Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Bought a new TV

Just purchased a Panasonic VIERA TC-P46X3 46-Inch Plasma for our bedroom. Cheapest plasma that panasonic has this year that still has internet connectivity as we wanted netflix and amazon VOD for the bedroom. Ordered through amazon, set should arrive on tuesday.

First plasma purchase, hopefully I like it!

What does Amazon offer for bedroom viewing? I musta missed something in my Wishlist....

Apparently you're not an 'extra' prime member...

Good one, should have seen that one coming

don't forget to order a container of plasma refill, otherwise the colors will desaturate over time.

I have a 46" 1080p Panny Vierra we got from Costco about 3 years ago, love it, great picture.

I'm, leaning towards the panasonic 65GT30 for the main room but that will be a couple of months down the line. It's a toss up between that and the Samsung D7000. For now, my Sony LCD RP is still going strong.

We opted for the 720p model for the bedroom to save a little cash.

Nice. Still loving my VT30 but really want to get a proper calibration. I tried my hand at using the DVE BR and I couldn't get the contrast correct.

Out of the box, I'm using THX w/ brightness turned down. But now w/ the new TV shows, I'm noticing that it's too dark.

I was at a customer last week and they were projecting something on the screen. I wondered why it was so clear and bright. It wasn't a projector. It was a 100" Panny plasma. I want that.

I suggest that you try the Spears and Munsil Blu-Ray calibration disc. I tried DVE, Avia and the THX test patterns on some DVD's but never felt like I dialed in the contrast ratio. I think I have it pretty close with Spears and Munsil. Luckily for me it also came free with the Oppo BDP-83, so it didn't even cost me anything.

The Spears & Munsil seems to be the defacto standard for BR quality set up.

I keep looking at Sharp's new 80" LCD to replace my Panny S1 in the big room and then put the S1 in my bedroom.

OK, thanks for the rec. Off to Amazon...

Try using settings from http://www.tweaktv.com/ I used that site for my TV and I really liked the outcome.

Sadly no VT30, nice suggestion though.

It seems that the "movie" or "cinema" modes on most TVs of late places the settings pretty close to what an actual calibration does at least it is a good starting point to go with till a more thorough set up can be done.

The price of a 80" LCD should be enough to purchase a projector which will give you much better experience in terms of view size and color.

Yes, but projectors, IMO, are still not quite bright enough for daytime use in a room with lots of windows as I have, otherwise I would be looking at one if not already have one.

Jake and Julian both of you guys have good points...

I have a projector. With it i have always had a 96-135 inch picture... I Really enjoyed using the projector and the HUGE picture... However, i had to black out the room every time i wanted to use it. And if i had 30min or less i would not even turn it on..

Right now i am not using the projector and in some ways enjoy not having to deal with it... My current display is a 60" rear projection DLP and can use it all day.

As an update, I really am enjoying my panasonic plasma. We mounted it on the wall above the dresser and is at the perfect viewing height for laying in bed. I used a $30 wall mount from monoprice that is rock solid. The plasma is one of the cheaper plasmas that has no glare control so it does cause some problems during the day (we have two windows on the opposite wall). Most of our bedroom TV viewing is at night so it generally isn't a problem.

The picture quality is awesome and it has great blacks too (especially least compared to my lcd rp with crappy blacks.).

I will probably get some curtains or different blinds to improve daytime viewing.

I've decided on the panny 65VT30 for the living room. Just need to save some more $$ as the TV is over my original planned budget of $2k.

Congrats on your panny purchase, terzaghi.

I agree with jakewash that blacking out is required for projectors. I have both a Samsung 50 plasma and an Epson projector but in order to optimize my watching experience, I black out my room even if I use my plasma otherwise the picture quality is not great. Highly recommended that watch your stuff in a dark room.

I have no issues with my Plasma in my realatively bright room during the day and I have only a bit of glare from one set of windows.

All this talk of glare, anyone remember the bad glare/reflections we used to put up with from our CRT's?

The glare on my plasma is worse than my old CRTs, at least by a little bit. Thou my plasma is also much larger screen so that may add to the perception.

the old crt's would diminish the apparent size of the reflections because of the curvature of the front glass, so i guess this is the reason reflections seem larger on a flat panel, and also the much larger panel sizes.

I have a 65" 10 year old Toshiba RPCRT that is still working beautifully with still a great picture. These sets have a coating on them which somewhat diminishes the glare, however, I have not seen that same kind of feature on plasmas. Either way, when viewing, any light you have on in the room, if at all possible, try to keep it behind the screen so you can cut down on the contrast and get a better balanced picture on your monitor. Contrast(white level) is voltage and the higher the contrast the higher the voltage and the shorter the lifespan of the television.

Hi guys,

All rear-projection sets, including "modern" DLP sets like my Samsung, use a plastic screen that has virtually no reflections, one of the advantages of those sets. The only manufacturer still building DLP rear-pro sets is Mitsubishi.

Regards,
Alan

Come to think of it, you are right about that one. Unfortunately with LCDs and their various thin designs which buyers have overwhelmingly preferred, we don't think much about RP DLP sets anymore. Sad part is, Mitsubishi only sells these DLP sets in the US especially the larger screen models that are great value. Can't buy one in Canada.

I think JB has a good observation here. Any flat surface will reflect light. The degree to which light is reflected depends on factors such as surface colour, light angle and surface properties (hardness, opacity, etc.).
I've seen some plasma tvs with a 'non glare' screen that have more reflectiveness than some original LCD panels mounted on the same wall. But a CRT with a curved surface greatly reduces the surface area affected by light angles creating the glare. The glass surface however is far more reflective than today's plastics.

Going into a store to buy a flatscreen with the idea of looking for non-reflective properties is impossible since they almost all setup the tvs in a darkened room, no where near windows.


Again any flat surface...
Although i haven't seen alot of DLPs, i actually have a picture of some we saw at a home show years ago as a lighting source to the left of the units reflected off the screens.
It was the first time i saw a large screen HDTV and was impressed, by everything except the glare.
They were Sony DLP sets.

my Kuro (plasma) has a filter on the outer surface of the front panel display; i think this is quite rare, but it works well.

Was is Best Buy today looking at TV's and their bright overhead lights reflected in every flat panel set. The sets up high on the wall reflected more than the low ones.

My LCD rp has an anti-reflecrive plastic screen and glare is reduced but definitely has an issue on occassion win glare.

What are you doing not playing Skyrim?

Yeah, i know . About an hour or so after i got outta bed I Went to play but my wife snagged the controller first. She started plucking ingredients for me to use to raise alchemy.

Ha ha, nice. I'm glad someone has their priorities straight.