Recommend me a 50" plasma please

[wicky]

Get another cat instead!

LOL I fell in love with a little persian kitty the other day, I couldn't possibly bring another home though, my 3 would go mental lol

[merf]

i have a 50" Pioneer and never regretted for a second, its stunning.

[EvilBoris]

I've seen the New Pioneers running some HD-DVDs and Blu rays, they looked inredible

[Soi]

I have a new 50" Pioneer, not the LX (1080p), but the other model (508XD). It was much cheaper than the LX (though I wouldn't call it cheap) and is fantastic to my eyes.

Whether it is worth paying £2k-£3.5 for a 50" Pioneer or around £1k for a 50" Samsung plasma is up to you. A mate has a 50" Samsung, and there is much to recommend about it -it has the odd fault for sure, but 95% of consumers would be chuffed with it.

[capcom_suicide]

[quote=Soi;1224135]I have a new 50" Pioneer, not the LX (1080p), but the other model (508XD). It was much cheaper than the LX (though I wouldn't call it cheap) and is fantastic to my eyes.

Whether it is worth paying ?2k-?3.5 for a 50" Pioneer or around ?1k for a 50" Samsung plasma is up to you. A mate has a 50" Samsung, and there is much to recommend about it -it has the odd fault for sure, but 95% of consumers would be chuffed with it.[/quote]

Totally agree.

I knew that I would be one of the 5% of videophiles who would complain, so I went for a Pio. But I'm not such an audiophile, and can accept a crap 5.1 system.

If you are looking to buy because you really can tell the difference, (Go to a decent shop, take your PS3 and 360 and hook them up to screens, that's what I did) then I think the Pio will be great buy.

If you aren't mega anal about picture quality to the extreme, then maybe a cheaper one is OK.

Even my old XDE supports blue ray at 24fps. Sure it's not 1080p but the scaler is awesome and the picture is gorgeous and smooth watch High Def films.

Add to the fact it looks superb at SD levels, and I am a happy (but broke) customer!

[copperband]

I have the Pioneer 50" (505xd) it was the best TV 2 1/2 yrs ago when I paid ?4200 for it and I still maintain its the best TV. I bought mine from Costco and as unbelievable as it may sound I retuned it after 18months for a full refund and walked out with the 508xd plus ?1800 in my pocket. I recently returned that to them for a refund on the ?2200 and bought the same TV again for ?1550, thus walking out with the same TV and ?650

I have yt to see any TV that even comes close to the Pioneer, the old sayin of you get what you pay for is very true. There is a reason why the pioneert is at a slight price premium vs the other big brands and I believe it's because they use more expensive better components. My Sky HD looks fantastic and for games through the HDMI the picture is stunning.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Argos got 1,200 poundish Samsung 50 inch Plasma. So it might be ok for you but I don't think it have 1080P

[ShadowDancer]

I have a 50" Samsung plasma, its great, but i know they're better sets, it cost me 2k when i bought it, i'm sure they're are about half that now.

Oh and..we have a kitten that comes in our garden, i've called her Veronica..can send first class recorded if you want her. (i'll put a air hole in parcel for her)

[gIzzE]

Fujitsu 58 series is still the reference screen imho, my Pioneer 8th gen went back, crushed blacks, crushed whites and the typical Pioneer noise (twittering pixels).
If you have separate sound and an external tuner (sky/cable/freeview) then the Fuji is the one to go for.
Slightly sharper image overall and a far more analogue look to it.
Only 1366x768 but at 50" unless you are 6ft or nearer you would never know, the processing is in a different league to the Pioneer.

[copperband]

Fujitsu 58 series is still the reference screen imho, my Pioneer 8th gen went back, crushed blacks, crushed whites and the typical Pioneer noise (twittering pixels).
If you have separate sound and an external tuner (sky/cable/freeview) then the Fuji is the one to go for.
Slightly sharper image overall and a far more analogue look to it.
Only 1366x768 but at 50" unless you are 6ft or nearer you would never know, the processing is in a different league to the Pioneer.

I completely disagree with you on this, I tested both FS and Pioneer side by side when I bought mine and I don't think there was any discernible difference. I went with the Pioneer because it had better connectivity and I had a Pioneer DVD, Surrounf Amp and have always had their kit in my ICE.

The FS are great Panels but certainly not in a "different league"

[charlesr]

http://www.av-sales.co.uk/Plasma-TVs-16/All-Plasmas-392-16/PANASONIC-TH50PF9-392-16.htm

That's a rather nifty 1080p screen (as long as you don't need speakers or a tuner). Not sure if it does the 24fps malarky though. Only 3 inputs (plus vga is 4th) but you can choose what the inputs are.

I demoed one while I was getting the 42" version and it was very impressive, although that was a while ago now and so some of the newer pioneers and fujistus have probably surpassed it in ultimate picture quality (I'm guessing).

[gIzzE]

I completely disagree with you on this, I tested both FS and Pioneer side by side when I bought mine and I don't think there was any discernible difference. I went with the Pioneer because it had better connectivity and I had a Pioneer DVD, Surrounf Amp and have always had their kit in my ICE.

The FS are great Panels but certainly not in a "different league"

I have spent a great deal of time with both screens, and after basic tweaking the Pioneer is the better looking of the two, has far more snap to it, but calibrate them properly and the Fuji starts to shine.
I know alot of installers and calibrators who can have any screen they want, and they all use Fujitsu panels or Panasonic commercial units with off board processing.
Don't get me wrong the new 8th gen Pioneer is a great screen, but it isn't the second coming like a lot of new owners would lead you to believe.

[andrewfee]

Fujitsu 58 series is still the reference screen imho, my Pioneer 8th gen went back, crushed blacks, crushed whites and the typical Pioneer noise (twittering pixels).
If you have separate sound and an external tuner (sky/cable/freeview) then the Fuji is the one to go for.
Slightly sharper image overall and a far more analogue look to it.
Only 1366x768 but at 50" unless you are 6ft or nearer you would never know, the processing is in a different league to the Pioneer.

When you say crushed blacks and whites, did you change the levels it was using? I found that the 5080XD would often auto-detect the wrong signal and use 16-235 when the source was 0-255, crushing the details. Manually setting it to the correct mode sorted this.

I also disagree about resolution - even 12ft back (as far as I could get in this room) the low resolution of the 5080XD (1366x768) really bothered me, and was especially noticeable as I had a 52" 1080p Samsung in a week or two before. (the Samsung obviously wasn't even in the same league, but when it came to resolution it was very obvious)

I agree with you on the PWM noise though - that was quite distracting on the Pioneer, though I find the dithering in dark areas and posterisation on Panasonic panels far more annoying.

[gIzzE]

Yeah of course I set the levels correctly. These screens need a proper isf calibration, not sure if the software is out now?? But they do need doing and it is annoying that only an installer can do it, as I have seen a few of the installers work and it is not that impressive.

I am 12ft back as well, and agree that everything being equal a higher resolution is great, but it isn't on the top of my list like it is for alot of people.
And you need to get to 6ft for 768 to start annoying you. Well unless it is a crap screen and then it can be.

Dithering and posterisation on the Panasonic Vieras is quite bad I agree, depends what you find more annoying as you say, but the commercial screens it is not a problem and even less so on the 50" Fuji, the 42" seems to suffer more for some reason.

[wicky]

thanks for the input so far, still got a little decorating to do until i am ready to buy so no decisions yet