HDTVs
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spronk
FPS noob
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- 27,235
don't buy a panasonic plasma right now, panasonic just announced they are exiting the plasma business. all production stops next month and units will no longer be sold after march 2014. If you wait till january the prices will be significantly lower, like maybe 50% or more.
Panasonic concedes plasma TV defeat, ends production | The Verge
Panasonic concedes plasma TV defeat, ends production | The Verge
taebin
Same trailer, different park
- 973
- 450
Buy a ST, unless you have money to blow. The VT and ZT are better TV's, but unless your lighting conditions are perfect and a lot of other factors, you won't notice much of a difference. I think the biggest gain is having a built in THX setting for display, which is somewhat close to having someone certified come out and do it. But honestly the built-in settings on my ST are really, really good. And after 50/100 hours of use, check out AVS and use their recommendations.
Void
BAU BAU
- 9,822
- 11,744
If you go to AVS for any plasma, do the 100 hour burn-in first or their settings won't be quite as accurate.
Now, I'm not going to say that if you don't follow their steps to the letter your TV will be unwatchable, or that those settings won't work just as well, but if you're looking to get the best results you possibly can without paying a professional, do the burn-in. Essentially, the individual pixels on a plasma TV will "mature" through use. Typically after 100 hours they have matured as much as they are going to (or close enough that it doesn't matter). If you watch movies with black bars at the top and bottom (tons still do because of the different aspect ratio on movie screens, even though you don't realize it), if you play video games on it with a UI in the same spot all the time, or you watch a news channel with a colored news bar a the bottom...all of those things can cause the pixels to mature differently than the rest of the screen. Thus, they recommend cycling it through solid colored slides (usually via a USB stick, download the slides from AVS) so that every pixel is matured the exact same way, which ensures that you are working with the same exact base starting position they did when determining the settings they posted on the forums.
Will you ever notice the difference? Doubtful, but videophiles say they can. I love the way mine looks, but I would imagine so do millions of other people that never even knew those forums existed. Whatever you decide to do, one thing to note is that almost everyone that sets theirs by feel sets it way too bright. Bright looks good, it stands out, it lets you see everything without effort. But it also isn't the way it was intended, just like the loudness button isn't how music is intended to be heard, even though it sounds so cool at times. If you use the burn-in time and their settings, a lower brightness setting should still allow you to see everything you were intended to see perfectly (unless your vision stat sucks).
So if you're going to use their settings and don't have your own calibration tools (or the desire to pay someone else to do it), it isn't really that big of a deal to let it run for 4 days before you start using it, assuming you still have something else you can watch in the meantime.
Now, I'm not going to say that if you don't follow their steps to the letter your TV will be unwatchable, or that those settings won't work just as well, but if you're looking to get the best results you possibly can without paying a professional, do the burn-in. Essentially, the individual pixels on a plasma TV will "mature" through use. Typically after 100 hours they have matured as much as they are going to (or close enough that it doesn't matter). If you watch movies with black bars at the top and bottom (tons still do because of the different aspect ratio on movie screens, even though you don't realize it), if you play video games on it with a UI in the same spot all the time, or you watch a news channel with a colored news bar a the bottom...all of those things can cause the pixels to mature differently than the rest of the screen. Thus, they recommend cycling it through solid colored slides (usually via a USB stick, download the slides from AVS) so that every pixel is matured the exact same way, which ensures that you are working with the same exact base starting position they did when determining the settings they posted on the forums.
Will you ever notice the difference? Doubtful, but videophiles say they can. I love the way mine looks, but I would imagine so do millions of other people that never even knew those forums existed. Whatever you decide to do, one thing to note is that almost everyone that sets theirs by feel sets it way too bright. Bright looks good, it stands out, it lets you see everything without effort. But it also isn't the way it was intended, just like the loudness button isn't how music is intended to be heard, even though it sounds so cool at times. If you use the burn-in time and their settings, a lower brightness setting should still allow you to see everything you were intended to see perfectly (unless your vision stat sucks).
So if you're going to use their settings and don't have your own calibration tools (or the desire to pay someone else to do it), it isn't really that big of a deal to let it run for 4 days before you start using it, assuming you still have something else you can watch in the meantime.
Like Taebin said, buy the ST unless you have money to blow (also if you really want "peace of mind" on the input lag, but I think it's not noticeable). However, if you live in the UK, buy the GT for sure.
spronk
FPS noob
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if you don't care that panasonic is shutting down plasma production frys is selling ST60 for $1k and places like best buy, sears, etc will price match them if you have a frys in your city
FRYS.comPANASONIC
you may be able to pick one up for $500 though in february after CES where panny is gonna announce their new 4k models and maybe talk more about OLED plans
FRYS.comPANASONIC
you may be able to pick one up for $500 though in february after CES where panny is gonna announce their new 4k models and maybe talk more about OLED plans
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
- 8,157
- 140
I'm kind of getting the itch to look at purchasing a 4K TV in the first half of next year. I bought my first HDTV in 2000, before any local cable companies even offered HD programming here, and I swore I'd never do that again because I spent WAY too much money on it, but damnit, I'm getting that urge.
At least this time around I could hook my gaming PC to it as the ultimate monitor to get some use out of it. I need to do some research into HDMI 2.0 though and see when that is arriving, I don't want to be stuck at 30Hz forever
At least this time around I could hook my gaming PC to it as the ultimate monitor to get some use out of it. I need to do some research into HDMI 2.0 though and see when that is arriving, I don't want to be stuck at 30Hz forever
Foggy
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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What part of having little to no content is giving you that itch? You aren't even future proofing yourself, considering by the time 4k becomes mainstream the 4k TVs will be lightyears better than what is coming out now.
Don't get me wrong, spend your money on whatever you damn well please. However, I would make a better short term investment on hookers and blow. Pick up the 4K TV in 5 years or so.
Don't get me wrong, spend your money on whatever you damn well please. However, I would make a better short term investment on hookers and blow. Pick up the 4K TV in 5 years or so.
Foggy
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Thank you for the tip. Amazon matched even though there are no units left at Frys. Amazon just made a customer for life. Going to sign up for prime first thing and order the tv .
Only reason the price is so low is frys was selling their floor models. Awesome.
Edit: can anybody recommend a good wall mount? Thanks.
Kuriin
Just a Nurse
- 4,046
- 1,020
Buy a mount from monoprice. Cheap and they are pretty high in quality. Use one for my 60".
Ultra-Slim Low Profile Wall Mount Bracket for LCD LED Plasma (Max 165 lbs, 37~63 inch), BLACK - Monoprice.com
That's the one I got. Love ultra-slim look. Only downside is that you can't get behind the TV easily.
Ultra-Slim Low Profile Wall Mount Bracket for LCD LED Plasma (Max 165 lbs, 37~63 inch), BLACK - Monoprice.com
That's the one I got. Love ultra-slim look. Only downside is that you can't get behind the TV easily.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
- 8,157
- 140
Well, one of my 27" Monitors is crapping out, so I'm leaning a little bit towards the idea of migrating my PC over to a 4K TV display rather than buying more computer monitors.
I probably won't, they're still crazy expensive. If 4K TVs dipped down to like 3-4 grand early next year I'd probably seriously consider it, but as it stands I really don't want to pay $5K + for a TV
Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 6,462
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This is sound advice. By the time it becomes more mainstream and you actually have some media available for it, the technology will have leaped monumentally over what is available on the market right now. Not to mention, significantly cheaper!
I burn benjamins myself on stupid shit all the time and dont really give a shit, but I really do regret dropping $9k on my 75" Samsung 9000 series. Dont get me wrong, its big and beautiful, but just a little over a year later and there are comparable models for a fraction of the cost.
God dammit. I hate it that misinformation has dictated the marketplace. Plasma is such a great technology for the things I enjoy watching most on TV. ACTION SHOTS.
Meh, my Plasma is plenty thin!
RE TV mounts: This isn't a wall mount, but this stand+mount combo is what I bought for my 60" ST60 and absolutely love it:Altra Glass and Metal TV Stand for TVs up to 52" - Walmart.com
Also ignore the 52 thing on it, it is wrong and holds much bigger. Also it's the perfect width for 60" TVs, which was really hard to find in a stand for a decent price.
Do you have a video card that can actually do 4k/2160p at 60hz+? Most now only do 30hz on that resolution don't they? You're probably better off buying a high quality 30" 1440p monitor or waiting until the Gsync monitors come out. If you're going for a TV and not a monitor just buy a super high quality 1080p TV at a size that fits your viewing distance for optimum stuff.
Both AMD & nvidia have supported that resolution @ 60 Hz for a couple generations. That said, you aren't going to be gaming at 4k without multiple 780 TIs or 290(X)s
Oh maybe I had it backwards, was it that almost all 4k TVs are only actually 30hz?
Very Few Play PC Games At Resolutions Beyond 1080P - AMD and NVIDIA Fight For 4K Dominance - Legit Reviews
This says only HDMI 2.0 can do it at 60hz and that's like, only a couple months old.
DisplayPort and Dual-Link DVI. I'm not really sure about the TVs to be honest, I know the cheap Seiki 4k TVs from this year were limited to 30Hz. Probably more common for TVs with the HDMI limitations.