[Digital Howie]

I'd tell you I'm beside myself right now but that would be an understatement. My brand new 42" Panasonic arrived yesterday and it has exceeded all my expectations. I have spent many months reading through the forum, talking to owners, and testing, testing, and retesting the different 42"/43" and 50" displays. I am extremely happy with my choice.


I chose the 42" vs. the 50" based upon the size of my viewing room which is aprox. 15'x12'. I could have gone with the 50" but am happy to say the the 42" looks plenty big in this size room. Based upon the placement of our center couch, the viewing distance is aprox. 8'. I will add the unit looks great even standing much closer.


My biggest concern was how my regular cable would look, probably a prime concern of many thinking about upgrading to a plasma. I am really really surprised at how great the image looks. I have digital cable and have been very happy with a quality signal. As most of you know, there are only a certain number of channels that are actually digital, with many stations coming through as analog. I have the cabe signal passing through a Phillips Tivo box and out to the plasma via s-video. As common sense would dicate, the quality of the picture is only as good as the cable signal itself.


Overall, I have no initial problems, and the internal scaling ability of the Panasonic is second to none. This particular unit is labeled as February 2002, and exhibits none of the reported problems-no locking, no loud fan noise etc.


After initial set-up I was so impressed by the picture quality of the cable signal that it took many hours before loading up any dvd's. Once again, having spent so many in-store hours playing disc after disc on a wide variety of players, there were no surprises here. The Panasonic 42" and 50" and the Pioneer 43" are the 3 best displays I have seen for watching dvds. I could easily see going with either Panasonic or Pioneer at the 42"/43" size. The speakers and media box are a complete waste of hardware for me, and the current pricing on the Panasonic is much better than the Pioneer.


This forum is an invaluable resource, and a lot of fun as well. Thanks to all for your help. I'm looking forward to obsessing about my next upgrade!


ATB


Howie

 

[joys_R_us]

Nice to read you are happy.


Have fun and enjoy it (don't forget your body training though )

 

[oferlaor]

Hey,


One happy plasma owner, 5.9 Billion to go


We will convert them all to Plasma, I swear it!

 

[Brucer]

Isn't it a blast!


Enjoy your new toy Howie.

 

[Digital Howie]

Can you hear it? It's getting louder and louder...it's my plasma...it's calling to me! What am I still doing in my office? I could be home watching plamsvision right now.


Most of my friends have been ribbing me about even showing up for work today.


Now I'm starting to salivate over how generous a receiver upgrade I can make with the money I didn't spend on the 50"!


Little does my wife know that the 42" is really just waiting to be moved to the bedroom when the new mind blowing next generations of bigger and less expensive plasmas show up several years from now.


joy r us,


Don't worry, I have a solid 30 mile round trip bike ride to work...I often leave my car at home (unless it happens to be home-theatre-day).


Regards


H

 

[K-Wood]

Welcome to the wonderful world of plasma. Check out my webpage to see where I'm taking my Panny 42 using a HTPC. HT pics are buried under the HT construction link, just keep going through the pages. Unfortunately, the digital photos don't do it justice -- I need to get some bona fide screenshots up.


Mario Cascio of Cinemar is designing custom background screens, audio intros, and digital animations to play as lead-ins to movies when guests arrive.


Eventually, I'll modify the webpage to mimic the PlasmaPlex main screen.


It's all part of new field that Mario calls "Home Theater Branding," or the art of customizing the HT experience for your particular needs.


- Ken

 

[IUnknown]

Quote:

Originally posted by Digital Howie Little does my wife know that the 42" is really just waiting to be moved to the bedroom when the new mind blowing next generations of bigger and less expensive plasmas show up several years from now. H

Start warming her up to it. I already made that a bargaining chip in the compromise of a smaller less expensive unit short term. In fact I got her to mention it first.


I think that the next generation 50+ units will have 1080 lines of resolution so I can justify waiting even longer if I can fill in with a panny 42.


Have you tried the VGA port yet? This is another often mentioned issues about the Pannys.

 

[Brucer]

Quote:

Originally posted by IUnknown In fact I got her to mention it first.

Oh! you clever soul!

 

[Digital Howie]

Ken,


Thanks for the link to your site...very nice. Plasma technology really is a wonderful innovation. As one of my favorite musicians, Peter Hammill once sung; "The future is now."


IUnknown,


I have not had a chance to play with the VGA port yet, but it's certainly on my mind, as are a number of upgrades to follow. I won't even begin to take adantage of the display until I decide which route to pursue for HD OTA reception. I would really like to wake up tomorrow and find my cable supplier offering complete HD feeds as they become available. Ofcourse I'd also like to wake up to a violence free society.


Plasma technology often reminds me of Ray Bradbury's 'Farenheit 451' with the home that contained wall vision...now a reality. Although probably not in our life time, I can't help but think that todays 2-D technology will be replaced by full fledged 3-D entertainment in its place.


Bruce,


Shhhhhhhhh! Someone might hear us!


Howie

 

[irkuck]

Quote:

Originally posted by IUnknown I think that the next generation 50+ units will have 1080 lines of resolution so I can justify waiting even longer if I can fill in with a panny 42.

Plasmas with the resolution 1920x1080 might not be next generation,

or any for that matter.


The reason is that the number of pixels required is over twice the current

1366x768.


This would make the displays more than twice as expensive as the current

ones. The market for 30k, 60+" displays would be very limited by the

size of pockets and living rooms


Another problem is power consumption. Current plasmas eat about 600 W

so the big ones would be 1.3 KW. That would mean they could double as

heaters.


And in the end, the perceived picture quality would not be so big comparing to the current displays.

 

[jlm]

fyi, my pioneer 50" is rated at 120v, 3.2amps, or about 380 watts.

 

[cheridave]

jlm,


Without the "Video Card" you are 100% correct.


With the "Video Card", sorry you need to add some wattage to the 380 watts.


Dave

 

[MAB]

Our PRO1000HDs came with a video card already installed.


I agree with jlm... from the PRO1000HD manual..."120V, 3.2A".


MAB

 

[Brucer]

I think what Dave is referring to is the listing in the PDP-503CMX brochure, that has a fine print footnote under the 'International Energy Star Program' description that specifically says 'when optional card is not used'.


Bruce

 

[cheridave]

Tech Manual-


With "Video Card" - Allow for 400 W / 400VA of consumption per unit.


Still nothing to sneeze at.


Dave

 

[MAB]

Tech manual of what? Be specific.

 

[R Harkness]

Howie,


Great to hear you are happy with your plasma choice. After such a lot of research and expense, it's nice to finally see the thing work wonders in your home. Big sigh of relief (and satisfaction).


I was reading the British Mag "Home Cinema Choice" today. They had a shoot-out between six of the latest plasma models (42" and 50"). They chose the Panny 4UY as the clear stand-out, even over the Pioneer 50" plasma (again, they felt black levels made the difference in picture quality - they were just gaga over the Panny). Frankly, I don't really put too much stock in those mags, but fun to read anyway.


I'm still tortured, seeing as weeks after arriving my Panny is still sitting in the box, waiting to be mounted. That will happen during an upcoming home theater install, which I hope will happen within a week or two. Driving me nuts. I still haven't even seen anything but a DVD signal on the thing! Funny how my friends and family can't stop asking me if my plasma is up yet. Everyone wants to watch a movie on it.


Howie, are you going to stay out of AV stores now, and avert your eyes as the newer plasmas roll in. Or are you a torture shopper?


Rich.

 

[oferlaor]

God Rich,


I envy your patience. I would be watching it on a cardboard box, hooked up with ear phones if I had to. I can't imagine getting ANYTHING at all and not hooking it up that very second...


I guess not everyone is into "instant gratification" as much as me...

 

[Digital Howie]

Hey Rich,


Wow! I really feel bad for you! That poor little plasma display just sitting there all alone waiting for some constant attention. You really need to step up the time table. I would have long since pulled every last hair out and been locked away for good. Get that damn thing running!


I'm extremely happy with the new display. My dvd collection is growing in leaps and bounds, and I really needed a more appropriate device for viewing. Some of the lower quality transfers I own that were more forgiving to the eye on a smaller CRT are now painfully lacking on a larger screen. It really pays to read the reviews regarding quality of a given transfer before purchasing!


I have a hard time staying away from A/V stores...I like toys to much. I'm actually trying to narrow down my search for a new receiver so I'll still be seeing plenty of the "other" displays soon.


ATB


Howie

 

[R Harkness]

Thought I'd share this heart-stopping moment...


We just arrived from a week-long trip away. We live downtown - quite a few break-ins in our area, so with all my high-end audio gear and the new plasma sitting around in a convenient take-away box, I was more paranoid than usual. I bought a light timer, that kind of thing.


Well, arriving home at night from our trip, turning into our driveway in the rain I notice what looks to be a piece of equipment sitting on our driveway.

I jump out and look - "What the hell?" It's our six year old Epson Pro computer printer, which I left INSIDE the house hooked up to our computer! Someone has hastily dropped it on our driveway. And the only way they could have gotten it, of course is..... Uh-oh. I look toward our front door. There's a note on the front which looks to be from ADT, our alarm service. Great, our house was broken into. THE PLASMA!!!! I run into the house and look around. Everything looks normal.

Plasma is still there! Whew! And...our printer is still there, hooked up to the computer. I go back to the note pasted on our front door. It's not a note from ADT, it's just some junk mail note that looks like one. Cripes!


So...everythings fine. But what a heart stopper, and a head-scratcher. I still don't know why there was a computer printer sitting on our driveway, that just happened to be the EXACT same six year old model as ours, with almost precisely the same amount of paper in the tray as I'd left in our own printer. Fate's idea of a practical joke I suppose.


Just thought I'd share. My nervous system is still recovering.


Rich H.