HP PL4260N and PL5060N Owners Thread - Page 3

I have an HP 26" LCD TV with the glossy piano black bezel (just like on the PL5000 series) and i absolutely cannot stand it. It reflects things like a wavy black funhouse mirror - it's extremely distracting. I can literally comb my hair in it when my table lamp is turned on or the room is bright from sunlight and it's WAY more reflective than my Plasma's screen. It's one of the reasons i didn't buy a Pioneer. I'm seriously thinking about painting my LCD's bezel a matte or satin black. If the new HP Plasmas have a matte bezel then that's actually a good thing.

Does this TV have the PIP feature? Sales assured me before I bought the TV that "all HP TV's have PIP".

When the remote did not have a button for the PIP, I got suspicious. After about 30 minutes on hold with HP, they told me that the 5060 does not have the PIP feature. This sucks because this was kind of important to me before I bought the TV. I just called sales and the sales person I spoke still insists that the TV has the PIP feature.

Can someone please confirm if this TV has PIP or not. I am guessing not, but somewhere there is a hope that sales are correct and technical support is wrong.

Thanks

I know that the 42" does not have pip.

Who are you going to believe? Some dumbass salesman, or HP themselves? My HP LCD TV does not have PIP so the salesman is already wrong about "all HP TVs having PIP". And there is no mention of PIP whatsoever in the specs or in the User Manual i just downloaded, nor any buttons for it on the remote.

Last year's PL5000N was based on the Panasonic PX500U which does have PIP, but the new model is an LG so one can't just assume it has PIP like last year's model.

I just helped a friend set up his 42", he has no High Def, but SD looked pretty darned good on most channels, played some DVDs over component connection and had jitters on all of them, changed from Go Video dvd player to Panasonic player and all worked well. Only thing I had probs. with was the remote while in the Menu, my big fingers kept hitting the buttons below or to the side of Menu control buttons, thus exiting Menu, I will have to get used to that as I just ordered a 42" for myself.

I bought my hp pl4260n frm best buy I returned the rca 50inch scenium dlp which was great but I could see to many rainbows whn i played xbox360. This is my 2nd plasma i had a gateway plasma also which was made by sampo or sumthn. i always liked my plasma but had no other plasma to compare 2. I guess u dont kno the best til u see it. I hav 2 friends that hav plasmas now 1 has a panasonic n the other has a pioneer pure vision once i seen those 2 i knew how bad of pq my plasma had. ihad a projection tv frm panosonic b4 the gateway. this was b4 dlp n lcd projections were out so my plasma looked way better thn wht i had n hardly anyone had a plasma thn in my tow anyway. i love the new hp plasmas n my friend wit the pioneer just returned his plasma for the hp the pq is better n he saved almost 1ooo bux. the best buy here sold me the pl4260n 4 2grand n free shiping n i got the free 15 inch lcd which sux by the way. im still in brek in mode but i think i will be way over 100 by 2mrw the nba playoffs begin ive been watchn sienfeld dvds for about 21 days now. n icant wait to play 360. thanx 4 letting me rant

do u think the sienfeld dvds worked good for break in they fill the screen? ive noteiced some image retention after the credits roll but they go away pretty quikly. ths forum has me paranoid. i didnt even kno bout breakn in a plasma with my gateway and never got any burn in playn a lot of videogames n i watchn about 4 - 5 hrs of espn a day. but after more thn 3 yrs my gateway turned brown in the right lower corner not burn in tho it was like a cloud tht wud get bigger every couple of months thts why i bought the rca dlp. 5o inchs for 2ooo i was sold n i herd so much good things about dlp but they dont compare to a plasma. by the way i bought my gateway 3200 with a 4 yr warrnty. gateway is sending me another plasma so now i will hav 2 new plasmas but one will really suck

can sum1 help me with my ? i posted it on page 3 ths is my first time on the forum

Welcome to AVS forum. There is a download that you can burn to a Cd, I think you can find it in the Burn-in thread. This you play when sleeping and it breaks in your panel.

Hello everyone, I am about to purchase the pl4260n any day now, probably from BB but I would like to know from you guys if any of you purchased the extended warranties offered by the sale persons. I for one have always been reluctant to buy them with overall purchases in the past so I would like the know how everyone else feels about them.

I didn't purchase the ew, but If you buy from HP you can wait up to a year to purchase 2 or 3 yr ew.

Hello HP5060 Owners and others..

I anxiously await the delvery of my 5060, bought sight unseen and scheduled to arrive this week, with DirecTv HD service following on Saturday.

Read with great interest the discussion about PIP. HP saleman told me, without question, that the TV had picture in picture. I'm about to call back because I can't stand lying, or uninformed, salemen.

I might make them come back and get it before it's unboxed!

I don't think it has pip, I have the 42" coming and it doesn't have pip either, but I have Dishnetwork and the dual tuner DVR that has pip.

If PIP is that important to you, you might as well cancel that delivery because the PL5060N does not have that feature.

Heck, use this to your advantage! Call the store manager, tell them how DISAPPOINTED you are by being misled by the salesman, and that you're not sure if you can EVER shop at his/her store again which clearly has people that will lie (knowingly or not) just to get the sale. Maybe the manager will knock off $100-$200 to keep you satisfied...

Hey, it's worth a try!

BTW, thanks to everyone for the valuable input on this TV. I just saw them at BB over the weekend and was quite impressed w/ the picture. I see they have them on sale this week for $1999, same as HP website. Might be worth picking one up and give it a test-drive with my new Toshiba HD-DVD player!!

BB has 10% off right now. I'd pull the trigger but I want the pip and the pioneer. I was seriously impressed with the picture quality and the frame looks nice too.

The pioneer has nicer colors and a bit nicer picture (not 2k better pic IMO). But I guess with the color, pic quality, pip and digital cable ready tuner, I'm going with the pioneer onsale at BB. For the $$ the HP looks like a steal.

I'm going through same thing right now. The HP is just really cheap. I was at BB again comparing the the Plasmas. They finally setup a Panasonic right next to the HP. The Black levels of the Panny 60U kills the HP. But the HP seems to have better detail.

I think I'm just going to end up with the Pioneer.

So now the HP PL5060N 50" is in the hunt. I never realized that I can get a really good deal on the HPs through work. I was comparing these with the Panasonics at BB yesterday and for the price difference I might just have to get the HP. I know this time around the HPs aren't using Panasonic glass but it still looked pretty nice. And with rumors flying around the the Panasonic 600u aren't going to include a cable card one of the features I was hoping to get, PIP and PC input doesn't seem to justify the $500 price difference between the 60u and 600u. The HPs don't have cable cards either.

My considerations:
Panasonic TH-42PX600U - considering (stictly for styling over the 60u)
Pioneer - PDP4360HD - considering, but probably out too expensive, maybe the newer models?
HP - PL4260N - considering
HP - PL5060N - considering

I'm at a distance of approximately 10ft, so I'm on the border with 42" or 50". I can get the 50" HP for less than the 42" 600u Panasonic (also company discount) but the quality might not be there. This is going to be my last TV purchase for quite some time, so getting a new model in a few years isn't going to happen. I'm planning on 15+ years out of this TV. Or do I get the 42" HP and still have spending money. Or forget it all together and wait for the 42" 600u?

Opinions?

I am at 91/2 feet, so opted for the 42", you do have a hard decision to make, might want to consider how much sd you watch compared to hd, 42" would be my choice just to make the sd appear a little better.

I just noticed a couple of issues with the 5060:

Problem 1. When I turn on the TV, it breaks the screen into two halves and shows the picture in each of the halves and has a bunch of color stripes on the bottom of the screen like it is all fuzzed up. But once I change the channel, then the problem goes away. This happened about four times after I turn on the TV but does not happen on every try.

Problem 2: On the local HD channels, the TV displays a horizontal line on the top of the screen across the display. I noticed that this happens only on the local channels. The line comes a couple of minutes after I start the TV. This line does not come on ESPN HD, TNT HD or HBO HD.

I also noticed these problems when viewing on the DVI-HDMI input. I did not notice these when using the component cables.

Did anyone notice any of these problems? Could these be with the built in HD Tuner or something like that. I am planning on calling HP Tech support today but am not sure if I want them to come fix the TV or take the TV and send me a new one.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

I am in the market for a new PDP and I was looking at the 2 HP 50" PDP's (PL5000N and the newer 5060). Before these I was looking at the HD built in tuner version made by Panny (60U). i don't need all the gizmos that the Panny offers anad I will be hooked up to the Dish so i don't need the built-in tuner. Do you guys have a reccomendation for either of these. I watch a lot of sports and Nickelodeon. Is the digital really that bad compared to my Sony Wega Trinitron? My 36" Sony is beautiful but due to our re-model I have to go with a wall mounted TV. I know it's a terrible thing. Seriously, will it be a drastic change in the PQ? I will be watching from about 13' away.

Just placed my order with shopping.hp.com for my HP PL4260N !

My first plasma...saw it yesterday at BB. Also looked at the LG...not having seen this thread first mind you. I was looking at the Maxent (BB) and the Akai (at Samclub) and the Vizio (at Costco).

I got to say...I saw each set in person and the Akai and the Vizio to me personally...they were not even in the same class. OSD menus were whacked on the Vizio....and lots of clayface. The Akai was a bit better but not be much...again, subjective viewing only. Went to CC and looked at the LG 42PC3D...LOOKED AWESOME....better than the panny 60u there and about everything else.

Went to BB and again....LG 42PC3D and HP PL4260N just looked worlds above everything else on the floor. I could not tell any meaningful difference between the HP and the LG...they were a couple of TV's from each other but going back and forther between them at 5, 8 and 10 feet...I couldn't tell a difference.

[EDIT]

I don't know LG as a company but do know HP...even if made by LG...HP in my experience stands behind their products.

[EDIT]

Now to order some cables.

Yes, Lumberg you are right. The line shows only when watching content in the 4:3 format. No matter how I adjust the screen, the line still shows up.

The two separate windows (like PIP) appear only when watching via HDMI. Once I use component they go away. I think you are right, the problem seems to be from HDMI.

Do you think these problems are with the TV or with the set top box which is sending the HDMI signal to the TV. I am using a motorola DCT5100 which was provided by Comcast.

Since the quality of the picture is better using HDMI, I would love to use HDMI rather than component.

Your thoughts !!!

Ok guys, I've got to get to the bottom of this PIP. I call HPShopping and went ballistic about the salesman telling me the 5060 had PIP. Threatened to get a Return Authorization right then and there or demand deep discount.

Well the rep checked the rep of the rep (get it?) who sold me the TV and said he was one of thier most experienced and best. Two people got on the phone with me while they poured over some log of specs that they have available. Their information indictaes tha the 5060 has what HP calls "Dual Picture Display", while not technically a picture in a picture, this feature allows 2 different pictures to be displayed at once. Someone's post mentioined this had happened, but as an abberation.

My 5060 to be delivered Wednesday...but let me know if anyone has determined how to use the feature, since it must not be intuative, or explained in the manual.

I would call them back and say "Liar, Liar, pants of fire"

Do a search on both the UG and the 245 pages service manual for the word "dual" and you would not be able to find anything that even remotely mention "dual picture display". Since I don't see the need to have PIP, I like my PL5060N just fine, so far.