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

[vvrchandra]

BigTV is being launched today..

[D.V.R]

Hello everyone,an update purchased the Panasonic 50pv80 from Digital Shoppy,Ranigunj at 1,06,000.They do not have any stock with them and as its a new model they are going to deliver it on 2/8/08.Thanks to everyone one for guiding me to buy this model.Is there any PDI I need to do before taking the delivery such as we do for our cars?

[car_crazy1400]

HEY! D.V.R, are you sure that you are getting 50pv80 @ 1,06,000?

If that is really the price for a 50" plasma, I'm in the market to buy one!

[D.V.R]

Yes car_crazy, that's the price we have paid for the 50pv80.Initially they mentioned the price as 1,30,000 and after some negotiations they were ready to offer it at 1,18,000 and told us that this is the lowest price that could be given by any dealer in the city because there's was the Panasonic
Brand outlet.Dad took from them in writing that if we get a lesser quote from elsewhere they would have to give an discount of 10k.

Went to another dealer from whom we have been buying products from the past 25 yrs.They were offering us a price of 1,20,000.But after much negotiations and our relation with them they agreed at 1,15,000 nothing less than that.
Took that quote to the Panasonic Brand Outlet and they were shocked at the quotation.When we asked them to discount 10,000 which we had taken in writing and give it at 1,05,000.They were literally begging us to take it at 1,06,000 because they were better off not selling the TV instead of selling it at 1,05,000.
So finally settled the deal at 1,06,000 and paid the entire amount then and there and were promised delivery on 02/08/08.

An update,just received a call from them,that they have received the stock from Panasonic and are going to deliver it today itself.

[ST7677]

Wow, that's really a sweet price.

I was at Panasonic brand shop in Bangalore and they had quoted me tentative price of 1.4 lacs. Of course they kept repeating that it is tentative price and I should go ahead and buy PV70 for 1.25 lacs. I knew it had to be same or less than the existing model.

[gopinathann]

Planning to buy 21/26 inch LCD, any offers in chennai now?

[shuvc]

Got the following quotes today
Samsung 42 A410 720p Series 4 HD Plasma for 55K (without any nego)
Samsung 40 A550 1080p Series 5 Full HD LCD for 60K (post nego)

Panasonic 42 PV8 720p HD Plasma for "less than 60k"
Panasonic 42 PV80 720p HD Plasma for "less than 70k"

For the Pannys the carrot was .. sir we will give you final price when you come to purchase.

I still felt, that the 720p HD PV8 looked better than the Samsung 1080p Full HD LCD. Although I saw them at different shops with different DVD software.

Given that my TV usage would be 85% TataSky, 10% normal DVDs and 5% gaming (1080P PS3 sometime in the future), am wondering, is it worth waiting for 42" 1080p Full HD plasma prices to come down to 60K levels ?

I'm worried that with a 1080p TV I might end up with slightly lesser PQ than 720p TV, for most of my usage ie standard TV and DVD. Due to the extra upscaling. And this, after spending significantly more to get a 1080p TV.

Maybe one could buy a much cheaper and better equipped HDTV 4-5yrs down the line, that is compatible with the HD format softwares available then?

How much does the Panny 42PY700 retail for?

[vasudeva]

I bought Pioneer 42 in July 2008 and use it to watch Tata Sky and DVDs. My observations after 1 month:
1. This is a 720p, but at 42 inch, 720p is good enough. 1080p is supposed to make a diff at 50 inch and above.
2. On Tata Sky, foreign channels such as NatGeo, Discovery, etc are excellent.
3. Most Indian entertainment channels are also very good with excellent colours.
4. News channels are OK. Perhaps their broadcast quality and production values.
5. Finally for what I spend more than 1lakh: DVDs. In one word, excellent. Of course, it is garbage in garbage out. If your source software is bad, no Plasma/LCD can make it into a Cinderella.

[reignofchaos]

^^Vasudeva its not a surprise . The Pioneers have the best scaling system in the business. You should try some HD content on it and you'll be completely floored.

[jassi]

you guys should try playing blu-rays - i am absolutely amazed by the pq when i play blurays off my ps3 on my panny 42pv80d i am sure pio would be even better experience

[vvrchandra]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

.. This is a 720p, but at 42 inch, 720p is good enough. 1080p is supposed to make a diff at 50 inch and above.

Does this hold good even for LCD TV(or infact any Flat panel TV) or is it only for Plasma?

BTW, I'm having a Panasonic 42PV80 and I'm satisfied with its performance. I've a hathway set top box and few channels appear very good on it. I was told that I've to set the picture setting to 'Cinema' mode for the first 100 hours or so by Panasonic guy.

I've not tried with Blue ray as I do not have it yet. My viewing comprises of TV(via settop box) viewing during weekdays and watching movies on DVD's during weekends. I tried few DVD's. When I load a DVD, for some i get 480i and for some it changes to 576i. Do the DVD's we get in India have only 576i resolution? Experts pl. comment.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

^^Vasudeva its not a surprise . The Pioneers have the best scaling system in the business. You should try some HD content on it and you'll be completely floored.

Where do you get cheap HD content now. The best that can be done is to burn from an original source and compress it with DVD shrink.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

. I was told that I've to set the picture setting to 'Cinema' mode for the first 100 hours or so by Panasonic guy.

How come I was not told by the Panasonic guy? What is the logic for this?

The TV came in Dynamic (high contrast) mode, but I've changed it to 'Standard' mode, with lower contrast.

[ST7677]

Given that my TV usage would be 85% TataSky, 10% normal DVDs and 5% gaming (1080P PS3 sometime in the future), am wondering, is it worth waiting for 42" 1080p Full HD plasma prices to come down to 60K levels ?

Given your usage you should go for Plasma over LCD. SD will be much better.
If you can go for Pioneer 42" Kuro, SD will be much much better

You really do not need full HD unless you want to sit 5-6ft close to your TV.
1080p is pretty much useless in most practical applications.

Refer this very good article which I found on the net.
[FONT=Verdana]1080p Does Matter - Here's When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution) CarltonBale.com[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]

. I was told that I've to set the picture setting to 'Cinema' mode for the first 100 hours or so by Panasonic guy.

Not sure about LCDs, but in plasma pictures mature over period of time and become better. Just like for cars, for Plasma's also it is advised to run in the TV for first 200 hours - you can browse forums for run in settings recommended for your TV, however in general it would be better to keep low contrast for first few hours.

[sam003]

Does anyone here bought Hitachi LCD. If yes which model and how much the price have to shell out.. Looking one in Delhi