Thinking about a plasma, down to the wire, looking for some advice. (1 Viewer)

I apologize if I’m putting this in the wrong place or starting a new thread when I shouldn’t be, based on what I’ve seen in the stickies, I’m not overstepping rules. OK, I realize that I’m an annoying n00b who’s frequently lambasted on various AV-related forums for my non-existent knowledge, so I’ve tried to do a bit of research here, but bear with me and if anyone is willing to help, I’d appreciate it. I know I’m probably irritating, so be gentle :p. Down to the wire and collecting holiday pay, I’ve decided with the plasma HDTV market about to be nonexistent, I’m going to have to see about buying one, since this year comes their end. Basically, from my research, and by research I mean looking at customer review on Amazon and reading Wikipedia pages and doing some minor Google searching, I’ve come to a few conclusion. One is that they’re apparently heavier than their sexy LED cousins, but still manageable to move (Frankly, having grown up with CRT TVs and my AV-loving neighbor’s old rear-projection set, which required a damn forklift, this doesn’t sound quite as cumbersome). Also, apparently the majority of sets have less issues with the notorious burn-ins, and evidently burning out takes years, though I still admit to some minor concern (Hopefully OLED will be in full swing by the time it happens !). My current HDTV only wound up replacing my mono CRT because of a sale at Best Buy a Westinghouse UW39T7HW LED, not much, but functional, and still slightly eye-opening after years of watching SD. Maybe it’ll look better if I finally get around to using that Disney WOW disc to calibrate it . I’ve probably foolishly missed most of the deals in the wake of Black Friday, and I’ll have to make due. I can check Best Buy and such, but I would guess that at this juncture, my best bet is probably Amazon or Samsung’s site proper. Is there anything else I should know about potential problems? I’m a decade late for the Kuro :p, and apparently the Panasonics are all blown out, Samsung and LG are the only remaining options. I hear that LG aren’t the choice to go with and in lieu of Panasonic, Samsung are the best bet (If anyone wants to vouch for them or throw rotten tomatoes, go ahead ). A quick survey of Samsung and Best Buy’s websites shows a dwindling number of choices, and the top options are Smart TV. I don’t particularly need those features, already having a region-free Blu-ray player which is capable of streaming (A Sony BDP S-3100, low on outputs, but it does what I bought it for, so it’ll do for the moment), and more importantly, the price is so high as to rule it out altogether. The remaining options look to be fairly low-end (PN60F5300BFXZA), or midrange, and I’m looking at the latter. Samsung’s official site and Amazon both tout a seemingly-well reviewed PN64H5000AFXZA (I’m debating whether or not to add the expensive warrantee :p.). If there’s another set of minor more expense with say, 3-D features or something which would be a better bet, what are the pros and cons? I freely admit, I have no interest in 3-D, so if not including that particular feature will keep the cost down without robbing me of more important features, then that’s frankly alright with me. I’m thinking I’m better off simply going with Amazon or Samsung.com since in my experience of walking around most electrocics stores ala Best Buy, most of them don’t even know what the deal is the motion interpolation effect which they tend to inexplicably have on. Like I said, I’m pretty much down to the wire and figure that as working retail during the holidays is brutal, I might as well spend some of it ! I’m open to any advice and suggestions. Thanks to everybody in advance!

I believe you'll find the Samsung 8500 plasma series to be the most recommended from people on this site. Supplies of it are dwindling as we speak, so you will need to act pretty fast.

a couple of good threads to look through:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/327617-my-dilemma-panasonic-zt-vs-samsung-f8500/

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/333871-samsung-f8500-review-calibration-ve-shootout-2013-2014/

Nothing wrong with a basic LG plasma. The 60" LG have been under $700.Any plasma between $400-$700 is worth buying. Many sites offer inexpensive 2-3 year warranty extensions.

I would second the Samsung plasma recommendation, though if you read through the user reviews, there have been some issues. Might be wise to invest in an extended warranty. Regarding plasma burn in: I own a 60" Pioneer Kuro, and it's never been an issue for me. I think if the sets are properly calibrated and you don't leave the set on with still images for extended periods, it should not be a problem. Best of luck!

My experience: I've owned 2 Panasonic Plasmas, a 2006 42" 720P model which now resides in my son's room, and my current main set a 46" ST30 series.

Only one problem with burn-in on the 2006 model, when my son left his Xbox360 on all night (he fell asleep) and the next morning the Xbox main screen was burned in. However, after a few hours of watching regular TV, it was gone with no lasting issues.

On the ST30, I watch a TON of network TV with constant logos, sports with constant score banners, and old movies with black bars and don't have any burn in issues. They really corrected burn-in, IMO, as the plasma tech matured.

For my money, plasma beats LCD/LED hands down for most realistic and accurate picture (after calibrating). I pray my Panny last til OLED or whatever superior picture technology comes along down the road.

I'm with you brother; even at $3500, OLED is too expensive, especially for a 55 incher. Love to see OLED succeed, though.

Mike, what's your price range? $1000 or less?

The least expensive of the F8500's is the 51 inch which is on sale for $1000.

If you want something larger, the Samsung 60 inch F5300 may be more to your liking, especially since you don't care about 3D. The F8500 models tend to give more accurate colors and deeper black levels, so they'll cost you more.

What of the infamous plasma glare? Will that be a huge issue? I admit, the windows in my bedroom mean the light kind of goes where it goes, should I be concerned?PS Are analog inputs a thing of the past on contemporary sets? I still have quite a few old game consoles with RCA jacksPPS I'll answer other posts later, at work .

Glare happens on screens that aren't matte.LCD and plasma that aren't matte suffer from glare.

I'm thinking I'll bite the bullet and take the plunge on this and get Amazon's expensive warrantee,but very quickly, will it be able to handle other signals? I'm region free and have some PAL discs and Region B Blus which I wouldn't want to find out were less compatible with it!PS I have the Disney WOW disc and I've been trying my hand at calibration, but so far appear to have done little good :p. How far away should I sit? The TV is on a stand, I can't mount it on the wall. It's aimed directly at me diagonally since my bed is in the corner of the room and the TV is in the center against the wall. The room's setup is such that it's hardly ideal, but I'm putting it where there's room, basically. I wouldn't know where to find a pro to calibrate my set and frankly wouldn't want to pay for it (I'll be squeezing money tightly after buying this baby!), and I feel like until I figure it out, I'm kind of driving a Ferrari in first gear.

Does the BD player not concert PAL to NTSC?

I'm pretty sure it does, it seems to be able to handle it on my current HDTV. Although the company from whom I bought it advertised that it would be permanently region free, and once I ran one of the software updates, it was not. I contacted them, and they sent me download which I could upload onto the player to get the region free capability back, but it was a little bit annoying when you consider how they advertised it.

Pulled the trigger on it with the warrantee, but they can't deliver it until next week . Tried to also also order a pair of HDMI cables to hook up my old HDTV in the basement (that a $40 DVD player can be hacked region-free and has an HDMI out is frankly amazing to me), but they tried to run them as a separate order and charge me shipping, so I cancelled and I'll just get them at work . Thanks, Amazon, ya louts. Hopefully, this time next week, I'll have it ready to roll and see if plasma is all I've been told. Then I'll annoy everyone with a new thread about how to use my Disney WOW disc to calibrate it :p.

It's here. You don't realize how big it is until you see it. And now I've discovered that even the stand is so wide that it won't fit on my old-ass wooden cabinet. Somewhere, God is laughing .

Which display did you buy?

It's a Samsung PN64H5000. A few n00b questions as regards the calibration of it and especially my old LED now lurking down the basement using a Disney WOW disc: what is the difference between graphic and video HDMI modes? What about noise reduction and dynamic contrast? Should I have them off? Should I fiddle with the white balance and color space options, or not? I've found calibrating the brightness and contrast to be fairly easy, it it's difficult to find the "right" color settings with the tests they give. I assume the "hue" and such deals with more complicated settings outside of my knowledge? On my HDTV downstairs, I have an HDMI cable connected to a very cheap DVD player, and it frankly looks appalling. Tons of noise and grain. Settings, or just the cheapness of the player? Even running the DVR at 1080i, I'm having trouble with bleeding solid colors too. They look...how do I describe it, like they're a separate piece of the screen unto themselves, like solid color overlayed over something, it's odd. SD material is also really not looking good on my new set, maybe that's the price of such a high-quality TV. As far as Audio settings, I know what SRS is, though it's never sounded much different to me, but I don't know what AVL is or whether to set the audio output to PCM, none, or raw.

So for the extra post, can't find the edit or delete post buttons :p.

Oh, incidentally, many of my DVDs are looking particularly bad on the new set. I get that they're SD, but is it just that with a new higher-resolution set, the flaws stand out more than ever? DVDs obviously look inferior to Blu-ray, but these have been looking remarkably weak. My player is a region-free modded Sony BDP S3100 (With poor customer service, though that's a separate issue), it's probably not the highest-end video scaler, but I was streaming at 13-15 Mbps in downstairs on a Smart TV and found the picture more striking, I must admit, I'm growing slightly concerned about having spent a month's pay on a poor choice .As far as calibration, I've been hunting around online, and it sounds like I can use various settings to try to get into the proper ballpark of proper calibrartion. Now to hunt around for settings for my other sets .

I play my DVD, primarily, with an Oppo 970 and a Pioneer/Elite DV48.Those two players kill my BD players(all of them) and the scalers native to the various TV and AVR.(And contrary to the "naysayers about break in"...plasma sets don't get good till after 100 hours. Which I tell people...give it 100 hours. Leave it on 24/7, on something with no ticker or logo, for 4-5 days)