42" Plasma monitor under $3000

[Ron Pollitt]

Good to see the 42" Plasma monitors coming down below the $3,000 level.

http://shopping.msn.com/softcontent/softcontent.aspx?scmId=920

Ron

[drgingras]

ED plasmas have been nipping at the sub-3k price point for a while now. Costco was selling one for under 3 late last year, Best Buy lists one just under 3 every few weeks, and internet prices have also been in the same range.

FYI#1 - Dell Planars ship without a stand or wall mount.

FYI#2 - Local purchases mean sales tax added.

FYI#3 - Reliable internet sales = add'l. shipping.

End result in all cases is usually back over 3K, and you still have a unit that's only capable of 480p. And usually a lower-end display.

Not threadcrapping, just a reminder that the HD wow factor is what brings us all here. ED plasmas also offer the wow, but it's a completely different thing.
I actually own one of the 42" Planars (same type of deal back in Feb., but without the free tuner) and I love it. Awesome for DVD's, very good on digital and analog, fairly impressive on HD downconverts, and milwaukeehdtv.org has a really big piece of real estate now.
With wall mount, a 6" deep display saved me big bucks in potential remodeling costs to bring widescreen viewing into a very narrow media room.  And plasma technology allows for much better viewing in daylight.

But it's still not 1080I. HD plasmas are still double the cost of their RPTV counterparts. And, hands down, the old reliable 4+ year old Mits beats out the really cool new plasma when it comes to High Def. viewing.

I too was glad to see the prices drop below $3000. Jumped on the Dell deal, but wouldn't want to substitute it for true 1080I.

My .02 (and a few bucks extra),

Dave

[Ron Pollitt]

Dave,

Thanks for your reply, good information.
I'm still learning but what is an "ED" plasma unit vs a "HDTV" plasma unit?  I purchased a used unit and thought I was receiving an HD picture if I have the output set properly on my OTA set-top box to 1080i or 720p.  Dummy me, could I be displaying only 480P? thinking it was a higher resolution?  Sure is a beautiful picture vs. my Analog TV and still seems better than the progressive DVDs (which are great) that I watch.

confused.
Ron

[Gregg Lengling]

A lot of persons are not told what a display can really do....the true HD nuts around here are using RPTV's because the LCD and Plasma displays (while nice) still can not display a full HD picture.....unless you have an extra 35k laying around in the bank that you don't need.

[Snard]

Originally posted by Gregg Lengling
A lot of persons are not told what a display can really do....the true HD nuts around here are using RPTV's because the LCD and Plasma displays (while nice) still can not display a full HD picture.....unless you have an extra 35k laying around in the bank that you don't need.

Well now, don't forget those of us who use direct view HDTV monitors :-)  I'm pretty sure that my Toshiba 34" wide screen monitor can display all the pixels (of course, not as big as the rear projection screens, but I like how it looks.)

[drgingras]

Borrowed from the AVS Plasma FAQ (credit to davidw):

"All plasmas "display" hi-definition content. They are virtually all digital monitors that display a progressive (non-interlaced) picture with a minimum vertical resolution of 480p (480 horizontal lines, non-interlaced). However, not all plasmas have a high enough native resolution to display hi-definition material (generally 720p or 1080i) without first down-converting the source (lowering its resolution).

When reviewing the specifications of a model, pay close attention to the native resolution of the display as opposed to the *supported* resolutions. This is true for all digital displays. If the native resolution is something like 853x480, that should tell you that the display will not show a hi-definition picture without down conversion. Some of the current 42" plasmas are limited to lower resolutions and do not display hi-definition, whereas others do. All of the current 50" and 60"+ displays are hi-definition (though some would say not "true" HD (see "What is ALiS?"), as that requires the ability to display 1080i natively.) Oddly enough, some of the lower resolution 42" displays will show a hi-definition picture of excellent quality. This is because total picture quality involves many factors other than resolution. "
     --------------------------------------------------
Ron - Several manufacturers (NEC included) produce 42" screens in both ED and HD. At 852x480, HD content is being down-converted to 480p. At 1024x768, HD will be displayed without  down-conversion. 1024x1024 (the ALiS referred to in the FAQ) is a double-scanned hybrid, also a "converted" HD display.
However, none of the aforementioned 42" displays provide the 1920x1080 pixel mapping required for native widescreen1080i. As Gregg mentioned, "native" 1080i on a plasma requires more pixels and dollars than are available to most of us.  

Snard - Didn't mean to leave out those of you with direct-view. I personally gave direct-view consideration, but couldn't find a volunteer to hold one up while I nailed it to the wall:D  However, there are many direct-views, both 4:3 and 16:9, that are capable of displaying 1080i without conversion.

The key to any display's ability to show native 1080i is it's scan rate - has to be 540 horizontal lines scanned twice (interlaced). Thus the 1080i name.

Dave

[Ron Pollitt]

Dave,

Thanks for an explaination that even I could understand.  Probably wish I done my homework first but I still have a nice picture that hangs on the wall and doesn't take any floor space.

Now do I tell people who rave about the picture quality that it isn't true H.D.....not.    Grin

Ron