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What is the lowest priced plasma screen on the market?


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Old 17-11-2004, 03:00
TVDX
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What is the lowest priced plasma screen on the market?.
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Old 17-11-2004, 16:13
dobbin231
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The cheapest plasma I have seen is the Daewoo DP42PGB Silver 42" Plasma Screen at Richer Sounds
http://ws2.richersounds.com/showprod...d=DAEW-DP42PGB
I have no idea with regard to the quality of the Daewoo. The various specifications of Plasma TVs are still a bit of a mystery to me.
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Old 17-11-2004, 17:20
philbert
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1200 seems to be the rock bottom price for a plasma

tiny.com are selling dirt cheap plasmas, not sure how good these are and heard rumours about enforced service contract that bumps up the overall price.
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Old 17-11-2004, 21:49
cyberdog
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Richer Sounds are doing a Panny for £1500, which has to be the bargain of the century.
I wouldnt consider any other brand.
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Old 17-11-2004, 22:35
eric_the_red
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Before buying a plasma screen read this article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...357177,00.html

I've read similar opinions from other reviewers.
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Old 18-11-2004, 13:08
Phineas
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Dixons online had a 42" going for £1249, on a pay next year basis - never heard of the brand though. They also (staggeringly) offer a reasonable deal on the extended waranty - £250 for an extra two years (the cheapest I can find from a specialist warranty company was over £300 for an extra 2 years). The TV comes with a separate tuner box, and two speakers.
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Old 19-11-2004, 18:33
thejabba
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Yeah, avoid the cheapest around because for sure they picture quality will not be as good and it won't be money well spent. Keep to big brands also, the article makes clear the quality now isn't as good as CRT but until HDTV comes out, that's when Plasma will shine, and pretty much all plasma screens have some kind of HDTV input whether it be by VGA, DVI, HDMI, YPbPr (component) however some of the cheepies about only seem to be equiped with a scart basically meaning what you get is final its never going to get better.
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Old 22-11-2004, 16:59
RicharTT
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The Tiny is certainly dirt cheap, but read the small print carefully. As well as a possible service contract, they also charge a premium for delivery.
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Old 22-11-2004, 23:50
nwhitfield
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And the resolution of the Tiny is 853 x 480. That means it doesn't even have enough vertical resolution to display a standard definition PAL DV signal, for instance.

Sure, it says it can accept input signals up to 1280 x 1024, but that's not much use if the display doesn't have enough pixels to display them. It's far from HD-ready.

They call it a "hig res" screen in their adverts. I wonder if there's a good case for a complaint to the ASA. 480 vertical certainly doesn't count as high res in computer terms, and it's not really up to par for TV, either; it's only got 66% of the resolution it'd need for the EBU's recommended 720p standard.

Nigel.
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Old 15-12-2004, 23:16
hornydragon
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Originally Posted by Phineas
Dixons online had a 42" going for £1249, on a pay next year basis - never heard of the brand though. They also (staggeringly) offer a reasonable deal on the extended waranty - £250 for an extra two years (the cheapest I can find from a specialist warranty company was over £300 for an extra 2 years). The TV comes with a separate tuner box, and two speakers.
extra 2 years at home on site hot swap warranty £199 from www.avsales.com and good prices on Panny PW7 the latest one http://www.av-sales.co.uk/plasma/htm...7b_plasma.html
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Old 17-12-2004, 20:17
thejabba
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Originally Posted by nwhitfield
And the resolution of the Tiny is 853 x 480. That means it doesn't even have enough vertical resolution to display a standard definition PAL DV signal, for instance.

Sure, it says it can accept input signals up to 1280 x 1024, but that's not much use if the display doesn't have enough pixels to display them. It's far from HD-ready.

They call it a "hig res" screen in their adverts. I wonder if there's a good case for a complaint to the ASA. 480 vertical certainly doesn't count as high res in computer terms, and it's not really up to par for TV, either; it's only got 66% of the resolution it'd need for the EBU's recommended 720p standard.

Nigel.
True, however must be remembered that the 4:3 ratio is usually 720by576 and widescreen is 720by480 or something similar so it can display pal fine like every other widescreen that works in the same pixel ratio way, however, you are right, although technically it is HDTV ready as it can accept and output the inputs, it's hardly a super high resolution that makes HDTV worthwhile.
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Old 17-12-2004, 20:35
Quickbeam
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The 'high res' Tiny plasma ads have been running for months. I'm surprised no action has been taken against them. Perhaps no one has complained?

Originally Posted by thejabba
True, however must be remembered that the 4:3 ratio is usually 720by576 and widescreen is 720by480 or something similar so it can display pal fine like every other widescreen that works in the same pixel ratio way, however, you are right, although technically it is HDTV ready as it can accept and output the inputs, it's hardly a super high resolution that makes HDTV worthwhile.
Our standard definition TV has a resolution of 720 x 576, irrespective of the aspect ratio. 16:9 pictures are squashed into the 4:3 frame then stretched out again by the display. To display a 16:9 image on a plasma without downscaling you need a panel with a resolution of at least 1024 x 576 (assuming square pixels). The 480 line panels that proliferate in this country were primarily designed for the American and Japanese NTSC market. The only plasmas capable of resolving PAL are the so-called 'high-def' ones, many of which have a resolution of 1024 x 768 (with non-square pixels) - not very high-def.
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Old 18-12-2004, 11:25
cyberdog
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Originally Posted by Quickbeam
....The only plasmas capable of resolving PAL are the so-called 'high-def' ones, many of which have a resolution of 1024 x 768 (with non-square pixels) - not very high-def.
I thought 1024 x 768 panels used square pixels where the 1024 x 1024 (Sony for example) used 'oblong' pixels.
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Old 18-12-2004, 21:51
hornydragon
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Originally Posted by cyberdog
I thought 1024 x 768 panels used square pixels where the 1024 x 1024 (Sony for example) used 'oblong' pixels.
1024x1024 are ALIS actually 1024x512*2 fields SONY buy the panels from Fujitsu/Hitachi who pioneered ALIS technology

BEST value 42" plasma at the moment is http://www.av-sales.co.uk/plasma/htm...d6_plasma.html
Only 40 units up for grabs and includes a termianl board of choice and wall or desk mount...
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Old 19-12-2004, 11:30
cyberdog
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Originally Posted by hornydragon
BEST value 42" plasma at the moment is http://www.av-sales.co.uk/plasma/htm...d6_plasma.html
Only 40 units up for grabs and includes a termianl board of choice and wall or desk mount...
These guys are highly recommended!
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Old 19-12-2004, 13:22
nwhitfield
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But that unit, too, doesn't have enough vertical resolution for PAL, let alone HD.

852 x 480 isn't that great. I think if someone's choosing a plasma, it's mch better to go for something that has at least 720p vertically, which is the EBU-recommended standard for High Def.

Nigel.
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Old 19-12-2004, 13:50
cyberdog
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Yes, but the title of this thread is "what is the lowest plasma screen on the market?"...not "what is the lowest priced hi-def screen"
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Old 19-12-2004, 14:02
nwhitfield
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Well, yes, but given the amount of confusion (and downright lies, like the Tiny ad claiming their screen is high resolution), I think people do need to be aware what the limitations may be if they go for the absolute cheapest. It's not going to be much good if you decide to opt for Sky's HD service and find the plasma isn't up to it.

So, if people are really strapped for cash, by all means go for the cheapest - just don't be taken in by sales people suggesting that all plasmas are high resolution.

Nigel.
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Old 19-12-2004, 17:36
ALanJ
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Originally Posted by nwhitfield
It's not going to be much good if you decide to opt for Sky's HD service and find the plasma isn't up to it.

So, if people are really strapped for cash, by all means go for the cheapest - just don't be taken in by sales people suggesting that all plasmas are high resolution.

Nigel.
Indeed any screen with a resolution less that 1280x720 is going to downscale to display 720p HD signals and also has to do some work to display 1080i.

And that is not to mention the fact that any screen without HDMI/HDCP might not work with Sky's HD service or be of limited use with Sky's HD service.

Unfortunatly cheap and guarenteed to work with Sky's HD service is a bit of a long shot. There are a few plasmas that might do this (Pioneer for one but at £4,500+ not cheap). Even some displays with DVI might not actually have workable DHCP and others have stated that none of the current HDCP compliant sets actually work with HDCP at 50Hz (this I don't know but report for completness).

Overall this is a mine fielid and the only certainty is that cheap plasmas are probably only Standard Definition and if you expect more then you will be disapointed.
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Old 21-12-2004, 00:24
hornydragon
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LG are cheap and fully compatible (look crap tho) and all plasmas will scale images that are not at native pixel/refresh rate........ (PC or scaler output)
SD plasmas are not bad for video (video and PC/data outputs completly different) and fed with HD sources SD plasmas do look good most SD plasmas handle 720p better than 480p....... so its not as simple as more pixels = better picture..
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Old 22-12-2004, 09:53
Jay23Sx
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A couple of Plasma Televisions (yes, unlike the Richer Sounds cheapest offering they have tuners) at good prices:

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_18358.html

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_21964.html
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Old 22-12-2004, 17:29
sanderton
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The Tiny plasmas are LG or Samsung screens - pretty much the same ones as you'll find in many low cost TVs. You can skip the extended warranty if you try hard.

They are indeed only 480 line - but so are most of the screens you'll find in the high street.
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