bought a viera but was it a huge mistake??

samjet

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bought a 37" viera just before christmas and until today was well pleased

HOWEVER

was in curry's this am and saw a samsung 50" DLP HDTV - my god the picture quality blows the viera off the face of the earth :mad:

pricewise it was £2999 - seeing that the viera cost me £2424 inc stands etc - and before contemplating ISF calibration at £250 - we are talking very similar prices for a 50" as opposed to a 37"

put it this way having got home i do not even want to turn the viera on - just know i'm going to get more depressed :suicide:

now i'm just hoping that one of the experts comes on here and tells me that what i saw was a special demo disc and that in reality they are rubbish !!

otherwise there's going to be a decorating accident or a viera for sale on the forum tonight
 
if you were 'well pleased before', then you still should be...put it in perspective....at the end of day it's only a posh telly! you can spend your life wishing for greener grass on the other side.........sorry came over all philisophical :)
 
wise words if i ever heard them!! be thankful, some people have nothing!! think about that.
 
Look, every day, new technology comes on the market. you can have the latest thing one minuet and it be out of date the next. Its just one of those things. If you did not have a problem with your viera before, why now?

Its like buying a ford focus and then saying I have just seen the lastes model bmw and Its so much better I am affaid to drive my focus now :D
 
Could not agree more with the previous 2 comments.

My dad's favourite saying was "the grass isn't always greener!" and its taken me a few years to realise this.

If you buy any electrical equipment these days something better will always be along in a month or so. There is no point worrying about what you don't have or you'll never enjoy what you've managed to aquire, probably through hard work over a period of time.

:thumbsup:
 
the point i was trying to make was that i had been lead to believe that plasma was the be all in terms of picture quality

i'm not trying to play catch up either since i gather this tv is somewhat older than the viera

my point was quite simply that the picture quality was so much better from what i saw

regarding the somewhat ascerbic comment about being grateful for what i have - i am but on the other hand i should'nt feel guilty about it either

can we just try and keep things on the technical aspects/comparison please

ps on reflection any error in choice was my fault - i did not look at the alternatives to plasma but fell for the popular hype

hindsight is great but unfortunately i did not discover this site until after my purchase and having learnt quite a bit more i would probably have been better getting a panel and seperate board - but at the time i was struggling to cope with the technology and a ready to go set up seemed the best option
 
The samsung is also easier to set up, get your viera properly set up, there'll not be much difference. The Samsung will also need more maintenence, due to the projection system.

If all your ancillary kit is top notch, the gap won't be too big in performance and samsung aren't the most proficient in reliability.

Imagine my horror when on the morning of my 435 xde delivery, a what hifi mag dropped through the door stating DLP 50" telly's half the price of plasma and better picture! It wasn't strictly correct, the best tv (samsung incidentally) is 3500, 500 more than my tv, and the styling of mine is superior, can be wall hung and theres room for a cente speaker instead of the column on the Samsung.

Enjoy what you've got! Its still a damn fine stylish telly - ask your woman - she'll agree!
 
Samjet
Are you sure the Samsung wasn't being fed via a hi-def feed? If the pictures were of Formula 1 or formation jets, chances are it was.
In that case most plasmas/LCDs with DVI/HDMI input should be able to achieve a similar PQ.
 
View your Plasma from an angle, now do the same to the RP. :)

I have seen the Samsung but admit I wasn't that impressed, maybe the one I saw had been setup poorly, I don't know.
 
not sure of the feed and not surprisingly none of the available staff knew :laugh: tried to have a look round the back and could see component connections and a dvd was also present

there was some off piste skiing, gondola's in venice, american backwoods/streams etc - seemed to be running on a loop

whatever the feed is was not going to the plasma's as they were on the usual sky - bad picture quality as usual except the one connected to an xbox

admitably the samsung is deeper in body but i would say that overall its only about 10" deep - hardly a major factor

given that my understanding is that its easier to get superior picture quality on a smaller screen how does this 50" monster manage to get its picture quality - also as a minor aside the audio output was far from a slouch and would be perfectly acceptable without a full cinema set up unless you were so inclined
 
What you are experiencing my friend are symptoms of gadgetitis and upgradeitis.

The forum regulars suffer from it immensely :)
 
samjet said:
there was some off piste skiing, gondola's in venice, american backwoods/streams etc - seemed to be running on a loop
Sounds like a Demo loop possibly Hi-Def possibly very very high quality DVD being played via DVi (if only compoonent connection i would be surprised as Samsung merchandise these in store get the veira ISF'd and it will blow anything in any shop out of the water...... (get that RPTV home and you would think the same mate)
Also if the 37" is nice size in rooom a 50" RPTV would probably be too close and you would see loads of artefacts etc..
 
Yep if you have a 37" a 50" is a massive jump.

Add to that common RPJ faults like off axis viewing, direct sunlight etc. It is in actual fact a DLP PJ in a massive box with an in-built screen. Bulb life at a stretch would be 5000hrs I'd say. Wouldn't want to be an owner of one of those nearing the end of it's life. :eek:
 
thanks hornydragon

my faith has been restored - i assume from your comments that samsung set these tv's up themselves? if so they certainly achieved their objective - shame the plasma companies cannot do the same

put simply if i'd been in the market to buy a new tv today i know where my money would have gone!! - so well done to samsung

did ask the staff if they could put another source through the tv but was told they were not allowed to alter it - all of which fits with the samsung set up scenario

i intend to have the viera isf calibrated but can i reasonably expect to see the quality i have seen today??
 
you will see it pushed to the very limits of its potential, it will look incredible people with HD plasma and £1000 scalers rave about what a difference ISF makes, good source material and cables also help.
Samsung sometimes set-up in the instore demo sometimes instruct the stores on what to do, I panasonic put an ISF veira in every comet feeding it from a Good DVD they would sell thousands more, BUT as i have said many many time Panasonic UK are useless and Rely on the fact that the Japaneese produce such brilliant products, put them in an unbranded market like cardboard boxes and they would all be selling bigg issues in a week!!!
However some thing that has always puy me off RPTV is its just a PJ in a box so why not buy a PJ and have a bigger image and a tiny box??????
 
The demos on the Samsung DLP are HD downloads from the Microsoft WMV HD website played back through a PC with a DVI connection to the TV. Comet have also been using this to demonstrate the Sagem screens. People are going to be disappointed when they get home and link it to their video or TV Aerial.
 
nice use of ascerbic.(acerbic sour or acid like comment) sorry mate, didn't mean to bug you.
I was in the same boat as you, already had a plasma,was dissappointed by it, found this site and solved all my probs.
I bought my plasma cos it looked good in the shop but when I got home.....Rubbish. Now heres the twist, I saw the telly i'm getting tomorrow in the shop and it looked crap!! bit of rverse psychology going on between me and the telly here. hope i don't end up wishing I had been happy with what I had and remembered that some people don't have anything!
 
ady

not problem - comment was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek :D

matt

thanks that makes sense- as you say there are going to be one or two unhappy punters when they get home and find out they cannot get the same picture quality - what would be the legal postion?? - for sure its a bit of a dodgy marketing policy

mind you if as suggested by hornydragon an isf calibrated viera was placed in say comet there would surely have to be a disclaimer along the lines 'don't expect this at home unless you pay approx £250 for calibration after your plasma has had its initial run in period'
 
Coincidentally a friend of mine came round to see my new PWD7 yesterday. He has a neighbour with a 50" DLP. He has no axe to grind for either but said that the plasma panel blew the DLP away for brightness, clarity and especially viewing angle. Plasmas are supposed to improve with age, I really can't believe the same of a device that beams light up a tube and reflects it onto a screen.
 
hornydragon said:
NOPE cause tahts what the display is capable of "not factory settings" might be nice but not needed......

i suppose this is the crux of the matter

i might have to backtrack slightly here :eek: though the samsung had a 'super feed' it did show what the tv was a capable of given the right signal which was pretty mind blowing pq given my limited knowledge on the subject

but as to your comment of the panny and what its capable of - a very moot point

a previous poster used the car anology - the viera is not the ford focus of the plasma world more like a porsche :laugh:

now i have owned a porsche and currently have a cherokee - after 200 hours driving would anyone realistically expect to have to take a vehicle of this calibre/price to a non main dealer to get it running correctly? - clarkson would love that :thumbsup:

its getting a bit like that now with home cinema - without meters etc despite spending mega bucks you've got to pay someone to get it 'sorted'

its just the irony of the whole situation that gets to me - perhaps ignorance is bliss?
 
I have the viera and am new to plasma, although not totally new to HT.
What does the calibration do and how can I arange for it to be done. I will wait another month or 2 as mine is only 2.5 weeks old
 
The Gooner said:
I have the viera and am new to plasma, although not totally new to HT.
What does the calibration do and how can I arange for it to be done. I will wait another month or 2 as mine is only 2.5 weeks old
Try a forum search on ISF Calibration or PM Gordon. Basically a professional calibration will set your panel/TV to the absolute optimum (best) picture settings using a light analyzer and the TV's hidden service menu and also the experience of the guy doing the service too.

S.
 
Steve,

I had Gordon staying here last night and the two of us spent some serious time on my dem TH42PHD7 / Lumagen DVI / Quali HDTV receiver. I have seen some good pics in my time but this is now an image to die for!
 

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