[moshock]

I find glossy bezels to be quite distracting. The room I will be putting this new 42" plasma in has a lot of sunlight.


I'm having a very difficult time finding a good 42" plasma with a matte bezel.


I am looking to spend around $600-$900.


And seriously, why is gloss so popular anyway?

 

[rujo]



Quote:
Originally Posted by moshock /forum/post/15460962



... I'm having a very difficult time finding a good 42" plasma with a matte bezel. I am looking to spend around $600-$900...

Costco has the 42" Panasonic PX80U equivalent (Model TH-C42HD18) with a matte bezel. An excellent display and within your price range. (If you check out the PX80 owners thread you'll notice a high level of satisfaction with this television.)

 

[RandyWalters]

In addition to the Costco TH-C42HD18 768p set mentioned above, they also have the TH-C42FD18 1080p model (their version of the TH-42PZ80U). I think Sam's Club also sells their own versions as well. These are the only Plasma TVs available with a matte bezel as far as i know.

 

[ercc]

In addition to the other models listed, which are good choices, the panny 'professional' plasmas have non-glossy bezels that are also extrememly narrow. The two models would be th-42ph11uk (720p) and th-42pf11uk (1080p).


Of course, you must be aware of the professional line limitations. While they have excellent PQ and great adjustability, they do not come with a tuner, speakers, or a stand and inputs are somewhat limited, although they can be upgraded at any time with removable boards like a computer.


The 720p model is definitely the one to go for if you did it, but it is still a bit more expensive than the consumer line. You cannot buy these sets from traditional stores like BB, you must either buy them online (lots of forum sponsors sell them), or at a few specialty av shops out there.


Also, I agree, glossy bezels are a small annoyance but they are here to stay. They bothered me at first as they were everywhere I am certainly used to them now. Interestingly panasonic recently previewed some TVs with non-glossy bezels for their high-end consumer lines, but they may have just not finished the design process on the bezels yet.

 

[moshock]

I have been told that these are the differences between the Costco TH-C42HD18 and the TH-42PX80U:

Quote:
1) One less HDMI input


2) Matte Bezel instead of glossy


3) No Digital Cinema Reality and


4) No Video Noise reduction.

1) That's okay.


2) Good!


3) This concerns me, but after looking at the TH-42PX80U Manual, I don't even see a single mention of 'Digital Cinema Reality'.


4) Fine. I would probably turn it off anyways.

 

[H_Prestige]

The costco 1080p version is also well within your price range. I would personally go for that one, especially since it doesn't seem to be missing anything from the regular pz80. It actually has a VGA input which the normal line doesn't have.

 

[RandyWalters]



Quote:
Originally Posted by moshock /forum/post/15465134


I have been told that these are the differences between the Costco TH-C42HD18 and the TH-42PX80U.....:


3) This concerns me, but after looking at the TH-42PX80U Manual, I don't even see a single mention of 'Digital Cinema Reality'.


4) Fine. I would probably turn it off anyways.

3) Digital Cinema Reality is merely the name Panasonic gave the circuitry that reduces or eliminates motion judder and all Panasonic TVs and projectors and video recorders have it built in. It's not some setting that you can turn on or off, and may or may not be stated in marketing specs. So just because you don't see it listed in printed specs or features doesn't mean it's not present, because it is.


4) Pretty much everybody turns this off - it's only useful on poor signals anyway. And have you personally gone into a TH-C42HD18's user menu and found that this setting is missing? Or are you going by some printed specs or list of features? Because i'm virtually positive that the Costco models had the Video NR setting in the menu when i was in the store playing with the settings.

 

[moshock]

^


I agree with you on both points. DCR has to be built-in, as it's not an On/Off feature. And I would turn NR off anyways.


I hope the Costco model goes on sale for $629.99 again, and if it does I'm buying it!


It's nice that the Costco model comes with a 2 Year warranty too. I don't feel the need to buy an extended warranty beyond that.

 

[FAUguy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by moshock /forum/post/15466638


^


I agree with you on both points. DCR has to be built-in, as it's not an On/Off feature. And I would turn NR off anyways.


I hope the Costco model goes on sale for $629.99 again, and if it does I'm buying it!


It's nice that the Costco model comes with a 2 Year warranty too. I don't feel the need to buy an extended warranty beyond that.

I went to a few stores today. Here are the prices from Costco: C42HD18 $679, C42FH18 $849, C46FD18 $949, C50FD18 $1449. The HD18 is 768p (720p) and the FD18 is 1080p.


The boxes did list Digital Cinema Reality (DCR) on them. The HD18 had a contrast of 15,000:1 and the FD18 had 20,000:1.


Anyone else think its weird that the HD18 model is 720p...where most people think "HD 1080."

It would make more sense to have the FD18 as 720p and HD18 as 1080p.