Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater sxrd vs plasma

I have seen this graph many times. The reason that I said that 1080p doesn't make much difference on a 50" display from 8 feet away is because of the shoot-out in this month's Home Theater magazine. The 50" Pioneer 5810 being 768p was the only non-1080p display and it won the shoot-out. Nobody was able to notice the difference when viewing from 4 times the screen height. They said that if you are not sitting 6 feet or closer to the set then go with the 768p Pioneer. When viewing less than 6 feet from the display they were able to tell that it looked a little bit soft in comparison to the others. The Pioneer beat out the sony 60" sxrd, Mitsubishi diamond series RPTV, Panasonic top of the line 50" 1080p and a couple other lcd's. The explanation that the reviewers gave as to how a set with half the pixels as the others ones looking like it has as much details as the others was the contrast ratio. The Pioneer's contrast ratio is so much better than all the other display's that if fools the eye into thinking that there is more detail than there actually is. Being as I can't compare 720p vs 1080p in the store's (I have tryed but all the stores feed the sets a 720p signal), I have to take the word of the home theater reviewer's.

- Nick

I have not seen that article, but it sounds interesting. What video sources did they use? Blu Ray? HDTV source?? Any SD programming??

If I understand correctly you are saying that the 768 pioneer and the 1080 Panasonic compare at 8 ft in the review and most atttribute that to contrast ratio of the Pioneer. On the other hand you are going to get a 768 Panasonic and view it primarily from 8 ft as opposed to the 1080 Panasonic which has a different contrast ratio than the pioneer.

Seems like you have done some good research. If you trust the word of the home theatre reviewers in that magazine, then contratulations on your impending purchase and let us know what your thoughts are when you get it setup.

BTW, dont worry too much about not being able to see a 1080i signal in store(1080p would be from a Blu Ray or HDDVD). The TV's have a fixed number of pixels and they always display in their native resolution. Example, if you input 720P into a 1080P set, the videoprocessor just upconverts to 1080P. Likewise if you see a set that says accepts 720P, 1080i, that means its a 720p set and it will scale down 1080i signals and show it 720p.

They used Gladiator and the Fifth Element for SD as everyone does. For high def they used Blue-ray Pirates of the Carribean, HDDVD Batman Begins and something else that I can't remember. This Shootout was perfect timing for me. I am going to try to get a good price on the Pioneer 50" 5080 but if I can't then I'll just go with the 768p Panasonic (that wasn't reviewed in the shootout).

The copy of home theater magazine is probably still on the newsstands. If you are at all interested in purchasing a TV I highly recommend this issue since the shout out covered all of the major brands and all of the different technologies. But, only one technology was allowed per brand. So since the Sony sxrd was reviewed the Sony LCD's were not.

- Nick

The best price that I saw the Pio 5080 at a reputable online dealer was from Onecall for 2150.00 shipping included. You might give axxisdurango.com a call on the sets you are interested in and they may be able to beat the others prices. I just bought my Pio 6010 from them.

HomeDad,
Glad you found my recommendation useful. Make sure you check the set when the driver delivers it. Turn it on at least. I'm sure Axxis would help you out, but....

You're gonna love the Pioneer. I have a Pioneer Elite 64" rear projection 1080i ( living room ) and the Kuro Plasma ( HT room ) blows it away on picture quality. People say 1080p you can't tell,8-10 ft away but I would ABSOLUTELY disagree. At least with a Pioneer Kuro.

I also have the Pio BluRay 95 and Toshiba A35 HD DVD ( 1080p/24 )and they look outstanding. All of it is paired with Denon 3808 and Axiom 80/500 set up, connected HDMI throughout. I also have an Xbox 360 and it's also just amazing....

Good Choice...

- JD

JD
Thanks again for the recommendation, I can't wait to see the picture. We have similar setups, I'm using an Axiom 80/500 with the Denon 4806, Toshiba XA2, XBOX360 and a PS3. As soon as it arrives I'm going to set it up with the settings recommended here Plasma Buying Guide then pop in a 1080p movie and enjoy.

I finally decided on a set and purchased one. I was able to wiggle into the Pioneer pdp-5810hd. Axxisaudio quoted me a price of $2199 delivered with tax. Vans' and One Stop had similar prices. I was kind of hesitant of buying from these companies that I have never really heard of so I went to Best Buy to see if they could beat the prices. I was able to get them to come down to $2100 delivered and Best Buy has 36 months no interest. This 36 months was what sealed the deal since I am a little bit over budget with this even at $2100. The only downside is that I have to wait to get the set until Feb 15! This is going to be a long two weeks. I decided not to go with the extended warrany since it was suggested that it is not worth the money with the newer plasma's. But, I am upgrading to a better surge protector.

I am glad that I went with the Pioneer. If I would have went with the Panasonic I would have always wished that I went with the Pioneer even though they are quite close performance-wise. Thanks to everyone for your help. Also, thanks to jfdawson for getting me to try one last time to see if I could squeeze the Pioneer into my budget.

- Nick

How are these plasma screens with reflections?
That is to say, i know their contrast ratios are fine for 'sunny' rooms, but some of the displays have a glossy screen which really picks up glare from the sides. I was looking at a Pioneer in Best Buy a month ago and was bothered by this.
My father just bought a Toshiba laptop that has a nice 17" screen but it has the same effect. It is so bad that in a completely dark room i could still see the glare from the light from the laptop screen off my face.

I'm curious if anyone has some thoughts on this.

Panasonic has released a model with a anti glare coating, that does reduce the amount of reflection. On y regular plasma I don't find the reflection bad at all when all the lights are on but I do not get much sunlight in that room.

My worksite has about 20 plasma screens on site used as informational displays. They are full HD screens but lack the anti-glare coating. They are replacing all of them with the anti-glare variety because some of them get direct sunlight, depending on the season, and people have complained about it.

Unfortunately, since the existing screens were purchased with bond money, they can't leave the site. They'll end up sitting in local storage for another 7 years before they can legally leave the grounds.

What a waste and a shame.