Matte Screen Plasmas

[solomr2]

Holiday greetings to all...

I'm looking to upgrade my family room TV, currently a Vizio 42" 768p LCD, which is going in my bedroom. I want to get a 50" plasma, either 768p or 1080p, but it must have a very good matte screen in order to work in this troublesome room.

I say troublesome because this room is a lighting nightmare. My floorplan is open concept. The entire right wall is all glass from floor to ceiling... nearly the entire 28 feet. To the left, and somewhat back, there is another very large window (14 feet wide, 10 feet high). And directly to the left is my kitchen, which is almost always lit with ceiling lights in the evening. To make matters more difficult, the cabinet it will be resting on is 38" high, making the viewing angle less than ideal.

I am aware of the Panasonic TH-50PX77U, and it seems like it would work well in this environment, but I'm wondering if there are others to consider.

 

[Davemcc]

Can't you hear the room screaming at you? I can hear it from here. It's saying:


"LCD...LCD....LCD"


Your room is troublesome. It has a bad attitude.

 

[solomr2]

Can't you hear the room screaming at you? I can hear it from here. It's saying:


"LCD...LCD....LCD"


Your room is troublesome. It has a bad attitude.

LOL! Yeah, I know. But I like the PQ of plasma better.

I've had LCD in there for the past year, but the cabinet my wife bought is too high now (38"), which puts the TV at bad viewing angle from several seats in the room. I think most plasmas are better at off-center viewing.

 

[annunaki]

Many of the LCDs I have seen recently are pretty good at off angle viewing now. If you are going to do plasma the TH50PZ77U is the route to take. The matte screen helps greatly and has about as much glare as an LCD. In other words, virtually none.

I am a plasma guy all the way but because of the amount of light you have an LCD may suit you better. The Sharp Aquos, Toshiba LX177 series and Samsung 71 series are fairly nice, for LCD that is.

Take the Samsung out and insert Sony XBR4. I forgot the 71's are glossy on the finish.

 

[1tribeca]

If you have to, go Sony...the rest are so-so at best. Like I've always believed, if you're gonna drop a couple grand on a panel, spend a couple hundred on some window coverings and get a plasma!!!

 

[Hi Ho]

I just bought a Panasonic TH-42PZ77U and it has the matte finish screen. My living room is also very bright with white walls/celings and lots of windows. There is also a table lamp directly in front of the TV at the back of the room. The matte finish screen works great! The picture is excellent even when the room is bright and unlike my old CRT I cannot see reflections from objects in the room. I was mainly looking at LCDs because of the light issue until I saw the Panasonic plasmas with the matte screen. I think plasma definetely has better picture quality than LCD and no viewing angle problems.

 

[solomr2]

If you have to, go Sony...the rest are so-so at best. Like I've always believed, if you're gonna drop a couple grand on a panel, spend a couple hundred on some window coverings and get a plasma!!!

I'm pretty much sold on Plasma, but the lighting problem is something I'm not going to overcome any time soon. My wife refuses to live in a cave like environment. But I really don't want to drop near $2000 on an LCD for this room. If I'm going to spend that much I'd rather spend it on a plasma.

Besides Panasonic I haven't found any other plasma with a matte screen. And even then, aside from the 77U I don't think Panasonic makes any other model in matte screen, and the 77U is not readily available everywhere anymore either.

 

[Hi Ho]

and the 77U is not readily available everywhere anymore either.

The PZ77U series is Panasonics current generation. They should still be available.

 

[solomr2]

The PZ77U series is Panasonics current generation. They should still be available.

I thought they were their previous generation, 720p. Aren't the new models designated 700U with 1080p resolution?

 

[Tomorrow]

I thought they were their previous generation, 720p. Aren't the new models designated 700U with 1080p resolution?

That is sort of true. The 700 series is newer and has a couple of more features than the 77U...which is still made. Both are 1080P native resolution sets. The 700U's have "pro" setting up features that you can access at home. That's about the only benefit over the 77U's that I recall.

I just got the previous generation 75U at Costco for a song and a half. Like you, we have light issues...windows all along the wall where the tv is sitting. The anti-glare screen of the 75U is reasonably effective. If you don't mind 720P, which is all you're going to get from television broadcasting for years, this is not a bad choice. If you're into gaming and hi-def DVD's, the 77U should be right up your alley.