Is Toshiba, Pioneer or Panasonic the only decent Plasma's I should buy??

Cag

Established Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
235
Reaction score
9
Points
66
Location
Newcastle
Which would you choose, mainly for optimum Sky picture ( I know DVD PQ will be fine!). All you guys seem to have the plasmas described in my Subject!!

Cheers
Cag
 
Toshiba is a rebadged Panasonic.

The big match is Panny -vs- Pio and has been for years. They run neck and neck, and have fans in each camp. Pretty much identical except for:

Pio: brighter, less contrast, grey rather than black, great internal deinterlacer
Panny: less bright, higher contrast, black is black, poor internal deinterlacer

Avoid "tuner" boxes if possible.

StooMonster
 
I prefer my Fuji. What does StooMonster think of them?
 
Pioneer 434HDE. Awsome PQ with DVD via HDMI. Sky+ good to (with the higher bit-rate channels:rotfl: )
 
Originally posted by Stephen Wilde
I prefer my Fuji. What does StooMonster think of them?
I have a friend like you!

Fujitsu's 50" model is Panny glass but with Fuji electrics, particularly much better deinterlacing chipset (the excellent Faroudja I believe).

However, the 42" models are ALiS screens. I always thought these were okay, not great, until I saw one in the plasma room at The Event 2. 42" Fuji next to 42" and 50" Pannys, Pios, SD and HDs, etc all in equal conditions with equal signal with equal DVD and HD content and it looked the worst plasma I have ever seen.

Everyone who was there agreed, in my plasma session anyway. Anyone else see the plasmas at The Event 2 and care to comment?

StooMonster
 
Not all Fuji 42" are ALIS, the other lot are Panasonic glass with AVM chips. There's this thing going around about it being 7 series glass (not entirely convinced myself) but either way they're gonna be damn good (pana glass, faroudja chip, RGB scart, DVI and component connections!).

Plus the new NEC XGA 42" is quite impressive (still prefer the Panny though)
 
Im in a similar position to Cag. Im very tempted by the panny 6 but also looking at the hitachi pma500 but have heard bad things about the ALIS thingy. I will be using an xbox as well as sky and dvd fed via component feeds. i am right in thinking that the higher res of the hitachi would improve the pic quality of the x box material or would the higher contrast of the panny be better?

cheers

airdrawn
 
Well I have the 400E and it is really good, the higher res will make the xbox in higher res mode look better compared to the SD screens.

Not worry about ALiS, just use your eyes.

The Hitachi screens do not have as much contrast as Panasonic but have the same as the Pioneer.

They do have higher res than both the Pioneer and Panasonic, however it is not a progresive scan screen. Sky + is only interlaced, plus the picture is rock solid unlike reports with the Panasonic flicker.

Don't get disuaded by such things take a look for yourself.
 
thanks for that. just a couple of small things. what do you mean by the hitachi panel is not a prog screen? does this mean that my harmon dvd 25 will only be able to output interlaced?

I have seen the panny in action and was very impressed with how three dimensional it looked. only chance i can get to see an hitachi is the pd3000 at currys, which is very poorly set up. looked ok with monsters inc, but then so do all plasma! have you ever compared your 400 with a panny 6 like for like?

thanks
 
Are Toshiba's cheaper than the Panasonic & Pioneer. Are the specs just as good. As I've said before I want best picture possible for Sky+ as the DVD PQ will be ok anyway

Cheers
Cag
 
Originally posted by airdrawn
thanks for that. just a couple of small things. what do you mean by the hitachi panel is not a prog screen? does this mean that my harmon dvd 25 will only be able to output interlaced?

I have seen the panny in action and was very impressed with how three dimensional it looked. only chance i can get to see an hitachi is the pd3000 at currys, which is very poorly set up. looked ok with monsters inc, but then so do all plasma! have you ever compared your 400 with a panny 6 like for like?

thanks


No you can input into the Hitachi in Progressive scan, it will just show it in ALiS, which is a sort of interlanced but much superior to the type used in CRT. All the odd lines are lit up at the same time and when these fade the even lines are all lit up at the same time. I would not worry about the tech side of it too much, the pictures are great.

Side by side comparisons of the Pana 6 and Hitachi:-

I have not done a side by side comparison just seen them in diffrent shops. However the blacker blacks of the Panasonic would be very appealing to most I'm sure, If however you can see the flicker on the Pana 6 (some can including me) then that would be a stumbling block.
 
Though I agree with all you say about the PMA400, fine screen for the money, a serious contender, is there not an issue with pal progressive support with the PMA? I have heard it needs a software update. I speak only of hearsay on the forum, never tried to put prog. scan into one, as even Hitachi themselves recommend RGB and sync as the best connection method.
 
Originally posted by MAW
Though I agree with all you say about the PMA400, fine screen for the money, a serious contender, is there not an issue with pal progressive support with the PMA? I have heard it needs a software update. I speak only of hearsay on the forum, never tried to put prog. scan into one, as even Hitachi themselves recommend RGB and sync as the best connection method.


I must say I have not tried as all my connections are through the RGB sync on Composite. It does however say in the manual that you can. It is also Hi definition TV ready unlike the PD3000, which is one of the reasons I got the 400E (forgoing the 5 year warrenty from JL).
 
Isn't the pma 500 supposed to be brighter and blacker though...?
 
Originally posted by Deron
Isn't the pma 500 supposed to be brighter and blacker though...?

Brighter yes 1100 instead of 1000
Blacker no Both 1000:1

Mind you for £200 more and better connections I'd get that screen now, although very pleased witht he 400E.
 
Harvey, you are such an innocent, no offence meant. The manual may say one thing, but try telling the screen that. The pma400 won't be the 1st or the last, and very far from the worst, offender in that respect.
 
Originally posted by MAW
Harvey, you are such an innocent, no offence meant. The manual may say one thing, but try telling the screen that. The pma400 won't be the 1st or the last, and very far from the worst, offender in that respect.

True, very true, not the innocent part but the incorrect info in the manual. I don't know if it does then, has anyone tried it. Mind you I have been told that a progresive image is not very much better on these type of screens. I've connected mine with RGB cause it seemed the easiest way to connect 2 satelite reciever and a DVD to the screen. I could get a RGB>YUV and switch via the amp but was a much more expensive way of doing it.
 
Originally posted by MR2Harvey
Brighter yes 1100 instead of 1000
Blacker no Both 1000:1

Mind you for £200 more and better connections I'd get that screen now, although very pleased witht he 400E.

yeah, I'm keeping tabs on this as well, just awaiting more reviews, also keeping an eye out for the 30 series Fuji...
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom