Newbie needs advice again!!!

[dhark]

Just found this site and must say very informative and great!! Anyways I am totally new to the whole HD thing. I am looking at getting a new setup and need some suggestions. I was and still am very interested in the Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD which I have read tremendous reviews about but have only seen the 47" in BB and wasn't that impressed, maybe they had it hooked up wrong I don't know? But I also have seen the Panasonics in person and heard many great things about them as well. So I think I have it narrowed down to the Westy or the Panny 50px60U. I want to keep it in the $1500 range and can get the Westy for $1355 shipped and have a line on the Panny for $1500 give or take $100 from Craiglists brand new!! I am not too concerned with room to Tv size as both will match my needs. It will most likely be just the TV and DVD player for now until the spring when I can get a new receiver. I am also thinking of getting the Oppo 981hd DVD player after reading about it on this site (never even hear of them till now!!!) I will be mostly watching Tv thru Comcast with HD and have heard alot of these HD LCDs and Plasmas don't look good if its not in HD. I am very torn between the 2 sets and need some help. I like the fact that the Westy is 1080P and will be able to handle anything I throw at it in the future but the Panny might have a better picture but I am worried about burn in with watching alot of regular tv. So any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and Happy holidays

Oh and 1 more question whats the big difference between the 60U and the 600U versions in the Pannys I like the look of the 600U but dont know if theres any real diff

 

[The Dukester]

Don't know much about the Westinghouse units, but on the plasmas, yes there is a difference in the pic on the 60 and the 600. For my money, the Pioneers look the best hands down on the plasmas I have looked at with SD content. Are they great? No, but SD will not look stellar on large screen tvs in general. The Pioneers looked the best to me, however. You can get a 42" in your price range, but not a 50".
As far as burn in, SD or HD makes no difference, just having static images on the screen for long periods of time. One such example is watching ESPN or news channels a lot with the bar at the bottom of the screen. I have seen tvs in stores that use ESPN too much that have the logo and the bar burned into the screen.
You should be fine, though, as long as you watch diff channels and keep the brightness, contrast and sharpness down a good bit, especially for the first 1-500 hours, depending on who you ask.
The OPPO 981 is a super machine. I have it matched up with my Pioneer 50" plasma and the pic is exceptionally good.
Good luck with your purchase and welcome to the forum.

 

[dhark]

Thanks for the reply I was afraid no one was gonna answer Yeah 42 is fine but I thought $1600 for the 50 was a great deal. I could go with the 42 panny. So what is the big difference between the 60 and 600 units. The only thing I saw was the look which I like the 600 better and I think the 600 had a cablecard slot?? Am I missing something?

 

[The Dukester]

I don't think the fleshtones look just right on the Pannys. Many folks think that faces have a "clay" look to them. ISF calibration will take some of that out, but I still think the Pioneers are better looking displays...plus they have black bezels It's all personal preference, but (pic quality aside) I think the Pannys are pretty unsightly. Other than the fleshtones, the 600 has a pretty good picture to my eyes, but again, a big part of it comes down to your preference. Buy what looks good to you and what you can afford.

The 600 will have a better pic out of the box. From what I have read, the electronics are better in the 600 than the 60, also.

AVS forum will have more info than you care to read if you want to check them out.

 

[dhark]

What about DLP?? Samsung has this 1080p model for about $1400 Samsung HL-S5087W. I am a little worried about TV longevity? Our tv is on about a good 8-10 hrs a day. I currently have a old Mitsubishi CRT that has to be close to 12-15 years old and the picture is still fantsatic!! People ask if its HD I dont want to get a LCD or PLasma and have it look half as good as it was brand new in a few years