How do Plasma TV's handle analog signals ? (1 Viewer)

[RussellTodd]

How do Plasma TV's handle analog signals. I'm looking at buying a plasma due to space limitation issues. However, where I live I only get a few HD channels most of what I watch is in analog signal some is digital and about 5 HD. Is the plasma TV going to make an analog signal look like crap? I currently have an 4:3 HD sony wega CRT which works great for my needs but its so big it won't fit in my new space. Is there a slim screen TV that will handle analog/digital/HD all reasonalbly well that also has decent stretch modes for the 4:3 broadcast which is most of what I watch. Which is better plasma or LCD?

Thanks,
Russ

 

[Mort Corey]

A lot of that is going to be determined by the internal electronics (scaler, etc) of the particular panel. All will do HD well but some will do SD material better than others. When I was shopping for a new display, I took a DVD and a VHS pre recorded tape along to the various stores. You could see some difference between models with a DVD input (most were still pretty good) but VHS was tough...it looked horrible on most, OK on some and decent on the panel I ended up purchasing. That was over a year ago, so I'm sure there have been improvements.

Mort

 

[RussellTodd]

When you say "panel" that you purchased. I'm not sure I'm following you. What exactly did you end up purchasing?

 

[Mort Corey]

Sorry...overly geek I guess Plasma display panel.

Mort

 

[Ronn.W]

If you're going from a Wega to a plasma you're going to be disappointed in regular cable at first. Sad but true. It looks horrible, mainly due to the fact that cable companies compress the signals so much. However, if you calibrate the set and tweak it you can get a very manageable pic out of it.

I just went from a Wega CRT to a 42" plasma EDTV myself. One thing about plasmas, HD or ED, they make crap look like crap and quality look like quality. They don't hide much like a CRT analog set does.

 

[Joe C.]

depends on the plasma really. A $2600 samsung does not look like a $6500 pioneer elite. the pioneers scaler looks much better. there are things that can help. call your cable company saying you're getting a bad singnal and that you think they need to boost the singal strength. add a monster cable monster power that has cable in/out (helps clean some noise). if you don't want to drop 6500 on a plasma you can get outbors scalers that can help as well. Mort was smart in bringing his own material. Nothings gonna look like a good old 480i tube for cable TV....yet.

 

[RussellTodd]

I think you just helped me make my decision. The main reason I bought my SONY WEGA 4:3 HD CRT was because so much of what I watch is regular analog signal, yet I still want to be able to watch some things in HD. I'll wait to get the plasma when HD programming becomes the norm. Right now I'll just take the money i was gonna put toward a new slim TV and pay a carpenter to make my current WEGA fit where I need it to go.

Russ