Panasonic Plasma prices dropping early

[M0ndo1287]

The Panasonic Plasma price drops have begun. The new 42" Commercial edtv model is down
to $1474. HDTV model is down to 2,245.

http://www.visualapex.com/plasma/plasmamfr.asp?MFR=Panasonic

(Visual Apex is a reputable dealer)

Tv Authority and Plasma Concepts also have similar prices.

 

[jammur21]

HOT!

 

[EKKC]

whats the difference between that hdtv TH-42PHD8UK and the TH42PX50 :Q

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: EKKC
whats the difference between that hdtv TH-42PHD8UK and the TH42PX50 :Q

One is commercial model, one is the consumer model. I think it's a difference of inputs, and I think the commercial one lacks speakers as well, but don't quote me on that.

 

[M0ndo1287]

The PX50 is the consumer model with the tuner, cable card slot, and speakers. The 8uk's are the commercial models with no speakers, no tuner, no stand, more image controls, and removable/upgradeable input cards. I believe the px50 have the 7th generation glass, the 8uk's the 8th generation obviously. If the picture quality is not slightly better on the 8uk it will be exactly the same. The commercial models are great if you have your own speaker system and cable box.

 

[EKKC]

wow thanks for the info guys! :beer:

 

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: EKKC
whats the difference between that hdtv TH-42PHD8UK and the TH42PX50 :Q

One is commercial model, one is the consumer model. I think it's a difference of inputs, and I think the commercial one lacks speakers as well, but don't quote me on that.

I'll quote you. My brother just shopped around and decided to pay a little extra for the consumer version for those reasons.

 

[SimpleTim]

We bought ours from Visual Apex a couple of years ago. They were very easy to work with, and they have a good rep at AVS forum as well.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: Aztech

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: EKKC
whats the difference between that hdtv TH-42PHD8UK and the TH42PX50 :Q

One is commercial model, one is the consumer model. I think it's a difference of inputs, and I think the commercial one lacks speakers as well, but don't quote me on that.

I'll quote you. My brother just shopped around and decided to pay a little extra for the consumer version for those reasons.

aztech so ur brother got the TH42PX50/500 or another consumer model

 

[Maverick]

once the 50 inch HDTV plasmas from panasonic hit the $2500 range then its going to be extremely hard to resist.

Any chance that we'll see a < $3000 plasma that can do 1080p in the near future?

 

[chinkgai]

Originally posted by: Maverick
once the 50 inch HDTV plasmas from panasonic hit the $2500 range then its going to be extremely hard to resist.

Any chance that we'll see a < $3000 plasma that can do 1080p in the near future?

of course silly!

when? i duno haha

 

[Storm]

Kind of a noob question but regular digital cable channels look good or bad on an hdtv?

 

[M0ndo1287]

Topic should be renamed to panasonic price wars have begun...Visual Apex is now down to $1495 for the 42" edtv

 

[Zendeath]

Unlike the commercial models, the consumer models have no access to a service menu for grayscale ISF calibration.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Storm
Kind of a noob question but regular digital cable channels look good or bad on an hdtv?

Relatively bad.

Here's the issue:

The source (digital cable) quality is rather poor.

On a low resolution, poorly focused device, especially a small one, the flaws are relatively hidden.

On devices such as this, it's far easier for your eyes to pick up the defects in the source material.

 

[Averox]

Oh god, makes me want a plasma now. Aren't plasma price wars supposed to bring them down to $1k by the end of the year?

 

[robby69]

On an EDTV, like this plasma you will be very happy with a cable or satellite signal. A progressive scan DVD will be fantastic. You will not be happy with a cable signal on an HDTV plasma, unless you cable system will do atleast 720P via component output.
I have had an 42" EDTV panasonic plasma for 2 years now & love it. I think I paid about $3000 for it from onecall.com.

 

[Pabster]

I normally wouldn't even look at EDTV models but for ~1500 this is awful tempting for one of the spare bedrooms

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: Storm
Kind of a noob question but regular digital cable channels look good or bad on an hdtv?

Relatively bad.

Here's the issue:

The source (digital cable) quality is rather poor.

On a low resolution, poorly focused device, especially a small one, the flaws are relatively hidden.

On devices such as this, it's far easier for your eyes to pick up the defects in the source material.

Also, with some poorly compressed digital channels you have terrible artifacting in the image sometimes. The VH1 Classic and MTV Hits channels on my digital cable are so pixellated that you'd think you were watching the channel on Realplayer. Encore, IFC and Sundance on the other hand look close to DVD quality. The HD plasmas and LCDs have to take the standard definition signal and upconvert it to the native resolution of the panel, which often leads to pixelization as well (you usually notice it with videos that have a lot of motion or crossfades). Take the pixellation that comes with the crap compression job some channels do and combine that with the pixelization that occurs sometimes with the upconversion and it can get pretty ugly watching SD channels on a HDTV.

That's what bugs me about Comcast right now. My network affiliates all have HD versions that my Comcast DVR box will downconvert the HD signal to 480i DVD quality to my standard definition TV w/ 5.1 sound. Most of the good digital channels look great as well and some have surround sound to boot. The regular cable channels like FX, TNT and SciFi all look like crap since they are still being shown in analog even though I have digital cable. TNT is especially atrocious looking. All snowy even though FX is one channel up and still looks tolerable.

My apartment won't let me get satellite, so I'm kinda stuck with sucky looking regular channels until they eventually do away with the analog signal completely.

 

[fr]

$195 shipping! No deal for me.

 

[EKKC]

6ave has some TVs with 1 cent shipping. no tax out of state too

once i get rid of my sony 32" wega im getting a panasonic from them

 

[Jenova314]

a bunch of HD screens, and not a single 1080i-compliant one... i think i'll pass

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Perfect. Now to find a good speaker system and receiver to go along with one... for under $1200.

 

[esoteric0]

i have the panasonic consumer EDTV, and i love it. i think it's a good compromise between SD signal quality (cable) and HD. also, no upconverting is required for DVDs (they're natively 854x480) so any progressive scan dvd player will look great. the only complaint i have is the lack of DVI input. i'd like to hook my DVD player into the HDMI, and my media center PC into DVI (mostly for game playing), but i can't. i use one of the svideo inputs, which is fine, just sayin'. i picked up the panasonic surround sound system with 4 tallboy speakers and about a million inputs (HT17 i think it is), and i have a pretty sweet setup.

of course, i have a third party promo deal through my employer, so that doesn't hurt either

oh, i almost forgot, the built-in tuner will pull the digital HD signals off of cable. i only subscribe to extended basic (non-digital), but i get all the HD channels they offer too. how's that for sweet? also, the built-in image processing does an amazing job of cleaing up analog cable. i don't get any snow or anything, and my cable is generally pretty crappy.

 

[Kremlar]

I've had the Panasonic EDTV commercial for a couple years, and it's fantastic. I originally bought the commercial because I didn't need the tuner or speakers - the audio was provided by my home theater setup.

However, I eventually moved the plasma into my bedroom, so ended up buying Panasonic's side speakers. They weren't cheap (a couple hundred I believe), but they look fantastic and sound pretty decent for what they are.

I also purchased mine from VisualApex. Pretty good company (they don't ALWAYS return calls, but they're not bad).

Shipping is high, but it comes freight (not UPS or FedEx) and they delivered right into my house, so it was worth the piece of mind.