Plasma 42 inch ....

If you use your plasma in dim light the Panasonic still is tops. The Panny black levels still best the rest ( Fujitsu is the exception, but they use Panasonic Glass-Pixels). Our eyes are much better able to see differences in contrast levels than pixel counts as we move further away from the monitors. Pannys superior contrast ratios and black levels make it the best for dim lihgt becuase of these factors.

In ambient light. Pioneer is a good choice. Pio 5060 for instance But they are very restrictive in their dead pixel return policies and are closing Plasma plants next year and importaing glass from other vendors.

Their isnt anything special about a Runco plasma other than its price. It isnt using a superior chipset, whatever that is referring to. ( Usually this refers to a deinterlacing chip in common usage but thats what good DVD players are for- you generally dont rely on a monitors chip alone for deinterlacing)

Lots of misinformation in the first response as well. Plasmas sales have skyrocketed andsome companies cant keep up with demand. Companies with QA problems, restrictive internet sales policies and authorized reseller agreements are quickly falling by the wayside. But the remaining manufacturers are cleaning up. The analogy here is Toyota GM- overall car sales worldwide arent declining but some companies arent doing as well as others.

AS far as the best value/performance purchase-- an easy pick- The Panasonic PWD8UY commerical plasma monitor which including the stand-- costs 1500 from authoprized resellers if ya know where to look. I am not aware of other contenders at the 42 inch level. AT the 50 inch, then you go with the Panny 50 inch HD commercial set for 3000.

Coulndt let this one go by without comment. The Onyx series from Panasonic and the same sized other current Panasonics are all the same as far as glass electronics and power supply. There are not separate Onyx plasma plants! How funny. The differences are largely cosmetic. PQ is identical. Runco sources their glass and does not even make their own. Again, there isn't anything special about a Runco plasma except the price tag. Absolutely none.

3:2 Pulldown is a function of DVD players by the way. The statement that certain plasmas do 3:2 Pulldown and others don't pretty much misses an understanding of very basic concepts. Your DVD player does the 3:2 pulldown and if its not done well by the player and its chipset and it won't matter what your plasma does ( yes even a Runco!)

The discussion about Pioneers and Pannys is fair game however- at least there is something to talk about here. Pioneers have a certain recognizable eye popping Wow! image--especially in well lit stores compared to seemingly dull panasonic ( yes even the Onyx). This is due to differences in performance of the TVs in various lighting conditions. Inngeneral- Pannys have the edge in the dark and Pios in ambient room light. But Pioneers black levels really improved this year in 2005 with their 6th generation sets. Not quite up with the Pannys.

LCDs- yes LCDs have also imporved. Their images from top producers are crisp and clear and very sharp. Hwoever, the large difference still remianing in black levels and therefore contrast ratios between LCDs and plasmas means an incredible loss of shadow detail in darker scenes in LCDs relative to plasmas. This is even mentioned in periodicals such as the Perfect Vision and Sound and Vision in their latest issues while reviewing the newer offerings. Again, the human eye can see differences in contrast ratios where at 8-10 feet we really have trouble decerning differences in pixels counts. Try it out sometime.

LCDs videoness is exactly its limiting factor. With an LCD you know you are watching TV( a very good one!)- with a plasma, if its set up correctly, you are looking through the window. I agree with the divisions between between top plasma groups versus the others. My favorites right now are Hitachi and Panasonic.

Good luck to the original poster. Also I really agree that Hitachi is a true plasma force yet to be reckoned with. Soon the vastly improved quality of their displays will take front center stage in the plasma world, as other makers fall by the wayside. SAmsung has the resources to put out a high volume quality product as well, but they have had more QA issues than Panny and Hitachi. Pioneer stops their production lines in 2006 ( March) and will source glass.

The 2 42 HD Fujitsu models MRSP are at 6000 and 7000 dollars. WE are actually in a model switch right now where you can get either. The Fujitsu 42 ED offering is at 5000 MSRP.

The Panny 42 inch HD is at 2499. The Panny ED is at 1500.
These are for the commercial displays. The Panny 42 HD has a couple of problems IMHO. I do note that the Panny 50 HD is at 3000, well below the price of Fujitsu 42 inch displays.

Panny black levels do measure the best, but I agree that overall the Fujitsu still has a slight edge in PQ. The difference in price isnt really justified relative to the difference in PQ however. It really isnt gonna matter down the road. Fujitsu sees a very limited restrictive distribution and that in combination with pricing makes it a minor and diminishing player for plasmas. They source their glass from Panasonic or Hitachi ( I think they switched in 2005).

Wanted to finnish up with the comment about the Panasonic Onyx series brought up by another poster. The Onyx was a failed attempt by panasonic to introduce a more expensive line largely based on cosmetics. They use 7th generation technology only and arent made anymore. They are on clearance everywhere at steep discounts. The new Pioneers and Hitachis are better displays at a lesser price, as is the newer 8th generation Panasonic Plasmas.

There are certain websites that give bad info on plasmas; not sure where the side by side Onyx is better comment came from-- but its a technical impossibility unless the comparative neer panasonic is poorly calibrated.

Thankyou for your question. here are my answers. First I am in full agreement that a true HD signal will look better on the HD Panny than the ED panny in general. A bowl of fruit for instance will show more detail of an apple in the background. I have made those comparisons myself dozens of times.

The consumer Panasonic 42 HD has the following issues. 1. For certain- you cannot perform greyscale calibration at all. I mean the function is not present even if you hire an ISF technician to do it. It cannot be done. What this means, and I do not mean to intimate that others dont know what this is--- but if the whitelight is off from the standard d6500 ( considered "perfect white light") you cannot adjust it. Well if the while light level is off, all colors will be off too. Not good.

2. The 7th generation panasonics had a "black levels changing" problem. This is key. What this means is-- you calibrate your brightness contrast etc-- you are watching a DVD or whatever- and then there is a sudden adjustment during a bright scene that changes the brightness ( by decreasing it) of the entire screen. This is some sort of auto adjust circuitry built in and is a nightmare. The interesting thing is that this is only apparent on Panny 42 HD sets; not the ED or 50 inch. My guess is that the smaller pixels cause greater amounts of light to be generated for the same lumens level resulting in this function to kick in much sooner ( ie at lower signals of brightness) than on an ED set, which has larger pixels ( and less of them of course). ANyway its bad and I dont think its corrected for the 8th generation plasmas.

The only positive here is that on the commercial Panasonic 42 HD you CAN calibrate the greyscale. The black levels changing issue is out there. The 50 inch HD from Panasonic does not seem to have either of these issues.

Yes. You got my opinion dead on.

Panasonic PHD8UK

YA- Where did my th-50 go? hehe

Thought I'd add a couple of things based on the recent posts-- I was in a high end store two days agao looking at Fujitsus, Hitachis ( Plasmas) as well as the new Sony SXRD ( LCos) displays. I do think that adding Hitachi to the consideration is a good call. They ARE very full featured. The Fujitsu still has the edge in pure PQ, but they are only monitors without all of the features of the Hitachi. I still maintain that in the end, the Plasma world is gonna boil down to Hitachi and Panasonic and thats it.

AS far as which technology is compatible is HD-DVDs/Blu-Ray-- well that gets interesting. In the December issue of The Perfect Vision- their is an article about advertised 1080P displays that cant really display 1080P. It seems you are safe with Panasonic and Hitachi Plasmas . However, my guess is that the actual HDMI plug, meaning the physical plug itself--is actually gonna change. Too many problems with the current one.. What to do? Heck I Dunno. I am gonna wait until the dust settles etc.. but I already have a nice home theater.

Drubin- What connections were you using? And what model Hitachi ( ie is it the latest). I dont understand loss of TIVO ( but then again I dont have one) and the other comments about color banding etc- I dont have any of that. ( i have a panny plasma myself)The bars you mention are normal for many DVDs depending on if they were pordicued in the 1.85:1 aspect ration or the 2:35:1 ration and anamorphic vs non-anamorphic. The aspect ratio button on the plasma controlk shou,d allow for a zoom mode, which will remove black bars or greatly lessen them

OK- Here are my thoughts on these issues;

1. A-V dissociation delay; Usually the audio trails the video when the vid signal goes directly to the display and the audio goes through a receiver. But not always. I cant comment on Hitachi video processing causing a delay because I dont own one. Maybe ask your retailer about it. But look again and see if its audio or video that is delayed. Often its hard to tell. My Receiver allows for some adjustment in this regard. Occasionally I see this problem with certain DVDs but usually not.

2. Ability to view cable HD signal-- I would look into using a cable card- that Hitachi has a cable card slot. Users at avsforum.com report a better HD picture via use of the card. Sound and Vision Magazine November issue ( I think) also discusses the advantages of the cablecard over the set top box.

3. Tivo- If it is possible to somehow have HD signal via cable card and non HD signal via STB ( ie signal splitting) I might go with the s-video for the non-HD channels since its reliable and simple. DVI to HDMI is a potential headache. I dont like that set up at all. Too many chances for video signal to be altered.

4. I do see that the Hitachi has built in tuners- Are these potentially helpful? Perhaps not. But can the cable signal utilize the built in tuners ( I know often times the answer is no). I only use my plasma for HT so I don't really get into the multi device hookup scenario.