Hi all, Firstly I just wanted to say what a great bunch you are and thanks to all of you that have posted your plasma pics, Anyway, I am thinking about replacing my 42" rear projection set with a plasma and I want some advice from people not on commission. I want to use the TV for everyday use amd in my house it is normally on all day and evening, will this casue a problem? Is the PQ normally OK from SKY? Does the angle of viewing make a great difference? I will have to join the above fire place group, which means one sofa is directly in front but the other is a way of to the side, does that effect the viewing? I remember all the older stories about plasma's not lasting long if used for everyday TV, is this true or just gossip? Also, I cant warrant spending silly money on a TV, and I notice that richersounds have a relisys in for £2K, has anyone had any experience with these or I am better saving my 2K and getting a projector to compliment my 42"rear projector setup????? Thanks in advance Dave
Hi Dapex, I'll try to assist with your questions, in order: Having been off work for last 5 months, my Hitachi 42PD3000 is on for approx. 16 hours a day, with no problems. Picture quality on Sky is very good on main channels, reasonable on some of the lesser channels. Viewing angle on Hitachi is 160 degrees, would imagine most plasmas have similar range, so should be OK for your needs... I have sofas positioned similar to yours. Plasma is on a corner unit, facing between sofas and viewing is excellent. (Hitachi comes with a rotating stand, but have never needed to adjust it). Got mine from John Lewis for £3,000, with a free 5 year warranty, so I'll be OK for that long anyway. I think it can now be purchased a bit cheaper elsewhere, but the free 5 year warranty is a big reassurance for the outlay. If you can afford the extra, go for one of the main manufacturers, rather than the Relisys. I can't fault the Hitachi, but everyone has their own opinions, though I think it is generally accepted that the Relisys is cheaper because it is slightly inferior to others. Hope this helps.
Right, in response to one of your comments above, I do earn my living from selling and installing plasma, but not necessarily from you, so maybe my 2p worth is worth something. I support Jambo's statements entirely, relisys re-badge Korean plasma panels, they are below my acceptability threshold. Save for a few more weeks to afford at least a hitachi, though there are some great deals on Panasonic now, £2.5k ish. PQ with either of these panels will be worthwhile from sky, I could not promise the same with the relisys or any other Korean panel. Reliability is also an issue, and returns with serious flaws from new are often mentioned here. I refuse to sell them, too much hassle as a retailer. Plasma life is not a big issue, most quote life to 1/2 brightness as 35000 hours. At the 2k price level, go for an LCD projector any day, that's a Sanyo Z2 and an elecric screen!
Cheers for the input, I have been into Richer sounds today and have seen the relisys working next to the 2.5K Hitachi 5000 model and there was a lot of difference. There were both playing finding nemo and in the darker scene the relisys was a totally black screen while the Hitachi still had a pciture. My biggest problem is that I was actually dissapointed in the picture, i noticed alot of shadowing around nemo etc while he was swimming, the guy from Richer Sounds said it was down the fact that the screens were out of the box with no real set-up and that at home I would get a better picture, He didn't take kindly to my comment that before spending 2.5K i would want to see the bloody thing set-up properl;y and that if they cant do then why should I take their bloody word for it.... Maybe I was expecting too much? I just dont know, I am going to look around JohnLewis when i get time to see if theirs looks any better. What model Panny can I get for 2.5K and form where???? Cheers Dave
Cheers for the lnks, I'm really glad i didn't buy the Hitachi in Richer Sounds for £2500 now. One question though, is the screen res (851*480) on the panny good enough? I dont know why but i was expecting higher resolution.... Cheers
The screen res is fine for video sources, if you want to connect a PC you will find that at native res (for sharpest picture) you can't see all of the window for many programs, things like CD rippers etc are more than 480 dots high. Other than that, there is a loss of detail, but you might not notice. BTW JL will be worse than Richers. You've got a long drive to find some screens well set up. It might be a good idea to pick up some more info here, then insist on some heavy tinkering yourself, take your own cables if necessary.
I would suggest a visit to Nexnix, you can then demo whatever models they have side by side. This is exactly what I done, they will even point out the differnces. All setup properly and you can then make your own mind up. My Plasma is on quite a bit, sky is fed through VGA and gives an excellent picture as far as I'm concerned. Have a good read through the threads and make your own mind up, I spent a lot of time just scouring the threads, you can learn a lot. Good luck, but don't rush into buying any old plasma.
Supra, your Geography chip needs flashing. He lives oop north, Horsham is hardly the place. I'd offer, sale or not, but I'm little better placed, only 30 miles nearer.
w, you are right my geography is way of the mark, I had no idea where Alfreton was, i now know it is near 'the restuarant at the end of the universe', definately too far for Horsham On a more serious note, i only mentioned nexnix through personal experience, i will try and brush up on my geography from now on