I got an LG RZ-42PX11 two weeks ago.
The set physically looked very impressive in the showroom with a nice black outline around the screen to draw your eye to it. Picture quality (Finding Nemo DVD
seems to be the standard for showing the screens at their best) looked every bit as good as the Philips, Panasonics and various other brands around it. I went for the LG based on its looks, price (it was on sale) and the success of other LG products that I have.
When I got it home and hooked up all didnt go well. The picture displayed by Sky Digital was terrible and to be honest the DVD playback was not much better. I later found out this effect was called posterization and was normal on all plasma screens.
A trip back to the purchase shop and several other suppliers and asking them to switch on tv confirmed that normal viewing quality of these screens was poor.
However a visit to a small independent shop informed me that the circuitry inside plasma screens is not designed for television broadcasts or cheap to medium DVD players (they dont you that in the high street stores) but are rather optimised for connection to a PC via VGA or DVI. They also informed me that the LG RZ-42PX11 would perform very badly with Sky and DVD when connected with Scart, as none of the three-scart sockets are RGB.
There answer was something called an Up Scaler. They explained it takes the input form Sky or a DVD player and basically doubles the number of lines the picture has and then outputs it to the 15 Pin VGA port (only port marked RGB) on the LG RZ-42PX11.
The result in store on a Samsung 42 was night and day. Up Scaler off and picture was like my LG, colours mucked all over the place. Up scaler on and picture was excellent. The device was called a Zinwell Brite-View Progressive Scan Scaler. They offered to sell me one for £299.99 but I have found them cheaper online the cheapest being £199.99 for a brand new one being offered on eBay. I have ordered one and it should arrive tomorrow. I hope it makes the same difference as it did the shops display model.
If it does or indeed makes no difference, my question to the world of Plasma/LCD sellers is that why buyers are not told of these issues and the steps that need to be taken and most importantly of all that when purchasing a Plasma/ LCD its not really designed for normal tv.