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* Official Black Friday TV / HDTV Thread *


ozziebandit

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I've not seen an ad on the $997 plasma TV at Wal-mart. I went to their website and didn't see it listed for sale in their bf sales ad or listed on their website. Where did you all see this price? Thanks.:coffeetim

Go to their site and enter your zip for the BF add. Several stores should show up,pick one, click on the first page, it may show the 15" until you click it and it opens. You may have to select several stores to find one selling it. I have 2 within 20 miles, 1 has it, the other dont.

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OK... I am confused. I go to WalMart.com and see the ad for the BF sale. I enter my zip code of 17331. I choose the first store...in Hanover, PA and click View Advertised Values...

 

THe first screen comes up showing a $178 LCD with no plasma listed.

 

I click on that page and the $997 plasma comes up. I want that plasma. Does this mena it is going to be at my store or not??

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So far it seems most stores have 4-5... i dont think there is a way in hell i'm gonna get one...

 

What do i do? Run to Electronics and tell them to get me one? There are big, so i dont think it would be on the floor, would it?

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This may be a dumb question, but I've never even paid any attention to plasma screen tv's because of their high price. However, with WM's advertised special, I am extremely interested now. Anyway, here's my question: does the plasma advertised in their BF sale ad have any sound/speakers? Or would I have to connect my stereo to the thing? Again, I apologize if this is a dumb question, but I honestly have had zero experience with these tv's. Thanks in advance for your help.
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You people do not listen. Cheap is dear!!

 

Rather save your $xxx this year and spend it and the other $xxx next year that you wish you had not spent on this low price-low quality WM item.

 

There are numberous AV forums where people have been discussing the Viore.

When it works, it is wonderful (HD feeds only). SD is very grainy. DVD playback has a problem reproducing blacks(similar to LCD).

 

Good plasmas create almost perfect Blacks - Tube TV produce the best.

 

A number of people had their set a few weeks or a few months and the unit died on them. Some replaced them only to have it do the same thing.

 

I would almost imagine those trucks will have to drag at least 50-60% of those units back within 3-4 months of BF.

 

The included ATSC tuner is only standard def and you will need a HD settop box to playback HD feeds.

 

Also people have complained that SD and DVD images have a green halo around the characters. Not good.

 

You are better off going with the Magnavox if you have to. Mag does not produce this item anymore, so that is why it is being sold off. It seems Philips is now supporting all technical issues(they are partners). However, the magnavox is the same res as the Viore 1024x768.

 

Almost all of the name brands (Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic) 42" HD plasma sets have either 1280x768 or 1366x768 resolution. Much better pixel density.

 

Again I would pocket my money for next year and spend double for a real Plasma.

 

In terms of LCD vs. Plasma, Plasma is a superior technology due to its fast refresh, darker blacks, no screen door effect, and brighter image and more uniform contrast.

 

The new 1080P LCD (DLP and LCOS technologies) sets are a step above the current Plasmas with resolutions of 1920x1080 progressive where Plasma is at 1366x768 or 1280x768 in the 42" and larger sizes. However, their prices are also that much higher.

 

You have to make your choice but I can tell you that the Viore is like a Kia(minus the 10yr warranty), it will get you from point A to B for a fraction of a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic but it will not feel the same or hold its own over time.

 

We have a 50" Pioneer that is 4 yrs old and looks as good today as it did when it was 1 yr old(conveyed with the house). It has been turned on and off constantly during the day without a hint of croaking. We bought another 42" last year and the old 50" looked as good as the new one. The color saturation, contrast, image reproduction and brightness are unbelievable. Even Standard def feeds are good quality(about the same as my 32" std def tube).

 

So here is to quality!!!

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This may be a dumb question, but I've never even paid any attention to plasma screen tv's because of their high price. However, with WM's advertised special, I am extremely interested now. Anyway, here's my question: does the plasma advertised in their BF sale ad have any sound/speakers? Or would I have to connect my stereo to the thing? Again, I apologize if this is a dumb question, but I honestly have had zero experience with these tv's. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

It has speakers but they face backward and sound like rubbish. You would do yourself a lot of justice to hook it up to an AV system.

 

However, read my thread above about the quality of what you are looking at.

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admittedly i haven't read the first 8 pages of this thread in a few days, but i can't remember this. is the exact model # of the 42" philips plasma for 1799 posted on here? if not, can anyone read it clearly? thanks.

I don't recall seeing the Philips plasma that you are referring to. Philips bought Magnavox in 1974 and the lines between their products are often blurred. You may be speaking of the Magnavox 42" plasma, model 42MF230A/3, that will be sold at Best Buy for $1799 but $1499 after rebate.
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You people do not listen. Cheap is dear!!

 

Rather save your $xxx this year and spend it and the other $xxx next year that you wish you had not spent on this low price-low quality WM item.

 

There are numberous AV forums where people have been discussing the Viore.

When it works, it is wonderful (HD feeds only). SD is very grainy. DVD playback has a problem reproducing blacks(similar to LCD).

 

Good plasmas create almost perfect Blacks - Tube TV produce the best.

 

A number of people had their set a few weeks or a few months and the unit died on them. Some replaced them only to have it do the same thing.

 

I would almost imagine those trucks will have to drag at least 50-60% of those units back within 3-4 months of BF.

 

The included ATSC tuner is only standard def and you will need a HD settop box to playback HD feeds.

 

Also people have complained that SD and DVD images have a green halo around the characters. Not good.

 

You are better off going with the Magnavox if you have to. Mag does not produce this item anymore, so that is why it is being sold off. It seems Philips is now supporting all technical issues(they are partners). However, the magnavox is the same res as the Viore 1024x768.

 

Almost all of the name brands (Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic) 42" HD plasma sets have either 1280x768 or 1366x768 resolution. Much better pixel density.

 

Again I would pocket my money for next year and spend double for a real Plasma.

 

In terms of LCD vs. Plasma, Plasma is a superior technology due to its fast refresh, darker blacks, no screen door effect, and brighter image and more uniform contrast.

 

The new 1080P LCD (DLP and LCOS technologies) sets are a step above the current Plasmas with resolutions of 1920x1080 progressive where Plasma is at 1366x768 or 1280x768 in the 42" and larger sizes. However, their prices are also that much higher.

 

You have to make your choice but I can tell you that the Viore is like a Kia(minus the 10yr warranty), it will get you from point A to B for a fraction of a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic but it will not feel the same or hold its own over time.

 

We have a 50" Pioneer that is 4 yrs old and looks as good today as it did when it was 1 yr old(conveyed with the house). It has been turned on and off constantly during the day without a hint of croaking. We bought another 42" last year and the old 50" looked as good as the new one. The color saturation, contrast, image reproduction and brightness are unbelievable. Even Standard def feeds are good quality(about the same as my 32" std def tube).

 

So here is to quality!!!

 

 

So, if I just wanted to replace my 31", 12 year old Hitachi, with something just for average TV viewing, the Wal Mart Plasma would not be worth it? All I will have hooked up to it is a Direct TV receiver (non HD).

 

I will be buying a 56" Sammy DLP for my basement in the future :-)

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You are better off going with the Magnavox if you have to. Mag does not produce this item anymore, so that is why it is being sold off. It seems Philips is now supporting all technical issues(they are partners). However, the magnavox is the same res as the Viore 1024x768.

 

Almost all of the name brands (Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic) 42" HD plasma sets have either 1280x768 or 1366x768 resolution. Much better pixel density.

 

The Viore plasma is 1024x1024:

 

The 1024x1024 resolution is an easy giveaway to the panel's pedigree. FHP (Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma) is the only place in the world that makes panels in that resolution. It is ALiS glass (alternate lighting of surfaces). Most likely an old generation panel that was easy to acquire. ALiS panels have shown up in a variety of brands over the years.

 

BTW... there are name brand displays that have 1024x1024... ie the Sony KDE37XS955

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So far it seems most stores have 4-5... i dont think there is a way in hell i'm gonna get one...

 

What do i do? Run to Electronics and tell them to get me one? There are big, so i dont think it would be on the floor, would it?

 

How did you find that out? Is there a way to find out what store is going to carry the Plasmas without calling them all?

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my bad. i didn't clarify which ad. on page 7 of the CC ad, in the top right corner there is a mention of a 42" philips plasma tv for $1800. that's the one i need the model number for.

Assuming it's the 42pf7320a at that price; that's the standard sub-$2K Phillips that's popped up from time to time in the past few months...........
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The Viore plasma is 1024x1024:

 

The 1024x1024 resolution is an easy giveaway to the panel's pedigree. FHP (Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma) is the only place in the world that makes panels in that resolution. It is ALiS glass (alternate lighting of surfaces). Most likely an old generation panel that was easy to acquire. ALiS panels have shown up in a variety of brands over the years.

 

BTW... there are name brand displays that have 1024x1024... ie the Sony KDE37XS955

Sorry you are correct about the 1024 in the vertical resolution and not 768. However, the eye is more sensitive to vertical lines which means you will be more subjective to seeing vertical gaps due to the 1024 stretch across the horizontal axis. Now with sony, they put a lot of effort into their software for image filters, so the image on the Sony will be of superior quality in SD and slightly higher in HD

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Almost all of the name brands (Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic) 42" HD plasma sets have either 1280x768 or 1366x768 resolution. Much better pixel density.

 

 

Please provide a link to a 42" HD Plasma that doesn't have 1024 X 768 (or 1024 X 1024). All sets that I've researched have one of these resolutions. They use "anamophic" widesreen which I don't want. I want a native 16 X 9 mode.

 

The 50" Plasmas have either 1280 X 768, 1280 X 720, 1365 X 768 or 1366 X 768.

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Anyone interested in the Rlisense 20" LCD from BB... i really want it for my dorm room but i'll also be at CC for the $200 laptop...

 

is the Rlisense 20"LCD any good?

Best Buy has a Hisense 20" LCD TV, it's around $300. If that's the one you mean, it's not bad. I'd reccomend the 20" Olevia TV at Comp USA instead though.

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"I have to disagree with part of your statement. I will agree that SD TV will look the same if not slightly better since the TV does not have to try reproduce a TV feed that is less than 50% to 25% the resolution of an HD set. However, we are entering the age of HDTV whether from satellite, over the air(OTA) or std DVD and soon HD DVD. So essentially you are throwing money away now. You might as well just get a standard tube set."

 

You are not throwing your money away. At this point, HD tv looks only marginally better on hdtv compared to edtvs of the same calibar. I would venture at the pace that HD has entered the market, that will be very much the case for at least the next two years until more channels are available and broadcasts are at higher resolutions.

 

Furthermore, the only thing that could count as a standard tube set that is 42 or 50 inches are older projections, which still take up considerably more space than flat panels. People want a big screen that doesn't take up space, though tubes still have many advantages over all plasmas and lcs (not projections so much though, smaller crts).

 

"Yet, if you are less than 15 feet away, you can see image color differences(smoothing and color uniformity) and in some cases you can literally see pixel gaps(black spaces within the image)compared to an HDTV plasma."

 

15 ft is an exagerration, most people don't sit that far away from their set. But again, you will not see any differences in coloring unless you are comparing an hdtv source with a very high resolution. Up closer, hdtvs look worse than edtvs with standard sources. But coloring is more a product of how quality a model is, not whether it's hd or not.

 

"For example, if the Plasma is a 42" unit(TVs are measured in diagonal length-Top corner to opposite bottom corner), An EDTV will have a resolution of 852 x 480, while an HDTV will have a resolution of 1280 x 768 to 1366 x 768."

 

I don't really see what your disagreement with me was. I never denied that an hdtv plasma will have advantages with high definition sources, but for many consumers this difference simply isn't enough or they don't plan on viewing enough HD sources to justify the large difference in price.

 

"This is huge when you are playing DVD's or watching HDTV with lots of color variation."

 

Most dvd sources broadcast at edtv native resolution. There really is no advantage at all with hdtv plasmas when it comes to watching the vast majority of dvds on the market. Nothing plays dvds better than the panny edtvs. Again, the quality of the model is most important not whether its edtv or hdtv. My friend just bought a philips 42 inch plasma hdtv and even he admits that my edtv plays dvds better.

 

The bottom line is if you generally purchase a medium priced tv every 4 or 5 years, you will be fine with an edtv. If you plan on using tv for much longer than that as your main set (most people just move the lesser tv to a smaller room), you should consider an hdtv now.

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Please provide a link to a 42" HD Plasma that doesn't have 1024 X 768 (or 1024 X 1024). All sets that I've researched have one of these resolutions. They use "anamophic" widesreen which I don't want. I want a native 16 X 9 mode.

 

The 50" Plasmas have either 1280 X 768, 1280 X 720, 1365 X 768 or 1366 X 768.

Sylvania at electronics Express says that it's 16:9, but I don't see any of the other numbers on the ad. I was just trying to figure out what ED was LOL

 

The model number on the Sylvania is 6842PEM for $1199.99

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Sylvania at electronics Express says that it's 16:9, but I don't see any of the other numbers on the ad. I was just trying to figure out what ED was LOL

 

The model number on the Sylvania is 6842PEM for $1199.99

This is a ED set, not an HD one. The resolution is 852 X 480.

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