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In the market for a plasma.........suggestions?

I've been researching plasma tv's for quite some time now and would like to hear any suggestions which brands to check out. My sitting distance is around 12.5' from couch to wall where I'd like to wall mount the plasma. The screen size would either be a 42 or 50 inch. Been reading over on avs forum and it seems many people are happy with the Panasonic and Hitachi displays. I've looked at the Panasonic th50px60u and Hitachi 42HDS69 and really liked them. Apparently though with the Hitachi, many people were having macroblocking issues in dark scenes. Do all plasma's have problems such as the Hitachi? I'd like to keep the purchase under 3k. Thanks for your help.
bradz
bradz's avatar
bradz OP
229 posts
 
Thank you all for the suggestions so far! The pq of the Pioneer plasma's look better to me, but not enough to justify the price difference! I'm leaning towards the Panasonic th-50px60u and would also like any suggestions for a dvd player and a surge/line conditioner. Right now I have a PS Audio uo with my cdp(Cary 303/100) plugged into one plug and a PS Audio juice bar plugged into the other outlet with amp(Innersound esl), pre (Cary SLP 98), sub (REL Strata), Sony trinitron(to be replaced),vcr (lol), and a el cheapo dvd. I would like to get rid of the clutter with the uo and juice bar and get one single unit for +6 components. One that comes to mind is the now discountinued PS Audio power director 3.5. Any others that are similar to the 3.5 with around the same price? After reading and researching dvd players, it seems many people favor Oppo, Denon, Samsung, and Panasonic. Thanks again for your thoughts and suggestions.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I just bought a Esoteric DV-60. I find the picture is much better than my Denon 5910.
holenneck
127 posts
 
I also just received my DV-60, it connected directly to my 1080p TV is equal to my Toshiba HD-XAL and AVM 50 signal upconverted to 1080p. Sound quality via the DV60 is far better though.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
OK. I am going to be a bit different and suggest you look at the Fujitsu plasma. And if you do sports a lot forget DLP or LCD. Too many motion artifacts.
teonyc's avatar
teonyc
43 posts
 
I have to add that Panasonic and Pioneer have always topped the ratings/reviews. Personally I chose the Panasonic Professional series, since it is much cheaper than the consumer models and ships without a lot of extras I don't need (e.g. speakers, integrated HDTV receiver, etc.). The only downside is you have to buy a separate HDMI board for about $150.

I would recommend you avoid Pioneer Elite and Fujitsu plasmas. The price premium doesn't necessarily translate to better image. In fact many of the Pioneer Elite models marketed in the US are regular Pioneers overseas.

Read Cnet, Engadget.com and Gizmodo.com to get some insights and good reviews. In fact there was a recent post on Gizmodo how the vaulted 1080p format marketed as the be-all, end-all of resolution may not in fact be any better than 720p in real world situations.
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