Howdy all,
After doing entirely to much research all over and browsing these wonderful forums i am still having difficulty making a decision on my new tv. I was all convinced to go with a Pioneer plasma 5070 or the 1140, until a recent visit to my local Fry's (man i hate that place). Even with all the research i have done the salesman still convinced me that while watching SD tv i still have a very real concern with burn in from the bars on the sides of the panel. He suggested an LCD. I will be feeding the panel with dish network and i imagine alot of my watching will be SD. So with that said any suggestions? I am looking in the 50" range and other than that it doesnt matter. I would appreciate any help given.

Erik

You don't have to watch 4:3 in a window, you can always stretch the picture. Burn-in shouldn't be much of a concern if you take precautions and vary your viewing.

I just really hate the distorted look when the picture is stretched though. My mother has a Sony LCD that is always stretched for SD and it drives me nuts.

Erik

You should take a look at the pioneer stretch modes, they look better than any LCD stretch mode I've personally seen. Have your salesman put 4:3 content on & cycle through the 5 or 6 different modes & see if you like any. Also, you can put the sidebars as dynamic & then you won't have BI concerns. Many find the dynamic sidebars to be distracting though.

Stretching SD content looks like ass, no matter how good the algorithm ;) garbage in + transform = worse garbage out.

After doing entirely to much research all over and browsing these wonderful forums i am still having difficulty making a decision on my new tv. I was all convinced to go with a Pioneer plasma 5070 or the 1140, until a recent visit to my local Fry's (man i hate that place). Even with all the research i have done the salesman still convinced me that while watching SD tv i still have a very real concern with burn in from the bars on the sides of the panel. He suggested an LCD. I will be feeding the panel with dish network and i imagine alot of my watching will be SD. So with that said any suggestions? I am looking in the 50" range and other than that it doesnt matter. I would appreciate any help given.

I just really hate the distorted look when the picture is stretched though. My mother has a Sony LCD that is always stretched for SD and it drives me nuts.If you're watching a lot of 4:3 with the black bars and refuse to use a stretch mode then i'd say yes, permanent burn-in is likely to happen on the Pioneer. In my many visits to higher-end A/V stores, i've seen burn-in a few times on Pioneer models (menus) but i don't know how badly the panels were abused by the sales staff. My general impression from the Plasma forum is that Pioneers aren't quite as resistive to burn-in as the Pansonics are. My own experience with my 2-year old Panasonic is that i have no burn-in at all despite watching about half my content in 4:3 with black bars. The risk is proportionate to how much 4:3 you actually watch.

But Pioneer does have a couple of good stretch modes for 4:3 SD, one of which is also available with an HD signal. Check out this thread:

Pioneer Stretch Mode Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=837998)

It's true that there is virtually no risk of burn-in with an LCD, but i shopped hard for a 40"- 46" 768p and 1080p LCD and i looked at all the top brands and at the few stores that were able to show me how SD looks i was not impressed at all. My friend has a 46" Sony XBR LCD and SD cable doesn't look nearly as good as the same cable channels do on my Plasma so i gave up on LCD and will be sticking with my Plasma.

So with the Pioneer you'd get excellent SD performance but you'll always be worried about burn-in, and with LCD you'll get relatively poor SD performance but virtually no worries about burn-in.

I would seriously consider getting a Panasonic plasma instead as it has almost the same SD PQ as the Pioneer and is more resistant to burn-in.

That's funny, I had heard the exact opposite that the Pioneers were less likely to suffer burn-in then other plasmas.... the internet is a wonderful place and a horrible place for information, it's all a matter of where you read it from.

Anyways, I would take a look at the stretch modes, I was a person who hated stretch modes but once I got the 1140, I started to realize it wasn't that bad at all.

Also, unless all you are doing is watching 4:3, I wouldn't be too overly concerned about it. I watched a mix of stuff and have not had any issues with proper settings.

I'm starting to believe it's only a problem if you are looking for a problem. Just enjoy your TV you get and use common sense and I'm sure it will serve you well.

Russ

If you're watching a lot of 4:3 with the black bars and refuse to use a stretch mode then i'd say yes, permanent burn-in is likely to happen on the Pioneer. In my many visits to higher-end A/V stores, i've seen burn-in a few times on Pioneer models (menus) but i don't know how badly the panels were abused by the sales staff. My general impression from the Plasma forum is that Pioneers aren't quite as resistive to burn-in as the Pansonics are. My own experience with my 2-year old Panasonic is that i have no burn-in at all despite watching about half my content in 4:3 with black bars. The risk is proportionate to how much 4:3 you actually watch.

But Pioneer does have a couple of good stretch modes for 4:3 SD, one of which is also available with an HD signal. Check out this thread:

Pioneer Stretch Mode Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=837998)

It's true that there is virtually no risk of burn-in with an LCD, but i shopped hard for a 40"- 46" 768p and 1080p LCD and i looked at all the top brands and at the few stores that were able to show me how SD looks i was not impressed at all. My friend has a 46" Sony XBR LCD and SD cable doesn't look nearly as good as the same cable channels do on my Plasma so i gave up on LCD and will be sticking with my Plasma.

So with the Pioneer you'd get excellent SD performance but you'll always be worried about burn-in, and with LCD you'll get relatively poor SD performance but virtually no worries about burn-in.

I would seriously consider getting a Panasonic plasma instead as it has almost the same SD PQ as the Pioneer and is more resistant to burn-in.

Theres nothing that can replace experience. If you read this board long enough you get an idea who to take serious and those to laugh at. Lots a homers!

Maybe listen to the middle of the roaders. Anyone who's a one trick pony you should avoid.

Pioneer considered best in its class.

LCD if you have a window behind your sitting area. Also there is a perception that LCD is the future for now. Both will serve you for now.

Thanks all for your input. It did appear that some of the stretch modes were alot better pq wise than what i have noticed first hand. I think i am sold on one of the Pioneers. Originally i was going with the 5070 but now prices for the 1140 are within my budget, is the 1140 that much better than the 5070?

Erik

Take a look in the 1140HD owners thread in the Plasma forum, the first post gives a list of everything that you get with the 1140 that you don't get with the 5070HD.

Then it's a personal choice and the price difference you can get the 1140 for over the 5070hd.

For me, the networking functionality of the 1140HD was worth it for me. The other stuff is just gravy (side speakers, extra warranty, better tweakability, better anti-glare, yada yada...)

Russ

Thanks all for your input. It did appear that some of the stretch modes were alot better pq wise than what i have noticed first hand. I think i am sold on one of the Pioneers. Originally i was going with the 5070 but now prices for the 1140 are within my budget, is the 1140 that much better than the 5070?

Erik