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I Finally Decided on a 42" Plasma - Here's Why
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3.17.2007
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I've been shopping for an HDTV for probably close to two years. It wasn't until around Thanksgiving of 2006 that I got the OK from the treasurer (my wife) to actually buy one. I figured I'd be able find one on Black Friday, but I wasn't up for camping out next to Best Buy in the middle of winter. Then I figured I'd get a great deal over Christmas. Surprisingly, prices on HDTVs remained relatively stable. So I decided I'd wait for the Superbowl sales. Even advertised prices didn't drop that much during the Superbowl sales, but I found an unadvertised sale at CircuitCity.com and went for it.
I ended up buying a 42" LG plasma (model 42PC3D) and I absolutely love it. Ever since I started shopping for an HDTV, I had convinced myself that I would buy a DLP or LCD projection HDTV. These types of HDTVs use different technologies to create the picture, but they are similar in picture quality, cabinet depth (12-16 inches), and price. I was willing to forgo the flatness of a plasma or LCD for the lower price.
There were three things that changed my mind. First, the viewing angles on DLPs and LCD projection HDTVs did not pass the wife test. For her, the limited horizontal and vertical viewing angles of these TVs were unacceptable. The viewing angles are not near as bad as the big CRT projection types, but they couldn't compete with plasma.
Second, the more I read reviews of DLP and LCD projection HDTVs, the less I liked them. These TVs use a very bright bulb to illuminate the screen, much like the bulbs in LCD projectors. These bulbs get very hot, so they require a fan. Many reviewers complained of fan noise. These bulbs also have a limited lifespan. They are designed to last for around 6,000 hours, although I read dozens of reviews from people whose bulbs burned out much earlier than that. The problem is, these bulbs aren't cheap. They start at around $400. The older your TV gets, the scarcer the bulb becomes and they just get more and more expensive. This completely negates the lower costs of these TVs compared to plasmas and LCDs, many of which are rated to last 60,000 hours until they reach half brightness.
Finally, the price of plasmas has dropped significantly. They dropped so far, in fact, for 42" and 50" models that if you find a good deal they are about the same price as quality DLP and LCD projection. Of course, the advantage is that you can hang a plasma on a wall. I might have been able to find a great deal on a DLP, but I know I'd have had buyer's remorse in six months when I wish I could hang a nice, thin TV on the wall.
You may wonder why I didn't go with an LCD. This just came down to personal preference. I think LCD looks great, but I find the picture to be a little too soft and I can sometimes make out the screen door effect of the individual pixels. I think plasmas have the smoothest, most life-like picture and their viewing angles are as good as the old fashioned CRT tube TV. Plus, plasmas no longer suffer from the burn-in issues that were prevelant in early models.
One final note: If you buy a new HDTV, do not buy cables or a mount from a retail store. The markup on these items is astronomical. Get a universal mount online for $30-70. Buy your HDMI cables online for less than $20. A great site to buy all of this stuff is monoprice.com.
If you're wondering why I didn't buy a 1080p (or Full HD) HDTV, check out this article.
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Every 1080p HDTV Should Come With These Disclaimers
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If you've been looking to buy an HDTV, you've no doubt seen those labeled as 1080p or Full HD. I get irritated every time I hear these terms because they're very deceptive. Every 1080p HDTV that is sold today should be labeled with the following disclaimers:
- This TV supports an HDTV format (1080p) that no broadcaster in the US is currently broadcasting in, and probably won't be broadcasting in for several years.
- The only 1080p content currently available is on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs.
If those disclaimers don't mean anything to you, let me explain. All HDTV content is broadcast in either 720p or 1080i. 720p means 720 lines of resolution in a progressive format. Progressive means all of those 720 lines are drawn on every split-second refresh of the screen. 1080i means 1,080 lines of resolution in an interlaced format. An interlaced format, which is how regular TV has been broadcast in for decades, means that on every refresh of the screen, only half the lines are drawn - the odd lines on one, then the even on the next. This happens so quickly that your eyes see it as a complete picture. Some networks broadcast in 720p, others in 1080i. 1080p, or Full HD as it's also being called, is supposed to be the best of both worlds - the higher resolution of 1080i with the progressive format of 720p. But, as the disclaimer mentions, nobody anywhere is broadcasting in 1080p and none plan to for several years.
So why would you want to pay more money for a TV that displays a format that no one is broadcasting in, you ask? The answer is: there is no compelling reason. 1080p TVs will display content in 720p or 1080i format, they just convert the signal much like an HDTV that natively supports 720p will display 1080i content by converting it. Converting a signal doesn't increase resolution, so broadcast content on a 1080p TV will not look any better than a typical HDTV. In fact, it may look slightly worse because of the conversion. And don't expect networks to start broadcasting 1080p content anytime soon. Many are still upgrading their systems to support current HDTV formats. Cable and satellite companies already have to compress their HDTV signals significantly in order to fit all their content into the limited bandwidth they have.
The one place that you can find 1080p content is on Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs. These two competing formats are the high definition successors to DVDs. Both are competing hard to become the standard, and at this point there is no clear winner. Chances are, only one of them will succeed. The cheapest Blu-ray or HD-DVD players are around $500.
So what does all this mean? You can pay more for a 1080p HDTV, but the only way that you can take advantage of it is if you are watching Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movies. Even if you watched a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD on a 1080p HDTV, you'd be extremely hard-pressed to tell the difference if you watched it on a quality 720p or 1080i HDTV. In fact, people that test HDTVs for a living have a hard time telling a difference (see this great article).
I just bought a 720p plasma and have no regrets (read about that decision here). If you're shopping for an HDTV, save your money and take a pass on the 1080p or Full HD sets.
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