Consumer Report on Plasma HELP

[Wet Dream]

My wife went off and bought a Sanyo 42" plasma TV today, model number 42746. Well, its hooked up and everything we are watching looks like it has film over the whole screen. The dish is not plasma yet so neither are any of the inputs, just regular dish thru co-ax. I'm not impressed with the picture. Can anyone find reviews on this or help get the pic a little (or alot) better? It does have HDMI inputs, and a load of rca jacks, but the old 32" was clearer. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? HELP.

[shueman]

You need HD programming....try a DVD.....

[scooooter7]

Yup, if the DVD is clear then there is hope for the TV. I've had a 42" Sylvania that is only ED (enhanced definition) for over a year. The picture is fantastic with the HD DirecTv programs. I upgraded the box and antenna so I could receive regular channels in HD and am glad I did. The picture without the HD programming is not as good as I would like, but you get used to it.

[CA Stu]

My wife went off and bought a Sanyo 42" plasma TV today, model number 42746. Well, its hooked up and everything we are watching looks like it has film over the whole screen. The dish is not plasma yet so neither are any of the inputs, just regular dish thru co-ax. I'm not impressed with the picture. Can anyone find reviews on this or help get the pic a little (or alot) better? It does have HDMI inputs, and a load of rca jacks, but the old 32" was clearer. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? HELP.
There's an illegal alien that comes with each of those.
His name is Manual.
Thanks
CA Stu

[Jyruiz]

If the dish receiver has an S-video out, us that connection instead of the coax, that will improve your picture quality. It won't be HD, but it will be much better. The problem with fix pixel displays is that if you don't feed it a good signal, you won't take advantage of its capabilities.

[Waist Deep]

I believe the Magnavox 50" plasma I got is going back to the store. I compare it to the Panasonic 42" and the picture is just not as good as you can see the trail behind people and moving things( whatever its called).
Running a FTA box with no HD, but it should be clear.
I believe the Samsung 50's are pretty decent.

[voodoomedman]

My wife went off and bought a Sanyo 42" plasma TV today, model number 42746. Well, its hooked up and everything we are watching looks like it has film over the whole screen. The dish is not plasma yet so neither are any of the inputs, just regular dish thru co-ax. I'm not impressed with the picture. Can anyone find reviews on this or help get the pic a little (or alot) better? It does have HDMI inputs, and a load of rca jacks, but the old 32" was clearer. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? HELP.
Now I'm going to ask a silly question here but there's always that possibility I guess. Spending 4 years of my life in tech support makes me have to ask the obvious questions as some people..........................
You say the picture looks like there is a film over the screen. Well.......Ummmmmmm.......... Is there a film over the screen to protect it during shipping?
If there is pull it off. :D

[BoatFloating]

Now I'm going to ask a silly question here but there's always that possibility I guess. Spending 4 years of my life in tech support makes me have to ask the obvious questions as some people..........................
You say the picture looks like there is a film over the screen. Well.......Ummmmmmm.......... Is there a film over the screen to protect it during shipping?
If there is pull it off. :D
Oh come on, you are assuming the consumers are dumb.... "Hello tech support can I help you?" "my t.v. won't turn on. Tech Support: "did you plug it in?" Consumer: uh????? oh ok thank you...

[Ned S]

I sell and install Dish and Directv so I get to see them all. Non HD material looks like crap on all plasmas or just about any display because the picture has to be stretched or zoomed to fill the 16 X 9 screen. A good S-Video cable will help if you don't have a HD source.
Actually most of the 42" plasma ED displays look as good as the HD versions with either source.
I have yet to see a 50" Plasma that I would put in my home regardless of the price, they all look like crap to me unless you are viewing a good DVD, have poor eyesight, or sitting to far from the screen to notice the missing details.
Another thing I have noticed is that some of the 3-4 year old displays that people paid big $$ for have some sort of scaler and line doubler built in and the picture quality is much better than what is out there now. It seems to me that as the prices fell that some of these features got left out.
There are stand alone devices out there that can improve the picture but I have yet to get a customer try one as they cost as much or more than the set they just purchased.

[voodoomedman]

Oh come on, you are assuming the consumers are dumb.... "Hello tech support can I help you?" "my t.v. won't turn on. Tech Support: "did you plug it in?" Consumer: uh????? oh ok thank you...
My favorite is when your trying to get someone to reboot the computer and then after 10 minutes and they keep saying the screen has the same thing as before it turned off you find out that they are simply rebooting the monitor. Boy do I not miss those days. Oh well, stepping stones.

[Jyruiz]

I believe the Magnavox 50" plasma I got is going back to the store. I compare it to the Panasonic 42" and the picture is just not as good as you can see the trail behind people and moving things( whatever its called).
Running a FTA box with no HD, but it should be clear.
I believe the Samsung 50's are pretty decent.
You are seeing motion blur, happens with all plasmas and LCD TV sets. One reason for the the motion blur is the signal you are feeding it. Put some HD on and the motion blur will be minimized quite a bit. The smaller the Plasma TV, the less you will see the motion blur and the better the picture will look, with this though, you also loose resolution as the 42" plasmas are only 1024x768 and the 50" plasmas are 1366x768. HD is minimum of 1280x720. You can also reduce the motion blur by lower the contrast/picture, brightness settings and using component/DVI/HDMI connections in the back of the plasma, of course, that is as long as the source has those outputs.

[Jyruiz]

I sell and install Dish and Directv so I get to see them all. Non HD material looks like crap on all plasmas or just about any display because the picture has to be stretched or zoomed to fill the 16 X 9 screen. A good S-Video cable will help if you don't have a HD source.
Actually most of the 42" plasma ED displays look as good as the HD versions with either source.
I have yet to see a 50" Plasma that I would put in my home regardless of the price, they all look like crap to me unless you are viewing a good DVD, have poor eyesight, or sitting to far from the screen to notice the missing details.
Another thing I have noticed is that some of the 3-4 year old displays that people paid big $$ for have some sort of scaler and line doubler built in and the picture quality is much better than what is out there now. It seems to me that as the prices fell that some of these features got left out.
There are stand alone devices out there that can improve the picture but I have yet to get a customer try one as they cost as much or more than the set they just purchased.
HD will always look better in a plasma that has a minimum res of 1024x768 than an EDTV plasma that is 852 x 480. An EDTV plasma will always look better with standard def and lower quality signal material because it is just like a regular standard def TV, but HD will never look as good on an EDTV as it does on an HD plasma.

[Schiada76]

Oh come on, you are assuming the consumers are dumb.... "Hello tech support can I help you?" "my t.v. won't turn on. Tech Support: "did you plug it in?" Consumer: uh????? oh ok thank you...
We did a prewire and speaker install along with a whole house remodel on a house in Malibu owned by an arrogant little midget fck and his skank ass bitch wife. We and every sub on the job were treated like a turd to be wiped off their shoes.:mad:
We finish the job and the cheap fcker decides to hook all his entertainment up himself. Calls me up screaming obscenities threatening to sue the shit out me, tells me I fcked up his dream home bs bs bs. His speaker system doesn't work, I ask the fckin idiot how he hooked up his components and then listen to the little bitch berate me for the temerity to question his expertise.
I drive out to the dumb asses house point to the pile of speaker wire in a bundle in his entertainment unit and tell him they aren't magic you have to connect them. His skank ***** of a wife then lies to me and says they just unhooked them. I pulled a nine volt battery out my pocket and bumped each speaker in the house.:D Then they asked me to hook everything up. I laughed at them and walked out.

[Waist Deep]

So, should I assume that no 50" plasma will look that great unless you have a HD receiver? I really don't ever plan on getting one until FTA comes out with one. The deal with the Magnavox was $1,200.00 out the door. I was thinking about taking it back for a Samsung unless the crowd thinks it won't make a diff.
The 42's seem too small for the living room, but damn, I love the pic on the 42 compared to the 50.

[Jyruiz]

So, should I assume that no 50" plasma will look that great unless you have a HD receiver? I really don't ever plan on getting one until FTA comes out with one. The deal with the Magnavox was $1,200.00 out the door. I was thinking about taking it back for a Samsung unless the crowd thinks it won't make a diff.
The 42's seem too small for the living room, but damn, I love the pic on the 42 compared to the 50.
Pretty much, or with a good DVD player using the right inputs/outputs. Try to sit farther back and calibrate your plasma, that will improve the picture. Also, coax is the worst video connection there is, it is sending video and audio thru the same cable, I would not even use coax on a standard defenition TV.

[2Driver]

So, should I assume that no 50" plasma will look that great unless you have a HD receiver?
You got it. I just got the new 46" 1080P LCD Samsung. With the regular Dish it sucks. Way worse than the tube TV I replaced it with.
Direct TV is installing a HD dish with DVR tommorow for only $100. Your subscription goes up by $10 a month with the HD Dish.

[don johnson]

I am kind of into this stuff.... At our river house I recently installed a Plasma with the Hughes DVR HD (Direct TV) tuner and hooked everything up via HDMI and the picture is awesome. Also wired my DVD via HDMI.
I have to say that the picture is far better then my home system which has similiar components but is hooked up via component cables.

[Waist Deep]

Final ?.
Any thoughts on the $1,200.00 Magnavox? Is it better to switch it out with Samsung or Panasonic. Pioneer would be good if it were a little bit cheaper.

[2Driver]

THe guys at Tweeter or Showcase over here really can explain the difference. I went Samsung 1080P becasue it looked great, had geat reviews and came higly recommend. Went LCD because it had zero reflection or glare. Can't wait for the HD dish.

[Jyruiz]

I am kind of into this stuff.... At our river house I recently installed a Plasma with the Hughes DVR HD (Direct TV) tuner and hooked everything up via HDMI and the picture is awesome. Also wired my DVD via HDMI.
I have to say that the picture is far better then my home system which has similiar components but is hooked up via component cables.
Most likely because the internal scaler of the plasma is being bypassed by using the HDMI connections, but component should not be any worst unless there is some kind of YC delay, or if there is interference being picked up by the componet cables. Component usually has better color accuracy than HDMI/DVI, specially in the blacks and whites which is the most important.

[Jyruiz]

THe guys at Tweeter or Showcase over here really can explain the difference. I went Samsung 1080P becasue it looked great, had geat reviews and came higly recommend. Went LCD because it had zero reflection or glare. Can't wait for the HD dish.
If you are not going to feed it a good signal, then it really doesn't matter which one you have, they will all look pretty bad, well, except for maybe the Pio which has one of the best line doublers in the business. Have you tried using the other connections as suggested?

[2Driver]

If you are not going to feed it a good signal, then it really doesn't matter which one you have, they will all look pretty bad, well, except for maybe the Pio which has one of the best line doublers in the business. Have you tried using the other connections as suggested?
All true, if you are not going to use the HD dish you should just by my $1,800Mitsubishi 36" tube TV for $100 and call it a day:D

[Waist Deep]

I'm using Monster cables and SVideo on the 50. Reallyjust looking to see if I should spend another grand to upgrade from Magnavox for whe I get the HD stuff.

[Jyruiz]

I'm using Monster cables and SVideo on the 50. Reallyjust looking to see if I should spend another grand to upgrade from Magnavox for whe I get the HD stuff.
The Magnavox is a decent Plasma once calibrated, but out of the box, it is fair/ok at best, I can't remember what picture settings it has, but if it has a Movie/Theater/Film setting, use that one. When you go HD the Panny and specially the Pio will be better than the Magnavox.

[Waist Deep]

Eventually, I'm going HD, so it seems the better choice would be to get the 1,200.00 back and use it towards a Pan.
Thank You

[shueman]

If you are going to mainly watch TV, stick with a good CRT. Only a handful of channels our there right now with HD programming, but they are amazing. Analog basic cable channels suck, digital cable channels are better...depends on the source program. Not sure if you can "up-vert" the TV 480i signal or not...:idea:

[Ned S]

HD will always look better in a plasma that has a minimum res of 1024x768 than an EDTV plasma that is 852 x 480. An EDTV plasma will always look better with standard def and lower quality signal material because it is just like a regular standard def TV, but HD will never look as good on an EDTV as it does on an HD plasma.
True but the signal one sees from their off air antenna, cable box, or satellite box is tampered with to conserve bandwidth. It is called statstsical multiplexing. In other words if a program provider needs to add more channels some of the picture quality is digitally stolen from all of the channels from that provider. The TV will see the signal as 1080, 720, or 480 but some of the picture details mostly the background and dark scenes are turned into a blur. Most DVD's and players are around 640 X480. So unless one is after state of the art equipment and really dosen't want to upgrade constantly a good EDTV at 42" will serve them fine for the next few years. Trust me I see it every day. The latest craze is for 1080P but that format can't handle any fast action. It goes on and on. My next post will help one shop for a new TV. 90% of my customers don't have a clue.

[Jyruiz]

HD will always look better in a plasma that has a minimum res of 1024x768 than an EDTV plasma that is 852 x 480. An EDTV plasma will always look better with standard def and lower quality signal material because it is just like a regular standard def TV, but HD will never look as good on an EDTV as it does on an HD plasma.
True but the signal one sees from their off air antenna, cable box, or satellite box is tampered with to conserve bandwidth. It is called statstsical multiplexing. In other words if a program provider needs to add more channels some of the picture quality is digitally stolen from all of the channels from that provider. The TV will see the signal as 1080, 720, or 480 but some of the picture details mostly the background and dark scenes are turned into a blur. Most DVD's and players are around 640 X480. So unless one is after state of the art equipment and really dosen't want to upgrade constantly a good EDTV at 42" will serve them fine for the next few years. Trust me I see it every day. The latest craze is for 1080P but that format can't handle any fast action. It goes on and on. My next post will help one shop for a new TV. 90% of my customers don't have a clue.
Or multicasting, a lot of the local over the air HD stations do this, but it still sending a minimum of 1280x1080i over the air, and that looks better in an HD TV/plasma than in a EDTV plasma. I am also aware that Directv does this, and I am hoping they will go back to 1920x1080 once the two new birds (satellites) go up in 2007. I don't know where you get that 1080p can't handle fast action as it processes more frames per second, maybe the signal coming in is not a good quality one and hence it makes it look that way.
Oh, and DVD is 720 x 480 (or 704 x 480) resolution.

[Ned S]

jyruiz
The new birds will help, and Dish is working on some other options as well. But 1080P at more than 36 frames is a real bandwidth hog. There are some rumors and I hope they actually come true. Not a merger but possibly sharing some of the satellites and uplink centers might get us a better quality picture. But as time goes on and they need to add more and more channels who knows. The locals really suck up the bandwith because they must be retransmitted from their local area to preserve our local tv stations rights to advertising. The true HDTV channel we all want requires the same amount of bandwith as 8 - 10 normal channels probably 12 or more at 1080P without removing the background and grayscale details. And actually a real 720P picture is very good. Even if they share bandwith to improve the quality of our picture some new shopping or religious channel comes along and can demand retransmission per FCC regs so we are still screwed. One would not think it is a big deal but nationwide with alt audio and special feeds for others who knows. So far it has been add a city but not more HD and the HD suffers.
An EDTV in a modest size will work for most for some time. To many get upgraded for no reason at all. Most get sold on impulse. 90% of my customers don't want to subscribe to or watch what is available on HD today! Be a educated buyer! There are a lot of lies out there! If we want the best then we pay$$$$and it will be ready for the future? Welllllll I'm on my 3rd.

[Jyruiz]

jyruiz
The new birds will help, and Dish is working on some other options as well. But 1080P at more than 36 frames is a real bandwidth hog. There are some rumors and I hope they actually come true. Not a merger but possibly sharing some of the satellites and uplink centers might get us a better quality picture. But as time goes on and they need to add more and more channels who knows. The locals really suck up the bandwith because they must be retransmitted from their local area to preserve our local tv stations rights to advertising. The true HDTV channel we all want requires the same amount of bandwith as 8 - 10 normal channels probably 12 or more at 1080P without removing the background and grayscale details. And actually a real 720P picture is very good. Even if they share bandwith to improve the quality of our picture some new shopping or religious channel comes along and can demand retransmission per FCC regs so we are still screwed. One would not think it is a big deal but nationwide with alt audio and special feeds for others who knows. So far it has been add a city but not more HD and the HD suffers.
An EDTV in a modest size will work for most for some time. To many get upgraded for no reason at all. Most get sold on impulse. 90% of my customers don't want to subscribe to or watch what is available on HD today! Be a educated buyer! There are a lot of lies out there! If we want the best then we pay$$$$and it will be ready for the future? Welllllll I'm on my 3rd.
I hear ya, and I know all that bro, I keep up with this stuff real good. We are never going to see anybody transmit in 1080p, as you know, that takes up to much bandwidht. 1080p will only be use in HD DVD and BlueRay and the 1080p TV's will take advantage of that, like when DVD's went from interlace to progressive. All I want is the 19.2 MBs that HD requires so we can get full 1920x1080 from the dish companies. Now, over the air does 18 MBs and I am more than happy with that, would even be real happy if DirecTV was to also do the 18MBs. Right now as it is, DirecTV is realy HD Lite at 1280x1080 and even worse on Sundays when the NFL package is on in HD.
I also agree with you that if your customers don't see a difference between EDTV and HDTV, then I would not recommend an HDTV. However, I would recommend a good optometrist though. :D