Which Plasma to buy?

[Unregistered]

I am looking at Plasmas for my family room and was wondering which one to buy. I would like a 42" Plasma in the $3500 to $4500 price range! Can somebody lead me in the right direction?
Thanks
Cory

 

[RLA]

Hi
I have installed many brands of Plasma's
IMOHO the Hitachi,Pioneer and Samsung are the best value lines out there
The 42" HDTV 1024x768 2000:1 contrast Samsung comes to mind
List $7499 Street $4200-4300
as does the 42" EDTV 852x480 1200:1 contrast Samsung
List$5499 Street $3200-3300
Both use excellent glass pannels as do the Pioneer and the Hitachi
Hitachi has one of the best customer service and Tec support in the industry

Hope this helps
Ray

PS the 50" Plasma's are really comming down in price you can now get a good 50" Plasma for the same price a good 42" Plasma was last year and I suspect that the Larger sizes will drop in price mid summer next year

 

[Redbone]

I have always loved the pioneer elite series and thought they out did just about every other Plasma out there as did my girlfriend. We just couldnt stomach the $8000 price tag for such a piece. But if you can afford it I would choose Pioneer Elite hands down.

 

[Audioholics]

and thought they out did just about every other Plasma out there as did my girlfriend

I should hope you think your girlfriend outdoes a plasma screen!

 

[Dan]

I went with Panasonic for a 50", they make an identical 42". www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com was a pretty good website for comparing and they felt that Panasonic had the best picture. The do accept advertising but I think are relatively unbiased. Their advertising comes mostly from e tailers not the manufacturers.

They steered me toward www.dtvcity.com an Atlanta based company that did an excellent job with the order. The price beat Circus City by $3,000 and it came in less than 48 hrs. I recommend those sites, I'm not usually one to buy a big ticket item this way but it was a great experience.

 

[GeorgeM]

Dan: Did you purchase an extended warranty? I'm not generally a fan of these (in fact I've never bought one previously) but after talking with a couple of technicians and a local TV shop I did not hesitate to buy a three-year extension on my 42" plasma for $500.00; it appears that a couple of on-site service calls and module(s) replacements may yield a return on the cost if those events do occur.

I purchased my warranty from the seller (Gateway) but I also saw a thread either here on this site or elsewhere, that caution should be taken when buying a warranty from an independent source. The gist of the discussion was that the manufacturer may not authorize service of their product unless a prior agreement has been inked by both participants in the contract.

As a piece of general information for anyone who is reading this thread, I noticed that on more than one occasion it may be less expensive to purchase the extended warranty at time of purchase; I did not and it cost me an additional $100.00!

Now, timely fulfillment of warranty service for the customer is another issue (been there, done that...) but I'll save that experience for another time... .

-GeorgeM

 

[Dan]

I did get the extended warranty though it goes against my usual habits. I think that I was probably more cautious due to the relatively new nature of the technology and the cost. I felt I could put some of my savings back into the warranty. The panasonic speakers I also got were mighty expensive at $500.

Now I think I should have wired my center channel to the TV and run 4.1 channel from the processor which is how I usually listen anyway and saved the money.