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50" Help me decide! Any I should avoid?

post #1 of 39
4/5/07 at 9:30pm
Thread Starter 
I'm up in Canada and selection is limited around here.

Maybe someone can help me choose?

Phillips 50 PF 9631 - Is this an older set?
Samsung HPS 5053
Toshiba 50HP86
Panasonic TH50PX60 - Haven't seen it in person yet

Which is the worst if you don't know which is the best?
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post #2 of 39
4/5/07 at 9:35pm
Go with Pioneer or Panasonic!
New models of both coming out now!
Stay away from Phillips!
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post #3 of 39
4/5/07 at 9:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alaskaman1666 View Post

Go with Pioneer or Panasonic!
New models of both coming out now!
Stay away from Phillips!

Why stay away from phillips?

Maybe you werent listening, I am in Canada, new models won't be here for a LONG time and prices are NOT the same as US.

Pioneer is $1000 more than the ones listed above in my city. Cant afford any pioneer.
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post #4 of 39
4/5/07 at 11:04pm
Of the ones on your list the winner is the Panasonic TH50PX60, and its being heavily discounted right now for closeout sales - shop around while its still available and at incredibly low prices!
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post #5 of 39
4/5/07 at 11:57pm
i have a Philips 50PF9431 (same picture quality as 9631) and a Panasonic 50PX6U (basically the same as 60U). In my opinion picture quality is the same. However, to my eye the Philips is nicer. It also has a reaally nice feature (Automatic stretch) which was the decision-maker for me. This board is very Panasonic-oriented, and since its packed with smart people the public choice would certainly be the Panasonic. The Philips is my personal choice though. Good Luck!
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post #6 of 39
4/6/07 at 10:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by alaskaman1666 View Post

Go with Pioneer or Panasonic!
New models of both coming out now!
Stay away from Phillips!

There's nothing wrong with Philips. The PQ is excelent in HD & very good in SD. Also it has the "automatic" picture mode which stretches the picture only if there are black bars. The 50PF9631 also has Ambilight which is built in backlighting which varies due to picture content & gives a really cool effect when watching movies. I have a 50PF9630 which is a year older model & it's been great. The biggest problem with Philips is the customer service which has a lot to be desired, but as far as the set goes it's nice. Philips has had some bugs with some of their sets but so have Panny, Poi and the others, just look at this forum. From what I've seen Philips here has the least number of complaints based on the number of threads and the 9631 series is one of their best as far as quality. Good luck
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post #7 of 39
4/6/07 at 10:19am
I would keep the Philips on your must see list if I were you. The picture quality is very good and ambilight is a nice feature. Philips has come a long way recently. Look at the Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips. Pioneer probably has the better picture quality of the lot. Stay away from the no name brands. Good luck.
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post #8 of 39
4/6/07 at 11:39am
Check out failure rates and picture quality of Phillips in tests and in store and online.
Pioneer is the top rated set for picture quality; Panasonic second.
You can save money with Panasonic 60/600 series in stores in Canada now.
Both being discounted now due to new models coming out!
I'm waiting for new Panasonic 1080P 50 inch TH-50PZ700/750 series.
By the way I sold Pioneer and Panasonic and Toshiba. Samsung is ok too.
Call Cleveland Plasma or Visual Apex or Roman at Invision. See if they will ship to you.
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post #9 of 39
4/6/07 at 1:10pm
I wouldn't rule out the sammy either, it's a great plasma. Of all the ones you've listed, maybe stay away from the philips.
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post #10 of 39
4/6/07 at 2:55pm
why should he stay away from the philips?
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post #11 of 39
4/6/07 at 2:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fiddysheqel View Post

why should he stay away from the philips?

CONSUMER REPORTS
MAY 2007 ISSUE/PAGE FOURTEEN(14)
"Phillips and Visio; higher than average repair rate".
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post #12 of 39
4/6/07 at 3:15pm
I just got the Philips 50PF9631d at Huge discount at Best Buy (30% off). I have to say that PQ is sweet, better than I thought it would be considering you don't hear too myuch aboout them any more. Initially Phillips was not one of my top choices but I am not dissappointed at all. Every plasma should have ambient light technology.
The panasonics I looked at, did not impress me at all, esp in comparison to the Philips. The sammys were really really nice (loved the HP-T5054). But at $1000 more than what I got the Philips for, the choice was clear.
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post #13 of 39
4/6/07 at 5:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by alaskaman1666 View Post

CONSUMER REPORTS
MAY 2007 ISSUE/PAGE FOURTEEN(14)
"Phillips and Visio; higher than average repair rate".

Consumer Reports: Yes we know TV's, Testing toasters for years makes us TV experts
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post #14 of 39
4/6/07 at 8:36pm
As a follow up to the Consumer Retorts (not a typo) My wife talked me into a Sharp vacuum based on their reports about 8 yrs ago. The Vac cost about $200. It lasted all of about 5 years and I had to drive 10 miles to buy bags for it. Here in the garbage state of NJ you can buy hoover & electrolux bags anywhere ( damn near in the 7-11's) but Consumer reports boasted this was a "Best" buy at the time. I guess they had no TV's to test . And thats not the only thing I've seen them wrong on
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post #15 of 39
4/6/07 at 8:59pm
Repair rate is the number of units in the sample vs. the number of units reported for repair. IT'S NOT AN OPINION!
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post #16 of 39
4/6/07 at 11:13pm
Number of units in the sample What was the sample lot 3,10,50 out of how many made?
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post #17 of 39
4/6/07 at 11:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kor View Post

Why stay away from phillips?

Maybe you werent listening, I am in Canada, new models won't be here for a LONG time and prices are NOT the same as US.

Pioneer is $1000 more than the ones listed above in my city. Cant afford any pioneer.


Dude the 75us are already available at BestBuy in Canada. The new Samsungs should be out soon too. Yeah we get the models later, usually a few weeks to about a month, but it's not that long.
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post #18 of 39
4/7/07 at 4:12am
I work on these things for a living.

I would stay away from Philips.

Higher failure rates than the others listed in your list. In particular, we probably replace more Philips plasma panels than any other brand by at least 3 to 1.
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post #19 of 39
4/7/07 at 5:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kor View Post

50" Help me decide! Any I should avoid?

The best investment you can make will be with Pioneer or Panasonic... everything else becomes problematic.
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post #20 of 39
4/7/07 at 5:17am
If you do a little looking you will see that one of the usual
suspects in Canada just dropped the price of the Panny
by $500 to make room for the new 75U's.
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post #21 of 39
4/7/07 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MOtvGuy View Post

I work on these things for a living.

I would stay away from Philips.

Higher failure rates than the others listed in your list. In particular, we probably replace more Philips plasma panels than any other brand by at least 3 to 1.

Just curious, what models are the worst. I know the 7220 series was problematic. I read in this forum that the 9630/31 series was more reliable & used samsung panels, is this true?
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post #22 of 39
4/7/07 at 9:37am
Kor,

I have spent a good amount of time looking at several of these displays. I own none of the brands you mention so as they say I have no dog in this fight. From my own observations (do a search on my ID and you can find a lot more) I would summarize as follows:

Samsung - way too much overscan crops off too much picture information. Limited adjustment. The 53 series pretty old now and not their best. Can break up on fast motion. I saw a 73 series ISFed and the colors were very natural.

Phillips - the 9731 (not 9631) cabinet looks very sharp. Like the swivel stand included too. Colors can look beautiful if not a bit overdone (need to adjust carefully). I was actually considering this display although it did not ofer the variety of picture adjustments I wanted (neither do most displays). But then I noticed its weakness. The electronics did not produce steady pixels in dark areas, such as the surface texture of a black shirt. The pixels were dancing, sparkeling, and dithering too much. Pioneer was rock steady and the Panny was steady too. This was pretty consistent and very troubling.

The color decoder also seems to produce a bit different results from other displays. This effect can actually be quite attractive if perhaps less than accurate. Clouds can often take on a slight reddish/orange tinge not present in other displays. Skys often take on a hyper-real blue color that while beautiful is I suspect not accurate.

Pannasonic - I have found consistently some of the best and most realistic pictures on Pannys. They are very clear with good detail and natural color. More subduded than say Pioneer and I think more realistic like looking through a window. I like what I see on stills and slowely moving pans. I have some trouble with their faster motion performance as if the processor doesn't quite keep up, same with Sammy. I also would like to see more picture controls and independent memories by input (I think this is being addressed in the 2007 models).

Toshiba- Have not looked at.

These are just my personal observations but I have tried to look very critically and have adjusted, by eye as best I could, each display a number of times for best picture.

Cheers,

Gary
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post #23 of 39
4/8/07 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by itigap View Post

Kor,

I have spent a good amount of time looking at several of these displays. I own none of the brands you mention so as they say I have no dog in this fight. From my own observations (do a search on my ID and you can find a lot more) I would summarize as follows:

Samsung - way too much overscan crops off too much picture information. Limited adjustment. The 53 series pretty old now and not their best. Can break up on fast motion. I saw a 73 series ISFed and the colors were very natural.

Phillips - the 9731 (not 9631) cabinet looks very sharp. Like the swivel stand included too. Colors can look beautiful if not a bit overdone (need to adjust carefully). I was actually considering this display although it did not ofer the variety of picture adjustments I wanted (neither do most displays). But then I noticed its weakness. The electronics did not produce steady pixels in dark areas, such as the surface texture of a black shirt. The pixels were dancing, sparkeling, and dithering too much. Pioneer was rock steady and the Panny was steady too. This was pretty consistent and very troubling.

The color decoder also seems to produce a bit different results from other displays. This effect can actually be quite attractive if perhaps less than accurate. Clouds can often take on a slight reddish/orange tinge not present in other displays. Skys often take on a hyper-real blue color that while beautiful is I suspect not accurate.

Pannasonic - I have found consistently some of the best and most realistic pictures on Pannys. They are very clear with good detail and natural color. More subduded than say Pioneer and I think more realistic like looking through a window. I like what I see on stills and slowely moving pans. I have some trouble with their faster motion performance as if the processor doesn't quite keep up, same with Sammy. I also would like to see more picture controls and independent memories by input (I think this is being addressed in the 2007 models).

Toshiba- Have not looked at.

These are just my personal observations but I have tried to look very critically and have adjusted, by eye as best I could, each display a number of times for best picture.

Cheers,

Gary

Great post. I have a philips 50" 9630 which has great blacks and none of the dancing pixels you spoke of. keep in mind that if you viewed these in stores you have no idea how good a feed they have or if they're adjusted properly.
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post #24 of 39
4/9/07 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by indept View Post

Great post. I have a philips 50" 9630 which has great blacks and none of the dancing pixels you spoke of. keep in mind that if you viewed these in stores you have no idea how good a feed they have or if they're adjusted properly.

Fair enough. The feeds were in BB via D* on Discovery HD. I only mention it as a comparative since the other displays did not exhibit this effect to the same extent. Pioneer and Panny did not have it at all.

I have seen some really nice pictures on the Philips and the all black gloss case on the 9731 looks very very sharp.

Glad to hear your 9630 is working well for you.

To Philips' credit, I was watching another Discovery HD show some time ago and they had an outdoor show shot in bright sun at an outdoor pool. A small child sitting in the water had on a bright and deep green cap. This was the greenest cap I have ever seen. I didn't think green could get that bright and deep green (you get my point).

I was watching and had adjusted a Pioneer Elite, a Panny 600u, an ISFed Samsung 73 series, and the Philips 9731. The green overdrove/distorted with bloom on all the other displays but not the Philips. On the Philips it just looked perfectly clear, very bright, very deep, and very green. I didn't think any color could look that saturated and still look perfectly clear and sharp. It was actually quite startling to see the difference this scene made on the various displays.

Cheers,

Gary
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post #25 of 39
4/9/07 at 10:25am
Thread Starter 
I like the continued posts in this thread!

I went shopping some more on the weekend, here are my reviews.

Phillips 9631

I agree the case looks great but I am scared of the QC issues now. The picture didn't blow me away but it was okay.

Samsung HPS 5053

Not so great but the 5073 blew my socks off. Unfortunately, it costs about 900 more here.

Toshiba 50HP86

The more I look at this the worse the picture looks.

Panasonic TH50PX60

Picture is okay, colors slightly better than the Phillips IMO but not as sharp as I would like and the case looks AWFUL. I can't buy this just because I can't put it in the living room with such an ugly silver plastic case. Whats wrong with matte black??


Saw a weird Hitachi that I am going to take a 2nd look at tonight.
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post #26 of 39
4/9/07 at 7:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kor View Post

I like the continued posts in this thread!

I went shopping some more on the weekend, here are my reviews.

Phillips 9631

I agree the case looks great but I am scared of the QC issues now. The picture didn't blow me away but it was okay.

Samsung HPS 5053

Not so great but the 5073 blew my socks off. Unfortunately, it costs about 900 more here.

Toshiba 50HP86

The more I look at this the worse the picture looks.

Panasonic TH50PX60

Picture is okay, colors slightly better than the Phillips IMO but not as sharp as I would like and the case looks AWFUL. I can't buy this just because I can't put it in the living room with such an ugly silver plastic case. Whats wrong with matte black??


Saw a weird Hitachi that I am going to take a 2nd look at tonight.

Sounds like you need to view some of the 2007 displays. The new Panny displays loose the ugly silver/grey and look very nice. Sammy keeps the nice black.

Cheers,

Gary

P.S. If you want to see a good looking Philips, look at a 9731. It's much different than the other Philips displays.
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post #27 of 39
4/9/07 at 7:26pm
Thread Starter 
Sadly the 07 displays and reasonably good looking plasmas I have seen are all out of my price range. My limit is 2500 CAD and I can't find anything under 3000.

I think I may have to settle for a sony SXRD projection display, simply because a lot of the budget offerings really bother me when I watch them.
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post #28 of 39
4/9/07 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kor View Post

Sadly the 07 displays and reasonably good looking plasmas I have seen are all out of my price range. My limit is 2500 CAD and I can't find anything under 3000.

I think I may have to settle for a sony SXRD projection display, simply because a lot of the budget offerings really bother me when I watch them.

Nothing wrong with a NEW SXRD set. The prior issues with the OB appear to be resolved. The units when setup and calibrated look fantastic.

I'm debating Plasma or SXRD and for me it will be awhile so I'm gonna ride things out for 6 or 8 more months before buying, perhaps even a little longer.
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post #29 of 39
4/17/07 at 2:22pm
I just went to FRY's and looked at all the models, both new and old. This is my opinion:

Phillips 9731: The color detail was superior to the Samsungs. The thing is a monstrosity, absolutely enormous(con). The swivel stand was great and the black bezel is very appealing. The blacks were good not great. What I was impressed most of all was the price, they had a deal going on that had the 50PF9731 for under $1500!! This model also has some extra speakers for some better sound.

Samsung HPTXX54: This is their new model with 15000:1 contrast ratio......and WOW is this thing bright. The greens looked too green ,the blues too blue. I felt like I was going to get scroched by this thing. I think they do that on purpose so people stop in their tracks and take notice. A very nice bezel, but with it being so bright it really takes away from the detail of the picture. The anti-glare coating was also nice.

Panasonic 75U: This had a very nice picture with natural colors and boy the new bezel is 100% times better. I am little miffed that it no longer has a pc input(important if you want to write it off as a business expense). THe blacks were best on this plasma and was overall the most "pleasant" of the plasmas. There is also a $200 rebate from Panasonic if you have it installed.

In all for the price I would pick the Philips, but for the picture I would take the Panasonic.
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post #30 of 39
4/17/07 at 2:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kor View Post

I like the continued posts in this thread!

I went shopping some more on the weekend, here are my reviews.

Phillips 9631

I agree the case looks great but I am scared of the QC issues now. The picture didn't blow me away but it was okay.

Samsung HPS 5053

Not so great but the 5073 blew my socks off. Unfortunately, it costs about 900 more here.

Toshiba 50HP86

The more I look at this the worse the picture looks.

Panasonic TH50PX60

Picture is okay, colors slightly better than the Phillips IMO but not as sharp as I would like and the case looks AWFUL. I can't buy this just because I can't put it in the living room with such an ugly silver plastic case. Whats wrong with matte black??


Saw a weird Hitachi that I am going to take a 2nd look at tonight.

So as it stands right now, Sammy and Panny are your 2 choices.
Keep looking at let your eyes decide
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