Home audio & video: Are Plasma TV going to be discontinued???

Good post mastery...

I pretty much agree with everything you said. One thing that I clarify though is that having a plasma TV in a room where you can not control the lighting is no more of an issue for plasmas than any other TV technology. Many new plasmas have anti glare screens now like most LCDs and some new LCDs have shiny screens like the Samsung's in particular. Not all of the plasma anti-glare screens work well but some work exceptionally well like the Panasonic models.

Also, although burn-in is not a big deal for plasmas anymore, burn-in CAN be permanent depending on severity and whether your TV has any means to remove burn-in.

I agree about plasmas having very realistic colors. Not only that but they are at the top of color saturation, black level, white level, screen uniformity, and viewing angle. In short, anyone who tells you that a plasma has nothing going for is either grossly misinformed or has some kind of an agenda.

I am anxious to see the Samsung 81F in person. The LED back light should do wonders for improving black level and color. You would do well to stay away from the 1st gen LED DLP sets though as they have had some issues.

Stay away from Hitachi!

My honest advice is to stay away from Hitachi. Their "Full HD" plasmas are actually only 1080i, which IMHO is not Full HD. 1080p is much better than 1080i. Plus, Hitachi's plasmas have very low contrast - unless the two we had at our shop were both faulty.

There's so much FUD around about the flat panel technologies, unfortunately. Panasonic started all this FUD about large LCDs being unsuitable for sport and "Most Australian households have their TVs in dark rooms, so plasma is better"; and then Pana's competitors started spreading their own FUD about "plasmas use too much energy", "they're going to be banned", and I've even had customers who have been told that plasmas can explode or catch fire!

I hate FUD in all its forms. I tell my customers when they've been mislead by FUD. Unfortunately, there are salespeople out there who will spread it.

I push LCDs, but I have good reasons to:

1. LCDs have the same resolution as the native TV signals, making them sharper - plasmas here don't, causing jaggies.
2. Most households have too much light coming into their lounge rooms / family rooms for plasma. If I ask the question and the customer says "It's a light room, but we could always shut the blinds" I reply "Okay, but surely you don't want to have to shut the blinds every time you watch TV!".
3. Unless you're looking at 46 inches and above, LCD response time is fine for watching sport and action movies. Even at 46 inches and above, LCD isn't far behind plasma.
4. Plasmas do use more power than LCDs, and as such they emit more heat. I don't want to get complaints from customers that their TVs are switching off due to overheating during summer.
5. The Samsung M8 LCDs have better contrast than plasmas - full stop. I don't want to hear mutterings about "native" versus "dynamic" - the contrast is better. And it's much better than the Pana Full HD plasmas.
6. The Samsung 40 inch LCDs are cheaper than the basic Pana 42 inch plasmas.
7. There's no danger of burn-in. (LCD image retention is something I've never seen, but from what I've heard it's a completely temporary thing if it does exist at all).

LCD is the way things are headed, at least down here in Australia (the situation is probably different in America; you guys are still buying rear pro TVs?). If you're looking for a full-HD TV and you've got a light room, you should probably go for a 1080p plasma with matte screen or a 1080p LCD with matte. If you've got a dark room, look at a Pioneer plasma or a Samsung M8. But don't get the Hitachi - I cannot recommend those TVs to anyone.

hmmm.....

The Bright room comment really got me going. Matte finishes, as I have stated in other areas of this forum, are absolutely horrid for bright rooms.

A matte finish mattes black levels, which removes detail from dark sequences, thus restricting detail visibility. This is worse when exposed to high levels of light.

A matte finish, when exposed to light, will begin a bleaching process, where the black turn to grey. This also applies to colors, as black is the base of which all colors are created, so reds will turn to pink, etc. etc. This throws off color balance. Light spreads throughout the screen of a matte television and affects the whole screen. The whole screen is bleached and lacks detail.

Last but not least, Picture field depth is compriamised with a matte finish, especially when exposed to light. This takes away from the high definition experience, which inn turn would really **** me off.

At least with a laquer finish, only small areas of the screen are affected with minor reflections. With a laquer finish, there is no bleaching process, dark or light. There is no inaccuracies in the color gamut because ther is no bleaching. Also, picture field depth is preserved, so the 3-d effect is not lost, thus enhancing the HD expereience.

Furthermore, detail in dark sequences is preserved. Look at Samsung LCDs with a glossy finish versus those with a matte finish. The glossy finish LCDs have higher contrast, more natural color balance (although still way off), and superior detail in dark sequences. There is little-to-no bleaching and it is almost like a plasma. Look at the Panasonic PZ77U versus the PZ700U. The PZ77 has a chemical coating over the screen for antireflectivity. Reflections are still seen (not as much), however the picture overall is compriamised. Blacks are greyish, picture field depth is almost nothing, and color balance is off. The PZ700 exhibits none of those traits. Honestly, I would rather a couple of refletions than overall compriamise of my new expensive TV set.

Also, LCD response time is disgusting. Especially for those of us who are transitioning from CRT-based sets. We never had to deal with a response time before, only interacing. 2.5ms and 120Hz with progressive scan is slower than interlacing. For playing video games, watching sports, or going the motion monitor route, LCDs are horrible.

Keep in mind that the moving resoliution of a 1080p LCD is like 540 lines. That is rediculous. Plasmas have still resolutions of 1080p and moving resolutions of 1080p. 0ms response. ***! Why can't LCD's keep up? 120hz frame conversion only leaves "auras" of jaggies and artifacts around characters moving in the foregroud or background.

And the native resolution of TV signals is either 1280x720p or 1920x1080i, which not a single production LCD has. They are either 1366x768p or 1920x1080p. Not even close. At least the Hitachi, being at 1080i, doen't have to process some native TV signals, thus allowing them to be free of any error the hideous processor in that TV could do.

Also, Plasmas DO NOT use mor power than LCD's. LCD's are consuming maximum power and maximum current all the time. Plasmas are variable in their power consumtion: a bright scene will consume more power whereas a darker scene will consume less power, far less. On average plasmas use less power than LCD's. Also, Pioneer plasmas consume less and produce less heat than Sony, Samsung, Sharp and LG group (LG, Zenith, Toshiba and Philips) LCD's.

Lets talk about burn in also. Image Retention(plasma) or image persistance(LCD) is not a common thing at all (maybe on the Hitachi, but that's a no-brainer). The only realistic time it would happen is on a unit without some sort of pixel-cooling method, left on for about 4 straight days or so with a still image that never left the screen. Like in airports for example. They use LCD's to display flight cancellations. There is Persistance on those screens which is permenant. Most would not have to worry about that on modern LCD's or plasmas, as they are becoming more efficient, cooler-running, and more resiliant to even the stupidest TV owner.

And have you ever set your eyes on KURO? If you haven't, you don't know the definition of a 'high contrast panel'. If I were using Samsung's system of Dynamic Contrast Ratio (totally inaccurate, btw), the Pioneer pdp-5080HD would recieve a rating closer to 700,000:1, as the Samsung LCD's are overrated in that respect. Note that Pioneer does not rate contrast ratio, as it is an unreliable way on paper to differentiate a television. Samsung televisions (along with a host of other LCD's), use black level enhancers to create the contrast rating (that is, aside from concentrating the full backlighting power on to one pixel). This kills black level detail as well.

And in Samsung lines, the LNT4065 is 1899.99. The HPT4254 is 1399.99. The plasma is clearly less expensive. And the Panasonic TH-42PX75U is 1399.99. These are full retail prices. And, if you really want to compare 1080 sets, Panasonic TH-42PZ700U is 1899.99, whereas an LCD that actually compares, the Bang and Olufsen BeoVision 7, is 20,000.00. Nice try.

In conclusion, Plasma is straight-up better than LCD in every way.

"I have yet to see an LCD that compares to a plasma" S&V

(NT) Great choice!

Break In

The Pioneer KURO's have approx. 200hrs of what i might call "break in". Like fine wine, your new television will look better with use. Here are some precautions and recommendations I would consider seriously when making a new flat panel purchase:

1. The television need be transported in an upright manner. Failure to do so could result in dead pixels, cracked frame, or worse yet, cracked glass.

2. Upon the arrival of the television, inspeact all areas of the chassis to assure there were no mishaps during transit. Also, allow the television to sit out of the box in the room you will be using it in for at least twice the time it was sitting in the truck. This will prevent any "cold starts" and possible damage to the set.

3. USE A POWER CONDITIONER!!! This is quite possibly a "best practice" for one who is demanding of performance and lifespan out of their set. Monster Power, Richard Grey's Power Company (RGPC), and Panamax are some brands to consider. These will remove noise from power, coax, phone and ethernet lines. Less noise in the lines mean the television has to work less to acheive a similar effect (we call this efficiency in NY). This means less grain in pictures, more vibrant, dynamic colors and resistivity to large surges and some direct hits. Power conditioners without T-2 Automatic disconnect technology or similar circuitry should have a UPS (battery backup) as an accompaniment. I use one anyway (that way you can watch the game when everyone else has lost power). Also, power conditioners wihout a grounding terminal should have the Klipsch MAGIC (Mondial Antenna Ground Isolation Circuit) Box. This will separate the ground from signal, thus eliminating any ground-induced noise, and giving more resistivity to a direct hit.

4. The initial setup of the television should be as follows:
1. Make all non-power connections

2. Plug in power conditioner (conditioner switched off)

3. Plug television into power conditioner

4. Turn on power conditoner

5. On your set, there is a soft power switch on the bottom left corner. Push it.

6. Hit menu on the remote. Go into picture settings. For the first 200hrs, these settings should apply:
Picture Mode: Standard
Brightness: 30
Contrast: 30
Color: 30
Sharpnaess: 30
Tint: 30
Pro Adjust:
Pure Cinema:
Film Mode: Advance
Text Optomization: Off
Picture Deatil:
DRE Picture: Off
Black Level: Off
ACL: Off
Enhancer Mode: 1
Gamma: 1
Color Detail:
Color Temp: Low
CTI: Off
Noise Reduction:
3DNR: Off (High for Standard Def Sources)
Field NR: Off (Low for Standard Def Sources)
7. Go into Power Control settings. Set Power Saving Mode to Mode 2. Set No Operation Shut off to Enable. Set No Signal Shut off to Enable.
8. Go into Option. Set Orbiter to Mode 2. Set Room Light Sensor to On. Set auto size to Wide Zoom. Set side Mask to Enable and Brightness sync to auto.
9. Again, these settings should be applied for the first 200hrs. Do not leave the television on for extended periods of time with no signal or a still image during "break in", as retention is likely to occur at this stage. Once broken in, the set will be wholly impervious to retention.

5. After the first 200hrs, a full ISF Calibration should be performed. I recently has the 5080HD calibrated, as it has finally reached the 200hr mark. I took all power saving options off. I also saved $8 on this month's power bill, as the televison becomes even more energy-efficient when calibrated. The thing looks beutiful. The 5010 isn't quite to the point of calibration yet, so I cannot share calibrated settings with you, but I do strongly reccommend a calibration by an ISF-Certified Technician if you demand performance like no other.

Hope this helps. -N.

Settings

Thes apply for Pioneer KURO Plasma models PDP-4280HD, PDP-5080HD, PDP-5010FD, and PDP-6010FD. Essentially, settings should be set to half-way for the break-in period (typically between 100 and 500hrs pending on television model) with ZERO modifications and power-saving modes turned on.

What model TV is yours? I could post correct settings for it.

ELITE

There should be a picture preset setting marked MOVIE. It seems to get closest to the 50-50-50 rule-of-thumb settings that I stand by, but to be sure, I would go down the line and make sure all markers are set to 50% of their shown capability. This means contrast, brightness, color, sharpness, etc on the main picture adjustment page.

As for the advanced section, turn light sensor on, turn orbiter to "Mode 2" or "on". turn power save to "mode 2" or max. Turn off DRE Picture, ACL and Black level, and any other contrast-enhancing mods. These will introduce more noise into the picture and make the set consume more power...not good. Set 3DNR to max and field NR to min. set color temp to low and CTI off. Turn film mode to "advance" on inputs that are accepting 24p sources. For all other inputs, the film mode should be set to standard. Turn enhancer mode to 1 and gamma to 1.

This should be fairly adequite. let me know if there is a questionable setting that I haven't covered.