[propeller_beach]

Hi,


I just came back from Cineramax's store. Wanted to check this thing in person.


I have been a little apprehensive and rather skeptical that this unit would be on a par with the 50", based on the fact that both have the same resolution and, frankly, logically, it makes sense that the denser the picture (pixel wise) the better looking it's going to be.


I must now say that I am more than pleasantly surprised by the 60". Here is what I noticed, after dialing in my preference settings:


1) On HD, the picture is superb. The larger panel does not account for any loss in detail. I sat at the same distance I normally sit while watching my 50". The vividness was strikingly clear. The 3-dimensional effect was felt with a stronger impact, that which results from the bigger size of the screen, compared to the 50". This thing is huge. It is a full 8 inches taller and an almost 11 full inches wider than the 50". The immersion is obvious while sitting at the same distance I sit with the 50" at home.


2) On SD DSS sources, there is a minor difference in quality when compared to the 50". It is minor and perhaps un-quantitative to some. The jaggies are noticeable, but so are on my 50". Same on the lack of resolution due to the medium itself. But, frankly, I did not get a plasma to do much SD DSS viewing. So I can live with that.


3) On DVD, through the M51, this thing looked very good. Picture was much better than SD DSS of course. It was very detailed, and in fact the same quality to my discerning eyes as viewing the same media through the 50".


One note of caution. Professional greyscale calibration is de-facto for this set. The colors are unbalanced if not and affect the overall enjoyment. And proper dial-up of the picture settings, of course, avoids rather distracting picture noise. This affects the 60" if for no other reason just for the mere fact of the size of the image alone.


Bottom line:


I was very impressed by the 60". I would trade my 50" for it. This set looks absolutely great on HD and very good on DVD. Make sure to have it calibrated and to stick with the calibrated settings. But this applies to the 50" as well, of course.


Biggest positive:


The impact gained by viewing at the same distance as the 50". Truly an eye opener.


Biggest negative:


Well, but price of course


Thanks to Peter M. for the free screening.


Fire any questions you may have.


Cheers,


Luca

 

[jlm]

does the 61" suffer any of the fujitsu 50" problems...like fan noise, only one user setting for calibration levels, quirky dvi input for its native rate(any dvi input?)

 

[propeller_beach]

Hi John,


Fan noise: Under normal conditions, with volume at normal settings, I did not hear any from my seating distance at what prolly was 8 feet or so. When close to the set, like one foot close, I'd hear the spinning of the fan, but no louder than my 50" in a similar setting.


User setting: While going through the menu settings, I noticed there were a total of 6 or so memory settings listed. I did not try, but assume that the banks would hold any combination of settings from any of the available settings in the menu. I don't see why they would discriminate among which settings to bank in memory. Maybe Peter would try for us, if he sees this thread.


DVI input: Yes, there is a DVI input. No, I did not try it out, as I did not have a DVI source at hand. Do you mean by "quirky" to ask whether the set takes its native rate through the DVI input? Doesn't the Pixel Perfect card from England do that? I am not sure. Can you tell me more?


Luca

 

[davidw]

I had the same evaluation, more or less, when I viewed these two side by side with the same feeds at a local electronic store. Both were equal in HD. Breathtaking actually. Out of at least 30 HDTV's running the same HDNET from DTV feed (including other plasmas, RPTV's and direct views), these 2 had the best HD PQ, with the edge going to the 60 only because of its size.


On SD DSS, I agree that the 50 is slightly better than the 60, but not by a huge margin. OTOH, I found both to be unacceptable with this source. Then, calibration issues could easily have effected either. My conclusion was that the 60 offered a bigger size, similar HD (awesome), and slightly inferior SD. Not worth the $10K diff. in price. But then, I am more financially constrained than some people here.


Thanks for the review.

 

[work permit]

How is the contrast of the 60" vrs the 50"?

 

[Joel]

Contrast ratio is larger on the 50, because it's a Panasonic OEM. The 61 is an NEC OEM, so it's comparable to that unit. When I saw the NEC and Fujitsus at CES, the 61 had poorer blacks than the 50, but my guess is that visible difference narrows after calibration and gamma adjustment. Still, the 50 has a better native contrast ratio.

 

[CINERAMAX]

My Most Favorite reviewer,


Thanks for the candid assesment.


Just to comment that the unit is 61" diagonal.


I will see trainer dave this wed. and will ask the questions. Maybe if we liquor him up a bit.....

 

[CINERAMAX]

I can confirm that the user color temperature on the 6101 is independent for each of the 8 presets.

 

[CINERAMAX]

The black levels are not on the same league when you are seeing the black TOP AND BOTTOM LETTERBOX of a 2.35 movie.


That is where I bet Ken Ross saw the defficiency he mentioned.


On picture content equally calibrated it is a toss.

 

[CINERAMAX]

I pointed to Luca that the 6101 is not quite as quiet as the 5002.


He shrugged and replied: "some people may live in a vaccum"


Well vaccum or not this unit is not for Patrick.

 

[Wayne Zworld]

Hi guys.


I’m a new-bee here but thought I might help with some info on the DVI input.


I got my 6101 about 1 month ago and love it.


I built a pc with the ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500 with 128 MB. I set the ATI at 1024 x 768 and it fills the screen perfectly, even the display properties show the wide screen format (ATI says the 6101 is outputting the eddit string and controlling the 8500 to native resolution). I have a lot of mpeg movies and they look great with Power DVD, even DVD’s look better through the pc then using the component output from my Sony S7000. By the way the ATI comes with a neat RF remote to control the PC and DVD very well.


My .02


Wayne

 

[Chris J]

What is it selling for?

 

[Cclear]

hey Wayne Zworld, welcome to the forum..


The problem with the DVI is it is difficult to get a native 1365x768 resolution thought the DVI.. I believe the only way to get it is to use a Digital Leeza scaler or setup a HTPC just correctly, and some tweaking, and even then, it is something like 1367x768 or something..


basicly the Fujitsu isn't very flexible with its Native Rate through the DVI..

 

[Wayne Zworld]

Chris


I paid 19k


Cclear


Something very strange is happening with this 6101 in DVI mode. On the PC “Display Properties Setting Screen†display 1 shows a wide screen resolution not 1024 x 768 it is set for. Squares are square and circles are round, I measured them.


According to the manual there are only 5 DVI display resolutions:


640 X 480 @ 31.47H X 59.94V

800 X 600 @ 37.88H X 60.32V

800 X 600 @ 48.08H X 72.19V

1024 X 768 @ 48.36H X 60.00V

848 X 480 @ 31.02H X 60.00V


The only wide screen resolution is 848 x 480, but in the info screen on the 6101 it shows 48.3V x 59.9H which is 1024 x 768 right. So how can squares and circles be symmetrical if the image is being stretched, and why does display 1 show as a wide screen?


Wayne

http://www.magnacoustics.com/images/6101.h1.jpg

 

[Cclear]

Wayne Zworld: your video card can see what type of display it is connected to, and it sees that it is a widescreen.. that is why it shows up on the display properties as a 16x9 monitor..


but as for the 1024x768 - I would have to see it.. honestly, 1024x768 is a 4x3 image.. so it is either cropping the image or streching it to fit into a 16x9 screen fully..


?? so that is strange..


But i will add, i don't have much experience with HTPC's.. perhaps someone that has one will chime in..??