Plasma TV's

[s car go]

Hi all

Off topic I know but as there is such a fountain of knowledge here,thought I would pose a question!

I'm about to buy a new telly,and we have decieded 50",and Plasma,but we are a little cofused on 1080 full HD etc.

Some of the cheaper Tellys are HD ready and a bit more money buys you Full HD!

If anyone understands this fully or can make a recommendation I would like to hear it! My Budget is about £600 (€700)

Regards

Mark

[tintin]

Shamelessly stolen for wiki, hope it helps


HDTV broadcast systems are identified with three major parameters:
Frame size in pixels is defined as number of horizontal pixels × number of vertical pixels, for example 1280 × 720 or 1920 × 1080. Often the number of horizontal pixels is implied from context and is omitted, as in the case of 720p and 1080p.
Scanning system is identified with the letter p for progressive scanning or i for interlaced scanning.
Frame rate is identified as number of video frames per second. For interlaced systems an alternative form of specifying number of fields per second is often used.[citation needed]
If all three parameters are used, they are specified in the following form: [frame size][scanning system][frame or field rate] or [frame size]/[frame or field rate][scanning system].[citation needed] Often, frame size or frame rate can be dropped if its value is implied from context. In this case the remaining numeric parameter is specified first, followed by the scanning system.
For example, 1920×1080p25 identifies progressive scanning format with 25 frames per second, each frame being 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels high. The 1080i25 or 1080i50 notation identifies interlaced scanning format with 25 frames (50 fields) per second, each frame being 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels high.[citation needed] The 1080i30 or 1080i60 notation identifies interlaced scanning format with 30 frames (60 fields) per second, each frame being 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels high.[citation needed] The 720p60 notation identifies progressive scanning format with 60 frames per second, each frame being 720 pixels high; 1,280 pixels horizontally are implied.
50Hz systems support three scanning rates: 25i, 25p and 50p. 60Hz systems support a much wider set of frame rates: 23.976p, 24p, 29.97i/59.94i, 29.97p, 30p, 59.94p and 60p. In the days of standard definition television, the fractional rates were often rounded up to whole numbers, e.g. 23.976p was often called 24p, or 59.94i was often called 60i. 60Hz high definition television supports both fractional and slightly different integer rates, therefore strict usage of notation is required to avoid ambiguity. Nevertheless, 29.97i/59.94i is almost universally called 60i, likewise 23.976p is called 24p.[citation needed]
For commercial naming of a product, the frame rate is often dropped and is implied from context (e.g., a 1080i television set). A frame rate can also be specified without a resolution. For example, 24p means 24 progressive scan frames per second, and 50i means 25 interlaced frames per second.[citation needed]
There is no standard for HDTV color support. Until recently the color of each pixel was regulated by three 8-bit color values, each representing the level of red, blue, and green which defined a pixel color. Together the 24 total bits defining color yielded just under 17 million possible pixel colors. Recently[when?] some manufacturers have produced systems that can employ 10 bits for each color (30 bits total) which provides for a palette of 1 billion colors, saying that this provides a much richer picture, but there is no agreed way to specify that a piece of equipment supports this feature.
Most HDTV systems support resolutions and frame rates defined either in the ATSC table 3, or in EBU specification. The most common are noted below.

[POPEYE]

We got a 56" Samsung a short while ago which was HD ready, not sure what "fullHD" means but with ours ya dont get HD unless you also have a HD cable top box or the freeview HD box, the telly was just under 700 quid and is great, we also went for the virgin (as we're with them) top box, thats was 70quid one off payment, (no extra monthly payments etc) unlike i believe sky where the box is free but they stick on a tenner a month,
cant praise the top box enough, great pic wether on HD or normal channels, also you can record programmes, store them, and watch just like a dvd, FF REW pause etc, if a film i want to keep comes on i record it, watch it while transfering it to my HDD/dvd recorder and can edit out adds, then burn it onto a blank disc,
Full HD may mean the set has a built in HD box, best to ask at the shop

[Predictable Bob]

HD Ready means it's 720p full HD is 1080p

Either way it's of no practical value unless you have an HD source whether that be Freevies HD, Sky HD, HD cable, BluRay ....

No idea on current prices though

[Apache]

Just had a 1080p LG LCD 47" for around the £760 mark. With bluray movies and Sky HD its stunning. Is it the LG 50" plasma you're looking at?

We did a lot of research and viewing. To my eyes, the only others we saw that came close picture-wise to the LGs were Sonys at much higher price. We looked at LED ones too, but the price premium for the thinness just wasn't worth it.

Amazon is worth a look for lowest prices.

[Nick V]

Personally, I'd go for LCD. I know there has been a lengthy 'techy' bit but just a point, your eye will not be able to tell a lot of difference between 720i and 1080i

Cheers, Nick

[Apache]

your eye will not be able to tell a lot of difference between 720i and 1080i

Cheers, Nick

Beg to disagree. A demo using Avatar as the source showed a marked improvement with 1080p. You might not notice in anything other than a side by side demo, but now I know its there, I could never be happy with 720

[Nick V]

Andy, I know what you are saying and I agree, but I meant for general viewing, especially with the quality of some transmissions, and even with some dvd's, most people will not notice the difference. Having said that, I would always try to go for the latest spec, but as with most technical things, by the time your card has been swiped, there is a newer model out!!

Cheers, Nick

[Predictable Bob]

With regard to plasma v LCD, when we bought our 42" Panasonic 2 years ago LCD's peaked in quality at 37" by now I'd expect the cutover to be over 42".

As far as comparitive testing goes then you MUST see them side by side using the same source to be really sure of picture quality. I did weeks of research before going for the Panasonic - the others on the shortlist were Pioneer, Hitachi and Sony. The Pioneer had a better quality picture but it wasn't £500 better !

[Albannach]

We have a 40" Samsung, LCD and 1080p. We looked at bigger TVs, but our room is too small. Our eldest daughter has a 50" Plasma, but it's tiring trying to watch it.

[Vultch]

I was about to launch into a whole techno spiel but instead..

(i) go for what looks good furniture wise in your living room it will be there for a while

(ii) plump for 1080 instead of 720, the numbers refer to the definition of the screen 1080 having more pixels (little dots). Now I understand some claim 720 looks better, it all depends on what you are connecting your telly to, no matter how good the set feed it a crap signal and it will look crap.

(iii) Plasma, LCD, LED.. your call some claim Plasma looks better, better blacks etc but I found picture lag to be unacceptable and plasmas can have screen burn issues, leave a logo i.e (MTV logo) on too long and the logo is still there when you change channel...
Think of plasma sets as being scores of little flourscent tubes that light up to provide a picture

(iv) LCD or LED nearly the same technology, think of old school overhead projector, the LCD bit is the transparent slide that needs a backlight (cold cathode), for LED sets replace the cold cathode with scores of LED lights.

(v) I would avoid ultra slim sets or displays , that thinness comes at a price usually picture quality as the components needed to provide illumination are moved to the sides and not behind the LCD... a compromise as the backlight is bounced gives shadows..

Me I chose a big LCD set, a Toshiba.. now one important thing, there is not much HD content out there at the moment so the sets ability to give a decent picture with old school telly (SD or standard definition) is important.

Most HD sets looks superb with HD films being shown on display connect them to a SD source and many look terrible, be sure to get a decent shop that can let you view as many channels to get a good feel for the sets performance

top dogs money no object
1. Phillips or Panasonic.. expensive

2. Sony (made by samsung), Samsung, LG, Toshiba
3. The rest

Good luck

[Nick V]

More or less what I said I went for an LCD Tosh a couple of years ago, and really pleased with it. A friend of mine has been a tv engineer all his life and recommended it not only cos of the 5 year guarentee included, but he reckoned the quality and the back up from Toshiba should you get a problem is far superior to the other big players! At the time, he showed me a very expensive Sony plasma that was only 2 years old that he was repairing. He showed me the 'burnt out' component and said that not only would the repair cost neary as much as my new LCD, but it was nearly impossible to get hold of the replacement part!

At the end of the day though, you pays your money, and makes your choice!!

Cheers, Nick

[Vultch]

we are reading from the same script, the Toshiba sets have superb up scaling, they use cell processor tech lifted from one of their other divisions I was stunned at how good a tosh with resolution+ could make a standard def picture look.

I compared the same film on DVD (blue ray via HDMI and normal via RGB) yes there was a difference the blue ray being superior, but not by that much not to justify the price hike in blue ray DVD's such was the quality of the upscaling...

[dieselboy]

Hi all

Off topic I know but as there is such a fountain of knowledge here,thought I would pose a question!

I'm about to buy a new telly,and we have decieded 50",and Plasma,but we are a little cofused on 1080 full HD etc.

Some of the cheaper Tellys are HD ready and a bit more money buys you Full HD!

If anyone understands this fully or can make a recommendation I would like to hear it! My Budget is about £600 (€700)

Regards

Mark

Mate bought a nice panasonic 50" plasma for around £600. Quality is good, but it's in his bedroom which is quite small, and makes the room heat up.

[Vultch]

yes..plasmas do generate a fair amount of heat