recommendations wanted....

Posted by: dave simpson on 24 November 2004

...for a 20" (+/-) flat-panel, LCD, plasma, Pentium, argon, krypton, or whatever-technology-is-current TV for wall-mounting in our bedroom.

Source: satellite broadcast (and possibly DVD). It probably will be hung from a wall by the side of the bed which means a viewing distance averaging 6 feet.

Requirements include: wall-mountable, self-contained amplifier/speakers (though a full array of input/output connectors would be cool if we ever decide to integrate it with a Nait-based rig).

Sorry for my complete ignorance on the subject of all things video... and thanks in advance for the recommendations!

regards,

dave
Posted on: 25 November 2004 by Frank Abela
The latest Sharp Aquos range look to be doing some interesting things at the moment. However, don't buy an old stock model. Last year's Sharp Aquos models were very ropey indeed.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.
Posted on: 25 November 2004 by dave simpson
Thanks Frank. I saw one of those in action yesterday while shopping and it did have a nice picture. I'll investigate further....

regards,

dave
Posted on: 25 November 2004 by dave simpson
quote:
I have no experience myself as I am not whealthy enough and prefer other screen types, but I have heard that Panasonic make good Plasmas.


LOL...I'm not wealthy enough either but I'm tired of a big fat lump of CRT sitting atop my dresser taking up all the space where important stuff like spare change and car keys should be;-)

Thanks for the tip on the Panasonic units Alex. They do have a helluva picture and are on my list as well.

regards,

dave

PS. Didn't Naim use one of the Panasonic units (and/or a Sanyo) at one of the hifi shows?
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by Geoff P
This from Alex on this thread

quote:
AlexB posted Thu 25 November 04 16:08
I have no experience myself as I am not whealthy enough and prefer other screen types, but I have heard that Panasonic make good Plasmas. I don't know any prices, but a HD Plasma might be worth considering as it might help fight some of the typical Plasma "bugs". Might help lift the picture quality a notch, especially if it has a good built in scaler.
But I'm not sure...just heard Panasonic were quite good


This from Alex about 6 hours later on the "AV stuff..Digital artefacts thread"

quote:
AlexB posted Thu 25 November 04 22:30
Well, first of all, you mustn't expect a picture even as good as a simple 4:3 "old school TV" on a Plasma. Especially not in dark scenes.
Scenes with fog often times actually create problems in the source too, so this would not only be your Plasma. But as you want to keep your Plasma, which from an asthetic view is understandable, you will probably want to make the best of it.


Come on Alex you have got to be kidding!!!!!.

Either you are the dumbest poster we have or you are as usual being confrontational on purpose and misleading people in the process, which is objectionable to say the least.

Geoff

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by SimonJ
He's a troll!!!
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by SimonJ
Got to be....
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by Don Atkinson
PS. Didn't Naim use one of the Panasonic units (and/or a Sanyo) at one of the hifi shows?

ISTR that at recent hifi shows (Bristol and Heathrow) Naim were using a Fujitsu plasma screen.

However, at the AV shows which clashed with the hifi shows, they might have used something different, possibly Paus S's OWN plasma and THAT might have been a Panasonic and/or Sanyo......

Cheers

Don
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by Stuart M
I have to come to the defence of Alex

quote:

Come on Alex you have got to be kidding!!!!!.


I've a Toshiba plasma (which is a re-badged panasonic that was the best at the time), and an Infocus 5700 DLP projector.

I use the plasma for daytime/ordinary viewing (the size was needed as a large room) and the projector for films (Can’t always go for total darkness). But in perfect conditions CRT (when did you ever hear the term contrast ratio applied to a CRT - in theory it's infinite!) BUT given ideal light conditions a CRT is still the best you can get (Think a LINN vs CD) is what I would have picked for the best visual experience. Also it depends on your “head”, some people don’t notice “screen door”, “rainbows”, “false counters” – in general at first you don’t but once you do the irritation rises……
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by dave simpson
Thanks Don,

The Sanyo/Panasonic guess might have been from several years ago (or even a US-based hifi show involving NANA).

Keep those suggestions coming....

dave
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by jcc
dave

Go for a Sharp. Great picture, lots of features available and reliable...
Have you seen a 20px anywhere yet?

best
jim
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by dave simpson
Howdy stranger!

quote:
Have you seen a 20px anywhere yet?


Ummm...I'm not sure (what's a 20px?)

regards,

dave
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by jcc
this one

how was the holiday?

jim
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by dave simpson
A-ha! ....yes, I believe this unit is stocked at Costco (and the one I saw last weekend).

Had a great time here, off work (and school) for two whole days. I actually had time to listen to music!

dave

P.S. Nope..just checked their website...it's another model. I'll keep an eye out for the LC-20PX1U however.
Posted on: 26 November 2004 by steve boyd
for plasma why not try those companies that developed the technology. fujitsu and hitachi.nec also had a big hand in its initial start up.their technology is licensed to the other makers who copy or re-implement it!
Posted on: 27 November 2004 by Geoff P
quote:
BUT given ideal light conditions a CRT is still the best you can get (Think a LINN vs CD) is what I would have picked for the best visual experience. Also it depends on your “head”, some people don’t notice “screen door”, “rainbows”, “false counters” – in general at first you don’t but once you do the irritation rises……


Stuart
This is all about what is being compared. For sarters the benfits of progressive scan vs interlaced (very few and only pretty expensive TV's offer progressive) should not be discounted. In fact the contrast ratio of a TV is not infinite because the residual glow from the phosphor screen is necessary to help the eye build a complete smooth image from the two interlaced scan passes. If you turn off a TV in a darkened room you can see quite a strong glow from the screen.
Plasma does indeed suffer from a glow problem in theory which is why the manufacturer's make a big deal about contrast ratio, but figures like 6000:1 mean black can be nicely "black" to the human eye.

The colourisation effects that you mention I understand are more related to the way DLP projectors get a colour image from a single chip using a fast rotating mirror. I say understand because I don't have a projector. Certainly the more expensive ones with 3 DLP chips are supposed to be spectacularly better but they are still very expensive.

I am not claiming my Panasonic 42" plasma which is over 2 years old is state of the art and I am sure there have been further advances but unless I am missing something I have not experienced any solarization or other artefacts WHEN the signal is good (DVD through component in ). On TV signals just like the channel quality and picture colour varies on a TV so it does on a plasma, it does improve a bit in the conversion process to progressive scan, but neither device can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

BTW my comment about Alex was not related to the information in the statements he made, though I do disagree with some of them. It was to the complete inconsistency, advising in favour of plasma on one thread and stating lack of personal knowledge which is fine, but then on another thread going in the reverse direction and spaeking as though highly knowledgable about something he had previously denied any experience of.

regards
GEOFF

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"
Posted on: 27 November 2004 by Geoff P
Alex

Fair enough if that is what you saw. I have never yet seen a decent demo of a Plasma in a shop. I don't know why, maybe partly because they "split" the picture signal to multiple screens but I KNOW my plasma is better in my house than my TV because I can compare them over time. Others also seem to agree with me as posted above

So I guess we will continue to disagree on this.

regards
GEOFF

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"