LCD/Plasma/CRT/DLP - questions

[Lyris]

Will the screen burn affect new generation Panasonic V10 Plasma series ?

Do I need to turn down brightness or whatever for first 30 hours or what.

As Anephric said... just use sensible picture settings (in other words, the THX Mode) and you'll be absolutely fine.

I review Panasonic PDPs quite a lot; often these TVs are brand new ones that are fresh out of the factory. I love to play SNES games (permanent score counters) on them with 4:3 sidebars. I've had retention once which lasted for about 10 minutes, but have never burned one.

Incidentally, I've *never* heard of a Plasma TV getting burn in if it's been used sensibly. In the comedy "Dynamic/Vivid" out of the box modes that have sky-high contrast, yeah, but never one that's been set up correctly.

['Press Start']

Advice needed

Hey all,

I am going to buy a 'stop gap TV'. A TV that I will have no problem replacing in 2 years as we will be in a bigger house, bigger living room etc etc. I can only go up to 37" (being sensible) in my current living room and because of this I know there is little point in a 1080p panel.

I have narrowed my choice down to these 2 panels:-
Panasonic Viera X10 Series 37" TX-P37X10 - Plasma ?500ish


Panasonic Viera X15 Series 32" TX-L32X15 - LCD ?419



Comparasion table

I know about having to break the plasma in so any other advice you can give would be cool. Oh I will be using it for Gaming, Freeview and upscaled DVD. Maybe blu rays when PS3 slim is out....

[Lyris]

Get the Plasma - and don't worry about the breaking in stuff too much. Just use it with sensible picture settings (Cinema mode) and you'll be OK.

['Press Start']

Thanks man, though I won't be able to blame my FPS deaths on LCD lag anymore....HMMmmm need new excuse!

Oh another question. What is the best way to hook up the 360 to the plasma? VGA or HDMI? does it matter?

I currently have VGA on the go with my LCD.

[Geoff D]

I have narrowed my choice down to these 2 panels:-
Panasonic Viera X10 Series 37" TX-P37X10 - Plasma ?500ish

I have the 42" version of this set & think it's excellent - very natural colour, good black levels & so on - I'm very pleased with it. I use the 'Cinema' mode & 'Warm' colour setting & have knocked all the brightness/contrast etc settings down to 50% or below.

[Lyris]

Oh another question. What is the best way to hook up the 360 to the plasma? VGA or HDMI? does it matter?

I've never used VGA on a 360, so can't help there I'm afraid.

[Papercut]

Hdmi.

['Press Start']

Very last question......

Does anyone have experience with Richer Sounds 5 year warranty? I am wondering if it is worth £50 as they say it is an 'at home service'.

I am not usually suckered into extended warranties but 5 year at home service for £50 seems very good. I know you get a 5 year panasonic warranty in certain dealers but they are charging £600-£699 for it! £550 with richer sounds or £498 online?

HMmmm, if purchased from richer sounds I guess I do have faces to speak to if something should go wrong.....

AHhhhhh I have let the 'what if it goes faulty after 1 year' bug in my mind!

Just seen it for £509 with a 3 year warranty. Anyone used Digitaldirect.co.uk before?

Thanks for all your help and answers!

[Lyris]

Supposedly at Richer Sounds, if you don't need to use the warranty, they give you the payment back at the end. Sounds like a bargain.

Costco is another great place to buy TVs if you're a member - everything comes with a 5 year warranty and 90 day returns.

[Daniel]

Few questions before paying out money

Just got a new house and am looking to pick up some TVs.

2x 32" tv's for general viewing
1x 42" tv for general + gaming on ps3

The characteristics are the rooms are likely to be dimly lit, the viewing angle needed is pretty wide, and we don't bother with digital HD cable as we watch everything on torrents anyway.

First should i go for LCD or plasma? Have read that LCD does not do that well in low level lighting, with fast moving images or with angle viewing. Seems plasma is the way to go and that the burn-in problem is a thing of the past.

Second, should we bother with 1080 or is 720 ok since we don't get HD tv and just download 700mb movies? Not bothered about blueray either. Will 720 be ok for ps3 games on a 42" screen?

Phew...i remember when tv's were just about if it had a scart socket or not.

[Lyris]

The characteristics are the rooms are likely to be dimly lit, the viewing angle needed is pretty wide, and we don't bother with digital HD cable as we watch everything on torrents anyway.

You've just described a Plasma TV. Dimly lit? LCD is at a disadvantage because the screen is illuminated by a backlight, so you can never get true black (unless it's LED LCD). Viewing angle? Plasma has the advantage.

Everything you say is true, including the disadvantage for any moving images. The best LCDs (with 100hz, or where you are, 120hz systems) can manage about 600 lines of motion resolution with processing artefacts. The best PDPs can manage 900+ with no artefacts.

720p will be OK if you're not going to bother with BD... but are you sure you won't reconsider that once you see the screen running?

Only problem is, for 32", you'll need to go with LCD.

[anephric]

You make little baby Jesus cry with your talk of downloads.

[Nijo]

Oh man, my local hifi shop has a Kuro 500A for £2500.

So far outside my budget, and yet so tempting....

['Press Start']

Hey all,

I am going to buy a 'stop gap TV'. A TV that I will have no problem replacing in 2 years as we will be in a bigger house, bigger living room etc etc. I can only go up to 37" (being sensible) in my current living room and because of this I know there is little point in a 1080p panel.

I have narrowed my choice down to these 2 panels:-
Panasonic Viera X10 Series 37" TX-P37X10 - Plasma ?500ish


Panasonic Viera X15 Series 32" TX-L32X15 - LCD ?419



Comparasion table

I know about having to break the plasma in so any other advice you can give would be cool. Oh I will be using it for Gaming, Freeview and upscaled DVD. Maybe blu rays when PS3 slim is out....

Went for the Panasonic Viera X10 Series 37" TX-P37X10. Got John Lewis Milton Keynes to price match Richer sound @ ?494 with a 5 year JL warranty. Bargin Great TV!!

[kyo_244]

Went for the Panasonic Viera X10 Series 37" TX-P37X10. Got John Lewis Milton Keynes to price match Richer sound @ £494 with a 5 year JL warranty. Bargin Great TV!!

I'm also thinking of getting that set but was slightly put off by the 8/10 review here: http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...n-Plasma-TV/p3

They say that the tv's white levels aren't as good as they should be.. No biggy but I might not be able to use the set in the morning since I live in sunny Cyprus now... Although the guy did say that he was being super critical.

The other drawback was standard definition colour inconsistencies.. Again not sure if I would notice this or not.

What I DID like though was that it has a native resolution of 720p which I believe most ps3/360 games run in natively anyway.. So 1:1 pixel representation right?.. Someone correct me if I'm wrong there..

I'm hoping to play alot od PS2 titles (Gof of War FTW) through component and wii in the future. Should the X10 be albe to handle that nicely? Couldn't find any mention of the set's scaling SD scaling performance..

Your thoughts

Edit: something I forgot to ask, being 37" will it make a big (if any difference) not being 1080p?