Who has taken the 4K plunge?

[Halon451]

Btw my dad had an old Trintron set before he got his plasma. They were great TV's in their day.

 

[lovinthehd]

Btw my dad had an old Trintron set before he got his plasma. They were great TV's in their day.

I don't miss moving that beast around, though. I also inherited for a short while a large rear projection Hitachi set (before some burn-in from the previous owner's love of ESPN drove me to the plasma) I had to have three guys carry that one out! My plasma is much more manageable!

 

[Halon451]

Well add a +1 for the 4k TV's then as far as manageability. At 65" the new one is a fraction of the weight my 50" plasma was! Were it not so wide I could have easily hoisted that thing up onto my wall mount by myself without any strain on my back.

 

[3db]

Wow, still rocking the old "tube" TV..

Amazing to think how far we've come. I remember the very first TV I ever owned: a 13" Magnavox tube TV that I got as a Christmas present during my middle-school years. I remember being excited because it was COLOR, haha. Many a game of Metroid and Mike Tyson's Punch Out was played on that thing.

Any reason you went for the upscaling BD player for your 4K TV instead of a full 4k BD player? To be fair, doesn't look like too many of them are yet out on the market and there's a huge cost differential between those that upscale to 4k and those that actually play 4k, so I can sympathize either way.

Thanks for answering your question . You nailed it with the cost differential.

 

[Halon451]

Thanks for answering your question . You nailed it with the cost differential.

Yeah I can understand that. And quite a difference it is. Guess I figured I already spent all that money on the TV what's another couple hundred bucks haha.

 

[Dan Madden]

Indeed. I ran mine a lot for years and it was a very solid machine. Never gave me a single problem.

I'm still running my PS3 "Fatboy" in high gloss piano black for my DVD and BD discs and it still rocks after 10,000 years !!

I'm all for tech improvements but I'm sticking to my 1080 stuff for the next little while.

When I was younger, I bought into the 'new' stuff and bought into the Laserdisc revolution. The 'FUTURE' of home theater as they put it!! Paid $700 bucks for the player and the insanely overpriced discs and POOF!!!........ There it went onto DVD. I'm not doing it again and like I said, I'm perfectly happy with upconverted DVD's and BD's in 1080P.

I rest in peace...........

 

[Halon451]

I'm still running my PS3 "Fatboy" in high gloss piano black for my DVD and BD discs and it still rocks after 10,000 years !!

I'm all for tech improvements but I'm sticking to my 1080 stuff for the next little while.

When I was younger, I bought into the 'new' stuff and bought into the Laserdisc revolution. The 'FUTURE' of home theater as they put it!! Paid $700 bucks for the player and the insanely overpriced discs and POOF!!!........ There it went onto DVD. I'm not doing it again and like I said, I'm perfectly happy with upconverted DVD's and BD's in 1080P.

I rest in peace...........

I have a few friends who are Laserdisc junkies actually. They collect them and still swear by them! LOL But it's more of a novelty than anything obviously, a relic of "things that could've been but didn't." See also: HD DVD.

Though to be fair, even back during the big Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war, I speculated then that Blu-Ray would become the standard and it did. There are some things, given proper historical context of course that you can safely say, "Okay, yeah - this thing here will become the new norm." I see 4k being that new standard eventually, because the tech is actually quite solid for the most part and costs have already begun to come way down on it. It's a natural evolution from standard HD 1080p. Other things, like 3D not so much... again, it kinda falls more under the "novelty" heading and not likely to become an industry standard. And look at where 3D TV's are now - barely a blip in the greater market. HDR/4k are viable, albeit maybe not entirely necessary as you pointed out. However, it seems to be happening either way.

Cheers

 

[Halon451]

Oh, I will mention this as well. There are things I definitely love about the new big Ultra HD TV... however, IMO the old Panny plasma still kicks it butt for a number of reasons. I don't think anything short of the higher end OLED TV's can begin to reproduce pictures as well as a good plasma ever did, while offering things such a very wide viewing angle (I could literally sit nearly 180 degrees off axis from the Panny and not see any degradation in the image clarity or color), naturally deep black levels, etc. It's a shame that plasmas didn't hold up in the market. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one even if it meant forgoing on the new 4k movement. But it's a different world these days..

 

[TLS Guy]

Oh, I will mention this as well. There are things I definitely love about the new big Ultra HD TV... however, IMO the old Panny plasma still kicks it butt for a number of reasons. I don't think anything short of the higher end OLED TV's can begin to reproduce pictures as well as a good plasma ever did, while offering things such a very wide viewing angle (I could literally sit nearly 180 degrees off axis from the Panny and not see any degradation in the image clarity or color), naturally deep black levels, etc. It's a shame that plasmas didn't hold up in the market. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one even if it meant forgoing on the new 4k movement. But it's a different world these days..

I agree with what you have to say. I bought a top of the line Panny plasma 65" as soon as I new production was ending, and a mid range 50" plasma for our Eagan residence. I still also have the 50" Fujutsu Plasmsa vision I bought in 2006 for my studio, that is now in a small viewing area at Eagan.

I think all of those Plasma screens give a better natural picture than any screen I can find on demo now. I think we have gone backwards. My viewing distance for all except the Fujitsu is greater than 12". So 4K we be of no benefit where we do the majority of our viewing. Anyway that old Fujitsu still looks wonderful even at a close viewing distance. They were the best screen money could buy back in 2006.

Also the rest of the rigs works, very well and I don't want to be buying new pre/pros. peripherals and cabling for a downgrade, which is what I'm certain it would be. Also I have noted a marked increase in HDMI board troubles with new 4K receivers and pre/pros.

I'm not the least interested in getting into this now. Quite honestly I don't think a flat screen could give a better picture that what we are now watching. I watch a lot of concert music on subscription sites and opera as well. All the detail is there and the natural wood hues of the string instruments just a wonder to behold. The mast thing I would want would be the nasty glare of an LCD screen.

 

[rojo]

LOL. That handle indeed was inspired by my new plasma at the time I'd been happy with a Trinitron before that, well into the flat panel days. I'm not a video guy particularly, just want a competent set, I'm in it more for the audio by far and am happy while adoption and new tech brings prices down anyways. I think I'd rather try projection next in any case, but we'll see....don't have a good room for that yet.

My 67" Samsung DLP TV died recently. I was going to replace it with a 75" Samsung from a Black Friday-ish sale, but that arrived defective. By the time I got a refund for it, there were no more holiday sales going on. So to save some money but still end up with a screen size sufficient to compensate for... well, to end up with a big screen... I decided to go the projector route.

And I'm so glad I did. When I finally took my 67" DLP to the local waste management facility, it struck me with profound guilt how enormous a thing I was basically throwing in the trash. I felt like my carbon footprint quadrupled for the year. Man oh man. If nothing else, when my projector dies its true death a few years from now, throwing it away will carry much less shame.

But yeah, replacing my projector down the road will also be cheaper I think. Since I've already got the screen built, the mount, and all the other accessories, those things will continue from projector to projector. But even the initial purchase of projector + mount + screen + cables + Wiremold-ish cable management conduit + replacement ceiling fan (to accommodate the projector's throw requirements) + a passive 3D polarizer + passive 3D glasses, I still paid several hundred dollars less than the defective 75" TV cost on its massive sale, and I now have an 82" display.

It's not without its nags, though. When the overhead light is on, blacks look gray. It takes about 20 seconds to acquire signal whenever I change sources. Initial boot up takes a full minute. And replacement lamps are not cheap.

Nags aside, though, I love it, and so does my family. I got a model with frame interpolation (which, in my opinion, provides a more significant improvement to image quality than going from 1080p to 4k) and Rec. 709 color (with colors as rich as I ever experienced on any television). My wife and I can't wait for our daughter to go to bed in the evenings so we can head into the home theater and catch up on our shows.

To avoid claims of "pics or it didn't happen", here are pics.

 

[Halon451]

Ugh.. that's crazy man, yeah those old DLP's were massive beasts. If I had the space in my house I'd definitely go the projection route for HT and just leave a moderately sized TV in the living room for regular TV watching and whatnot and wouldn't care if it's 4k or not. I just use the TV speakers on the TV in my bedroom (which happens to be my old Panny plasma), and moving her into the bedroom was literally the first time in her life her native speakers were even put to use. I don't need crazy HT sound in my bedroom. I usually just use it to watch the news at night as I'm going to sleep or maybe some kind of mindless show to help me fall asleep.

So yeah, true story - when I decided to go ahead and buy the new 4K TV I was faced with a conundrum. That 50" Panny plasma was no longer the centerpiece of my living room HT and I actually put it up for sale. Had a few offers on it, but they were all (what I felt anyway) lowball offers for a TV of that quality. But a sense of sadness was growing within me too during this.. as I haggled with one potential buyer then another, I realized that I actually felt sentimental towards that TV. I truly hated to see her go. As silly as that sounds, it's the truth. So I finally had a buyer lined up who had agreed to pay me (close enough) to my asking price and was on her way. At that moment a pang of regret struck me hard, so I texted her back saying sorry - it's no longer for sale. She wasn't happy about it at all of course, so I offered her a compromise. I'd sell her the (just as old) Vizio 32" LCD TV that had been in my bedroom for years for $40 out the door. Sold. She was happy again, came and picked it up pronto and I promptly put that beautiful Panny atop my dresser in the bedroom.

It's so big in there that it actually looks ridiculous. It is about twice the amount of TV we need but I don't care. I didn't want to give her up. She'll sit there and be a part of my life until the day she dies, hopefully later than sooner...

 

[TLS Guy]

Ugh.. that's crazy man, yeah those old DLP's were massive beasts. If I had the space in my house I'd definitely go the projection route for HT and just leave a moderately sized TV in the living room for regular TV watching and whatnot and wouldn't care if it's 4k or not. I just use the TV speakers on the TV in my bedroom (which happens to be my old Panny plasma), and moving her into the bedroom was literally the first time in her life her native speakers were even put to use. I don't need crazy HT sound in my bedroom. I usually just use it to watch the news at night as I'm going to sleep or maybe some kind of mindless show to help me fall asleep.

So yeah, true story - when I decided to go ahead and buy the new 4K TV I was faced with a conundrum. That 50" Panny plasma was no longer the centerpiece of my living room HT and I actually put it up for sale. Had a few offers on it, but they were all (what I felt anyway) lowball offers for a TV of that quality. But a sense of sadness was growing within me too during this.. as I haggled with one potential buyer then another, I realized that I actually felt sentimental towards that TV. I truly hated to see her go. As silly as that sounds, it's the truth. So I finally had a buyer lined up who had agreed to pay me (close enough) to my asking price and was on her way. At that moment a pang of regret struck me hard, so I texted her back saying sorry - it's no longer for sale. She wasn't happy about it at all of course, so I offered her a compromise. I'd sell her the (just as old) Vizio 32" LCD TV that had been in my bedroom for years for $40 out the door. Sold. She was happy again, came and picked it up pronto and I promptly put that beautiful Panny atop my dresser in the bedroom.

It's so big in there that it actually looks ridiculous. It is about twice the amount of TV we need but I don't care. I didn't want to give her up. She'll sit there and be a part of my life until the day she dies, hopefully later than sooner...

I feel the same way about that Fujitsu Plasma vision. The chief salesman at Best Buy wanted to buy it for an insane amount of money when he heard what I had when I bought the 65" Plasma. I would not part with it. It is also too big in the room it is in, but I don't care.

Since I have put in there the grandchildren have used it a lot for gaming.

I have to use external speakers. That screen has no speakers.

The loss of Plasma screens has been a massive downgrade, 4K not withstanding. It is quite something when an 11 year old screen looks better than a TV screen you can go out and buy right now. The big thing about these plasma screens is that that have such natural realistic colors. That more than compensates for an insignificant increase in resolution.

 

[Pogre]

Ugh.. that's crazy man, yeah those old DLP's were massive beasts. If I had the space in my house I'd definitely go the projection route for HT and just leave a moderately sized TV in the living room for regular TV watching and whatnot and wouldn't care if it's 4k or not. I just use the TV speakers on the TV in my bedroom (which happens to be my old Panny plasma), and moving her into the bedroom was literally the first time in her life her native speakers were even put to use. I don't need crazy HT sound in my bedroom. I usually just use it to watch the news at night as I'm going to sleep or maybe some kind of mindless show to help me fall asleep.

So yeah, true story - when I decided to go ahead and buy the new 4K TV I was faced with a conundrum. That 50" Panny plasma was no longer the centerpiece of my living room HT and I actually put it up for sale. Had a few offers on it, but they were all (what I felt anyway) lowball offers for a TV of that quality. But a sense of sadness was growing within me too during this.. as I haggled with one potential buyer then another, I realized that I actually felt sentimental towards that TV. I truly hated to see her go. As silly as that sounds, it's the truth. So I finally had a buyer lined up who had agreed to pay me (close enough) to my asking price and was on her way. At that moment a pang of regret struck me hard, so I texted her back saying sorry - it's no longer for sale. She wasn't happy about it at all of course, so I offered her a compromise. I'd sell her the (just as old) Vizio 32" LCD TV that had been in my bedroom for years for $40 out the door. Sold. She was happy again, came and picked it up pronto and I promptly put that beautiful Panny atop my dresser in the bedroom.

It's so big in there that it actually looks ridiculous. It is about twice the amount of TV we need but I don't care. I didn't want to give her up. She'll sit there and be a part of my life until the day she dies, hopefully later than sooner...

I did the same thing! I moved a giant 55" tv to my bedroom when I bought the new one. I just use the tv speakers too. Blah, blah... Pretty much the rest of your post. That's funny.

 

[lovinthehd]

While that old rear projection set I had had decent speakers, none of these flat panels seem to; it would drive me crazy to use the tv speakers on any of the sets (one plasma, two lcd) I use. Love the full audio of a 5.2 setup when enjoying a show/movie from bed, or even out in the workshop. Gotta put that gear to use that falls out of favor in the primary setup...

 

[Halon451]

While that old rear projection set I had had decent speakers, none of these flat panels seem to; it would drive me crazy to use the tv speakers on any of the sets (one plasma, two lcd) I use. Love the full audio of a 5.2 setup when enjoying a show/movie from bed, or even out in the workshop. Gotta put that gear to use that falls out of favor in the primary setup...

I thought about it. But I decided a better use for the old audio gear was to just sell it and recoup at least a portion of the money I'd just spent for all the upgrading. Held on to it long enough to ensure all the new stuff was working well then found it all new homes.

 

[Halon451]

I don't typically watch movies in bed due to the potential for falling asleep being quite high lol

 

[Pogre]

While that old rear projection set I had had decent speakers, none of these flat panels seem to; it would drive me crazy to use the tv speakers on any of the sets (one plasma, two lcd) I use. Love the full audio of a 5.2 setup when enjoying a show/movie from bed, or even out in the workshop. Gotta put that gear to use that falls out of favor in the primary setup...

I've been lucky enough to sell most of my audio stuff. When the fun money is available I've always dumped it on audio (dune toys at one time) and scrimped on the tv. I don't watch a lot of it. Even less now that I've upgraded my speakers and subs, but I want it to look good while I'm binge watching Daredevil on Netflix.

The people I hang out with aren't audiophiles and don't put a lot into indoor entertainment (See also: "Redneck"). Most of my friends think I'm crazy for spending $800 on 2 speakers, but when they hear them they get it. I still get the "you're nuts" looks though. Lol. The tv's I buy aren't top of the line, so resale isn't as easy. Plus I don't really know anyone who would buy it. There's a permanent shadow on one side that's hard to see unless it's a dim scene. Good enough for bedroom duty though.

I do still have an old Yamaha RX-V493 in my garage collecting dust... I could repurpose it for 2.1 stereo. I don't know why that hasn't crossed my mind before...

 

[Halon451]

I think audio gear holds its value quite a bit more than displays. I had no problem reselling my old AVR for a decent asking price but the plasma not so much.

 

[lovinthehd]

I just dislike dealing with the selling of stuff, even when I was in a large metro area plus it is near impossible where I live now without dealing with shipping (which doesn't appeal at all despite spending my career in logistics). When I buy something it is never in mind to think about selling it later. If I do go 4K at some point the bedrooms and workshop will just get upgrades Pretty much goes for anything I buy, I simply use it for as long as it works.

 

[Halon451]

Well the other thing for me is I'm kind of an anti-hoarder. Seriously I hate clutter. If there's stuff sitting in my house not getting any use I typically donate it, drop it off at Salvation Army or if it's actually worth something - sell it. I don't typically hang on to stuff under a "what if I use this later" pretense. Cause 95% of the time that what if scenario never happens lol. Dunno maybe I just got conditioned that way from being in the navy and having an absurdly small space for my stuff.