Purchase advice please

G

Gobbler

Guest
Hi,

I'm finally upgrading from my Pana PWD4 which has served me extremely well.

My choices are:

Samsung PS50Q7HD (about £1850)

or

Toshiba 47 WLT 66 (about £2k)

The way I see it:

Samsung:

Slightly bigger.
It's a plasma so no blurring.
1366x768 (none of that 1024x768 nonsense)

Toshiba

1080i.

Historically, I have preferred plasma pictures to LCD pictures cos I think it's a much nicer picture with no blurring. I am currently using Sky SD.

However, when I move, I will be going up to Sky HD.

Now, how important is 1080i? Can LCDs do footie? (i don't watch footie regularly but there's the Euros coming up in 2 years time...)

Most of my viewing will be films and Sky One shows like 24.

For example, would Troy in HD look better on a 47" 1080i LCD or a 50" 720p plasma?

Thanks
 
IMO, Troy will look better on the Plasma. Sport will too, as footie can leave some nasty motion trails when viewed on LCD screens.
 
can ya budget not stretch to a plasma that supports 1080i as there is alot of plasmas out there that support this :)

that way u will be hapy on all fronts :)
 
So how much is a decent 50" 1080i plasma?

When u say STRETCH, do u mean DOUBLE, my budget? :eek:
 
Gobbler said:
So how much is a decent 50" 1080i plasma?

When u say STRETCH, do u mean DOUBLE, my budget? :eek:

the only 1080i plasma that I know of is the new cheap, tacky Pioneer 5000EX :D :D :eek: :D :D

It is only bout £6K if youcan find one


Adrian
 
I thought all HD plasma's were 1080i. It's 1080p, that not many do. Or am I missing something?
 
Pretty much all current plasmas support 1080i, its just that theyre not all 1080lines of physical res.

Why not get a 42" panasonic HD screen, your PWD4 will probably produce a better picture than the Samsung HD or not...
 
yes i was refering to 1080i, not 1080p, as yes the only plasma for that is the pioneer at 6k lol.

but as the post above says, most of the hd ready do support 1080i :)
 
Soooo....

Which would be best? The Tosh LCD or Sammy plasma?

As I said, this will be with a Sky HD feed.

Pls note, I'm looking for something larger than 43" AND with a budget of £2k!!!!!!!

Is 1080i such a big thing compared to 720p? Will BBC HD look better on one than the other?
 
Hello Gobbler

As others have said I'd first off ensure your actually 'upgrading' - up-sizing yes; but 'up-grading' is debatable!!!

As you've lived with and enjoyed the Panasonic 'look' I'd suggest you hold off until you get the chance to compare the two units on your short list with the soon to be released Panasonic TH-50PH9K - otherwise you may end up with a bigger image but one that is less pleasing to view than your current Display.

Best regards

Joe
 
Eh?!?

I always knew when I bought the Pana PWD4 that it was the best panel on the market bar the Pioneer (which was double the price..)

But it's 2-3 yrs on now, a couple of generations behind surely and you're still saying I won't be more impressed with the current models?!

It's all 720p this, 1080i that nowdays.

What's going on here? Is it all HYPE??!!? Surely not... there must be loads of people on this site who have owned a Pana PWD and upgraded to one of these new fangled HD thingies.

Show me the light! :lease:
 
Hello Gobbler

The best of today's Displays have moved on incrementally since your PWD4 was introduced - the very best combine very decent SD and HD playback for similar money to what you paid for your PWD4.

The majority of Displays will offer you more resolution and possibly even a larger screen area for similar money to what you paid for your PWD4 but not necessarily better than or even equal SD playback.

Your asking for a higher resolution display in a 42"+ format that's equal to or better than your PWD4 in terms of SD playback and all for £2K - that's a big ask even in today's ultra competitive market.

Use Panasonic as your bench mark - not for nothing are they one of the few companies actually making money out of Plasma Display.

If Panasonic cant provide you with a 50" HD Ready Display for £2K in today's market I think that's a big hint that your asking for too much at £2K; you need to be upping the budget to nearer £3K.

Best regards

Joe

PS Have your tired a 720p or 1080i signal into your PWD4 - its well worth a look :)
 
I think either TV on your display shortlist is a downgrade even when you bought your panny it was the BEST, the current BEST IMO is the Fujitsu P50/42XHA58EB £2.5k for the 42" or £3.7 for the 50" (what did you pay for your PWD4?)
 
I paid just under a £2k for it about 2.5 yrs ago.

Ya, I know I am asking for a bigger screen with a higher resolution but hell, I'm typing this on a dual core 2 ghz laptop with 2 gig of RAM and a 3d gfx card with half gig of ram on it!!

2.5 yrs ago, NASA didn't have this much computing power and we were all using 486s with 32 mb ram!!!

No wait... I might be getting some of my timescales wrong.... :confused:
 
Hello Gobbler

The PWD4 was and probably still is Panasonic's best 42" SD Display so far - the products that followed it copied its basic tech spec but with cheaper components and a higher production run to produce lower cost models.

The PWD8 regained a lot of the ground that was lost in the in-between models - though it still uses the Single Drive rather than Dual Drive technology of the PWD4 so can produce more colour banding than a PWD4 with less than pristine SD signals.

The last two/three years of Plasma Development have mostly been about lowering production costs and embracing HDMI/Digital signals - not about improving image quality; that's why you see a growing interest in Video Processing technology as people realise that's the key to getting a decent image on many Displays.

As before if you want bigger and better look to Panasonic - keep in mind a TH-50PHD5BK in 2003 would have cost you upwards of 5.5K and the 'New' HD Ready' Series 9 version is going to be under £3k.

Best regards

Joe

PS A PWD4 that's only 2.5 years old must have been a very late purchase and possibly at the bottom of its price cycle; that model was introduces in 2002 and started out nearer £3.5K
 
Thanks for that info.

I'm considering now a Pana TH50PHD8B.

Er, thanks for making me consider I should spend more money!

I'd love to see, side by side, a Sammy 50" plasma and this Pana plasma, both showing the same feed from BBC HD.

I'm not sure if I can justify spending an extra £1K or so.

I mean, how BAD can the Sammy be, or put it another way, how much better can the Pana be?!
 
Gobbler said:
Thanks for that info.

I'm considering now a Pana TH50PHD8B.

Er, thanks for making me consider I should spend more money!

I'd love to see, side by side, a Sammy 50" plasma and this Pana plasma, both showing the same feed from BBC HD.

I'm not sure if I can justify spending an extra £1K or so.

I mean, how BAD can the Sammy be, or put it another way, how much better can the Pana be?!

Unfortunately, this is down to you, as the consumer, individual. In my local 7 Oaks recently, they had three plasmas on display/demonstration in the mian shop (42 and 50's) and the PQ was different, yet they had been 'set up'. None were bad, but my partner and I prefered a different set in terms of PQ. But the feed was a HD DVD source with flowers etc, (Samsung disc?) and no real blacks to test the blacks. I could live with the set Clare liked, and vice versa.

We all have different perceptions, only those with more knowledge, experience can spot the real differences, improvements.

As such it is best for the consumer to view the item before commiting their pennies, their hard earned cash.

The problem though is finding an outlet which has properly set up demonstration facilites that we can view. The large stores have very badly set up displays; but have every model they stock is on display.

Yet very few speciaslist stores can afford, in both terms of goods and space have three or four 43 inch displays on demonstration together with three or four 50 inch dispalys.

I would love to find a dealer with the Pio, fujistsu and the new Panasoncis (all 50') on display in the same room, being fed by the same source.

Adrian

And of course, there are other issues. Whist PQ is obvisouly improtant, type of inputs, size/wieght of unit, colours? etc can aslo have a slant on whether you buy a product.

Just had another thoguht. For joe public, an upgrade from an aging CRT to a large flat screen would be a vast improvement, and this thread would not rreally in consideration.

but as your starting from a good plasma display, the issue is more present, real, Iwould adivse you to go and view the current Panasonics againt Pioneers etc.

Adrian
 
Hello Gobbler

Side by Side has been done 100 times and every time the result is the same - across a range of input signals the majority of folk find the Panasonic* and Pioneer progressive Displays to be more pleasing than any other brand you care to mention.

*I'd include Fujitsu 58 Series in there too as it uses Panasonic glass!

If you want to narrow your viewing options down to just the 1080i content on SKY HD you could argue that the 'difference' across a range of 42"+ 'HD Ready' Displays was narrower; until you looked a bit closer :)

If you didn't have a 'reference' the other Displays you mention are definitely a 'within budget' option - all folk are saying here is to be aware that you may not get what you want within your budget.

Best regards

Joe
 
sapper said:
Just had another thoguht. For joe public, an upgrade from an aging CRT to a large flat screen would be a vast improvement, and this thread would not rreally in consideration.
its a perceived up grade but not necassarily in terms of PQ especially if going from a GOOD CRT to a ropey PDP or LCD
 
hornydragon said:
its a perceived up grade but not necassarily in terms of PQ especially if going from a GOOD CRT to a ropey PDP or LCD

True, guess that is what i was trying to say, but it did not come out very well....

Yes, the cheaper LCd's and Plasma's Pq is variable, soem can be quite dissapointing.

Cheers HD

PS

got my 433 ISF calibrated, PQ is improved but still looking at the 50 inch :eek:
 
It's quite interesting that you should say the MAJORITY of people prefer the Pana/Pioneer displays.

That makes me think that the difference isn't VAST. I'm guessing it's not like the difference between DVD and VHS.

I fully understand that a Pana screen will be better.

However, I have to take into account cost! The Sammy panel is £1800 or so whereas the Pana panel is another £800 or so with an HDMI card.

That's a lot of money imo.

Now, for us mere mortals with a limited budget, the question is, is the improvement worth £800?

For example, I actually bought a copy of Home Cinema Choice this month and they gave the Sammy 4/5 and the Pana 4.5/5. I'm guessing HCC are a pretty good judge of displays (I have no idea, this is the first and prolly last time I buy this mag!)

Half a star = £800?!

So, I guess the question I should have been asking is, how good is a Sky HD movie on the Sammy? If the answer is, Yeah, it's damn good, then my choice is made.

Yes, I realise that on the Pana, the answer to the same question maybe 'It's superb', but as a sane person, I have to say, I can't justify a £800 jump.

Thanks for the help tho u all.

I've moved from my initial, LCD v Plasma question, onto a £2k v £3k debate!!

It's made me realise, yes, I think a 'budget' (since when was £1800 for a TV budget?!?! :D ) 50" plasma will serve me nicely. Heck, for £2k, I can even get the plasma tuned or calibrated or whatever that you guys all go on about! :clap:

Funny if I came back to the forum in a couple of months time saying, Yikes, this sammy panel is awful... well, funny in a vomit-inducing £1800 down the toilet kind of way....
 

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