Well, my plasma is up and running. It was purchased from Tony Short at Sights and Sounds, a new B&M in Williamsburg (highly recommended by the way). It took a week from order to install. Two major reasons for buying this model: picture quality and warranty.
My system consists of a Denon AVR3803 fed by a Denon DVD1600 and a Motorola digital cable box, all housed in a Lovan Sovereign AVR rack. The speakers are Phase Technology 33.1 (center), 2.1 (front), 1.1 (rear), and Power 10 (sub). All video is connected directly to the plasma: digital cable box via s-video, DVD via component.
The panel and stand were well packed. Instructions and manual seem well written and easy to understand. It looks good even turned off. I would prefer a charcoal colored bezel to go with the rest of my components, but the silver finish is subtle and not overpowering. The Fujitsu table stand (P-TT4200-S) is not as sturdy as I expected for the price paid, but looks nice and compliments the overall appearance of the plasma. It has a textured glass shelf that is flush with the bottom supports which gives it a touch of class. This stand is intended for the P50 as well, so there should be no stability issues with a P42. Fujitsu recommends securing the stand to the equipment rack surface with supplied screws if the environment is prone to knocking it over (i.e., children) or earthquakes.
The unit gets warm on the top which is expected, but is well ventilated. Overheating shouldn’t be a problem as long as proper clearances are maintained. No dead or stuck pixels noticed, and no noticeable screen door effect at 10’ viewing distance. A slight hum can be heard from the right rear of cabinet (similar to a fluorescent light), but is noticeable only up close with audio muted. The unit has a built-in audio amplifier which I will not use, so all audio settings are zeroed to put less stress on the internal electronics. Menus are logical with easy setup. I like the many available viewing modes and image placement adjustments.
Digital cable channels (no HBO, Showtime, etc.) display varying picture quality depending on channel (GIGO), which is the consensus from what I’ve read. Overall picture quality is quite good, much better than I expected. Compression artifacts are noticeable at times on scenes with background movement (i.e., leaves blowing in the breeze) or solid color backgrounds (i.e., underwater) on channels above 100. Again, it varies from channel to channel, program to program. I am sure more tweaking will show improvements. DVDs are outstanding. Colors are vivid, dark scenes show good detail, and no distracting motion artifacts. Distortion at the vertical edges is hardly noticeable when viewing 4:3 in Wide1 mode. I do see a problem with what I believe is “dot crawl†on scrolling movie credits which is addressed in another thread. No HDTV yet. Cox is dragging its feet bringing it online, so I may go with DirecTV if my patience runs out with Cox.
I haven’t calibrated with Avia yet. Would be interested in hearing from others on their settings.
Pete...
My system consists of a Denon AVR3803 fed by a Denon DVD1600 and a Motorola digital cable box, all housed in a Lovan Sovereign AVR rack. The speakers are Phase Technology 33.1 (center), 2.1 (front), 1.1 (rear), and Power 10 (sub). All video is connected directly to the plasma: digital cable box via s-video, DVD via component.
The panel and stand were well packed. Instructions and manual seem well written and easy to understand. It looks good even turned off. I would prefer a charcoal colored bezel to go with the rest of my components, but the silver finish is subtle and not overpowering. The Fujitsu table stand (P-TT4200-S) is not as sturdy as I expected for the price paid, but looks nice and compliments the overall appearance of the plasma. It has a textured glass shelf that is flush with the bottom supports which gives it a touch of class. This stand is intended for the P50 as well, so there should be no stability issues with a P42. Fujitsu recommends securing the stand to the equipment rack surface with supplied screws if the environment is prone to knocking it over (i.e., children) or earthquakes.
The unit gets warm on the top which is expected, but is well ventilated. Overheating shouldn’t be a problem as long as proper clearances are maintained. No dead or stuck pixels noticed, and no noticeable screen door effect at 10’ viewing distance. A slight hum can be heard from the right rear of cabinet (similar to a fluorescent light), but is noticeable only up close with audio muted. The unit has a built-in audio amplifier which I will not use, so all audio settings are zeroed to put less stress on the internal electronics. Menus are logical with easy setup. I like the many available viewing modes and image placement adjustments.
Digital cable channels (no HBO, Showtime, etc.) display varying picture quality depending on channel (GIGO), which is the consensus from what I’ve read. Overall picture quality is quite good, much better than I expected. Compression artifacts are noticeable at times on scenes with background movement (i.e., leaves blowing in the breeze) or solid color backgrounds (i.e., underwater) on channels above 100. Again, it varies from channel to channel, program to program. I am sure more tweaking will show improvements. DVDs are outstanding. Colors are vivid, dark scenes show good detail, and no distracting motion artifacts. Distortion at the vertical edges is hardly noticeable when viewing 4:3 in Wide1 mode. I do see a problem with what I believe is “dot crawl†on scrolling movie credits which is addressed in another thread. No HDTV yet. Cox is dragging its feet bringing it online, so I may go with DirecTV if my patience runs out with Cox.
I haven’t calibrated with Avia yet. Would be interested in hearing from others on their settings.
Pete...
