The best 40-42" flat panel HDTV money can buy

[countdemoney]

I love my hitachi 42" plasma.

 

[Fabro]

Originally Posted by jet

Look into the panasonic th-pz800u, one of the best 42s out as far as non pro stuff is concerned.

They should be adjusting prices soon to account for the holiday season.

+1. I bought one of these recently and it's outstanding. I was waffling between Samsung and Sony LCDs but plasma still wins out, and there are great deals to be had.

 

[Full Canvas]

Originally Posted by A Y

3-chip DLP projectors are amazing, but cost $$$. THe Mitsubishi rear projectors that use lasers are also very good, and aren't terribly expensive. For a flat panel, however, we'll have to wait for new light emissions technology before LCD becomes competitive. In that area, plasma is still the best.

--Andre


Thanks!

___

 

[discostu004]

LOVE my samsung 55 plasma and 65LCD. NEVER had any problems with anything samsung, but the last two sony tvs i had crapped out within 4 years!

 

[jet]

^What does that have to do with the thread topic?

 

[Mr. Moo]

Pioneer Kuro.

 

[Dakota rube]

Originally Posted by jet

^What does that have to do with the thread topic?
As long as he keeps that avatar, I don't frankly care whether his posts are on topic or not.

 

[discostu004]

Originally Posted by jet

^What does that have to do with the thread topic?

i was promoting my confidence in samsung. i don't have a 40-42 but i bought 2 tvs in the past 15 months and both are samsungs, so if they make a 40-42 that would be my tv. how's that?

 

[dkzzzz]

I always thought the consensus is Panasonic or Pioneer and plasma if you care about picture quality.
But I have not looked at HDTV's ratings in 4 years, so may be something changed.

 

[oceans11]

Take a look at a company called Vidikron. I did some reading on this plasma TV company & supposedly they are up there with the best.

http://www.vidikron.com/

 

[Stedye]

I own a Pioneer 50" (Kuro-Non Elite) & it is a great TV. The 32" Bravia XBR I have in my bedroom
is also a wonderful picture. I have subscribed to "Sound & Vision" and Home Theater magazines
for over two years and the reviews and comprehensive testing in these two publications always
have great things to say about the Sony LCD tv's and XBR is the best they make. If they are good
enough for both Station engineers and professional filmmakers then it is good enough for me.

An observation : George Lucas uses Pioneer. In the background of one of my mags,where they
had interviewed the President of Pixar stidios,he had a Panasonic plasma in his office,this is one
to also look at during your search. You may want to check out the AVS Forum (Audio / Video Science forum) because many professionals in the Electronic industry post on this forum and give great advice. I hope you all the best in your search for the right image.

 

[Artisan Fan]

The Pioneer Kuros are some of the best plasmas I have seen.

 

[busyguy7447]

I have a 42" Aquos and it's been great. I researched the **** out out of them before buying. I am building a house and looking at either the 52" Samsung Series 7 or another Sharp. Both look terrific.

 

[amerikajinda]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

The Pioneer Kuros are some of the best plasmas I have seen.

Here's a nice article on them - refers to them also as the best plasma on the market today:

http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...222_257724.htm

 

[SystemShock]

The Pioneer Kuro plasmas are *awesome*, but also quite expensive and don't seem to come in any size smaller than 50" anymore (there used to be a 42" 720P rez Kuro, but it's gone, IIRC). The OP wants a TV in the 40-42" size class. Ignoring the 'insane' price class (Runco, Loewe, and the like), and going instead with the 'very-good-but-not-crazy-good-and-priced-accordingly' class, he's probably looking at either a Pioneer or Samsung plasma, or a Sony (XBR) or Samsung (Series 6, 7, 8) LCD-- i.e. best-of-breed mainstream makes. I'm kind of in the same boat, shopping around, and am currently pretty taken with the 46" Series 7 Samsung LCD. It's around $1500 at Amazon right now. Yes, there's definitely better TVs out there, but it's still very good, and in terms of bang-for-the-buck, hard to beat.

It's funny... when it comes to audio, I'm much more no-compromise, but with video the 'good enough' point comes sooner for me. I guess I just don't watch quite enough TV or film to get uber-picky about it, though I certainly still can't stand to look at a crappy (or even mediocre) picture. I'd also say that the more mainstream-brand TVs, especially in LCD, are quite a lot better than they were even a year or two ago (LCD's improved more, but it had more ground to make up too). A couple of years back I went shopping too, and was so disappointed by even the better mainstream offerings of the time that I threw my hands up in exasperation, gave up, and went back to my (quite good) Sony WEGA standard-def set, waiting for the high-def scene to improve. A year ago, I helped my girlfriend get her 32" Panasonic VIERA LCD set. Good set, but not great... I probably wouldn't have bought it for me. But she liked it (and the day-after-Xmas deal was fantastic). Now the premium mainstream sets are finally good enough that I actually feel good buying one. Not that there isn't room for further improvement- wow, there sure is. But I feel like some sort of inflection point has finally been reached, not in the "we're so great now" sense, but more like "we're no longer crap." If that makes sense.

...