Has anyone made the plunge into Plasma, and bought a "cheap" model?

Ie: One of these 42" models (or similar)...
- Norcent PT425
- Sampo PME-42S6
- Sampo PME-42X6
- Benq PDP7859


If so, are they crap, or approximately the same quality as the higher priced models?

What is a plasma tv?

There is always a reason a Sony costs what a Sony does, and a Sanyo costs what a Sanyo does. Whether it's lines per inch, resolution, lumens, or time-to-live, there's always something that's different. I'd highly suggest checking out Consumer Reports type publications before dumping $2k on a "cheap" plasma.

I hear for cheep ones, the gateway branded is a decent one. Most the cheep ones are not HDTV tho.

I would personally stick with Pioneer, Panasonic, or Fujitsu (the top three plasma brands in terms of popularity and overall price/performance). If you really want to go with an ultra-cheap plasma, I strongly urge you to post and/or search the <a href=http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=40>Plasma forum</a> on <a href=http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/>AVS Forum</a> for some feedback on the model before you buy, so you can get some real user's input on overall quality and issues like dead pixels. BTW virtually all of the very cheap plasmas are NOT high definition but standard definition, so if you want HD I would look to the above-mentioned brands.
<blockquote>Seriena says:<hr>What is a plasma tv?[/quote]Plasma is a display technology that currently dominates the large (50"+ diagonal) flat screen display market and competes with LCD in the mid-sized (37-42") market. The technology is phosphor-based and works sort of like a flourescent light bulb, and has the advantage of producing an exceptionally bright and vivid image that is viewable at wide angles, while typically maintaining a device thickness of 3" or less.

Thanks for the links Tuda!!!

I've scoured the Internet for reviews on these models, but there's none (or close to none) to be found.

Here's a good (I think) Plasma description from <a href="http://www.tigerdirect.ca" target="top">www.tigerdirect.ca</a>:
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Plasma Display Panels work on the principle that passing a high voltage through a low-pressure gas generates light. Therefore, the screen of the Plasma Display Panel can be viewed as a matrix of tiny fluorescent tubes. Each tube, or cell, contains a small capacitor with three electrodes. An electrical discharge across the electrodes causes the gas sealed inside the cell to be converted to plasma.

Once activated, the cells of plasma release ultraviolet light that then strikes a red, green or blue phosphor along the face of the cell, causing them to glow in the appropriate color. The advanced technology behind Plasma displays can render 256 different intensities of each color, offering a possible total of 16,777,216 color combinations.[/quote]

I was also under the impression that only LCD's suffered from dead pixels. Although, Plasma's can suffer from burn-in. Are either of those false?

Edit: I guess I really should RTFM (ie: the FAQ in that forum Tuda linked), burn-in seems to be minimal with the new models.

Edit (Off topic): I just killed a fly by turning my compressed air can upside down... slowly moving the nozel up to it... and ppsshhhhttt, freezing it!! Do you think I'm cruel?

Wyte

I've been completely out of the loop on this kind of tech for awhile now. If money was no object, are the best tv's currently plasma based?

Or is it somewhat subjective?

Thanks you two :)

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>If money was no object, are the best tv's currently plasma based?[/quote]

Well... you really should head out to your nearest Electronic Geek shop (Futureshop in Canada is good) to check 'em out. Compare for yourself.

y previous job (6+ months ago) had one, purchased over a year ago for $30,000+ for a 32 inch. I took my first look at it and just stood there in awe. Such bright, vivid, high contrast colors. Of course me and my fellow colleauges wasted no time in hooking up an Xbox to .. ughh... "test" it. It was unparalleled.

I was really impressed by the viewing angle. You could stand almost 90 degrees off to the side and still have a good picture (although very compressed because of the angle). Not so with rear projection... they turn black awefully fast if you move to the side.

Wyte

<blockquote>WyteNK says:<hr>I was also under the impression that only LCD's suffered from dead pixels. Although, Plasma's can suffer from burn-in. Are either of those false?[/quote]Plasmas can have dead/stuck pixels too, that's why it's important to buy from a good retailer who will a) not ship you defective items and b) agree to an exchange if you have dead pixels. I bought a couple from Lisa at www.plasmaextreme.us (NOT .com, that's someone else), and can vouch for the good prices and excellent service, though mine arrived with zero dead pixels each so I did not try to exchange. And although Dell's service is horrible in my opinion, you can get a slightly cheaper price on Pioneer plasmas there if you stack your coupons, and many have gotten good deals that way.

Plasmas do suffer from temporary burn-in because they are phosphor-based, and phosphors have a memory (like the old green/amber monochrome monitors that came with the original IBM PC). So if you played EQ on a plasma for a couple of hours and turned it off, you would see an outline of the game windows burnt into the screen, which would slowly fade away over a few minutes. The longer the static image stays up, the more etched it becomes, making plasmas a bad choice for constantly displaying static content such as readouts and Windows desktops.
<blockquote>King Burgundy says:<hr>If money was no object, are the best tv's currently plasma based?[/quote]For a large screen (50"-70"), yes, in my opinion. With a good high definition source and the proper setup, plasma images are the closest to actually being there, like a window in your living room. The only viable competitor to plasma is LCD, and the huge LCDs are just at the trade show stage now. In the future LCDs may take over, but the plasma versus LCD debate rages on like the Alteration versus Evocation debate here.

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>In the future LCDs may take over[/quote]
I've used LCD's, and the decay on the pixels is horrible for FPS games. EQ may not be as bad (didn't try it), and from what I've read they are getting better all the time. The one I used was prolly one of the original 40ms decay rating models, and I hear they're down to about the 20-25ms range. It looks like you have the Windows mousetrail feature on... over the entire screen. Very annoying.

Just my 2 cp on LCD's.

Wyte

Have a LCD monitor and no problem with that in EQ. The picture is vastly more clear than any CRT monitor I've had.

I'd check Consumer Reports... in fact, I'm subscribed, let me check... ok, no reviews there. :p

If I were buying a cheap offname, I'd want to make sure it has a good warranty.

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Plasmas do suffer from temporary burn-in because they are phosphor-based, and phosphors have a memory (like the old green/amber monochrome monitors that came with the original IBM PC). So if you played EQ on a plasma for a couple of hours and turned it off, you would see an outline of the game windows burnt into the screen, which would slowly fade away over a few minutes.[/quote]

Correct. I have heard so much bad reports on "burn-in" effect on plasma tv, i would'nt even consider to buy one. The largest problem seems to be the TV station brand names in the upper left or right. Some people have them permanently burned in.

Also remember that you will eventually have to replace the screen. Some of the earlier plasmas had a TTL of 10,000 constant hours (little over 416 days).

If you're considering one, do your research first, and then go to the store. More than likely, you'll get a chump who doesn't know the first thing about the system other than how much commission he'll pull down or how much time till his lunch break. If you got the money, I would highly suggest going to a "Home Theater" store - a small store that specializes in selling Home Theater equipment (not the big chain stores like "Ultimate Electronics" which claim to be "high-end" home theater stores). Many of them will match the prices in the big chain stores, and you'll get much better service. They may even have a guy who's sole job is to sell "flat panel" TV systems. You may (gasp) find someone in the retail chain who actually knows the product.

As for LCDs, CPU Magazine (highly recommended for the tech geek) recently ran an article about the "next generation" LCDs. Unfortunately I don't have it here at work, but they did have a lot of gaming nuts who actually said the new refresh rates are "gaming worthy". In addition, the lumens of many of the LCDs has been increased making the colors and the brightness much better than the older models.

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Edit (Off topic): I just killed a fly by turning my compressed air can upside down... slowly moving the nozel up to it... and ppsshhhhttt, freezing it!! Do you think I'm cruel?[/quote]

Cryogenic fly!

<blockquote>WyteNK says:<hr>The one I used was prolly one of the original 40ms decay rating models, and I hear they're down to about the 20-25ms range.[/quote]The last generation was in the 20-25ms range, which is adequate for gaming. I use a Dell FP2000 (rebadged Benq, one or two generations behind) and there's nearly zero streaking in games. Some of the newest models have even a faster response time (10-15ms range), although you can never trust the manufacturer's figure because they all measure it differently. If you have one of those really old LCD models with 40ms+ response time, yes you'll have a very hard time with games.
<blockquote>Maody says:<hr>I have heard so much bad reports on "burn-in" effect on plasma tv, i would'nt even consider to buy one.[/quote]Then what you've heard was vastly exaggerated. I've been using a plasma for a year and there is absolutely zero permanent burn-in, even in cases of static images like the borders of non-16:9 content. The technology just has a temporary burn-in problem as I described, and it goes away after a few minutes if you turn the display off.
<blockquote>Stormhaven says:<hr>Some of the earlier plasmas had a TTL of 10,000 constant hours (little over 416 days).[/quote]You probably mean 10,000 hours to half brightness, since just like a CRT the phosphor's brightness slowly decreases over time. The new models are better, and even you watch hours of TV per day you'll probably get rid of them for reasons of obsolescence before they die on you.

I don't know anything about plasma tv's - we have a home theatre with a RGB projector, hand matted and hand tensioned widescreen 14' foot screen, 6.1 DTS surround sound on Wharfdale speakers (and like 3 friggin' sub woofers - yes, honey, I love feeling a sub woofer booming under my @ss), all run on a computer, and raked theatre seating with 2 La-Z-Boy reclining sofas.

But I do know the quintessential place to ask and learn all things AV on the internet: www.avsforum.com/ (http://www.avsforum.com/)

If they don't know it, you don't need to.

Ummm. Can I move in with you? :)

Sure! Just bring beer and pizza! =)

One of the things I was saving up for was replacing my aging 8yr old Sony (it's still a great TV, but it's only 27" and in the 4:3 format). The TV I fell in love with was the Sony XBR Grand WEGA Rear Projection TV KF-60XBR800 (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=O4TD0Nj_epLD1ueG1ybJ25fwvoHbScG3PmU=?Cat egoryName=tv_WEGAShowcase_WEGAShop_GrandWEGA&ProductSKU=KF60XBR800&Dept=tv&Boutique=wega) (hopefully that link works, it's a monster). Unfortunately it was five grand...