lets talk plasma shall we?

[fire1811]

They also come at a next gen price

[datapimp69]

ok i all most stoped myself from showing off but i couldnt, so heres my desk. the monitor on the left is a 19"

[Wizzman]

Don't buy a plasma because they do not last long and are the most expensive. They are basically good for watching movies and that's about it. They do have the best quality picture but as I said they have living cells in them and they don't last long. Get a DLp they are very nice TV;s

[Vex]

They also come at a next gen price

$3,000.00 is a next gen price?

[thecavemankevin]

well guys, i was hopeing to get real life and "current" facts. However it seems that much of what i am hearing are outdated facts and rumors.

Current Gen plasmas have a half life of 60,000 hours similar to that of LCD's.
Burn in is also for the most part a problem of the past. you can still suffer from burn in, but you would have to be trying to get burn in in order to suffer from it. In fact as far as i know all plasmas have some form of automated pixel movement in order to "shift" the picture to keep this from happening. Moreover most will automatically shut down the screen if they detect that any part of the screen has been frozen for and hour or so.

Wizzman: Plasmas are typically cheaper than LCD's when comparing same sizes 37 and above. and as Mr "oh look at me, the small one is only 19" said when going big, go plasma. Right now i am looking at either the 37 or 42 Panasonic plasma like i listed above.

I was hopeing maybe some of you have some real life experiance with these newer gen models and could offer advice. I will be mounting this over a fireplace thus running the wires behind the walls. Any of you have good advice towards cables?

[davidb]

Wow... Simply staggering to see the rumor mill going in full swing like this..
As Kevin stated, the half life for plasmas is 60,000 hours, and the burn-in issue is basically a NON-issue at this point. But moving right along..
Since this thread was started by thecavemankevin for his own benefit, and he seems to be aware of the rampant fallacy going on in it, I'll resist the temptation to debunk every rumor and misconception, and simply give my best answers to his questions.

The plasma that you mentioned in your post, the TH42PX60U, is certainly a good choice. For the money (or close to it) you won't find a better flat panel. The only REAL competition that Panasonic has comes from Pioneer, who makes TV's that fall far outside of your price bracket if you get one of their good ones. My reasons for recommending the Panasonic are many, but they all basically boil down to quality of components - An excellent panel, and excellent processing.
One of the posters mentioned that the reason that fixed-pixel HDTV's don't look good with non-HD signals is because the signal's resolution doesn't match the native resolution of the TV. He was absolutely right. Fixed-pixel displays use a "scaler" to adapt images to fit their native resolution. You will often see this advertised as "upconverting all sources to HD picture quality!!", which is a load of horse pucky. The fact that they HAVE to do this is the very reason why non-HD signals look worse on these TV's. The image doesn't naturally fit, so it has to be changed so that it does. When you buy a GOOD fixed-pixel display, one of the things you're shelling out for (hopefully) is a good quality scaler. This is one of the things I was talking about when I said the Panasonic had excellent processing. Most fixed-pixel TV's don't look as good with a digital cable / satellite signal as the Panasonic will with basic analog cable. Another facet of it's excellent processing is simply its ability to make you forget that it IS processing the image, evident especially when watching a moving image with a high level of detail - a long distance shot of a treeline for instance. Most non-tube TV's will have a hard time showing an image like that without visible artifacts from processing, whereas the Panasonic will appear (to use a technical term) buttah-smooth.

The Panasonic's excellent panel is what allows it to have such excellent low-light performance. The worst mistake you can make when looking for a TV is to look for the brightest, most colorful TV. Any TV is going to look it's best when it's at a tame setting, in a darkened environment. And my god, the Panny looks *****in' in that environment. You probably already know about it's excellent contrast and black level and whatnot, so I'll just leave it at that.

Actually, a quick note on contrast before I go on: Looking at the number given by a manufacturer to determine contrast ratio is a bad way to do things. Much like wattage on audio equipment, contrast ratio is one of those things where a manufacturer can basically choose the number that they want to achieve and adjust the equation to fit.

Anyway, on to the next questions. As far as what you'll want to go with it, basically you want to have good quality sources, and have them connected to the TV the right way. Simple in concept, right? You already have a source in your HTIB, the built in DVD player. More on this in a bit.. As far as other sources, you'll probably want to have something that will let you get HD on your HDTV.. this can be done either through satellite or cable, or antenna depending on where you live. As you're going to be running cables through the wall, I'd recommend that you use an HDMI cable to connect the HD box to the TV.

As far as the DVD player goes - First of all, don't make the VERY common mistake of underestimating the difference that the quality of the DVD player will make. And don't kid yourself on that HTIB, its quality is mediocre. You will get passable PQ with it, but you could be doing a lot better. And <<NO>> I am not talking about "HD-upconversion" DVD players. You remember what I said earlier about the scaler built into every fixed-pixel TV, and how the Panasonic has one of the best ones out? HD upconverting players simply have a scaler built into the player itself. If you use it, you bypass the one in the TV. Simple as that. So ask yourself this - "Does this $1-200-ish DVD player have a better scaler in it than my top-of-the-line plasma?", and abruptly cut yourself off with a scornful "Of course not!!".
What I'm talking about is simply getting a good quality player, so that the TV's thoroughly excellent scaler has good material to work with in the first place. Not the one built into the HTIB, not the entry level crap you see for under $100 at the local big-box store. To be fair, the best of these (Panasonics) have pretty good performance, but nothing that will measure up to what you get out of the step-up models. Harman-Kardon makes a DVD player that I have experience with that definitely merits looking into, and can be had for ~$200. Regardless of whether or not you go with a new DVD player, make sure that it is hooked up with component cables.

A word on cables - Yes, cables do make a big difference. If you didn't hook up with the best connection you had available to you, you hooked it up WRONG, plain and simple. However, I am referring here to connection TYPE, not the actual quality of construction of the cord. Get something that is good quality, by all means, but remember that the very best thing that a cable can do is leave a signal totally unchanged. Meaning if the bottom of the line is 99% accurate, the top of the line gives only marginal improvement. Go with something that is well made, but doesn't break the bank. Belkin cables are an excellent choice in that light.
Cable Rankings, worst to best:
Video: F-pin (coaxial), composite (yellow), S-video, component (red, green, and blue), DVI/HDMI. Actual differences in PQ between component and DVI or HDMI are minimal, and can go either way, but HDMI is technically the best connection. Use HDMI for the HD box, component for DVD player and X-box/PS2.
Audio: For audio you have the regular old stereo audio (red/white), digital optical (toslink), and digital coaxial (SPDIF). This is a little more complicated. Reason being, the type of connection you use really just determines which component gets to do which job. For instance, if you have a CD player with a digital output (optical or coaxial) and an analog output, and a reciever with the same inputs. Hooking up with the analog connection will cause the CD player's DAC (digital to analog convertor) to process the information on the CD, and then send it to the reciever as an analog audio signal. Using the digital connection will simply take the digital information from the disc into the reciever's DAC, which then processes it into an audio signal. Basically, it boils down to which component has the better DAC. For surround sound, you always want to use a digital connection. Coaxial and optical are sending the same information in two different ways, no difference in quality, use what's available and don't wish you had the other, because it wouldn't make any difference.

Anyway, I seem to be rambling.. I hope this has been helpful to you in some way. I apologize if anything I said was incoherent or seemed mean-spirited, I'm a little tired and a little intoxicated. Good night.

[Kyle.Kimber]

If you want to get a plasma, you might have to go up to about 3 g's if you want to get a nice one. I personally would go with an LCD. My neighbor got a 50" NEC off the internet, and It kicks complete and total ***.

WORD OF ADVICE!!!!
If you get a mount, make sure to mount the screen on a far wall. And make sure that the mount isn't too big and causes the TV to jut out. I helped my friend install his, we wired the cable and power supply through the wall, we even put a little "no electrical charge messing up your new expensive TV wall outlet thing"which we got at radio shack and reccessed it into the wall. NOW really, it sounds nice, but the TV still juts out 8 or so inches from the wall and the TV is perpendicular to a high traffic area, so you can see all the wires and cables hooked up to the back. So that kinda sucks. So REMEMBER THAT.

[RRfireblade]

EDIT: RRfireblade, what don't you sell, man?

Not much...I have expensive hobbies to support.

[thecavemankevin]

thanx davidb, thats the kind of info i was looking for

data i'm sure i'll be talking to you soon.

[Indignant]

Not much...I have expensive hobbies to support.

it bet he's well known in the gun-running trade too