Plasma + 5.1

[5lab]

for the money, i'd stress again that dlp is going to get you the best LARGE screen picture. they are leagues ahead of other rear-pro sets from a few years back, are nearly as skinny as a plasma and for the money have a FAAAR better picture than anything a plasma can offer.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by 5lab

for the money, i'd stress again that dlp is going to get you the best LARGE screen picture. they are leagues ahead of other rear-pro sets from a few years back, are nearly as skinny as a plasma and for the money have a FAAAR better picture than anything a plasma can offer.

'Yarrr, 'tis true...

[Ramedge]

Originally Posted by Trippledence

I think nows a pretty bad time to be buying a plasma, what with all the HDTV stuff going on, from what you where saying last night Ramedge there seems to be a few formatts going on. You really want your next TV to be HDTV, i know we wont botther getting another untill we can. You could alwase look into projectors, that will do 1024x1280, and are well within your price range. 2000 hours lamp life works out at around 5 a day. So as long as you dont mind using your old TV for the news in the background then it would be ideal.

Iam not sure how much TV can improve as seeing today in a shop a DVD on a plasma which apperntly is HDTV ready (but 5lab would argue with that) it looked so nice and i suppose pictures quality cant increase that much before it gets to a point were we dont notice it.
Now i could wait a while and buy a TV but when am i going to see HDTV programs? ermm not for a long time thats for sure!! I wont be having SKY thats mainly down to the fact that Ruppert Merdoc runs the company and control the Sports TV monopoly. So its Freeview for now, but from what i know i havent heard of any plans for that going to become a HDTV service well not atleast until Analouge has been shut down.
- I really wanted some Product recomendations on this thread but it seems to have turned into a "Plasma buy now or wait abit" Thread.

by the way whats DLP?(i epect i will know by the time someone replies)

and I dont really want a projector its way to much hassle and one screen that does the job is much better.

[5lab]

dlp is a new technology for rear projection screens. take a look at the screens i suggested - they are probably the best bet.

[Ramedge]

Ive seen some good looking rear projector tv's before but alot of them tend to be very dull - is this still the case with DLP rear projectors and how do they compare to normal projectors.

[5lab]

simply - no. rear-projection used to have a high-gain screen, so would only be viewable from a narrow angle. modern screens have a much better lamp, so the high-gain screen isn't nessesary. pop into your local curries and have a look. they are smaller than a projector screen could be, but they are all in 1 box, and these days they are remarkably thin.

[Ramedge]

Iam guessing seeing as they are essentially Projectors does the Lamp inside have a similar life span to that of say a conventional projector?

Thanks for your help - iam now very interested in the DLP screens

[Alex]

Don't know much about them like lamp life etc - I'd guess about the same as any DLP PJ.

this one looks very nice, from what I can see on the net.

Apparently, also, these voucher codes should work:

Free Delivery when you spend over £199
- FREEDEL199
£100 off when you spend over £1000
- 100OFF1000_CANDG

[5lab]

i'm not sure on lamp life, i think its a little longer as the bulb isnt quite as powerful - i've heard 5000 hours quoted - which has got to be 3 or 4 years at least..

personally, i wouldnt buy a screen without looking at them in a shop first - for a given price there are always better and worse screens..

(that screen above does look nice - check it out in a shop first though. hinthint)

[Ramedge]

I will be checking it out in a shop this weekend - i have read the reviews on the AV forum about that Sony one you sent me the link to, every one has been very impressed with it! so will check it out - although a bulb for one of these TV's could be very expensive when the time comes. Maybe a plasma would be better - but then its kind of a bad time to buy so iam not sure weather to put this TV on hold.

I think i'll wait and see what i find in town at the weekend

Cheers guys

[5lab]

dont forget plasma screens need re-gassing (i think) every 8,000 hours or so.. cost about £500 a time - i'm pretty sure that's correct.

[Funkstar]

i'm pretty sure that used to be true, but isn't now. Just like most of them (along with CRTs) are not nearly as affected up burn in as they used to be.

[Timmy!!!]

Originally Posted by 5lab

dont forget plasma screens need re-gassing (i think) every 8,000 hours or so.. cost about £500 a time - i'm pretty sure that's correct.

re-gassing is a total myth!! There is no such thing and it would be almost impossible to do. If it were true then it would probably be cheaper to buy a new plasma.


Plasma's do eventually become dimmer, because the gas has been used, but each pixel is in its own sealed box, making it impossible to re-gas a plasma. Although plasma's do eventually get dim we are talking about a very long time - new plasmas are only noticabley dimmer after 15 to 20 years of 6 hours per day.

[Ramedge]

just got back in from town.
Had a look at the DLP screens and didnt like them much - theres still a big viewing angle problem with them once your eyes are at the right level the angle seems okay but if your a bit higher or lower than the screen then its not very nice

I think iam going to go plasma - i have a small idea of what i want but can any one recomend any for £1500 to £1700

Cheers

btw iam scrapping the suround sound system for the moment so have a bit extra dosh to play with