[veganfred]

Have visited several stores, but each one has had the Panasonic PT-50LC13 looking terrible. The reviews I've read say it looks great. One shopper said he heard stores make some display sets look bad in order to sell other ones next to it, which they make more $$$ on. I suppose that could be possible, but does anyone actually own it and love it? How does it look with regular DirecTV channels or ReplayTV recordings? I usually sit about 12 feet away, if that helps any.


Have seen it on the net for about $2300 plus delivery ($2500-ish), but hesitate making a purchase like that online, just in case it goes bad or I don't like it. Anyone know where or how to get them in the L.A. area for a good price? Most are about 3K.


Also, what about DLP? Don't want to spend 4G's, but don't want a crummy set either. Should I maybe wait for something better on the horizon?


Thanks in advance for all your input.

 

[jdmcdonald]

The PT 50LC13 is a wonderful set. It lacks the rainbows of the Sammies,

which otherwise are also wonderful. The Sammy has slightly darker blacks.


Both are superior to the Sony GW III in picture quality for 720p, which

also suffers interlace artifacts when showing 1080i.


Doug McDonald

 

[tomski]

I have had the same concerns as I am looking to purchase shortly. I have been to several stores (BB) and the set looked terrible. Yesterday I visited a Circuit City and the set looked fantastic. It seems you have to make the right tweaks.

 

[8ballcoupe]

As you have already noticed comparison shopping can be a hit or miss proposition because of the variations in lighting, quality of setup, and signal feed that will affect apparent image quality even from one spot to another in the same store. Unfortunately your own eyes and the eyes of others who will share the TV with you are the only ones you can trust to make this decision. For instance I would not characterize the Panasonic RP LCD or even the Samsung RP DLP as having a superior image to that of the Sony GW3. Everyone has to arrive at his own opinion on something as subjective as this. I suspect that you really can't go far wrong with a Panasonic, Hitachi, or Sony RP LCD or one of the better CRT RP TVs. When you get the thing home you won't be sitting there doing A/B testing against other sets, I hope. You'll be watching it and enjoying it. If you see a set you really like in the store I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it at home, too.


I think buying at a local store, even if it is part of a large chain, is a better idea. There is always the possibility that you will have to return your set, regardless of which brand and model you choose. It will be easier to do that when dealing with a reputable local dealer or national firm. I think that Circuit City and Sears are probably pretty good bets most of the time, and a locally owned store with a good reputation for service should do as well by you.


Have fun, and try not to be too concerned about what other people think about the image quality of these sets. An examination of the threads around here will turn up some genuinely useful information about the characteristics of different types of displays. If you judge displays with those characteristics in mind that information may help you evaluate the types of display characteristics that mean the most to you. But someone else's concept of "best" is so vague as to be almost meaningless when you are trying to pick a set that you will be using in your own home.


Have fun shopping!


Ernie

 

[veganfred]

Anyone else? Any DLP opinions? What's the deal with LCos?

Thanks again.

 

[superhead]

i am also trying to decide between the dlp and the sony gw. would like to hear some feedback, as i am only getting more confused each day.

thx

 

[Newmie]

I have the Pt-50LC13 and I'm very happy with it. But if you can afford a DLP and dont see rainbows, then I'd go with the DLP. For me I coudnt justify paying $1500. more retail for a DLP when the PT-50LC13 looks almost as good.


8ballcoupe- great post.


newmie

 

[ceccacci]

I've had the Panasonic for 3-4 months now and am very happy. I bought it at a Magnolia, where it was side by side with the Sony GWIII and a Samsung DLP. While I was there, a salesman was just setting up another DLP set, and was carefully going through all the menus to get the best picture he could on all sources. He said, and I believed him, that they did this with all the sets. He didn't seem to care which one I bought.


So, seeing them all side by side at their best, I was surprised at how few differences there actually were. I thought the Sammy had a slight green cast, which others have mentioned here and said it was easily correctable. Otherwise I saw little difference between it's picture and the two LCD models; certainly nothing worth the extra grand.


I stared at the GWIII and Panny for quite a while. One would be better with some scenes, one better with others. I liked 'em both. That was with an HD feed though. Personally I thought the Panny was way better with standard def than the Sony, but perhaps the store just didn't bother to adjust that as well. In any case, the slightly lower cost and better picture in SD is what led me to buy the Panny over the Sony.


By the way, when I went to the store I had intended to buy a DLP set.

 

[AcuraCL]

Quote:

Originally posted by ceccacci I've had the Panasonic for 3-4 months now and am very happy. I bought it at a Magnolia, where it was side by side with the Sony GWIII and a Samsung DLP. While I was there, a salesman was just setting up another DLP set, and was carefully going through all the menus to get the best picture he could on all sources. He said, and I believed him, that they did this with all the sets. He didn't seem to care which one I bought. So, seeing them all side by side at their best, I was surprised at how few differences there actually were. I thought the Sammy had a slight green cast, which others have mentioned here and said it was easily correctable. Otherwise I saw little difference between it's picture and the two LCD models; certainly nothing worth the extra grand. I stared at the GWIII and Panny for quite a while. One would be better with some scenes, one better with others. I liked 'em both. That was with an HD feed though. Personally I thought the Panny was way better with standard def than the Sony, but perhaps the store just didn't bother to adjust that as well. In any case, the slightly lower cost and better picture in SD is what led me to buy the Panny over the Sony. By the way, when I went to the store I had intended to buy a DLP set.

I think I could have written this post. I had all the same experiences.


I don't have my Panasonic yet, but am expecting it some time during the next 2 weeks.

 

[Beaker1024]

I got a Sammy DLP HLN 56" set in August. It was amazing. For about 1 hour. Then my wife started to notice rainbows. With each hour more she saw more of them. I had to do some tricks (move head fast, etc..) to see them but eventually she couldn't enjoy watching TV with all the visual problems (mostly rainbows) so it went back. Traded in for a Panny PT-50LC13. Got exchanged inhouse so I had a fast A/B w/HD cable. The Panny simply did/does HD better in our opinion.


If it was not for the Rainbows I would still have the HLN and never have found the Panny. For me I feel fortunate this happened as I saved a ton of money and feel I got something better IMO (more connections, etc...).


Note: I wouldn't mind the 6" of screen back though.


PS: My wife can also see Rainbow in the LCOS TVs. They Phillips install guy was putting it in at the store and semi-admitted it's possible. (It's one chip w/a color wheel. Just like the Sammy DLP)

 

[MLM]

Quote:

Originally posted by tomski I have had the same concerns as I am looking to purchase shortly. I have been to several stores (BB) and the set looked terrible. Yesterday I visited a Circuit City and the set looked fantastic. It seems you have to make the right tweaks.

No tweaks; the set is excellent out of the box. What you are seeing at the store is incompetent or purposefully poor input into the set.

 

[gkinma]

I went through the same process when I was looking for a set. One thing I noticed was that the Panny always looked terrible when I first got to the store. It seems like all the stores put it into a picture mode which doesn't do it justice. If I remember right, it would look noisey, and the colors weren't as vivid as I expected. Changing the picture setting had a remarkable affect.


I have had my GWIII since the World Series (hey - how come I kept seeing the Yankees and not the Red sox??? I am very happy with the PQ for SDTV over Comcast digital cable. DVD's look great. HDTV (again over Comcast cable) is amazing. Some SDTV broadcasts are just better than others in terms of clarity. My understanding is that this has to do with compression at the broadcaster's end. You do need to spend some time calibrating the brightness/contrast, at least via the user menu, to improve the black levels and dark details. Not a big deal to me.


I think that the PT50LC13 is also a good set, but I personally thought that the Sony had a better PQ, especially for SDTV. My wife agreed, and after all, she DID have to approve of the purchase! The Samsung DLPs also look good. My brother-in-law recently purchased the 46" Sammy (the Sony's wouldn't fit his space, even the 42"). Having looked at it in the stores, as well as at his house, I was greatly relieved that I didn't see rainbows. I had seen them very regularly on earlier Samsung DLPs. One thing that does bother me with the Sammy's is the dithering - I can see it farely easily and regularly, although I don't remember the exact circumstances when it was present.


I do like the connectivity of the Panny & Sammy over the Sony - I wish I had the VGA connector so I could connect my laptop. We tried this briefly with my brother-in-law's Sammy, and it worked like a charm. Way cool!


Bottom line - I think these are all good tv's, each with strengths and weaknesses. You just need to weight them against each other and make a choice. When you get the set home, tweak it a little if that's your thing, then sit back and enjoy! Don't drive yourself crazy second guessing all the time or coming back to the forums looking for trouble!

 

[mikegt]

I was going to buy the Panny, but after comparing PQ against the

Hitachi and Sony I decided to buy the Hitachi 50V500. Circuit

City in the L.A. area usually carries all three sets so you can compare

and decide which one you want. Sears also carries the Hitachi,

you should be able to get CC and Sears to compete on price if

you want a good price on the Hitachi.


MikeGT.

 

[caltvdude]

Then my wife started to notice rainbows


My wife can also see Rainbow in the LCOS TVs


Finally, I've been waiting to ask a couple ?'s about the rainbow effect.


First of all I've noticed the wife trend. It seems from my observations that more women seem to be affected by the rainbow effect then men. I'm no doctor by any means, but it's a pretty common fact that women in general don't have as good as depth perception as men. I wonder if depth perception could play a part, or be the main cause in seeing the rainbows.


Second I was at a clients house installing a surround sound for him and got a chance to view his Sam DLP. I've seen DLPs a couple times before and only barely been able to see the rainbow effect. This time however I was extremely tired, not sleeping enough the past couple nights, and the rainbow effects were very apparent. In fact they never gave me a headache, but started to make me feel a little dizzy.


Just theories, any comments?

 

[Beaker1024]

I have definitely noticed the trend that it is women who see the rainbow effect more often and more pronounced. I had not thought about depth perception part of it but had considered that women, in general, see colors more defined than men. It might actually be that men are more likely to be slightly color blind or not as good with subtle shades. I do not know, I am not an eye doctor and am going by hearsay. My wife speculates that it's the white/bright objects moving on screen that women see the colors separate (into the color wheel's colors) as it is moving.


Discover channel had an interesting show on the human senses. One hour per sense. The one on sight had some interesting facts. You eye only has one small sweet spot of being clearly focused and your eye moves fast to collect different areas in focus. Then your brain puts it together into one focused image.


Anyway you slice it I'm not sold on the one chip and a color wheel setup for any TV, thanks to the rainbow effect that my wife sees. Now a 3 chip DLP for a resonable price, that I would consider. Till then LCD RP. BTW caltvdude the rainbow effect gave her headaches as well. (After watching a little while.)

 

[caltvdude]

My wife speculates that it's the white/bright objects moving on screen that women see the colors separate (into the color wheel's colors) as it is moving.


As far as I under stand the technology she is completly right. The color wheel is constantly spinning, and when it shows white it is using all three colors.

 

[jfischer]

Quote:

Originally posted by caltvdude My wife speculates that it's the white/bright objects moving on screen that women see the colors separate (into the color wheel's colors) as it is moving.

Male or female, I think that's when most people tend to see them. Moving white objects on a dark background are where DLP rainbows are most likely to be seen.

 

[bbcheme86]

Quote:

Originally posted by ceccacci I stared at the GWIII and Panny for quite a while. One would be better with some scenes, one better with others. I liked 'em both. That was with an HD feed though. Personally I thought the Panny was way better with standard def than the Sony, but perhaps the store just didn't bother to adjust that as well. In any case, the slightly lower cost and better picture in SD is what led me to buy the Panny over the Sony. By the way, when I went to the store I had intended to buy a DLP set.

I went through a similar process: while price shopping the 43" Sammy DLP, I saw the stunning Sony 50" and decided to check reviews before I bought it. After reading through several AVS posts on the GWIII lamp circuit problems and confirming 2-3 month backorders at many stores, I was scared off. I then saw the Panny 50LC13 posts and was sold on "no news is good news" thread. I've seen all three at different stores, HD/SD feeds and the Panny was the easiest big $$ purchase I have ever done. My family and I have been enjoying this TV for a month now - my only concerns are feeding people for the big game, and assigning parental security to keep toddlers from touching the screen.

 

[ceccacci]

Quote:

Originally posted by bbcheme86 ...my only concerns are feeding people for the big game, and assigning parental security to keep toddlers from touching the screen.

You and me both! Especially those sticky little fingers....