need opinion on family room

[tmurnin]

So I need some opinion on upgrading the tv in the family room. I currently have a Sony XRD 50" that works fine, but I've replaced 2 bulbs in 4 years @ $300/bulb and ideally I'd like a little brighter picture. This is a large room that is open to the kitchen and also has a bank of windows (which can be covered with shutters) directly opposite the tv.

I'd like to get something in the 54-60" range but am trying to decide between a Panny plasma and an LCD/edge-lit LED. I'd like to keep the budget under $2k.

I want the best picture I can get for the money, but I'm realistic about the room itself. I don't want to pay for features that sound great on this board, and might be awesome if I was setting this up in a well-designed HT room, but which I'll never notice in real-life use in the family room. The use for this tv is typical family life - sports, tv programming, movies. I have zero interest in paying extra for 3-D, but if the tv comes with it, no big deal.

So, all that being said, are there any recommendations? There's a local store that has the Panny S2 on sale @ 54" for $1200 and the 58" for $1500. Not sure if the windows make a plasma impractical there though.

As far as LED/LCD goes, is it worth me paying the extra $$ for edge-lit LED in this room or should I just look at a very solid LCD? ANy suggestions?

 

[jliedeka]

I think plasma technology, under the right conditions, gives the best picture quality available. I have a 50" Panasonic plasma. I made some shades that are able to block enough light that I can get a pretty ideal picture during the day.

In all fairness, most modern flat screen TVs (from major manufacturers) are pretty good. I think plasma is the best available because of contrast and lack of motion artifacts. Panasonic is arguably the best manufacturer of plasma TVs but Samsung and LG don't necessarily suck.

All caveats aside, if you have some control of the lighting in your room, I'd advise you to buy the best Panasonic plasma TV you can afford. I'd also spend a little more on the Spears and Munsil set up disc or pay for professional calibration. I got the S&M disc with my Oppo player and, being a cheap bastard, did the setup and called it a day. A professional calibration will be better but it's up to you if you want to shell out the cash.

Jim

 

[tmurnin]

THanks. Any feedback on the S2?

 

[Yamaheart]

THanks. Any feedback on the S2?

Hi there,

I ordered my Panasonic plasma Tc-P54g25 thru Amazon for $1239 about a week ago. It will arrive tomorrow, from what I heard and read, it is one of the best TV on the 2010 market....

 

[Yamaheart]

Hi there,

I ordered my Panasonic plasma Tc-P54g25 thru Amazon for $1239 about a week ago. It will arrive tomorrow, from what I heard and read, it is one of the best TV on the 2010 market....

Damn, I just check the price again and it is now $1180, I could have save $60. Is there any price adjustment or protection on Amazon? I want my $60 back... :

 

[JaBear]

THanks. Any feedback on the S2?

The problem with the s2 from panasonic is it's base on old technology. When Pioneer drop out of the business they when to big 3 plasma companies and sold them their technology. However it was a per TV bases. Panasonic in interest to keep cost down on it's panels only start putting in the single pane of glass in the G series as well as the real black filter. The S2 is forced to use a gray filter and thicker piece of glass. So in a room where you have a lot of light the picture will suffer on that style of plasma because the light will get trapped between the two panes. The new ST30 model from Panasonic will have the single pane but still use the gray filter, not a bad TV by any means but won't have the black levels you saw in the Kuro, the GT30 will be where it's at this up coming year as far as dollar for value since it basically the VT25 without any of the RS232, Pro Settings or ISFccc. Model: TC-P55GT30 and it's list price is 2199.99. Go into Best Buy say hey I forgot my 10% off coupon that I got for my Reward Zone and they will do it for 1980...That is a steal for a 55" plasma of that quality.

 

[JaBear]

As far as LED/LCD goes, is it worth me paying the extra $$ for edge-lit LED in this room or should I just look at a very solid LCD? ANy suggestions?

Stay away from edge-lit LED they are a marketing gimmick that only exist because no manufacture wants to pay LG the rights to make full array LED and manufactures still wanted to make LED because the avg consumer thinks LED is LED and they still wanted to be able to sell "the latest and great new technology"

Think of an edge-lit LED this way have you ever been sitting in bed at night reading a book and you have a light on next to you. You will notice the light will fill one side of the page really well but the other side not so much. You don't get uniform light dispersion. That is the problem that you will get from an edge-lit, now there are some edge-lit that will do local dimming section that will help minimize the effect of bad light dispersion, but still not nearly as good as full arry.

Not all full array LED are the same take vizio they make on but they do it LG blessing that they achive this by not really giving you any benefits of a full array they have 40 LED space across the TV, that mean they have 1 LED for 51,840 pixel, not much lighting control going on here. Sony, HX909, also made one that rivaled the LG as far as spec but they couldn't compete because LG charged them so much for the rights to make the TV that when it came to market LG priced their TV under Sony by 1k and Sony pulled the plug on production.

That said a high end LCD give you picture better than of Edge-Lit but not that of Edge-Lit with local dimming or Full array LEDs. Sadly no one really make high end LCD because they don't sell well because the avg consumer thinks LED is better than LCD. Sony made an KDL-55HX700 that only latest state side for about 2 months before Sony stopped sending them over because they just didn't sell, one of the best looking TV I saw last year. There also is a Samsung LN-55C750 which is also very good not as good as that Sony but very good nonetheless and better than almost all Edge-lit LEDs that can be found for around 1799.99. IMO spend the extra money and get the Panasonic gt35 you won't be sorry.

Hope this helps

 

[tmurnin]

Thanks. Think I'm gonna order the G25 thru Amazon!

 

[lobanw]

Our family just purchased a 42" Hanspree LCD TV for our living/sitting room and we absolutely love it. It has a swivle deck, and all the inputs that you could possible ask for. Our song is 8 months old and absolutely loves watching cartoons now more than ever. I wasn't sure we needed a 42" but it isn't as large as I was imagining. In fact, it is almost the perfect size if there is such a thing. 1080p and displays HD movies beautifully!

Hope this helps and you find the right, working TV for you and your family room

 

[dapack69]

Damn, I just check the price again and it is now $1180, I could have save $60. Is there any price adjustment or protection on Amazon? I want my $60 back... :

Yes they do. I bought an item a year ago and it dropped three times in 30 days after I bought it. I got refunded three seperate times.

 

[dapack69]

THanks. Any feedback on the S2?

The problem with the s2 from panasonic is it's base on old technology. When Pioneer drop out of the business they when to big 3 plasma companies and sold them their technology. However it was a per TV bases. Panasonic in interest to keep cost down on it's panels only start putting in the single pane of glass in the G series as well as the real black filter. The S2 is forced to use a gray filter and thicker piece of glass. So in a room where you have a lot of light the picture will suffer on that style of plasma because the light will get trapped between the two panes. The new ST30 model from Panasonic will have the single pane but still use the gray filter, not a bad TV by any means but won't have the black levels you saw in the Kuro, the GT30 will be where it's at this up coming year as far as dollar for value since it basically the VT25 without any of the RS232, Pro Settings or ISFccc. Model: TC-P55GT30 and it's list price is 2199.99. Go into Best Buy say hey I forgot my 10% off coupon that I got for my Reward Zone and they will do it for 1980...That is a steal for a 55" plasma of that quality.

I own the S2 and have to agree completly with what JaBear stated.