Before I buy the Panasonic 42PX60U (Help!)

To anyone who can help me,

I'm been wanting to get a new HDTV for a couple years now. I have a pretty decent Sony 27" Trinitron that I bought back in 2002. It has Component video but does not have HD capabilities.

I use my TV so often, for video games, DVDs, and watching shows that I'm looking to invest into a real nice big HDTV. (Big to me is above the standard 27" TVs).

I have always really liked Sony and when I go into show rooms I tend to like the looks of the SXRD models above all else. But I also trust Panasonic to make good products and lately I've been considering their 42" Plasma TV. Recent news of great deals for the Panasonic Plasma this Friday really have me interested (and almost ready to purchase).

But there are some questions / concerns I had about the TV before I went out and spend $1,000+.

My first main question is that I'm very confused by this model's native resolution. It's 1024 x 768 which is a 4:3 resolution and yet this TV is a 16:9 widescreen TV. So that doesn't really make much sense to me.

Also it's a 720p, but is that it's native resolution? Or is it lower than 720p (and just upscales)?

If it has to upscale to 720p / 1080i is it very noticeable in a bad way?

I've also read that any Plasma under 50" doesn't actually produce TRUE HD (720p or above). Is this true? I've also read that it's a 4:3 resolution in a 16 x 9 panel which leads to rectangular pixels. I'm not sure what that means, or if that's a bad thing or if it's just a mute point.

Also, I just got a Nintendo Wii and will have a PS3 this year (there's also a slight chance I may pick up a 360 as well). So the one does a maximum of 480p and the other 1080p. Would the Panasonic have to downscale to 480p to play the Wii games? And upscale to 720p / 1080i to play the PS3 games? If so, would this cause any distortion or problems visually? What about lag in the games?

I'd say the primary use of the TV would be watching television shows, closely followed by video games, and not too far behind DVD movies.

Should I be concerned about burn-in? From what I've read Plasmas are WAY better these days and as long as I'm careful I should be ok.

Also, regarding burn-in, would it be a good idea to purchase an extended warranty with the TV due to a higher chance of burn-in since I do play a lot of videogames?

I hate to be such a noob but I've never had an HDTV before.

If you buy an HDTV with the HD tuner inside the TV, is that all you need to watch like cable TV in HD (where available)? Or do you need more?

I have Comcast Digital Cable but I didn't see a port for an HDMI so I'm not sure how it works.

Also, if I bought an HDMI would it be used on like a DVD player? PS3? Would you ever use an HDMI for your cable television? Or do you receive HDTV a different way?

Another thing, does Component cables go up to 720p? Or would I need a HDMI for that?

Knowing my situation .... so the Panasonic 42" sound like a good deal for me? Or should I wait another year or so and get something that's 1080p?

If I bought this TV this Friday I believe I'd have it the entire lifespan of these new current gen game consoles and hopefully a little beyond (so like 5 years). If this Panasonic does a true 720p display that really looks great, I think I'd be ok with not being able to do the full 1080p with my PS3. But if this TV is actually slightly below 720p but isn't even that good, I may want to wait for a 1080p.

All I know is that the price seems like a real great deal and the reviews have been pretty solid from what I've seen.

Anyone who can answer any and all of the questions I've listed above (I know it's a lot), I'd REALLY appreciate it!

I definitely don't want to lose out on this situation if it really is a great TV for my situation.

I'm sure I'll find my answers here as everyone seems to be very knowledgable. So thanks in advance for helping me out!

- Jome20

Thanks for the info about scaling and answering some of my other questions.

I knew I ended up writing way too much. I should know better by now. If you make a post in a message board, if it's more than a few sentences no one's going to read it or respond to it. I was just hoping to get all my questions answered in one post, as opposed to making like 10 threads and posting 200 times in one day.

Anyways, this clears up more things. But I'm still pretty concerned about gaming. I can definitely be patient and NOT play games on the Plasma for the first 100 - 200 hours of the TV's life. With that being said, there's no way I WON'T be playing games on it pretty frequently.

I won't be playing like 8 hours a day by any means. But there could be days where I pick up and play for 2 or 3 hours. And occasionally a day where I'll play for like 4 to 6 hours. If I do the first (2 to 3) a few times a week, and the 4 - 6 maybe once a week .... do you think I'm going to run into some big trouble as far as burn-in goes?

That's probably going to be my final decision .... if I am constantly having to worry about burn-in because I play videogames, then I'm not gonna be able to get this set.

Thanks again for the help!

Yeah it's a pretty tough call. There's plenty of people who mention there's a huge concern for Plasmas, Video games, and burn-in. And then there's others that say it's really not that big of a deal. Especially if you're smart about it and don't go home and play a static bright colored game for 24 hours straight after bringing home your TV.

I am definitely leaning towards picking it up this Friday if I manage to be one of the few to get the deal. I think I'll go to a local store today and check out the model in person and hopefully I'll like what I see.

From everything I've read it's a really great TV and the price is really a major dealbreaker.

It'd definitely be a major upgrade over my current TV even if it's not 1080p.

If I end up getting it, and burn-in is an issue. Hopefully the warranty will cover that. And if it does, then I really have nothing to worry about.

Wish me luck in fighting off all the other crazies this Friday.

Thanks for all the info guys everyone was really helpful.

Well I was hoping to go to Best Buy and pick up this TV since they had such a great deal going on. By the time I got there at midnight on Friday EARLY morning, the line was already wrapped way around the entire building and THEN some. So I opted to camp out at Circuit City which was much more reasonable (probably only about 20 people there at midnight). So I stayed out in the cold, hail, and rain and weathered the storm. And in the early morning I was able to go and check out the TVs.

I was still a little indecisive as CC also had a great deal on a 50" Sony rear-projection LCD. But after getting good looks at both, the Panny Plasma just looked better. Both TVs seem to be quite good but the Sony looked grainy every once in awhile.

I have seen the clayface a couple times, but most of the time it's not too bad. And I'm pretty sure a change of the settings will fix this right up. Overall the Plasma's picture is just VERY sharp.

So I bought it at Circuit City even though it was a little more expensive. I'm not upset because I found out Circuit City actually has a better warranty. They cover burn-in on Plasmas and BB does not.

mothergoose - I appreciate the heads up. I really wish I would have checked this last night before camping out at CC after BB was too full. Oh well, I still got a great price on what appears to be an unbelievably nice TV. Did you go and pick up one at Sears?

To Lost it all - I'm not positive on how bad extra lighting effects Plasmas. I have heard it's better to have darker rooms. And obviously for projectors you MUST have dark rooms. Luckily for me, our living room here at the apartment is always very dark. With only one window / sliding glass door that's almost always covered by the blinds. Plus since I live in Washington it's generally cloudy 75% of the time.

Best Buy was pretty crazy. I went at midnight and the line was already way around the entire store and then some (definitely over 100 people).

Ironically, I think the stores had LOTS of Panasonic's in stock. I think because they sell so well, Panny ships a ton to them. My local Best Buy did sell out of them, but it took a couple hours. So I have a feeling they had a TON of TVs in there wherehouse.

The prices are still pretty low pretty much anywhere you go. So if you didn't manage to get one this time. Keep checking the ads because the prices are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time.

I had a couple more questions although I'm not sure if this section is the right place. I'll post them here and if they don't get answered I'll try and repost them in a more approriate section.

First off, I picked up this Panasonic surround system with the TV because it was also on sale.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...00000000005702

I know it's sort of a lower end model. But it still puts out 800w and I didn't need to get one with a DVD player because I already owned a Sony 5 disc DVD player.

Do you think this was a good choice to go with my new Plasma? Or should I look for a different model / brand around the same price?

I live in an apartment so I'm not looking for some massively expensive high-end set that's going to have all my neighbors complaining every day. At the same time, I'd definitely like to get something that really enhances my A/V experience with my new Plasma TV while watching TV, playing my new games, and watching movies.

I was also curious about Progressive Scan (component) DVD player's maximum output. Would it be 480p, 720p, or 1080i? Or does it even work like that?

I see those newer DVD players that have HDMI and upconverters of DVD movies. What's their max? 720p, 1080i, 1080p? I'm sure it's above the Progressive but I don't know exactly what each one does.

I'll also have a Blu-Ray player with my PS3. I believe the Blu-Ray player plays DVD movies as well unless I'm mistaken. Now if I had HDMI hooked up between my PS3 and my Panny Plasma, and played a regular DVD movie, would it be the equivalent of buying an upconverting DVD player that has HDMI and watching the movie in that?

If someone could clear that up for me I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks again everyone, you've all been very helpful.

- Jome20

Ok ... I just got my new Panasonic Plasma TV and set it up. I changed to the ideal settings.

But to be honest I'm sorta disappointed with the picture quality. Most cable channels seem to be looking better on my 2001/02 Sony 27" Wega Trinitron.

I set the settings that were listed in this thread / forum. And yet the picture still seems to look better on my old Sony 27".

I have Digital Cable through Comcast. Is this new Plasma only going to look better during HD material and that's all? I figured it'd be a better image on pretty much everything.

Will the Sony be better at displaying 480i material overall?

Anything else I can try to get a better picture?

I've only checked Comcast Digital Cable TV so far .... so I'm not sure how it compares with like DVD or video games (of course I don't really wanna do video games on the plasma right now).

Anyways, let me know if this is what I should expect or what.

Ok I now turned it to Fox which I believe displays in HD especially during Football which is on right now.

And it definitely looks GOOD. The Sony still looks pretty good too. But I think part of the reason the Sony looks real good is that it's very bright. I'm not positive what the settings are on the Sony. That's something I should definitely check out.

I still haven't checked out DVDs ... but I do have a progressive scan DVD player so I'll be able to hook up some component cables and see how it looks.

Also, with a DVD player and component cables. Would their be something I would have to switch on the TV (settings wise) to tell the TV to display in it's highest resolution? Or will it do this automatically for me?

Also, would it be wise to buy an antenna for the TV to pick up more HD channels? And how does that even work? Where would I buy something like that? And how would I set something like that?

Also, with HDMI cables .... is it possible to use that with Digital Cable or cable TV in general?

Or is that mainly just used for DVD players?

So something I noticed is that I can't seem to change the Black Level. That option is Grayed out and I can't seem to adjust it. Do I have to adjust other things first before I can adjust the Black Level?

Also at this time I have my Digital Cable hooked to a splitter between my new Panasonic plasma and my older Sony Trinitron CRT .... would this cause the picture of the Plasma to be a little less because it's being shared / or split with the Sony as well. If it was just a direct hook up cable box to Plasma TV ... would I be getting even a slightly better picture?

Also, anyone have any info on Antennas or HDTVs?

Hey guys, I noticed that the TV looked really good when I was even farther away from my TV. Like if I was in the bathroom and looking in the mirror of the bathroom at the TV (so say maybe 15 - 20 ft). It looked pretty good from my couch as well but that was probably 6 or 7 ft away.

I've pushed it back now closer to the wall so now it's probably about 8 or so ft away.

With that being said, the Plasma TV is VERY close to the wall. I'd say about less than 10 inches but more than 6 inches. Probably about 7 or 8 inches away from the wall. Is this going to be enough space for ventilation?

I know sometimes Plasmas put off more heat. Is being only about 6 to 9 inches from the wall.... is that going to be too close? Will that cause any problems or cause any damages?

Please let me know ASAP!

Thanks guys!