Buying a Pioneer Plasma from DTV City

[BradInSeattle]

Well, I've searched high and low and have decided to buy a Pioneer 4360 43" plasma TV from DTV City.

I started out totally clueless about a month ago and have settled on this model:

http://www.dtvcity.com/pioneer-plasma/pioneer-plasma-tv.php

Any comments, suggestions or warnings before I leap? Have I reached nirvana? Am I ready to leave the temple?

Is DTV City as reputable as they seem? Should I use PayPal, or is my bank card good enough?

And surely I can't do better than this model Pioneer - which they say just came out - in this price range, can I?

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Hanse18]

What is the price range? It doesn't even support 1080p. Does look nice, and 2 hdmi plus firewire will be convenient. it comes down to whether or not you have actually seen this model. I once bought a 45" LCD without giving it any real look over (and it was available to look at in best buy, im just lazy) and based my purchase on specs alone. I haven't been disappointed with it, but I always have second thoughts about whether or not it was worth the price.

 

[Mort Corey]

I'd use a bank card. You might want to check yours, but many bank cards will double the manufacturers warranty as part of their service (mine did) Also, you have someone to be on your side should there be any unforseen problems with the supplier.

The Poineer is a really nice panel. I wouldn't worry about 1080p since there's virtualy no source at this time. What I would consider would be the 50" display. It's amazing how screens shrink after a few months

Mort

 

[BradInSeattle]

Thank you both for responding.

My price range is around $4,000.00. Is there a better one in that that price range? Everyone I've talked to has said that Pioneer is the industry standard and has the best picture.

I noticed the 1080p but thought I read it wrong. Apparantly not that important?

Would I be better off going with a Panasonic 50"? I've only been researching this for a month. But I'll have the TV for a long time.

 

[Hanse18]

They say plasmas last like 6 years I think before the backlight gets to half of full brightness. I'm sorry I can't actually claim that as fact, since I'm not really that interested in plasmas anymore, but I thought I heard somewhere that 6 years was abou the average. I think LCD panels have a much longer lifetime, which is why you see them more for displays at airports and bus stations and the like. From what I can tell, the bigger Sharp Aquos LCDs equal or beat that plasma in almost every category, except size (either 45" or 65".... 65" is outta ur price range). Samsung and Sony also make some big LCD panels i think, maybe up to 50" now, I don't know.

I don't really have any intention of persuading you to buy something besides plasma, but what are your reasons for choosing Plasma over the other displays out there (DLP, LCD, LCoS, etc.)? Just curious....

 

[Mort Corey]

In your price range, I'd give the 50" Panasonic panel serious consideration. PQ between Pioneer and Panasonic displays is pretty subjective....the Pioneer units I looked at had more intense color and the Panasonic units better blacks. Both are stunning with good source material.

Both manufacturers now rate their panels over 40,000 hours to half brightness (IIRC).....that's a long time. How they arrive at those figures is debateable and likely some internal chip set will fail before the gas in the panel deteriorates to any noticable level anyway.

Good hunting,

Mort

 

[Hi Ho]

They say plasmas last like 6 years I think before the backlight gets to half of full brightness.

Plasmas do not have a backlight. Each pixel creates it's own light. The newer plasmas are said to have a 60,000 hour half life. That is nearly 7 years if you have it on 24/7. Normal use would keep it going long after that.

At 40,000 hours lets say you use it 5 hours a day on average. That would give you approximately 21 years before it reached half brightness.

 

[Hanse18]

Plasmas do not have a backlight. Each pixel creates it's own light. The newer plasmas are said to have a 60,000 hour half life. That is nearly 7 years if you have it on 24/7. Normal use would keep it going long after that.

At 40,000 hours lets say you use it 5 hours a day on average. That would give you approximately 21 years before it reached half brightness.

THIS is why I was careful with my wording, I didn't know the circumstances for the 6 year half life. Statistics can be so misleading... 21 years is much more reasonable for a TV of the 21st century than 6 years.

Seriously, and you hear this all the time but it's the truth, the only person who can seriously make a decision for you is yourself. If you have seen the TV in person and are content with the quality, then it should be a no-brainer. Just make sure you are running good sources into the TV, or else even the most expensive TV's and projectors will look bad.