Can't decide - Panny 32" LCD or 37" Plasma?

[fvoelling]

Hi,

Our 35" 4:3 CRT just died (well, everything has a greenish tint), and because it's sitting in a built-in cabinet, size is a limiting factor. It's located in the FR corner, with lots of windows on the side (i.e. glare during the day). We use it mainly for watching sitcoms, HGTV/DIY, some sports, all coming in via cable. Viewing distance ranges from 10' to 16' feet.

Given that anything less than a 42" 16:9 will result in a "smaller" (height-wise) picture compared to the CRT, I'm leaning towards the 37" plasma, but the brighter picture and less glare-sensitive LCD may be more appropriate despite its smaller size (I could possibly fit in a 40" LCD, but I cannot justify their current prices given our usage).

Last but not least, I can get the LCD for almost 500 less than the plasma.

Due to the glare potential (see attached pic, taken in the morning shade, the sun hits that window in the afternoon/evening) and the viewing material (virtually no movies), is the LCD the more sensible choice despite the smaller size? Will its higher resolution somewhat offset its smaller size?

BTW, most of what we watch is still non-HD, which is not what they typically show in the stores, so I don't really know if that favors one over the other.

Thanks,
Frank

[coolcanuck2]

Hi , it looks like your managing a lot of variables! Size of display (32" vs. 37"), type of display (Plasma vs. LCD), lighting issues, SD issues etc..

I won't speak to the lighting issue, as that's not something I've had to deal with, or learn about.

As far as the display size, have you considered any of the various 37" LCDs? There are quite a few out there - e.g. Sharp, Philips, LG, etc. That will at least eliminate one variable, and allow you to compare displays with equivalent screen size. The retail prices on the Sharps dropped recently, and are very competitive (if not better perhaps) with plasma, so price really isn't an issue.

I think it's also really important that you watch a lot of SD television still. That was the case with me, and it became one of the most important factors for me. If you look at Consumer Reports, you'll see an enormous level of quality when it comes to displaying SD television, and that was backed up by our experience in the show room. Some stores were able to route SD television onto the displays, and the results were astonishing. Some of them were unbelievably bad. For what it's worth, Consumer Reports lists a number of LCDs and plasmas with very good SD display, and I found that a good starting point (we ended up with the Panasonic 42XP500U).

Subject to what others may say about the lighting issue you face (which may decide it for you on LCD vs. Plasma), I'd then focus on which display can give you the best SD experience, since that's what you watch a lot of. No point in getting a display that looks good in that lighting, can do HD really well, but makes most of your daily viewing look awful.

Good luck,

Mike

[lassen]

Your situation is very similar to ours, a built-in entertainment center designed for large (for the time) 4:3 crt tvs. Since you appear to have doors covering the tv area when unused, you might want to consider mounting a plasma screen that stows diagonally behind the doors on a side swing-arm mount. If your cabinet is about 35" wide by 22" deep, you may have just enough space to fit a 42" commercial plasma when stowed diagonally. (Commercial units because they have smaller bezels than the consumer tvs).

I used a Sanus VMAA mount attached to the cabinet sidewall. Ours swings out from the left side, but it looks like yours would mount on the right side. A big advantage of the swing-out mount is the ability to adjust for optimal viewing angle when deployed, then hide completely behind doors when swung back in diagonally.

Commercial 42" plasmas are available from Panasonic with 40.2" width, if that fits your diagonal cabinet dimension. Allow a bit extra for plasma thickness. We used a 42" Panasonic ED plasma, and didn't lose any screen height, while gaining 16:9 width and adjustable positioning. AVSForum sponsors carry the ED units at very reasonable prices.

[fvoelling]

lassen,

Thanks for the idea, hadn't thought of that! I have about 38" width and 24" depth, which gives me enough space for a 41" wide, 4" deep TV. Do you have an manufacturer/model you can recommend for such a side swing-arm?

Just curious, did you pick the ED plasma because of size, cost, and/or picture quality (either not worth the difference for HD, or ED perhaps showing SD material better than HD?)?

Frank

[lassen]

Frank,

The mount I used was a Sanus VisionMount VMAA. It's normally used for articulating wall mounts, but also works great for side wall, swing mounting. It's solid, holds up to 130 lbs, and has lots of nice features for adjusting and leveling the final plasma position. I also reinforced the cabinet side wall with 3/4" plywood and braced it to top, bottom, and back walls before mounting the VMAA bracket. The side wall mount bracket is 22-5/8" wide, and barely fits the cabinet depth.

We don't have cabinet doors to hide the screen, so I simply picked up a Panasonic TH-42PM50 ED at Costco. It doesn't tuck back entirely in the cabinet. Since you have doors, you'll probably want the smaller commercial units that will fit entirely inside. Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK (ED) or TH-42PHD8UK (HD) are both slimmer, commercial units that are 40.2" wide. I think they look better anyway, but they weren't locally available here.

Our viewing distance is 10-12 feet, so the ED picture quality didn't look much different than the 42" HD units to us. Screen Door Effect is noticable on the ED if closer, about 6-7 ft in our case. The ED vs. HD choice was mostly personal preference versus a 50% premium for HD. The ability to extend and angle the screen for optimum viewing is a big advantage, in either case.

If you can't side wall mount for some reason, you could mount a long-reach, double arm, articulating mount to the back wall. The Sanus units don't have quite enough reach, but someone in the AVS Gallery used another type (Chief perhaps?) with 33" reach to achieve the same effect using a back wall mount.

[lassen]

Pic of Sanus VMAA mounted on sidewall with Panasonic TH-42PM50 on swing arm.

[jtbell]

[QUOTE=fvoelling]BTW, most of what we watch is still non-HD, which is not what they typically show in the stores, so I don't really know if that favors one over the other.[/QUOTE]

I have the Panasonic 32" LCD. We don't have cable, just OTA. I just compared our two strongest analog stations with the corresponding digital signals, which are presently showing SD content upconverted to HD (with bars on the sides). They're very similar and very watchable, the only real difference being the occasional sparkles of impulse noise in the analog signals. So I think this set does fine with a strong analog signal such as you'd get from a cable box.

I can't compare the Panasonic plasma similarly, unfortunately. I was actually thinking about trying that set when my wife and I were TV-shopping last month, but I had to agree with her that that size would be too big for the "TV corner" of our living room. The 32" works well for us because SD content is just about the same size as on the old CRT that this set replaced.

[phipp01]

If you can fit it I would go with either of the 2 panasonic commercial models mentioned earlier. Click on 1 of the sponsors at the top of the page (like Visual apex, TV Authority, Plasma Concepts) and you should be able to find all the info you need. Also Bruzzi has a panasonic FAQ site if you go to the start of all the plasma/lcd threads it will be there

[phipp01]

http://www.GlaucoBruzzi.com/plasma-faq/index.php?

Theres the link