Screwtop
07-30-07, 08:07 PM
Greetings everyone, I haven't posted here regularly in, oh, 5 years or so, but now I'm hoping someone here can help me make what is turning out to be a difficult choice.
I have had my NEC 42MP3 for five years and I have been very happy, but a week ago a ~30 pixel vertical black bar showed up on the left hand side of the screen. It's not going away, so I've chosen to take this as a sign that it's time for an upgrade.
The 42MP3 was my main display for both SD and HDTV, but primarily it was the monitor for several generations of HTPCs through a DVI-D connection. The 853x480 pixels were perfect in that they had the essential 1:1 ratio that was hard to find 5 years ago, and this was also perfect for my 11 ft viewing distance for websurfing and other PC stuff. Also, my DVDs looked great in this PDPs native resolution.
So now, I figure I should take advantage of new technology, so EDTV is out! That being said, I have certain criteria that have to be met:
- needs DVI-D/component/composite inputs (not familiar with HDMI or HDCP, so I would prefer neither)
- good SD/DVD/HD scaling
- 1:1 pixels
- great blacks
...and here's the tough one:
- no more than 50.5" W x 30" H x 4" D (I have a pop-up plasma cabinet, and this is all I would be able to fit)
One last thing, I hate to say it but I'd prefer 1365x768. While 1080p would be very nice, and would go well with the HD video processing I would like to do with my Canon HV20, I calculated that I might not be comfortable with 10-point text past 7ft with 1080p and past 10ft with 768p.
So here are the contenders so far followed by the models I've eliminated:
IN
- Panasonic TH50PF9UK
- Panasonic TH50PH9UK or TH50PH10UK
- Fujitsu P50XHA58EB
OUT
- Panasonic TH50PZ700U or TH50PZ750U (too thick and too tall)
- Pioneer PDP-5080HD (too thick and too tall)
- Samsung FPT5084 (sliiightly too wide)
I haven't looked at LCDs, should I? Is the NEC 50XM6 worth considering?
Thanks in advance!
Shawn
I have had my NEC 42MP3 for five years and I have been very happy, but a week ago a ~30 pixel vertical black bar showed up on the left hand side of the screen. It's not going away, so I've chosen to take this as a sign that it's time for an upgrade.
The 42MP3 was my main display for both SD and HDTV, but primarily it was the monitor for several generations of HTPCs through a DVI-D connection. The 853x480 pixels were perfect in that they had the essential 1:1 ratio that was hard to find 5 years ago, and this was also perfect for my 11 ft viewing distance for websurfing and other PC stuff. Also, my DVDs looked great in this PDPs native resolution.
So now, I figure I should take advantage of new technology, so EDTV is out! That being said, I have certain criteria that have to be met:
- needs DVI-D/component/composite inputs (not familiar with HDMI or HDCP, so I would prefer neither)
- good SD/DVD/HD scaling
- 1:1 pixels
- great blacks
...and here's the tough one:
- no more than 50.5" W x 30" H x 4" D (I have a pop-up plasma cabinet, and this is all I would be able to fit)
One last thing, I hate to say it but I'd prefer 1365x768. While 1080p would be very nice, and would go well with the HD video processing I would like to do with my Canon HV20, I calculated that I might not be comfortable with 10-point text past 7ft with 1080p and past 10ft with 768p.
So here are the contenders so far followed by the models I've eliminated:
IN
- Panasonic TH50PF9UK
- Panasonic TH50PH9UK or TH50PH10UK
- Fujitsu P50XHA58EB
OUT
- Panasonic TH50PZ700U or TH50PZ750U (too thick and too tall)
- Pioneer PDP-5080HD (too thick and too tall)
- Samsung FPT5084 (sliiightly too wide)
I haven't looked at LCDs, should I? Is the NEC 50XM6 worth considering?
Thanks in advance!
Shawn