"Commercial" plasma screens the real deal for HT?

Front projection is teh biggest bang for the buck. However, if you want a flat pannel and are thinking about a Comercial version you may want to talk to an ISF guy. Some of the comercial displays are the same as Consumer without bells and whistles. Some others are intended to display still images (flight schedules, billboard type advertisements, talking heads, etc). These displays do not do well with fast movement and even a non-videophile would be sorely disapointed by these. An ISF guy could tell you much more than I can and probably get you a hell of a deal on an appropriate Comercial display. The Pioneer comercial displays should fit the bill.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/bsc/product/album/two/0,,2076_4183,00.html

The Commercial plasmas tend to have two main differences; Coating; FCC Class A so silver coating is OK. Consumer requires FCC Class B, so a different coating material is used to decrease emissions through the front glass.

Commercial plasmas tend to have BNC connections, a higher grade video true 75 OHM connection as opposed to the RCA connects which are audio actually if you go back to their origins.

There are only three manufacturers of plasma glass and the rest get from these three; the comment above about commercial plasmas being made for still images is incorrect; there is no "still image" glass factory.

And yes those bells and whistles are not present on commercial plasmas. EDTV plasmas are usually better than HD plasmas for 480p DVD source, as one- to one pixel mapping introduces less artifact than upconversion. Thats the big picture so to speak.

Finally an opinion; front projectors are great if you have room and certainly more cinemtaic; however, I really dont find the PQ to be as good as plasma and also moany of the FPs do not have enough lumens to generate the light needed for optimal PQ. Even at CES this year, some manufacturers aimed three FPs at a time to one spot same source just to get the lumens necessary.

The way a television deals with movement involves the scaler not the glass. If all of the rest of the specs on a set look impresive but the scaler is not up to par the image is going to look bad or atleast not as good as that of other displays with better scalers.

The Imaging Science Foundation (while not completely unaffiliated with manufacturers) is into R&D for measureing and calibrating video displays. Chances are there is a local dealer who has a resident geek who happens to be ISF certified. These guys can calibrate a display to output an even temerature throughout the reproduceable color spectrum. THey can show you what a displays performance is before and after calibration on a printed graph. Also the subjective aspect; you should see an improvement in the picture of any given set after calibration. At around $350 per input (usually only one input calibration is needed) it is a small investment in comparison to line conditioners, set-up discs, fancy cables, and any tweeks available. There are adjustments that are only available via the service menues of these displays. ISF guys are able to get into these, make changes to get the best performance out of a given set, and all without messing things up (as ambitious videophiles often do).

Check out the ISF website. It's not great but it can put you in touch with a guy in your area who knows how to explain the pros and cons of the different options.

http://www.imagingscience.com/about.htm

Hope this helps.

1. ISF calibration does not always produce the "best" results. The above post is correct in that a set can be tweaked to "ISF School" perfection, which an individual isnt going to hit exactly. One of the threads on avsforum discusses this in detail, and offers "The steaming rat method" with comments about that vs ISF calibration with someone who has gone in both directions. Sometimes tuned perfection just isnt as appealing as adjusting the set to get a looking through the window real life skin texture type orientation, guided by steps, set up disks etc. Individual mileage may vary, so to speak. The concept that everyone agrees on what looks best obviously isnt true.

2. I have never seen a plasma with motion artifact and there are no differences in the scalers or glass used in commercial vs consumer plasmas with the exception of the coating I mentioned due to FCC classification. Motion artifact has been an inherent problem with Flat Panel LCD displays and is most obvious in sporting events to me. BUT- LCDs have gotten better on this.

I have a plasma display from NEC. It is a non-consumer model as it does not have a tuner or speakers..a true display only. Excellent product, and I saved a ton of CAN$ by avoiding the retail, consumer marketplace and sourcing it elsewhere. In addition to on-line sales, one can typically get a "commercial display" from vendors of audiovisual equipment.