Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 42' Plasma , which one ?

I have all my axiom speakers in place, and now i'm looking at three possibilities for my first HDtv. the panny TH42PX600U, the Sammy HPS4253, and the
one that looks the best to me but is also the most expensive, the pioneer PDP4270HD, have i missed looking at another contender? does any one own or have heard good reviews on any of these sets? thanks.

DL, for plasma go with Panasonic, which looks great both from personal experience and professional reviews.

I agree. From what I've seen in stores and the scores of online reviews, Panasonic has the best bang-for-your-buck in the 42" plasma market.

Be aware that 1080p plasmas are starting to come out, so you should be able to get a real deal on a 720p/1080i set.

Don't pay too much!

Though I only have an ED Panny plasma (42PWD6UY), it's great. My only regret is I didn't do full HD. At the time, I never thought I'd get caught up w/ HD. For plasmas, they are the best bang for the buck.

Now I'm considering dumping my HD Tivo w/ 750GB drive space for a new Tivo Series 3... As my wife says when she caught me watching competitive free diving on HDNet, "You'll watch anything if it's in HD." You betcha!

i haven't heard of any plasma's that are really 1080P on the market yet, or maybe they are just out of my price range. which one's are you referring to? has any one seen the panny next to the pioneer?

DL, I've seen them, but not next to each other. My impression was that the Pioneer, while excellent, was not better than the Panasonic and was priced much higher.

In the Consumer Reports tests the Panasonic and Pioneer were ranked at the top, essentially equal. You might find this review of the 60U to be of interest. Note that you can save a few hundred dollars if the relatively minor additional features of the 600U aren't essential to you.

How do panasonic tele's handle in the long run? The few panasonic things I've had (cd players/telephones) didn't hold up well over a couple of years.

Here are the top four as rated by ConsumerReports.org

Fujitsu Plasmavision P42XTA51US $4500
Hewlett-Packard HP PL4260N $1700
Panasonic TH-42PX60U $2100
Hitachi Ultravision 42HDS69 $2200

I'm sure all can be had at better prices.

Michael, apparently you subscribe. My reference to the Pioneer was from the March print issue. Does the online rating have it lower or just doesn't cover it?

John, I do subscribe online. I did notice there was no date as to when these ratings were done, I'm assuming it would have been sometime recently as they have changed since the last time I looked a month or so ago.
The next four listed were.
LG 42PC3D $1900
Samsung HP-S4253 $2200
Toshiba 42HP66 $2000
Proview MH-422HU $2200
As a side note I used Consumer Reports recommendations when I bought my Toshiba and have been very happy with it. My guess is with the changing technology and pricing on these TV's, it is very hard to keep their ratings timely for more than a month, but I don't think anyone could go wrong with most of their choices.

I bought a 50 Pioneer Elite PRO-1130hd this summer, and I have been nothing but impressed by it. Granted the Elites are more expensive. But as for Plasma's go I think Pioneer make the best. It was very easy to calabrate, and set up. I found the Pioneers to be more colorful than the Pannys. But the Pannys have a little better blacks. There was very little difference in the black levels. I thought the Pioneer had more WOW factor than the panny. If you do look you can find smoken deals on that plasma at some stores. If you happen to be by any American TV there's a sale going on this weekend that I got my tv with. They knocked off almost a grand off the price. I thought $4600 for a $5500 tv was a pretty good deal.

i live in the states and would like to know who is having a great sale this weekend? i don't think an elite pioneer is in my budget , i'm just trying to justify the extra expence of the 4270hd. i found some internet sites, plasma depot, dtv express, i just don't have any history with them. are they really aurthorized dealers selling new stock.
every place i've seen the panny 600u it seems either the signal being sent to it is bad or it's just not in the same ball park as the pioneer.

i buy the samsung one because they dont have a built in fan inside the tv. panasonic got 2 fan, be awared, a fan will always made a noise,not from the start but after 1 or 2 years. for the price take the sammy, i get the hpr4252c from samsung.