in today's market, 1080P is the hype, so if a manufacturer makes a 720P at this point in time, not only is it lower resolution (not a big deal), but it is also their most basic model...so the video processor may not be as good, the contrast (color quality) may not be as good, and it may be missing some key functionality. This is why when you see 720P's sitting next to 1080P's, sometimes the 720 looks better, and sometimes the 1080 looks better. These days, the 1080P generally looks better because it is higher up on the manufacturer's line.

Jessica- Your TV is probably a 40" btw. ...and Sony is my favorite LCD manufacturer, so good choice!

Havanisda- What model is that Samsung? If it's a 430, switch to a 450 if it's not too late. The 430 has no side-jacks nor an anti-glare coating on the glass, whereas the 450 is generally not much more money and has both. My store sells the 450 for $679+tax.

DLPs are actually really awesome in my opinion, but buy a warranty. Great picture and size for the money if you don't need to hang it (they are around 11-18" deep), but they are floating around a 30% repair rate in a 5 year period if you include the bulb that must be replaced every 6-8K hours. I sold my 57" Mitsubishi Diamond DLP to my parents and it's now 3 years old and hasn't had a single problem, looks fantastic, and doesn't get the reflection my plasmas do. And the new DLPs have only slight dimming when viewing off-axis. I would definitely consider buying one again.

[havanisda]

Samsung PN42B450.
What's your thoughts on the New Samsung LED technology?

[kagenmateer]

^^^ Perfect! That's the same one I just sold my brother, and that says a lot for it. The plasma you chose performs far better than an LED LCD when in a controlled lighting environment (minimized glare and brightness), and is obviously FAR less expensive. The thin Samsung LEDs look cool on the wall, but performance is not great. A couple of the thicker LED models have great color for an LCD, but still fall short of the color on a plasma. LCD, and especially LED backlit LCD, is more efficient than plasma, but the difference at this point in time is about $20/yr in savings, so I say bah.

[havanisda]

^ SWEET! I guess I did enuf research 2 make the right choice. (Pats self on back.)

[kagenmateer]

Indeed...well played.