Plasma TV's? Good, bad or ugly?

[tractorshopper]

Brin, in all fairness, the audio was the weakest mark for reviews when doing my research. That said, that was the same complaint of all flat panel TV's since they don't have the room for much speaker. In practical experience, however, I have not had any complaint about the standard speaker in it. I have a Yamaha surround sound in my bonus room on my older Sony 40" 1080 Bravio (Tube), so I know what I'm missing and yet the only TV I want to watch is the Panasonic, so apparently it is not that bad. It's not Bose quality, but plenty loud by itself and doesn't sound tinny or anything. I don't have room or access to put in surround sound in my living room unless I go wireless and just haven't fooled with it.

Without looking, I know it at least has two HDMI inputs and all kind of audio output options. I had to purchase two 12' HDMI cables and have the Geek Squad run them from where my receiver and blu-ray player are to the TV through the walls around the FP (attractive installation). Those cables were $100 each for the high quality ones. That was what struck me funny; they are very expensive compared to the falling prices of the electronics.

 

[brin]

tractorshopper....Ok thanks, that is the way my Panasonic 42 " is as well ..the internal surround speakers are fine. I was just curious...on those HDMI cables....if you need anymore of them go online to Amazon...it will make you sick how cheap they are there compared to what you paid....For some reason, they try to tell us we need some high quality HDMI cables....and the brick and mortar stores justify it that way...check Amazon and you will see as good or better cables for a whole lot less..

 

[dmccarty]

Thanks everyone; you have been quite generous with your experiences. I haven't decided just yet what we will get, but most of my concerns over Plasma TV's have been taken care of. I hadn't heard the part about the "bulb burning out"...what is that all about? And...the fact that the plasma cannot be stored or transported in any other configuration except "up"?

I assume the bulb comment, as Joe G said is about DLP TVs. The only brand that I know that makes a DLP is Mitsubishi. We bought a 65 inch Mitusbishi in 2010 for $800 during the holiday season. I timed the buy to get that price. Before the sales the 65 inch TV was going for $1,1000-1,200. I think now you can get them for $800 at regular prices. XMAS will likely have better prices.

Mitsubishi DLP's have been problematic. I researched before buying and it SEEMS that the model year I bought solved the problem but only time will tell. The TV does have a bulb that will only last a given number of hours and cost $50-100 depending one where you buy. I would expect our bulb to last 3-5 years at a minimum. There have been some serious failures in the Mitsubishi DLP sets with quite a few VERY mad Customers. These failures are in the motherboard and not the bulb. A guy at work bought a set a year before I did and so far, knock on wood, neither of us have had problems.

To be honest, if I get five years out of the set we will be doing good. I figure there will be something better in a few years that might make us buy a new TV. The TV the DLP replaced was a Panasonic CRT that we bought in 2005. We gave it to a family member and it blew up a few months later. That TV sat unused for a year or so before we could move it. The TV was five years old but with only four years of use before it blew up. Not real happy about that at all. The Panasonic cost more than the Mitsubishi DLP.

I still have a color TV that I bought back in the 80's that works just fine...

For Internet connectivity just buy a DVD or Blueray player with Internet access. It is much cheaper to buy the connectivity in the player than the TV at least when I was buying. I have had to upgrade our sound systems a few times because of the changing cable technologies. Hopefully these changes will stop with HDMI. HDMI sure has made the connections between receiver, players, and TVs MUCH simpler.

We watch Internet TV quite a bit now through a Sony BD player. Works ok except for the interface. We plan on upgrading a PC soon and moving our old PC to hook up to the TV. That will make Internet viewing easier.

Later,
Dan

 

[troutsqueezer]

As for HDMI cables, if you pay more than 6 or 7 dollars (Fry's), you've been taken. No such thing as a high quality HDMI cable, signal-wise. Digital signals either pass through the cable or they don't. Once they reach their destination, they go thru a checksum process and if the two bits at the end of the byte don't match the sum of the bits in the byte (hence the term checksum), it's a no go. Far different from analog. Remember checksum errors from 5" floppy drives? Same thing.

 

[KennyG]

For those concerned about glare and reflections, Samsung has a version of many of their LCD TVs with a lower reflectance screen. I bought the 52 inch 630 model rather than the 650 to minimize reflections and it does seem to be an improvement. There may be other manufacturers that also have that option.

 

[coobie]

We just bought a 47 inch LG led tv with a vizio sound bar.Very happy so far.coobie

 

[k0ua]

Well I am going to back up the HDMI cable price thing... As said there is no point paying high dollar for a HDMI cable.. the cheap ones work just fine.. My Vizio LCD's refresh rate, shows no motion blur that I can see. Everyone to their own choice guys, I am glad so many of us are enjoying our TV's:thumbsup:

James K0UA

 

[k0ua]

Well I am going to back up the HDMI cable price thing... As said there is no point paying high dollar for a HDMI cable.. the cheap ones work just fine.. My Vizio LCD's refresh rate, shows no motion blur that I can see. Everyone to their own choice guys, I am glad so many of us are enjoying our TV's:thumbsup:

James K0UA

 

[troutsqueezer]

We just bought a 47 inch LG led tv with a vizio sound bar.Very happy so far.coobie

How does the remote for the Vizio sound bar work for you? Mine works like crap, a common problem according to the Internet.

 

[Tig]

Thanks everyone; you have been quite generous with your experiences. I haven't decided just yet what we will get, but most of my concerns over Plasma TV's have been taken care of. I hadn't heard the part about the "bulb burning out"...what is that all about? And...the fact that the plasma cannot be stored or transported in any other configuration except "up"?

Did you mean "burn in", which refers to the screen being damaged by a static image. The static image gets "burned in" to the screen.
And yes this is a great thread. I am in the market for a 50" TV. I had flip flopped from LED to plasma but now it's leaning back to LED. Glare will be an issue and at certain times of the year direct sunlight will also be a concern.