Argos Acoustic Solutions AS42PES 42in Plasma TV £699

ched

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I have been reading these forums and have found them very helpful. My old Sanyo 28" TV has been dieing over the last few weeks so I started to investigate a replacement. I was going for a Hyundai A321 LCD 32" but I realised that when I get High Def I want it in the cinema room. So bottom line was I wanted a Big panel for £699 or less. So in the end gambled on the Argos £699 42" Acoustic Solutions Plasma. Anyway here are my first impressions:

It has the following connections: HDMI, DVI, HD15(Computer monitor), component, svideo, 2 scarts, 1 pair phono audio in, a 3.5mm audio in socket for DVI, and an aerial in socket.
The speakers are removable.

The picture is very good on DVD (RGB input from old LG player), Sky+ picture is good not great but I think thats just digital arty problems from Sky? Main problem is sometimes skin colour is a bit blocky.
The sound isnt too bad considering its from small speakers, its loud enough.
The remote is a very cheapy thing. The sky+ remote code is 065 (Beko). The on Light is too bright and is blue, the standby light is megga bright red.
One annoying problem is that when you turn it on it doesnt remember which input you last used, so you cant just use the Sky+ remote as you cant select inputs.
Overall I am very pleased, yes I could have spent more and got a better picture but I think that I would have had to spend 50% more to get a bit better picture. So for me I will save the money and save up for a HD projector and hopefully Sky HD will have more HD channels and not be £10 a month extra.
Anyone else have any comments on the Argos Plasma???

Cheers
 
Hi i just purchased the same one for 499, its coming tuesday! just hope its got a decent picture quality???
 
£499 seems a great price for a plasma and I think its a fairly respectable model using a samsung panel. Personally I think the TH42PX80 is worth the extra though. For the extra £200 you get a better picture, better connectiviity and just an all round nicer set. Also from May 1st Panasonic are doing a free 5 year guarantee from local dealers. Thats significant because the Acoustic Solutions (promax) plasma may fail after 1 year and need replacing at great cost. I'm not sure what an Argos extended 5 year guarantee would cost but I bet it brings up this plasma to pricing near the panasonic. My TH42PX80 was £704 from john lewis with a 5 year guarantee. The chinese made plasma's are the models most likely to fail. It may possibly be assembled in turkey but its basically from a kit from china.
 
thats the only thing im worried about! if it fails after year!!!
 
thats the only thing im worried about! if it fails after year!!!

To be honest you could probably take Argos to court if it failed within 3 years because something that costs £500 should last longer than one year. Its obviously time and hassle though but I'm almost certain you would get a positive result.
 
u make a good point, hopefully that wont be the case! its coming tuesday so i will post back and let ya know wat its like :smashin:
 
Empire Direct sell Promax plasmas. Acoustic Solutions is just a weak rebranding exercise by Argos even the picture they show has Promax on it!

Directtv used to sell them but seems to have stopped either due to lack of demand (surprising as they are cheap) or maybe problems with them. If your not happy find fault with it and get them to take it back.
 
not long now lol, dum dum dum! i have faith in it. ched sounds happy with it in his first post so hopefully all will be ok. it was meant to be 700 quid so it must be decent? any ideads
 
Ok so overall its a :thumbsup:. im happy with it. its not promax as argos had displayed on there website it has acoustic solution on the front!! sound is good! plenty load enough for in home use. there is slight noise as ur changing input e.g as if uv put the volume up really load, if that makes sense?

The picture on my standard virgin (NTL) tv signal is areet, but u can notice the blockyness as u start getting close. i sit 6ft away and its fine. connecting my pc via scart and its good all text are visable to read. ps3 via HD lead is amazing with 720p. on the start up of the ps3 the tv's in 1080p is this normal with all HD tv's (prob. upscaled)? havnt had a chance to try blue ray yet will report back when i get a chance to play one!! if anyone is considering buyin and have any questions feel free to ask :)
 
its still going strong! only downfall is a lot of image retention so im keeping the contrast low for the first 100 hours :thumbsup:
 
to keep everyone up to date this tv is edited by moderator.... i have had it replaced with the same model due to bad ghosting and loud buzzing! the second tv came and still a loud buzzing sound with solid green lines on bottom and top of screen when running images via hdmi. so im sending it back again to get a samsung! stay away :nono:
 

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