Hello All:
Has anyone done a feature comparison between Panasonic's 50PHD7UY and NEC's 50XM4? Folks in this forum generally seem very pleased with the 7UY, because of its black levels and a host of other reasons. It also seems to be the consensus that the 50XM4 has really good color/vividness, but the black levels are arguably not as good as Panasonic's, and that it is very difficult to put NEC plasmas "through their paces" and thoroughly evaluate their picture quality as very few B&M stores have them. I'm a relative newbie in the whole plasma arena, and what I would like to know is whether anyone has compared the units' features independently of picture quality -- even though I know that when buying a plasma, picture quality (as it is perceived by the purchaser) is the first and foremost consideration.
Here are the comparisons I've been able to make so far, based on the manuals and AVS Forum posts/FAQ - if anyone else has other observations or corrections, I would very much appreciate the input:
- The 50XM4 does not have blade configurability; it has one DVI input (with HDCP) that comes standard. The 7UY has blade configurability, and will accept not only blades with DVI/HDCP but also blades with HDMI (coming soon).
- The 50XM4 has an intriguing "loop out" capacity which appears to enable it to route a video signal to other monitors. This may be useful when using an HDTiVo, which can output either HDMI or analog video but not both. (I realize that the second monitor would only be able to watch TiVo when that signal is the selected input for the 50XM4.) The 7UY does not appear to have any similar feature.
- The 50XM4 and the 7UY can both do "split screen" operations.
- Both units appear to have discrete IR codes for inputs and on/off, assuming that the 5UY's codes work on the 7UY as has been stated previously on this forum.
- Both units accept RS-232 signals and PC signals. (I am not particularly PC-literate so I have not determined exactly which PC signals each unit can receive.)
- The 50XM4 may not have as advanced a system for preventing burn-in as the 7UY... at least, NEC has not advertised anything like that.
- The 7UY can accept native rate through the PC input, but possibly not through any of the other inputs. The 50XM4's native rate capabilities are unclear. (I can't seem to find the pertinent information in the manual.)
- The 7UY has a native resolution of 1366 x 768; the 50XM4 has a native resolution of 1365 x 768.
- The 50XM4 has 4 different picture settings - Theater 1, Theater 2, Normal and Bright. It is unclear whether the picture quality for each can be independently adjusted and saved, or if there is simply one set of picture quality controls that applies to all 4 options, though it is likely the former. The 7UY has 3 picture settings (Standard, Dynamic and Cinema), plus a setting that automatically picks the best of the 3 for the viewing conditions. The picture quality for each can be adjusted and saved independently of the others.
- They're both awesome plasmas!
Thanks for reading...
Deb K.
Has anyone done a feature comparison between Panasonic's 50PHD7UY and NEC's 50XM4? Folks in this forum generally seem very pleased with the 7UY, because of its black levels and a host of other reasons. It also seems to be the consensus that the 50XM4 has really good color/vividness, but the black levels are arguably not as good as Panasonic's, and that it is very difficult to put NEC plasmas "through their paces" and thoroughly evaluate their picture quality as very few B&M stores have them. I'm a relative newbie in the whole plasma arena, and what I would like to know is whether anyone has compared the units' features independently of picture quality -- even though I know that when buying a plasma, picture quality (as it is perceived by the purchaser) is the first and foremost consideration.
Here are the comparisons I've been able to make so far, based on the manuals and AVS Forum posts/FAQ - if anyone else has other observations or corrections, I would very much appreciate the input:
- The 50XM4 does not have blade configurability; it has one DVI input (with HDCP) that comes standard. The 7UY has blade configurability, and will accept not only blades with DVI/HDCP but also blades with HDMI (coming soon).
- The 50XM4 has an intriguing "loop out" capacity which appears to enable it to route a video signal to other monitors. This may be useful when using an HDTiVo, which can output either HDMI or analog video but not both. (I realize that the second monitor would only be able to watch TiVo when that signal is the selected input for the 50XM4.) The 7UY does not appear to have any similar feature.
- The 50XM4 and the 7UY can both do "split screen" operations.
- Both units appear to have discrete IR codes for inputs and on/off, assuming that the 5UY's codes work on the 7UY as has been stated previously on this forum.
- Both units accept RS-232 signals and PC signals. (I am not particularly PC-literate so I have not determined exactly which PC signals each unit can receive.)
- The 50XM4 may not have as advanced a system for preventing burn-in as the 7UY... at least, NEC has not advertised anything like that.
- The 7UY can accept native rate through the PC input, but possibly not through any of the other inputs. The 50XM4's native rate capabilities are unclear. (I can't seem to find the pertinent information in the manual.)
- The 7UY has a native resolution of 1366 x 768; the 50XM4 has a native resolution of 1365 x 768.
- The 50XM4 has 4 different picture settings - Theater 1, Theater 2, Normal and Bright. It is unclear whether the picture quality for each can be independently adjusted and saved, or if there is simply one set of picture quality controls that applies to all 4 options, though it is likely the former. The 7UY has 3 picture settings (Standard, Dynamic and Cinema), plus a setting that automatically picks the best of the 3 for the viewing conditions. The picture quality for each can be adjusted and saved independently of the others.
- They're both awesome plasmas!
Thanks for reading...
Deb K.
