Buying a Flat Panel Display (LCD/Plasma/LED etc)

[drbabuanand]

Originally Posted by drbabuanand

Other than the auto contrast and SD card slot, is there any other difference between a PV80 and PV8 (difference of 5k !) ?

the brochure states that pv 80 is equipped with PRO-REAL ENGINE where as pv 8 is just REAL ENGINE.
the sales person was not able to tell the difference between the two.
gurus please clarify

guys,please please... clarify the differance.

[jassi]

Originally Posted by drbabuanand

guys,please please... clarify the differance.

not sure about real/pro-real, but the pv80 looks better due to its glossy black finish and yes it has an extra hdmi slot in the front for that occassional quick connection (like hd camera for viewing pics)

[shajufx]

I found the differences or extras on PV80 not of any use to me personaly, therefore I am picking up a PV8 immediately. What I found by visiting the showroom are;

PV80 has a glossy frame (which according to me is distraction for my eyes as room light reflects back to you from the edges), it looks great but practically its a pain.

PV80 has an auto contrast setting which according to the sales guy is not a great feature. Because you can set your own contrast on a PV8 according to your usual room lighting or surrounding, everyday you are not shifting houses or states !

PV80 has an extra HDMI port. Now tell me how many HDMI cables you want to connect or infact how many gadgets in your house has an HDMI output ?

PV80 has a swivel stand. Now both PV80 and PV8 having the feature of 'wide viewing angle', how often you are going to swing the screen on a stand ? If you are wall mounting, then its a 100% useless feature.

PV80 has a V-real PRO 3 technology where PV8 has only a V-real 3 technology. Now are you actually worried about an extra 'PRO' that comes on a brochure which might not be of any visible difference to your poorly slogged human eyes ?

And to conclude, the difference between PV80 and PV8 on your wallet will be ranging from 6k to 10k dealer to dealer. If you want to cover up the cost of 2 HDMI cables, bit of drilling,plastering and paint touch up of your Plasma wall (after hiding the cable pipes or necessary modifications), then you better think twice before paying that extra.

[jassi]

Agree on some points but below are my inputs

Originally Posted by shajufx

PV80 has a glossy frame (which according to me is distraction for my eyes as room light reflects back to you from the edges), it looks great but practically its a pain.

i don't see any distraction - maybe in the showroom lights you felt that way - but to be very frank there is no reflection of light

Originally Posted by shajufx

PV80 has an auto contrast setting which according to the sales guy is not a great feature. Because you can set your own contrast on a PV8 according to your usual room lighting or surrounding, everyday you are not shifting houses or states !

I find this feature very useful as the plasma is in my bedroom and my light conditions keep changing from daylight to evening well lit to night sleeptime when lights off and tv goes off with sleep timer. However if the plasma is in a well lit hall and you don't watch movies with lights off then auto-contrast is of no use.

Originally Posted by shajufx

PV80 has an extra HDMI port. Now tell me how many HDMI cables you want to connect or infact how many gadgets you have in the house that need to be connected to the TV ?

this feature is useful if your home theatre does not have an hdmi switch. Mine does not and so I connect my two hdmi sources directly to the back. The front hdmi is very useful to connect your temporary hdmi sources like laptop or hd camera, there is no denying this!! I don't want to be going to the back of my plasma or home theatre every time I want to connect my hd camera or laptop, and leaving the cable hanging there is unsightly.

Originally Posted by shajufx

PV80 has a swivel stand. Now both PV80 and PV8 having the feature of 'wide viewing angle', how often you are going to swing the screen on a stand ? If you are wall mounting, then its a 100% useless feature.

completely agreed here - in my case i dont trust wal mounts, so i use the swivel stand, but i have never actually swivelled it

either ways pv8 or pv80, all the other doohickeys aside, this is a good decision picture quality wise !!

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by jassi

i don't see any distraction - maybe in the showroom lights you felt that way - but to be very frank there is no reflection of light

Its not only about the showroom lights, I have seen the reflection at many home set up conditions too. If your plasma is facing a window or door, you will go mad disturbed by the glossy stuff doing its nasty reflection.

However if the plasma is in a well lit hall and you don't watch movies with lights off then auto-contrast is of no use.

Yes, I have a well lit hall regardless of the day or night. I have not reached a stage (advanced home theatre set up) where all lights are OFF for watching a movie ! I might consider such a set up only with a 60 inch or more plasma in the next upgrade with a dedicated theatre in the house.

The front hdmi is very useful to connect your temporary hdmi sources like laptop or hd camera, there is no denying this!! I don't want to be going to the back of my plasma or home theatre every time I want to connect my hd camera or laptop, and leaving the cable hanging there is unsightly.

You can also use the second HDMI port behind with a cable always connected with the gadget-end left inside the TV cabinet for all the irregular usage. When you are saving above 6k, its a small compromise !

in my case i dont trust wal mounts, so i use the swivel stand, but i have never actually swivelled it !!

What makes you not trusting the wall mount ? Is it the doubt on your building strength, wall bracket, installing guy or any other reason ? Reply would be very useful.

Latest update from my side: I have called Niranjan (devi) and given the delivery address for the PV8. He promised to deliver before 8pm today. Eagerly waiting ! They will deliver the PV8 and take my 29" philips, so I want to connect it immediately on the cabinet stand for the temporary viewing till the installer shows up in few days ( I wish he takes more time, because I want to fix a concealed pipe on the wall for the plasma and home theatre speaker (left, right and centre) cables, also plaster the modified area with paint touch up).

Another doubt to be cleared; what make of stabilizers our pana gang is using ? Is the V-guard stabilizer which I used for my 29" Philips Flat screen enough for the Plasma too ? Or should I get a new one ? Please reply fast before I get guided by some 'below average' installer or electrician !

[jassi]

Originally Posted by shajufx

What makes you not trusting the wall mount ? Is it the doubt on your building strength, wall bracket, installing guy or any other reason ? Reply would be very useful.


Another doubt to be cleared; what make of stabilizers our pana gang is using ? Is the V-guard stabilizer which I used for my 29" Philips Flat screen enough for the Plasma too ? Or should I get a new one ? Please reply fast before I get guided by some 'below average' installer or electrician !

i don't trust the mount install guy you wont know he's done a sub par job till the plasma falls of the wall, and I don't wanna take that risk.

I picked one of those digital stabilizers (500va i think) from the panny store itself - as my tv is not wall mounted, the stabilizer (as well as the jungle of cables) sits nicely hidden by the plasma on my matching glossy black wrought iron trolley

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by jassi

I picked one of those digital stabilizers (500va i think) from the panny store itself

Could you please check the brand name and correct VA for me ? If anyone could suggest some brands, it would be very helpful. I need to buy it today itself or connect the Plasma to my existing 29" TV stablizer till I get the proper one. Is there any issue that way ?

[kb100]

I am using my regular 300VA V-Guard Stabiliser. No perceivable problems so far.

Lucky Mumbaikars - best offer for Panny so far is from VIJAY SALES - MUMBAI

PV8 for 47990/- and PV80 for 55000/-

[nemo]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Tell me one thing frankly, Do you find any difference in the picture quality after up conversion ?

Because I have not found any difference, i.e.
1. Put in an original good quality movie DVD.
2. View it on its native resolution of 420p
3. Then up-convert the same to either 720p or higher

Have not noticed any difference in the picture quality other than the fact that the TV Stats displays that its now running at a higher resolution.

In my case the DVD player is doing the up-conversion.

There is a noticable difference in picture quality between various 420p DVD's depending on the quality of the individual prints. But for the same DVD, I have not found any noticable difference after up-conversion and without up-conversion.

So wanted to check if its the same with others.

I need to check. I don't have a HDMI cable and will post my experience in a bit

Originally Posted by appuchan

Last time I went they did not have proper BluRay player. The box which was there was a software simulator provided by Panasonic for demo and it was not playing any Bluray disc.

They have a Panasonic BR player now and which apparently is not for sale yet. Brilliant pictures as i said.

[razor4077]

How important is it to use a voltage stabilizer with an LCD/plasma TV? Don't these TVs come with an in-built stabilizer? I've been using a Samsung LCD for over 2 years with no ill-effects. And there is a fair bit of voltage fluctuation in my house.

Also, how much would one of these stabilizers cost?

[Monaro]

Hi guys,

I've been on a lookout for a 42" plasma for a while now. Finally i am fixated on two options:

1)TBHP favourite PV80

I checked it out and the cheapest quote i've got so far in NOIDA is 69,900 at Hometown with 0% interest for 3 years. In Delhi, its more like 56,900 but i am not sure if there have finance option.

2)Lg 42PG61UR

Costs 62,000 with the dvd player + HDMI cable + 50 Dvd movies and would cost 59,500 if i dont take up the option. Looks good as its frameless, moreover 3 years 0% interest is tempting.

All this and i am in a fix. PV80 or LG??...please advise..and also sum good shops in NCR!

[jassi]

Originally Posted by Monaro

)Lg 42PG61UR

Costs 62,000 with the dvd player + HDMI cable + 50 Dvd movies and would cost 59,500 if i dont take up the option. Looks good as its frameless, moreover 3 years 0% interest is tempting.

All this and i am in a fix. PV80 or LG??...please advise..and also sum good shops in NCR!

lately i have been seeing a lot of people query on this lg frameless model - is it a true panny contender - can someone do an analysis on pic quality and get back - that way we will know if its just a good tempting offer vs a true good quality plasma
personally i have not found lg plasmas (minus all the frills offered) to be strong in pic quality as compared to panny pv80 or pio. However I have no experience with this model

[VSG12777]

Originally Posted by Monaro

Hi guys,

I've been on a lookout for a 42" plasma for a while now. Finally i am fixated on two options:

1)TBHP favourite PV80

I checked it out and the cheapest quote i've got so far in NOIDA is 69,900 at Hometown with 0% interest for 3 years. In Delhi, its more like 56,900 but i am not sure if there have finance option.

2)Lg 42PG61UR

Costs 62,000 with the dvd player + HDMI cable + 50 Dvd movies and would cost 59,500 if i dont take up the option. Looks good as its frameless, moreover 3 years 0% interest is tempting.

All this and i am in a fix. PV80 or LG??...please advise..and also sum good shops in NCR!

Hi Monaro,

I am also researching on this LG PG61 frameless plasma and had a look personally yesterday evening at the LG brand shop here in Chennai. The TV is pretty good and the design is very sleek and classy. The Panasonic is more traditional in terms of design. Plus, the LG has 3 HDMI inputs and a USB port which can play DivX, JPG, MP3 etc. Picture quality wise, I could not compare Panasonic and LG side by side. However, I played a Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo DVD (which have exactly an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which means full screen in 16:9 mode on the widescreen TVs) at the shop to check. This was thru an LG HDMI upscaling DVD player. The picture looked superb. Sound was also pretty good and menus were easy to use - quite user friendly.

I had a look at E-Zone too, where the PV80 and PG61 were available, but they were mounted on either side of the same wall. So I had to walk around to the other side of the wall to see the Panny PV80 and vice versa. They refused to play any other source as some HDMI demo thing was being played at the same time thru some hard drive or something. Design wise the LG beats the Panny handsdown.

Picture quality wise - well I don't want to be too Pro-LG on this since there are so many Panasonic fans here, but to be honest, I was very happy with the picture quality on the LG and the service network is better too. Other than this and the USB slot on the LG, frameless design etc, it is totally individual preference.

Instead of going by awards and reviews, I would suggest we personally check out the units and see for ourselves. Some are floored by the Panasonic while some like me are very happy even with the LG PG61.

I am sure a blu ray disc movie would look fantastic on either of these panels at 1024x768 resolution.

So Monaro, here's a link to a review that I found for you: (I read this before going to the LG brand shop and did not keep in mind what the review said)

LG 50PG61UR / 42PG61UR - Frameless Plasma review

Here's one more better review:

Home,Archive Result

The LG 42PG61 here in Chennai is available for 54k, while the lowest on the Panasonic PV80 has been 62k. For the Panasonic I guess the Devi guy Niranjan is the best. I spoke to him too regarding this.

Originally Posted by jassi

lately i have been seeing a lot of people query on this lg frameless model - is it a true panny contender - can someone do an analysis on pic quality and get back - that way we will know if its just a good tempting offer vs a true good quality plasma
personally i have not found lg plasmas (minus all the frills offered) to be strong in pic quality as compared to panny pv80 or pio. However I have no experience with this model

Hi Jassi,

Yes I know. Like I have mentioned above, some products become very well known and popular due to awards and reviews, ads etc but some don't and even many of those products end up being very good. I would say after checking out the LG plasma in person, that this is one of those products. Maybe you can also check it out if you get the chance and give your views. I'm of the opinion that the Panasonic PV80 also is excellent, but having tested the LG PG61 out personally with some of my favourite DVDs, it is a very good one too.

The LG also comes with the wall mounting kit and the swivel stand. The 50 DVD offer is actually 50 movies in DivX format, on 7 DVDs totally. I saw the DVD pack at the LG brand shop. Don't remember many of the titles but some of them are good and some aren't. 35 Hindi movies and 20 English, or vice versa. I am not sure on this. Some Hindi ones I can remember are Khuda Kay Liyae, Om Shanti Om, Ugly Aur Pagli, Golmaal, Kama Sutra etc.

The LG is a good deal even without these freebies at the same price. I have still not decided but now my wife has fallen in love with the LG's design and she was floored with the picture quality when I adjusted the aspect ratio to 16:9 on the LG DVD player, while playing Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, since it immediately filled up the entire 42 inch screen and everything now looked proportional. I enjoyed it too. Most other Hindi / Tamil / English movies are generally shot at 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratio, which means we would still have those black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

But Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo, maybe even Toy Story 1 & 2 (all in 1.78:1 aspect ratio) are the best DVDs to test the full screen quality of these LCDs and plasmas. Fantastic really.

More later guys, and do write back once any of you gets a chance to check out the LG plasma too.

Warm regards,
Venkat

[ab1xlr8]

Hi, i recently purchased a Lg 42 pg61 over a panny pv80, and i am very happy with picture quality on cable+dvd+ps3.After doing some extensive research online between these two plasmas i found out that the lg handles standard definition like normal cable,tata sky ,and dvds better than the panny pv80 which is what 90% of people in india have.
The panny pv80 has better blacks and does high definition a little better,but overall i think the lg pg61 is far better with very good picture quality + good looks + loads of features.Plus i paid 52k for the lg here in mumbai and i am sure people could get one for 54k easily anywhere.Highly recommended.

P.s : if you guys want i could upload some live tv pictures.

[sj_koova]

Nice to see a PV80 contender
Even I had considered 42PG61 against PV80.
I could not see them side-by-side though. Had taken the demo separately.
Frankly I too thought LG is not bad at all. But the DVDs and Player offer did not attract me.

But then Panasonic's brand value as a Plasma maker influenced me. Also I had a Pani home theater system already.
Again Panasonic is Japanese and LG is Korean.
I would prefer a Japanese product to a Korean any day. Could be just the mindset.