Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater What to buy with Panasonic Plasma off the market

I did look at that but I set my sights a bit higher. I am after the Samsung js9500 and its down to 5g right now but still too much for my budget.

if you like having a curved screen for no other reason than it's curved. If you were looking for picture quality I'd go with the Vizio R

It is unfortunate that to get the best tech you have to settle for a curved screen. I really hope I can hold out for OLED but my Panasonic is giving me grief hopefully it doesn't worsen. I am also playing with the idea of getting a projector but will wait and see what sales are like after Christmas.

lg oled flat not curved
http://www.cnet.com/products/lg-ef9500/

Still lots of money. OLED still immature. But beats anything out there. Granted, I do not like LG. But would never buy LCD, fald or not. LCD will never enter my house.

So, would you agree the problems mentioned above will transfer into the PJ realm as well? Not that I really watch DVD on the big screen anymore, as it looks like mashed potatoes compared to hi def.

I wonder how much closer a PJ will come to the quality in a plasma flat panel with the new 4k/Gammut/Dynamic range playing into the end image.

The Vizio R has a dynamic range that blows away Plasma hands down. It uses a 384 fully active FLAD zones. Does true Dolby Vision HDR support with 100% REC2020 coverage with 800nits brightness. The problem is that you simply can't buy one.

I truly hope one day they make an HDTV that appeals to me in the same way a plasma does. I don't expect anyone to understand the attraction that a plasma has to plasma lovers. LCD just does not look real, it looks artificial to me that's the only way I can think to describe it. In reality a true cinema should be front projection with the light reflected back to the audience not a light source such as a TV. If I did not have a failing TV I would be going with a projector in a NY minute but I still need a TV for my everyday viewing and gaming in the family room. The M series vizio by far is the most attractive set in both price and viewer recommendations and may end up being the go between set as a compromise. My 16yr old who does a lot of gaming has an LCD in his room and prefers it to my Plasma so I do realize that my bias is personal though my 25yr old son prefers the plasma , go figure. I found the above mentioned Samsung plasma for a decent price as well but I worry about their history of humming power supplies and having it shipped 3 thousand miles is a bit of a gamble. Much to mull over , but I feel in the end I will have to compromise and go with and LED.

I recently I had to bite the bullet and buy a new monitor and frankly, because I wanted one at least 65" or larger, I didn't know whether or not to wait for the newer OLEDs or look at one of the readily available moderately priced 4K sets. I ultimately settled on one of the new mid-range moderately priced LG 4K monitors and even though it is LCD/LED I must admit when finally setting it up properly in my system, I have been pretty impressed with all types of HD video. There is no question that there still is a certain "look" to LCD monitors, however, the colors, resolution along with the ability to provide at least decent black levels with both the adjustable backlight and local dimming features makes it quite worthwhile. The menu functions and remote are pretty much identical to the OLED described in the above CNET review and off-axis viewing has improved significantly over the old LCD technology. There is also several different video presets each with its own quite varied video adjustments.

I am fortunate enough to have along with the software and meter and the ability to do my own calibrations, a Lumagen Radiance VP and Darbee VP, and even though they max out at 1080p, the ability of the monitor to upscale to 4K, add it all up and the picture is as good as anything I have seen so far, regardless of the technology.

It's a new day!

Glad to hear you found a set that makes you happy. Doesn't hurt that you have the equipment to do your own calibrations.Most of LG's sets use ips technology which has much better off angle viewing but are said to have not quite as good black levels. This is only what I have read while researching. Something that has come to my attention is Hisense has a tech called ULED which is very close to OLED in contrast and black level but at a much better price. No luck getting them in Canada yet but they have them on Amazon.com .

Front projection is a different beast all together. I currently still have a Epson 8700 which is LCD. NEVER AGAIN. I went through 5 Epson 8350's trying to get one without an issue. Panels all out of line, blurry images dust blobs, convergence issues, pink hues. I'll give Epson credit, they replaced and shipped everyone by air and eventually just upgraded me to the 8700ub - which was a pretty good picture in its day and matched with a high gain screen really popped but still no plasma by any means. But my PJ's before that were DLP. DLP has a much nicer image assuming you can't see the rainbow effect...which is imho is blown out of proportion as I had DLP's for more then a decade and never had anyone complain of it.

Anyways, front projection for everyday use is a bad idea. Granted we are buying newer Panasonics LED now with like 30,000 hour bulb life. But you still need a good screen, proper room for it....trust me it adds up quickly.

If I lost my Plasma today, granted I have 3, but if I lost them today, it would be OLED or nothing. I would probably buy the cheapest LCD I could get just to temporarily wait for a decent OLED if I could not afford the OLED now. LCD belongs on a wrist watch or cell phone. Not on a TV. They just have too many issues but I'm one of those people that when it comes to displays - I will always find what's wrong with it. I'm one of those guys that Held onto my Sony CRT long after flat panels came out because I did not like them until Plasma matured enough.