HDTVs

Great metric. Where did that 3d channel go again?

BrutulTM_sl said:

Plasma is "so much better" but 4K is worthless? Whatever man.

Click to expand...

If you actually care about Black Levels, Shadow Detail, Contrast, Color Accuracy, Screen Uniformity, Viewing Angles, and how smooth things in Motion are? Yes, Plasma is much better than LCDs/LEDs, especially when it comes to Price to Quality. There's no voodoo behind it. Plasmas are extremely popular among videophiles and professional review sites that actually use expensive equipment for testing TVs for good reason.

They do have downsides, such as slightly higher power consumption (used to be much higher and fucks given = 0 anyways) and needing a more controlled viewing environment, but you work around that if you actually care about quality anyways. They're also not the greatest when it comes to 3D, but no one really gives a shit about that.

Those aren't super video snob things for the most part. Black Level is something easily noticeable to anyone, hell, most of that stuff is if you point it out to a person. Shadow Detail is probably the only one that stands out as harder to point out. I can easily tell a total novice how to spot shit like Viewing Angles and Screen Uniformity, those are simple as hell things to look out for and painfully obvious when you know about them.

a_skeleton_03_sl said:

We have 3D channels in Europe also ... not sure what you are getting at.

As long as content is getting to the people it isn't "snake oil".

Click to expand...

We had a 3d channel here as well and its gone now. 3d was a fad and at least in the US 4k will be a dream since bandwidth constraints prevent even 1080p much less 4k. Even if they get some new codec that allows it over the same pipe all the hardware will need to be replaced.

I'll start getting excited about 4k when I actually have most stations in 1080p. Since that is a long time away I could really give a shit less.

Most networks in the US broadcast extremely compressed 1080p streams when they actually do it at that, which really looks like shit.

Even if 4k wasn't a very minimal upgrade at best for people with normal eyesight and regular viewing distances and was something that really mattered, we just don't have the infrastructure to support it and likely won't for at least another 10 years.

Right now the best bang for your buck is a high quality Panasonic Plasma display. You just cannot beat top tier quality 60" TVs at $1400-1500. Spending 3-4k on a 4K LCD over buying one of those is absolutely retarded and pissing money into the wind. If you're going to spend in that range you'refarbetter off buying the highest end VT/ZT lines of Panasonics, though the ST/GT lines are much better bang for your buck.

The next thing you should look out for is not 4K, it's hoping that high quality OLED screens get cheaper, because that's where you might actually see a tangible increase in picture quality over Plasma.

The best TVs out are the Elites though, and they are LCD not plasmas. I agree for budget consumers plasmas are better but calling the Panasonic plasmas top tier is kind of silly.

Gaige_sl said:

The best TVs out are the Elites though, and they are LCD not plasmas. I agree for budget consumers plasmas are better but calling the Panasonic plasmas top tier is kind of silly.

Click to expand...

It is not silly, they are top tier. The Panasonic ZT is about as top tier as you can get and the ST/GT/VT are all extremely high level picture quality.

I can only assume you know nothing about the 2013 models at all.

2013 is so last year

A 70" TV that's only $2200 isn't going to be very good picture quality, to say the least. You are really trading quality for size there.

And if you're putting it in the basement I'd rather go with a projector.

I appreciate black levels and all, but I can't really justify the prices usually attached to state of the art audio- and video-phile equipment

Anyway, I sold my 50" Panasonic 720p plasma this year and replaced it with the current Panasonic 58" 1080p LED. It's a great improvement. I love the picture quality. It's basically a 58" monitor for $1,000.

One huge and noticeable difference is the heat output. The LED doesn't heat up the room at all. The old plasma was basically a space heater.

I was really temped to get a 70" in a Vizio or Sharp, but I don't think the quality is there.

As for the 4K TVs, the only one I've seen is the Sony that Best Buy uses as a floor demo. I liked it up until it ran the soccer match demo. 4K resolution at 120Hz is not enough for sports. It looked like it was in slow motion to me.

koljec_sl said:

As for the 4K TVs, the only one I've seen is the Sony that Best Buy uses as a floor demo. I liked it up until it ran the soccer match demo. 4K resolution at 120Hz is not enough for sports. It looked like it was in slow motion to me.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that should be fixed once HDMI 2.0 becomes available and the norm. As of right now, HDMI 1.4 at 4K resolutions can only output up to 30hz. Sports would look pretty bad at that rate.

Plasma would be great if it wasn't for that fucking glass..

Yeah, I had never really experienced just how bad the glare on Plasma glass is until last weekend. I have a Plasma but it's in my basement, so it's always dark and looks great. Last weekend my buddy has a big BBQ/cook-out for a football game, and we decide to bring his Plasma out on the deck so we could all watch it outside. No-go, the glare was just horrendous, we couldn't see the TV at all. Of course, outside on a sunny day is probably the absolute worst-case scenario for a Plasma.

I looked online afterwards for glare screens/filters, because we had tentatively planned on doing this again a few times this fall, and anti-glare screens aren't cheap, about $200 online for a 60" Plasma TV

... But, haven't you guys read all that stuff about how you're retarded if you don't buy a Plasma? Sean, get in here and set these guys straight.

If LCDs are so good then how come when anyone comes to my house they comment how good my TV looks and want to know what kind of LCD it is? I tell them it's not an LCD, it's a Plasma. "Oh, don't you have to change the gas in those?" I tell them no, I have it hooked up to the natural gas line like my grill. "But charcoal is better for grilling!" Then I make them a burger and a steak and they're like "Wtf, everything I know is wrong!"