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Plasma
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Posted by: dpsjolly

Can anyone recommend a plasma screen (37" or 42"). I am looking for something with a tuner (built-in or stand-alone) and an excellent picture.

I am also concerned about reliability - high frequency, high voltage PSUs are not famous for their reliability.

How much of an issue is screen burn with the channel idents?

Cheers

Posted by: cyril

All the tuners for Plasmas are a waste of money - they are all analog!

Posted by: mrtickle

Yep, I find the concept of fitting an analogue tuner to a plasma TV particularly mind-boggling, short-sighted, mean, and senseless.

Posted by: dpsjolly

but you need an analogue tuner to receive teletext, which IMHO is far superior to digital text.

Posted by: sanderton

Why do you find teletext better? I find digital text on both Sky and DTT to be faster to load and easier to read. And you can figure out what the weather maps mean!

Posted by: MarkE19

I can recommend the Panny plasmas.
The Th-42PW5B (or 37) are the new models and can be bought for around Ł3500 42" & Ł3000 37" and are new models.
The Panasonic plasmas get the best reviews for their picture on the avforums.
The tuner box is, as previously stated here, an analog box and costs extra (as is a stand/wall bracket & speakers).

Plasma are now said to be as reliable as a normal CRT TV

Screen burn with the channel ident can be a problem if watching the same channel for long periods of time, but when changing channels throughout the day etc. should not be too much of a problem. Keep an eye out for an after image when the screen is switched off. If it starts to appear then run the screen savers on the plasma and reduce the time the logo is displayed (you get plenty of warning before it becomes permanent;) ).
Also when setting up the plasma lower the contrast/brightness to help reduce the burn.

Go for a plasma and get that real :eek: WOW:eek: that you just cannot get from any CRT:D

Posted by: dpsjolly

quote:
Originally posted by sanderton
Why do you find teletext better? I find digital text on both Sky and DTT to be faster to load and easier to read. And you can figure out what the weather maps mean!

Digital teletext subtitles are easier to read than the analogue variety. However, I often find that they do not appear/disappear at the right time.

My issue is with the teletext service. Digital text gives you only a handful of pages, whereas analogue text is far more comprehensive and useful. It is even better if the receiver has a large text memory.

Posted by: dpsjolly

quote:
Originally posted by MarkE19

Plasma are now said to be as reliable as a normal CRT TV

:D

Really! Why do extended warranties cost so much then?

Posted by: Sneals2000

quote:
Originally posted by cyril
All the tuners for Plasmas are a waste of money - they are all analog!

Yep - but given that the UK is the only market with a significant DTT penetration at the moment (though Spain, Germany and some Scandinavian countries also have some DVB-T services) an analogue tuner is far easier to sell in a global product (and much easier to tweak for local differences...)

I agree though that a 16:9 Plasma with an analogue tuner only capable of receiving PAL composite (probably noisy) 4:3 source material is a bit odd...

Posted by: sanderton

quote:
Originally posted by dpsjolly
My issue is with the teletext service. Digital text gives you only a handful of pages, whereas analogue text is far more comprehensive and useful. It is even better if the receiver has a large text memory.

I must be lucky then, as everything I've looked up has been there on digital!

Posted by: MarkE19

quote:
Originally posted by dpsjolly
Really! Why do extended warranties cost so much then?

Plasma warranties are coming down.
Richer Sounds IIRC are now only Ł250 (and even before at Ł500), which is a small percentage of a Ł3000 unit. See what Dixons etc. charge for warranties on Ł500 CRT:rolleyes: