Vizio P50HDTV10A

[BillyB]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the Vizio P50HDTV10A Plasma.This is their current model which now does have integrated tuners and a couple of other small improvements over the older version of the same display.I really want the Panasonic but the reviews on this model seem so solid it's hard to resist.I did a google for 2 hours and was hard pressed to find a single review that didn't say it was a great unit especially for the money.I guess the one variable may be how well it holds up vs the more expensive units in terms of longevity which is somethings reviews can't predict too accurately.This thing is certainly not going to be on 12 hours a day as we have multiple sets in the house.It's also going to be used in a room with virtually no glare from outside light so I shouldn't have to crank the brightness which I hear really takes some strain off these plasmas.I'm usually not one to skimp with electronics but since some day when the prices come down I figure I'll end up with a 1080P LCD this set may be more than adequate for a 5 year purchase.There seems to be varying reports on how well it handles non-HD signal which is of concern to me.I don't expect that to be great I just don't want it to be terrible and of course these things are always using HD signal in the stores. Anyway I may go look at it today as Circuit City has it on sale for $1699 with a $100 rebate which ends today.I may also go to Price Costco as I believe they have this model on display as well.

[edtyct]

Its predecessor, the HDM, was a killer bargain at an even higher price, with good processing, a fairly deep black level, and generally good performance elsewhere. If this one is anything like it at the price of a 42" model, it would be hard to pass up. At $1699, I would think that many people could live with a little imperfection (something that many of them wouldn't even notice). You may notice the colors being a bit skewed--an emphasized reddish orange and green oversaturated--and some false contouring with lesser material, but, on the whole, the panel shouldn't detract significantly from well-rendered broadcasts or disks. There is usually a limit to how well Vizios respond to calibration of white balance and color points, but out of the box, they aren't bad at all. You might have found yourself a good deal.

[BillyB]

[QUOTE=edtyct]Its predecessor, the HDM, was a killer bargain at an even higher price, with good processing, a fairly deep black level, and generally good performance elsewhere. If this one is anything like it at the price of a 42" model, it would be hard to pass up. At $1699, I would think that many people could live with a little imperfection (something that many of them wouldn't even notice). You may notice the colors being a bit skewed--an emphasized reddish orange and green oversaturated--and some false contouring with lesser material, but, on the whole, the panel shouldn't detract significantly from well-rendered broadcasts or disks. There is usually a limit to how well Vizios respond to calibration of white balance and color points, but out of the box, they aren't bad at all. You might have found yourself a good deal.[/QUOTE

Thanks for the reply Edtyct.The $1699 is before rebate so we'll see.Of course according to their website the local Circuit city's show no stock on this item which doesn't surprise me.I doubt they would do a raincheck on this item but it's worth checking it out.

[BillyB]

Well it turns out the Price Club is closed today so I went to Circuit City to check out the 50" Vizio.Wouldn't you know it was the only Display not working properly in the store.The salesman who reminded me he doesn't work on commision(so no agenda to talk me into a more expensive set)said they have only had the demo for 2 weeks and it started cutting out intermittingly and they think it's junk.I took that with a grain of salt.Certainly not a fair way to review a display but that didn't exactly inspire me to buy it either.Too bad because it's probably a decent display but I obviously couldn't tell and the sale was over today.I will say that it was grouped with a Hitachi Ultravision,Panasonic Viera, and a Samsung and when it did work they all had superior pictures.For the price difference it would be fair to say they should be better.The Hitachi was only a 42" so I guess that's not apples to apples.The Samsung 50" plasma had a stunning picture and the all gloss black frame in my opinion made it look classier than the big silver frame on the Panasonic and the Vizio's silver and black.Their prices on the Panasonic and the Samsung were both in the $2500 range which I didn't think was any major sale so no plasma for me today.I will say that the Samsung and Panasonic were directly above each other and to my eye the Samsung had a superior picture.Must do a search on it to see how reasonable it can be had.

[edtyct]

Do yourself a favor and don't trust what you see or hear at the big box stores. Do more research on your own. Unfortunately, seeing isn't always believing when it comes to displays on the showroom floor. Most of them are set up poorly, and even some of the better ones need work in the user menu, at least, to put their best foot forward.

[BillyB]

Do yourself a favor and don't trust what you see or hear at the big box stores. Do more research on your own. Unfortunately, seeing isn't always believing when it comes to displays on the showroom floor. Most of them are set up poorly, and even some of the better ones need work in the user menu, at least, to put their best foot forward.

Absolutely.That's why I didn't purchase anything today as I'm heavily into researching my big electronic purchases.That being said I'm sure you can understand my reservations in buying a set that wasn't even working.This unfortunately was the first time I've seen the Vizio in person so I still don't know what a properly working one looks like.As far as not going too heavily on the picture quality of the demo's in the store that's a tough one.You'd like to think they are all getting the same signal.I guess you can always ask for the remote so you can tweak the picture yourself but that may not be practical if you're not well versed with the units menu.Anyway I agree with you as a whole and I will be researching the Samsung which as I said had an amazing picture.Samsung has always made excellent displays so I wasn't surprised by the picture quality.The model by the way was the Samsung HP-S5053 which interestingly has a technology that supposedly prevents Burn-in and can also repair burn-in if it should happen..They make a higher end model that has a sophisticated audio system amongst some other modest upgrades.Already found the Samsung on Amazon for about $2100 with free shipping and no sales tax so that's a nice start.

[edtyct]

I certainly won't make any claims about the reliability of Vizio's products, but if the one at CC wasn't performing correctly, the store should not have let it compete at all with the working units. I'm sure that all Vizios don't break down after two weeks. This is an area that you can research on the web with a little ingenuity. Showing a broken plasma, calling it junk, and steering potential buyers elsewhere sounds like a fishy sales policy to me. As for the relative merits of Samsung vs. Panasonic and/or Hitachi plasmas, you can certainly get information from various critical pro media and consumer boards. If the Samsung comes out on top for you, so be it.

I just scooted over to CNET for a quick look at its comparison between the Samsung and the Panasonic. You might find it interesting. I believe that the review of the Samsung has links to those of the Panasonic and Vizio, which I didn't check. I'm not trying to influence you unduly, but it will give you a better sense of the kind of depth necessary to evaluate these displays properly.

[BillyB]

I certainly won't make any claims about the reliability of Vizio's products, but if the one at CC wasn't performing correctly, the store should not have let it compete at all with the working units. I'm sure that all Vizios don't break down after two weeks. This is an area that you can research on the web with a little ingenuity. Showing a broken plasma, calling it junk, and steering potential buyers elsewhere sounds like a fishy sales policy to me. As for the relative merits of Samsung vs. Panasonic and/or Hitachi plasmas, you can certainly get information from various critical pro media and consumer boards. If the Samsung comes out on top for you, so be it.

I just scooted over to CNET for a quick look at its comparison between the Samsung and the Panasonic. You might find it interesting. I believe that the review of the Samsung has links to those of the Panasonic and Vizio, which I didn't check. I'm not trying to influence you unduly, but it will give you a better sense of the kind of depth necessary to evaluate these displays properly.

Your point is well taken.I already found the cnet review doing a google and they actually thought it's picture was only fair.I'm still very intrigued by the Samsung as I believe it's liquid cooled so there's no fan noise and if picture quality is the bottom line I can only say I was very impressed by what I saw.It's the exact same price as the Panny and I'm almost positive it has PIP which the 60U does not.I would say it's in the same league as the Panasonic(again subjective stuff here) so the fact that I absolutely loved the cabinet will make it hard for me to pass on this one.It's large and will make a big impact on the aesthetics of my viewing room.I was just on a very popular A/V site and they were all raving about the current Samsung plasmas saying how much improved they were over last years model.Weeding through contrary or conflicting opinions and reviews is one of the toughest parts about shopping for this type of stuff and yes it was incredibly unprofessional for Circuit City to leave the Vizio powered up while the picture was literally coming on and off all by itself.That's a disgrace to the Manufacturer they are supposedly standing behind.God knows a week ago the same guy was probably telling some customer the Vizio rocks.Take care.

[recoveryone]

Well Billy, I do own a Vizio 32" LCD and I had it for a year now with no problems. Like you said in a earlier post about the amount of use. any LCD/Plasma will not last long if use for long periods, as they do in Store demos. ANd for the knowledge of the sells person on how the Panel was set up and was it adjusted. I've brought mine on seeing a friends 20" two years ago hook to a sat system. The picture was so deep and rich and I was not disappointed when I got mine. Does great HD pic and better than average on SD. I have Time Warner cable and the SD pic runs from great to so so depending on the station. I use a Pioneer Eilte Dv-45a upstairs with this unit and the the pic is right up their with my Mits using the same model DVD player. I only wish I had a HDMI DVD player to really see how much diffirence the pic is in HDMI over component. Also I use mine as my computer monitor hook up RGB and the colors are very very rich, I had to turn all the settings way down, 0-25

One more thing Vizio is very big on custormer support.

[BillyB]

[QUOTE=recoveryone]Well Billy, I do own a Vizio 32" LCD and I had it for a year now with no problems. Like you said in a earlier post about the amount of use. any LCD/Plasma will not last long if use for long periods, as they do in Store demos. ANd for the knowledge of the sells person on how the Panel was set up and was it adjusted. I've brought mine on seeing a friends 20" two years ago hook to a sat system. The picture was so deep and rich and I was not disappointed when I got mine. Does great HD pic and better than average on SD. I have Time Warner cable and the SD pic runs from great to so so depending on the station. I use a Pioneer Eilte Dv-45a upstairs with this unit and the the pic is right up their with my Mits using the same model DVD player. I only wish I had a HDMI DVD player to really see how much diffirence the pic is in HDMI over component. Also I use mine as my computer monitor hook up RGB and the colors are very very rich, I had to turn all the settings way down, 0-25

One more thing Vizio is very big on custormer support.[/QUOTE

Glad your Vizio has been solid for you.I still want to see one in person that's working properly before I rule it out.It does get very good reviews.Not that I go by too much of what they say but the Nov 06 Consumers only rated the Samsung I like about 6th or 7th out of around 8 50" Plasmas they listed.I wish they were more thorough when selecting which and how many models to report on as they left out some obvious choices including the Vizio.I know they can't review them all but 8 is not enough.More food for thought.Take care.

[BillyB]

Made it to the local Price club today to try and look at the 50" Vizio plasma and they don't have it anymore.They do have the Panasonic 50 and it's not the 60U but rather the 6U.It must be a model made just for them as it looks different as well.Unsure of the specs but their price wasn't good enough to make me care that much.They did have a Maxent 50" for $1500 which had a nice picture and is supposed to be a Japanese display which I suppose is good.It doesn't have any integrated tuners but that doesn't bother me as I will be using an HD cable Box.2 HDMI inputs which is pretty important.They had it right next to a Toshiba and it had a far superior picture.I can't vouch for the settings as they don't leave the remotes out so you can tweak them yourself.The Samsung I liked so much at Circuit City apparantly has reliability issues as there were threads all over the internet about a buzzing noise this set makes right out of the box.I'd love to buy online to save the sales tax but am concerned about getting a defective or damaged set.I guess any reputable retailer would eat the shipping costs if a swap-out was necessary.Anyway if anyone has any experience with the Maxent I would appreciate any insight as the search goes on.

[recoveryone]

Did you go to the Vizio web site and check their direct pricing.

[BillyB]

Did you go to the Vizio web site and check their direct pricing.

Just checked and they're $1899 which is not terrible but not great price.Maybe no tax since online but shipping may be another issue.Circuit city's demo is still in the same state of disrepair which really irks me.Thet have a good price on it so I guess if I bought one and didn't like it they would allow me to return it.Of course I would find that out first.The Maxent reviews online are so varied it's scary.Some people swear by them and others say it's a very sub-par display.The professional reviews are generally negative on the Maxent but that's not the case with the Vizio.Some reputable sources think it's the best bang for the buck bar none in a 50" display.Haven't given up on it yet as the more you research the more you realize even the much more expensive plasmas have certain performance issues.Cnet liked the Vizio quite a bit and I usually find them to be quite critical in their reviews.Thanks for the reply.

[edtyct]

To reach certain price points, sacrifices have to be made. This is really a rule of thumb in consumer displays. Who wants to pay $30,000 for a studio-grade TV? If cost were no object, everything would be as near perfect as a particular technology would allow. What makes the game interesting is how well mfgrs can do within certain cost restrictions. Panasonic made its name in plasma by offering terrific black levels and contrast and at least adequate performance elsewhere at reasonable prices. Companies like Vizio and Maxent are working on the same principle, usually acconmplishing a little less across the board but asking often for much less out of pocket. The question is, "How much less is satisfactory?" In this world of buzz words, hyped-up advertising, and technological difference, most consumers won't have a prayer sorting it out themselves. The second-tier companies generally buy slightly older glass from earlier generations of plasmas, deploy phosphers with inaccurate color, drop extraneous features like tuners, opt for DVI instead of HDMI (to avoid high licensing fees), and/or skimp on signal processing (scaling/deinterlacing) to keep prices low and generate sales. These plasmas can look very good on bright showroom floors, with material intended to emphasize their strengths (depending on which of them the salesman wants you to buy). They can even look at home, especially if the standards are relaxed. You generally have to look at a wide range of displays under different conditions to know what their capabilities are. A long time before HD came into existence, we all considered the old NTSC video format to be high fidelity, as good as it could get. I have an old Edison cylinder player from the turn of the 20th century that was once considered high-end audio. The demands on consumers now are greater than ever, since the competition on all fronts is so fierce. The likelihood of buyer's remorse is high for those who don't do their homework to prevent surprises later. The unfortunate part is that first-person research is incredibly time-consuming and arduous. As I said earlier, seeing isn't always believing. In this case, a little bit of conceptual experience is necessary to supplement perceptual experience.

[recoveryone]

I feel your frustation, if not seeing my friends 20" I would not have even consider Vizio, It took me 8 months later to find them on the web, I kept miss spelling the name and all I got was some Sonys'...lol, it was an e-mail from Amazon that lead me to Vizio door step. They were selling the 32" for$1200 I went to the home site and got it for $900. I too read the reviews on Cnet and value the opinons on there. But as the Superbowl approaches there will be sales on these babies.

[BillyB]

To reach certain price points, sacrifices have to be made. This is really a rule of thumb in consumer displays. Who wants to pay $30,000 for a studio-grade TV? If cost were no object, everything would be as near perfect as a particular technology would allow. What makes the game interesting is how well mfgrs can do within certain cost restrictions. Panasonic made its name in plasma by offering terrific black levels and contrast and at least adequate performance elsewhere at reasonable prices. Companies like Vizio and Maxent are working on the same principle, usually acconmplishing a little less across the board but asking often for much less out of pocket. The question is, "How much less is satisfactory?" In this world of buzz words, hyped-up advertising, and technological difference, most consumers won't have a prayer sorting it out themselves. The second-tier companies generally buy slightly older glass from earlier generations of plasmas, deploy phosphers with inaccurate color, drop extraneous features like tuners, opt for DVI instead of HDMI (to avoid high licensing fees), and/or skimp on signal processing (scaling/deinterlacing) to keep prices low and generate sales. These plasmas can look very good on bright showroom floors, with material intended to emphasize their strengths (depending on which of them the salesman wants you to buy). They can even look at home, especially if the standards are relaxed. You generally have to look at a wide range of displays under different conditions to know what their capabilities are. A long time before HD came into existence, we all considered the old NTSC video format to be high fidelity, as good as it could get. I have an old Edison cylinder player from the turn of the 20th century that was once considered high-end audio. The demands on consumers now are greater than ever, since the competition on all fronts is so fierce. The likelihood of buyer's remorse is high for those who don't do their homework to prevent surprises later. The unfortunate part is that first-person research is incredibly time-consuming and arduous. As I said earlier, seeing isn't always believing. In this case, a little bit of conceptual experience is necessary to supplement perceptual experience.

Well put as I try to do as much research as I can to at least lower the odds of making a big mistake.I think there's a little luck involved too as it seems getting displays with problems right out of the box is an issue especially at the lower price points.Unfortunately while I usually find the hunting fun with audio equipment I'm finding this video purchase to be more difficult as I know much less about displays and as you say the store images can be very misleading.I'm doing my very best to not be impulsive as that increases the chances of a poor decision.Since prices on the 720P plasmas seem to only be going in the down direction hopefully my patience will be rewarded.I appreciate that link you gave me on the Samsung because while I love the design and the CC floor model had a sweet picture the more I research it the more I hear about a buzzing noise right out of the box which would really be lame if you had the unit shipped.Samsung may have corrected the problem by now as these posts were from late 2006 but who knows.Thanks for taking the time to give such informative posts as those of us who aren't as well versed with the video end of this hobby really appreciate it and it's the very reason I joined this site.I try to be helpful to people with audio issues as I'm fairly experienced with that stuff.

[BillyB]

I feel your frustation, if not seeing my friends 20" I would not have even consider Vizio, It took me 8 months later to find them on the web, I kept miss spelling the name and all I got was some Sonys'...lol, it was an e-mail from Amazon that lead me to Vizio door step. They were selling the 32" for$1200 I went to the home site and got it for $900. I too read the reviews on Cnet and value the opinons on there. But as the Superbowl approaches there will be sales on these babies.

Hope you're right about the sales because the timing would be perfect for me.As much as I would love to save the sales tax I really do prefer the idea of dealing with a local retailer god forbid I need to exchange a display.These things are big and that has to be a real nightmare if shipped to your door.If the store prices drop enough it's probably worth paying the sales tax to give you better recourse if a problem occurs.I saw the 32" Vizio LCD at the price club at a current price of $699 and thought what a perfect set for the bedroom at that price.It made me want to go home and give my existing 27" CRT to one of my kids, but it's an old Home theatre/Proscan model that has an amazing picture tube so it can wait.I will say this.While I love the size and look of these flat panel displays I have some very good CRT sets(all non-hd) and to my eye it's still very hard to equal(or better) all the picture qualities of a top notch CRT.After all these years I guess they are finally starting to make displays that truly can be compared to top notch picture tubes.I have a 3 year old 36" non-hd Sony CRT 4X3 Wega flat screen and while it weighs 220lbs and has a massive chasis the picture with a decent source is stunning.Of course widescreen is here so these big displays are the future.I actually don't like the 16 X 9 format unless viewed on a 42" or bigger screen.The screen area just looks too short to me on the smaller sets.I find this whole widescreen format a little confusing.Wasn't the original reason behind this format to look good at the theatre where the screen is the size of a small house.I don't think it translates well to bedroom or smaller sets but obviously there's not going to be much choice going forward.I must be missing something as it seems that almost everyone else thinks it's wonderful.Take care.

[BillyB]

Just wanted to wrap up this post by saying I have decided on the Panasonic 50" 60U plasma.At around 2K it seems like a no-brainer and I'll get a 40 day price guarantee to guard against any pre-Super Bowl sales.It's basically $500 more than the entry level Maxent and Vizio with far better reviews.The worst they seem to come up with against this unit is poor audio sound and no PIP.I'm not going to use the internal speakers and I'm not a huge fan of PIP so the Panny is a home run.The only plasma I could find that had a significantly better picture was the Pioneer at virtually double the price.I'm very secure in my decision and thanks for the replies.

[edtyct]

Congratulations. I don't like to tip my hand--as if anyone other you should be responsible for your decision--but, on performance parameters alone, I think that you made a good choice. As for the Pioneer, it's also a winner, and has esoteric features that evade the Panasonic and just about every other popular plasma, but it doesn't achieve the same deep black. It sounds trivial, but it isn't. If you set the TV up properly, the first time that you turn down the lights and fire up a movie with lots of dark images, you'll know what I mean.

[BillyB]

Congratulations. I don't like to tip my hand--as if anyone other you should be responsible for your decision--but, on performance parameters alone, I think that you made a good choice. As for the Pioneer, it's also a winner, and has esoteric features that evade the Panasonic and just about every other popular plasma, but it doesn't achieve the same deep black. It sounds trivial, but it isn't. If you set the TV up properly, the first time that you turn down the lights and fire up a movie with lots of dark images, you'll know what I mean.

Just wanted to add edtyct that the absolute clincher for me on this display was the more I researched it the more I kept hearing that it handles standard definition signal as well if not better than any other plasma made.I consider this an extremely important feature as my Cable provider has about 30 HD channels(approximately) out of an available 500 channels.While I realize that number will continue to rise I suppose that may take quite a while.Consumers dropped it to 4th from last years model's top rating due to inferior audio which as I said means nothing to me.I'm surprised nobody jumped all over me for my critical opinion of the 16 X 9 format.Does that mean I actually made a valid point or more likely those posts will come tonight.

[edtyct]

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Consumer Reports for video or audio (though I am for appliances, cars, etc.). The best media resources are easily the specialist rags, like Widescreen Review. Websites like CNET are also reliable, though a good cross-section of professional viewpoints is safer. Personal opinions, like those on AVS and here, should always be supplemented with "objective" reviews, to separate the hearsay and opinion from the facts as much as possible. A certain amount of canvassing is important. In the stores, everything converges around the mean. It takes a lot of time and energy to make meaningful discriminations--at least for those with a bee in their bonnet. I think the Panasonics are terrific, and the 60U qualifies as a genuine bargain.

Be that as it may, I don't know why Panasonic would be rated so highly with SD. Video processing isn't its strongest suit, though it certainly isn't terrible. The HQV test disk is a wonderful way to check how well processors and TVs handle interlaced material and clean up compression noise. A progressive-scan DVD player might well be superior to the Panasonic when it comes to deinterlacing, and an upconverter may scale better. High-quality digital SD (like HBO et al.), however, should look quite good. Nothing affordable is ever going to redeem analog cable broadcasts, or, I should say, make them look as good as the better feeds. I can also imagine that you'll be willing to make a sacrifice here and there to watch those HD channels rather than the 400+ SD channels. HD done well can be addictive enough to overcome content, at least until the bloom is off the rose. I remember the drek that I was willing to watch when HD first arrived, just because it looked so sharp, colorful, and detailed.

[BillyB]

[QUOTE=edtyct]Personally, I'm not a big fan of Consumer Reports for video or audio (though I am for appliances, cars, etc.). The best media resources are easily the specialist rags, like Widescreen Review. Websites like CNET are also reliable, though a good cross-section of professional viewpoints is safer. Personal opinions, like those on AVS and here, should always be supplemented with "objective" reviews, to separate the hearsay and opinion from the facts as much as possible. A certain amount of canvassing is important. In the stores, everything converges around the mean. It takes a lot of time and energy to make meaningful discriminations--at least for those with a bee in their bonnet. I think the Panasonics are terrific, and the 60U qualifies as a genuine bargain.



Be that as it may, I don't know why Panasonic would be rated so highly with SD. Video processing isn't its strongest suit, though it certainly isn't terrible. The HQV test disk is a wonderful way to check how well processors and TVs handle interlaced material and clean up compression noise. A progressive-scan DVD player might well be superior to the Panasonic when it comes to deinterlacing, and an upconverter may scale better. High-quality digital SD (like HBO et al.), however, should look quite good. Nothing affordable is ever going to redeem analog cable broadcasts, or, I should say, make them look as good as the better feeds. I can also imagine that you'll be willing to make a sacrifice here and there to watch those HD channels rather than the 400+ SD channels. HD done well can be addictive enough to overcome content, at least until the bloom is off the rose. I remember the drek that I was willing to watch when HD first arrived, just because it looked so sharp, colorful, and detailed.[/QUOTE

I certainly can't comment on why a plasma would have a good sd picture as I know next to nothing about that stuff.I do know that is one area where you almost have to rely on reviews as you're not going to find an HD display in too many stores connected to an sd signal.I guess knowing someone who owns one and playing with it is the best case scenario for a real-life verdict on the strengths and weaknesses of a display.

[edtyct]

Why one panel might do better with standard def than another is no mystery--deinterlacing and scaling (as well as attention to color and grayscale). Other factors enter into it as well--for instance, technology and size of the screen. HD CRTs generally do relatively well because they don't have a fixed-pixel count to fill with every format that they receive. Unlike digital panels, they can do 480 natively. But even a large CRT will struggle with low-res material. I've spent some time with the Panasonics. They do a fine job with SD, but I never considered them a standout in that respect. Fixed-pixel displays are first and foremost hi-def animals; it's their very nature. How well they can fill the gaps when signals fail to achieve their native resolution determines their performance in SD. As I said, DVD players often do a better job of it than displays do, and a good dedicated external processor trumps them both. The HQV test disk was made for scenarios like this one, to allow prospective buyers to see for themselves how well TVs respond to interlaced, noisy signals.

[BillyB]

Why one panel might do better with standard def than another is no mystery--deinterlacing and scaling (as well as attention to color and grayscale). Other factors enter into it as well--for instance, technology and size of the screen. HD CRTs generally do relatively well because they don't have a fixed-pixel count to fill with every format that they receive. Unlike digital panels, they can do 480 natively. But even a large CRT will struggle with low-res material. I've spent some time with the Panasonics. They do a fine job with SD, but I never considered them a standout in that respect. Fixed-pixel displays are first and foremost hi-def animals; it's their very nature. How well they can fill the gaps when signals fail to achieve their native resolution determines their performance in SD. As I said, DVD players often do a better job of it than displays do, and a good dedicated external processor trumps them both. The HQV test disk was made for scenarios like this one, to allow prospective buyers to see for themselves how well TVs respond to interlaced, noisy signals.

Thanks ectyct.I guess these displays will really come into their own when all channels are available in HD.My 4X3 non-hd 36" Wega handles all signals well so if I find the plasma objectionable with SD I'll probably limit my use of it to HD-programming and DVD playback.

[edtyct]

My standard may be low (pun intended), but I don't think you'll have to run out of the room when the Panasonic shows SD programming. Let us know.