42 Inch TV - Plasma or LCD, 720 or 1080? Argh so many questions

Dont worry to much about 720p/1080p. The 42PX80 (which i have) is a great TV! It can be had for under £600 now. Even though its only 720p; it will wipe the floor with many 1080p plasma's/LCD's from the likes of LG, Samsung etc.

The Pioneer 720p screens are still wiping the floor with many newer 1080p screens so dont take it that 1080p is a MUST have because it isnt.
 
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/review/2009/01/27/Sony-Bravia-KDL-37V4000-37in-LCD-TV/p1
Rated very well and released not long ago. I came across this a few days ago when having a look at TVs as I am looking to buy one soon.

Most plasma screens aren't even 720p, isn't this a concern? please tell me I don't have a very good idea- I was under the impression plasmas are a bit under 720p (1,366 x 768 resolution versus the 1,024 x 768 resolution).

Personally I would go for plasma as aside from some gaming (which is not 1080p anyway) I watch SD TV.

EDIT: Trusted reviews has a good review of that TV, with the 50 inch version being under £800:eek::eek:
 
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mglover070588 said:
Most plasma screens aren't even 720p, isn't this a concern? please tell me I don't have a very good idea- I was under the impression plasmas are a bit under 720p (1,366 x 768 resolution versus the 1,024 x 768 resolution).
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Plasma's are most certainly 720p!
They use rectangular pixels as oppose to square ones ;)
1024 x 720 = 720p resolution
 
LOL! 1080p will be replaced by 3DHD in the next 2 years. Thats funny man.

I wonder how much of the UK population has 720p TV's never mind 1080p ones!! I bet its not much.
And Bluray? I bet its not much either! Many people still are on DVD.

You mention 1080p to a person on the street and most of the time they dont know what your talking about. Its only the AV community that are bothered about stuff like that.

The transition to 3DHD will not happen for a long time yet. Many company's are struggling to shift LCD/Plasma (Pioneer for example) and they for sure not bringing new tech into the mian stream market just yet!
 
demoneye said:
Now I remeber why I avoid this forum - it's populated by some of the most "friendly" and ill informed internet geeks ;)
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I've heard cars are going to be obselete because The Register said that flying pigs will be the main form of transportation in the next 2 years :rolleyes: Time to stop feeding the troll ;)



Back on topic, check out the panasonic plasmas, excellent screens for the amount they ask for them.
 
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what is the TXP42X10 like, any good? struggling to find anywhere with the px80 in stock.

Can get the X10 for abot £620

what's the sound like on these panasonics, good enogh for everyday tv viewing?
 
valve90210 said:
what is the TXP42X10 like, any good? struggling to find anywhere with the px80 in stock.

Can get the X10 for abot £620

what's the sound like on these panasonics, good enogh for everyday tv viewing?
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The PX80 and other 80/85/800 sets are the 08-09 panasonic models, with teh x10 etc being the 09-10 replacements.

The px80 is a good screen but it would be better to try and grab one of the new ones.
 
Hi op,

Having read about the technology behind Plasma screens I am personally a bit wary of them. They can cause eye strain in the way that a CRT can after extended viewing (due to the way the picture is redrawn in the Plasma screen cells - can't remember the details). Isn't the lifespan of a Plasma about half that of a TFT screen?? Of course you can only get a decent blacks/contrast levels with a Plasma (until decent sized/priced OLED screens hit the market).

Personally I would go for a 1080p screen these days - it is the native resolution for HD broadcasts and Bluray disks after all... But if you aren't planning to upgrade your sources then just get a 720p screen and save yourself a wad of money!!

I would always play your sources through a seperate AV Receiver sound system - playing them with screen speakers... yuh!! :D

LOL @ 3DHD - transmitting higher bitrate video (+audio) will take quite a while to sort out before it hits the mass market. I do remember seeing an article about this somewhere... The only real thing on the technology horizon is OLED displays. These are too expensive at present to be viable for us mere mortals!! :)

Bob
 
Bob Wya Jnr said:
Hi op,

Having read about the technology behind Plasma screens I am personally a bit wary of them. They can cause eye strain in the way that a CRT can after extended viewing (due to the way the picture is redrawn in the Plasma screen cells - can't remember the details). Isn't the lifespan of a Plasma about half that of a TFT screen?? Of course you can only get a decent blacks/contrast levels with a Plasma (until decent sized/priced OLED screens hit the market).


Bob
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Well the standard lifespan for a plasma set to half brightness a year or so ago was around 60,000hrs.

If you watched said plasma for 10hrs a day (get out more :p), then you will get 6000 days before half brightness is reached, giving you just over 16yrs of use ;)

Don't be wary of plasma tech and what you have read regarding eye strain, it isn't true. An lcd should theoretically be worse for you as the picture produced isn't as natural as a plasma, and is generally more vivid, sharp and unrealistic.
 
valve90210 said:
what is the TXP42X10 like, any good? struggling to find anywhere with the px80 in stock.

Can get the X10 for abot £620

what's the sound like on these panasonics, good enogh for everyday tv viewing?
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the x10's are as good as if not better than the px80, but there's apparently not much difference. The sound is great in comparison to other similarly priced flat panels.

Don't listen to stupid outdated **** about plasma's causing eye strain and having to refill the gas after 2 weeks or other such rubbish, it just isn't true.

In reality, in this price range you'd be daft to go for anything other than an x10/px80/px81
 
OLED, omg. if my little Pure evoke flow is anything to go by, it makes my plasma look like a cheap lcd. black really IS black. be VERY afraid of OLED, it will take over the world;) :D


erm, but anyway yeah. plasma's are great, resolution isnt all that important when watching video, even 1080p although i will state, as a fact, that my pz80 resolves more detail than my friends 720p 50" LG plasma. Having said that, i only sit ~8ft away from my 50" and at that distance i really can see the difference. any further than that and naaaah, its not worth worrying about.

as far as screen burn goes, its not a worry on anything other than an LG. image retention however, is a real problem for the LG's. the difference being image retention eventually goes away, screen burn does not.

for everything you want to do, i can only echo what has already been said - a 720 panasonic would be the ideal set for you. go say hello to a 42px80, you wont be disappointed :)
 
Bob Wya Jnr said:
Personally I would go for a 1080p screen these days - it is the native resolution for HD broadcasts and Bluray disks after all... But if you aren't planning to upgrade your sources then just get a 720p screen and save yourself a wad of money!!
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1080p isn't native HD broadcast resolution, that would be 1080i or 720p. So for most people, only Blu-Ray is going to offer 1080p.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;13889935 said:
1080p isn't native HD broadcast resolution, that would be 1080i or 720p. So for most people, only Blu-Ray is going to offer 1080p.
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Ah I was living in ignorance. Do the yanks use 720p for HD broadcast then as well? I see most torrents from the US are at this resolution (720p).

Also is Freesat HD1080i or 720p?

Thanks (& sorry for OT)

Bob
 
To be honest I have no idea which of the two is used most, just that 1080p isn't used because of bandwidth considerations.

I understand that individual programmes on the same channel can be at different resolutions, it's the decision of the producers what they film or encode in.

I don't think anyone uses 1080p except maybe the Japanese?
 
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Hi I just bought a 42" plasma yesterday and love it now after running calibration, however for the folk that game on them I have the following question;

Am I risking screen burn when playing games with HUDs? I mean is it safe for me to play Street Fighter IV for a few hours at a time despite the life bars at the top of the screen staying in the same place? Same goes for any other game with ammo/health counts really.
 
Games like Street Fighter shouldn't be a problem because the health bars etc disappear after each round and in the menus etc, so they aren't on screen for too long periods.

Games like GTA4 are different because the map is always there and image retention is likely, but as mentioned above, just turn the brightness and contrast done a tad.
 
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