Panasonic 37" Plasma

[nick250]

Circuit City has a Panasonic 37" plasma EDTV model TH-37PD25U on sale for $2250. Does anyone have any pros or cons on this model? It seems like an exceptionally good deal but like all good deals, maybe their is a reason why it's inexpensive. I am close to pulling the trigger on this TV purchase but I really could use some feedback. The picture looked darn good in the store. The sales person suggested switched between an HD signal and a regular TV signal and when on the TV signal the ED plasmas seemed to look better than the HD plasmas. There were about 5 each of HD and ED plasmas on the wall for comparison. So the question is, is this deal really as good as it appears? My space is very limited and I might need to mount this TV on the wall so CRTs and such are not an option. My viewing will be 30% HD 20% DVD 50% regular signal. Also my signal will be Comcast digital. TIA

Nick

[Smokey]

I would stay away from this model given the fact that is only capable of 480p, and everything it receives (such as HD 720p or 1080i) will be down converted to 480p. So you will missed out on all the programs (not to mention picture quality) that are available in HD.

[AVMASTER]

all fixed pixel display must scale the incoming signal to its' native resolution, the enhanced definition plasmas' must downconvert an HD signal to 480p; some do this better than others, the Panasonic th37pd25u is the better one. Coupled up with a high contrast ratio, gamma enhancements, ATSC and QAM tuners makes this the only choice in ED plasmas for me IF I HAD TO buy one. In your particular case this makes a good choice because half of your viewing is DVD playback( 480p mated to plasmas' native resolution) and your signal source is from digital cable. B-4 u jump, call the cable company to find out if they r supporting Cablecards and get yourself a really good DVD player

[nick250]

Thanks for the response. I don't know what a cable card is though I can guess it replaces the external digital cable box? Just to complicate things I visited my local B&M yesterday and they had the 37" Sony KE-37XS910 HD plasma that I had been lusting after for $3500, down from $4500 a few months ago. That puts it in my budget (albeit at the high end of it), though I am not sure if it's worth the extra $1250. One reason being while I have being doing my homework I heard such bad things about the quality of Sony TVs, and the other being the notion that non HD programing may look better on ED than HD. Any thoughts about the Sony/Panasonic comparison? Thanks.

Nick



all fixed pixel display must scale the incoming signal to its' native resolution, the enhanced definition plasmas' must downconvert an HD signal to 480p; some do this better than others, the Panasonic th37pd25u is the better one. Coupled up with a high contrast ratio, gamma enhancements, ATSC and QAM tuners makes this the only choice in ED plasmas for me IF I HAD TO buy one. In your particular case this makes a good choice because half of your viewing is DVD playback( 480p mated to plasmas' native resolution) and your signal source is from digital cable. B-4 u jump, call the cable company to find out if they r supporting Cablecards and get yourself a really good DVD player

[IsmaVA]

Personally, I would never buy any plasma of the size price over $1000 . . plasma displays are just to damn fragile, even atmospheric pressure fluctuations can affect them.

For $3.5K I woul go for one of the rear projection LCD like the Sony Grand Wega, or better yet, a front projector (if possible).

I mean, don't get me wrong, plasma displays definitively look cool hanging on a wall . .but the risk factor is still to high for me.

[nick250]

Personally, I would never buy any plasma of the size price over $1000 . . plasma displays are just to damn fragile, even atmospheric pressure fluctuations can affect them.

For $3.5K I woul go for one of the rear projection LCD like the Sony Grand Wega, or better yet, a front projector (if possible).

I mean, don't get me wrong, plasma displays definitively look cool hanging on a wall . .but the risk factor is still to high for me.

I looked at the Grand Wega, and the picture looked great to me too. I might have gotten one except that even the 42" it was too big for the avaliable space. I agree that plasmas are not a good value in general except when dealing with space limitations. I ended up getting a Sony 37" HD plasma which just about maxed out the available space.

Nick