Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Plasma v. HD-ILA

Did professional calibrators come and modify the washing machines? Just wondering...

I havee the SONY SXRD 60 LCOS set, and I'm happy with the choice. I got a 60 inch screen at half the price of a similarly sized plasma, and it sits in my entertainment center perfectly. Your room setup and WAF requirements will probably determine the choice. Be careful with ambient light and plasmas. if you have a window or light source behind you, the reflections can be distracting.

K, I looked over the SD footage on my 58" Panny plasma.

On regular SD channels, they look ok, not the greatest since this is SD afterall.

Channels that are meant to be in HD but down converted to SD signals have a better picture. One movie channel almost seemed DVD like.

I have a FTA receiver (Coolsat 5000) hooked up with component cable going straight to the plasma.

I have yet to see HD footage on my plasma which I will be getting soon.

The Wii, even without component cable, looks really good IMO (despite the resolution).

I asked the same question one year ago and ended up with the JVC 61FC97. Both are great sets, but the LCOS suited my room better and was less expensive. No regrets, other than I could have gone 70"

I compared the HDILA and Panny Plasma, side by side on the same feed in a Future Shop store and each handled different scenes slightly better than others. I couldnt say I liked one over the other.

The Sony XBR was a great pic also, but not enough to make me spend extra for the Sony name. The Sony A2000 was much worse with SDTV, the Samsung DLP's looked great, but I find DLP harsh on my eyes.

If I were to put it in a room that had lighting control the Plasma would be great, while in the current room with a lot of sunlight the glare from the protective screen on the plasma would bug me. Good luck with your decision, but most with the FH96 or FH/FN/FC97's are very satasfied as are the panny plasm owners.

Thank you for the ongoing comments. Much appreciated.

I stopped at BB today. What a total joke (as expected).

They had the JVC's on display, but the color looked terrible. Compared to the Sony and Samsung models, the JVC's were very green; to the point that they looked maladjusted (quick, get JP). I didn't want to take time to really engage Heather and her crew, especially after my conversation with Jason about the Panasonic plasmas.

Me: do you have the 58" Panasonic plasma set up?
J: yes, it's right here.
Me: No, the older, 720p model.
J: Well, there's no reason to have it set up too, because the picture is the same as this one.
Me: But, it costs $2,000 less. If the picture is the same, why would anyone pay for the 1080p model?
J: The only way you see a difference is with Blu-Ray.
Me: Surely, the 1080p set scales any input to fit it's native resolution?
J: no, it just displays 720.
Me: Okay. Thanks. Bye.

The Samsung and Sony RPTV's looked better to me, but who the heck can tell anything in that place? The Samsung plasmas looked really good, too.

More research needed. But I might be able to get a good price on the JVC there, because they probably don't sell very many of them looking like that.

One of the models is made exclusively for big box stores, hence the lack of gold plated connectors (yep, I know) and such. This is the FN97. Light engine, bulb, etc are all exactly the same. Bezels are slightly different. I believe there is one just for Costco and Walmart as well but that's not confirmed on my part.

I have the 61FC97 and yes its all the same but with no gold plated connectors, RS-232 port, centre channel input.

The JVC needs some adjusting out of the box for sure, but I found similar experiences when comparing side by side.

Sony xBR, looked deep, dark blues on ocean scene

JVC HDILA looked to have brighter more greenish hue to the water, which looked more realistic of the algae filled ocean scene it was showing.

Panasonic Viera plasma, looked similar to the JVC, but not as bright.

The Sony looked great and deep blue until I realized that the scene of a seal playing in Monterey bay should show green water. The factory settings on the JVC require the black level to be reduced to -23 to get true black after I used my Avia setup disc.

Dont compare the Sony A2000, a pro calibrator told me the video processor is inferior to that of the Panny, JVC, Mits and Samsung.

The JVC is a great picture, but so are the Sony XBR, Panasonic plasma and mits dlp.

Here is a review 61FN97 review

Its like speakers. All personal preference. If I wanted to spend more, have a thin set and could get it away from my picture window, I would have gone Panny Plasma. I saved the $$ and the RPTV fits in my bright living room better than the plasma would have, so that was my choice.

good luck.

ctown, thank you so much for your comments and the link.

"Bang for the buck" was a primary concern. That and PQ were #1. 1080P v. 720P, the "look at the cool plasma" effect and the rest were somewhere below that. As far as "bang for the buck" the plasmas and LCDs just can't compete with a good RPTV.