[costamarianavia]

Heh heh - nice!

[somozasayre]

The difference between 1080p and 1080i is barely noticeable. Or so I've heard.

If I had such a beauty in my living room, I'd would also need some tissue.

The Dell 32' LCD was on sale a couple of days ago. It was 1400$ cdn. Tempting... But you still get a lot more bang for the buck with DLP, better image quality too.

[RgtrsKfR]

Dell 32'
32 foot LCD for only $1,400???

[j2Y6Ysmb]

I managed to find a 42" Plasma HDTV for $1,500 from Best Buy. Its a knockoff brand, but who CARES!?!? I HAVE A 42" PLASMA HDTV ABOVE MY FIREPLACE!!!!!

(Now maybe I should watch TV....)

[bashansasasasa]

Gorgeous setup

[bDvYaQfM]

Dimming? I would guess they don't as I have no idea what you're talking about...

[fotochicaes]

Dimming? I would guess they don't as I have no idea what you're talking about... Plasma, by contrast, uses a small electric pulse for each pixel to excite the rare natural gases argon, neon, and xenon (a k a "phosphors") to produce the color information and light. As electrons excite the phosphors, oxygen atoms dissipate. These rare gases actually have a life and fade over time. Manufacturers of plasma have estimated the life of these phosphors to be about 60,000 hours. The life of the plasma display itself is usually determined by half-life of the phosphors. So at 30,000 hours the phosphors will be at their half-life, and the viewer will be seeing an image that has half the brightness capability that it did when originally purchased. This should be a good point at which to consider its life over. The gases in plasma TVs cannot be replaced. There is no phenomenon of "pumping" new gases into a plasma display. http://www.dlptvreview.com/dlptv/plasmatelevision.html

[wpFWNoIt]

How much this setup costs Theseus?

[flowersnewacq]

Originally posted by Lul Thyme
Althought the excerpt doesnt make sense.
estimated life of 60K hours and half life of 30K are two different things, and the author looks confused. How so? The except appears to make perfect sense...

[bonyrek]

[q=Lul Thyme]He even contradicts himself directly, first saying the estimated life is 60K, then saying that after half the material is gone, after 30 K hours, this should be considered the end of the life...[/q]

I don't know many people who like their TV's to have half the brightness as it started out with, do you? In such case, it basically is the practical end of its life.

[pipojambo]

Me, Snotty, Dauphin and Gibsie had a hotseat on this 40" HDTV LCD TV

[NikolaAAA]

To answer some questions:

* The monitor is a Panasonic 50PHDUK. That is a commerical model, 50" plasma, 1080i at 1366x768. It is bare bones compared to consumer models, but 1) I knew I'd be setting it up with my audio system and 2) it has more flexibility in configuration. I have it set up for video using component cables; I have an HDMI board but haven't installed it yet.

[I spent waaaay too much time on the AVS Forum and elsewhere learning about plasmas, DLPs, LCDs, etc., before trying to pick out a monitor.]

Dimming is really a non-issue. People are much more concerned about burn-in, but I don't think it's a big deal. Especially in the first 100 hours of use, just avoid any continuous screen image (e.g., sidebars, station logos). One way to do that is to stretch a 4:3 image to the 16:9 screen aspect ratio, typically in JUST mode (stretches the edges) or FULL mode (stretches evenly... look closely at Civ4 on the screen).

* The components include a Marantz 7400 receiver and a Rotel power amp (I am experimenting using the amp for music). Component sources are all Sony, and a Scientific Atlanta cable box.

* Speakers are older ADS 1590s for fronts, Definitive Techs for center and surrounds, and a Sunfire sub. I've had the ADS speakers for a long time; they were THE hot recording studio speaker in the 1980s. It is because they are different from the rest of the speakers that I am experimenting with amping them separately. Oh, and there are also two Acoustic Research bookshelf speakers behind the monitor that we use when just watching TV.

* The whole set up cost, errr, hard to say... various pieces bought over a long time. The newest stuff are the monitor at ~$3200, the Marantz receiver at ~$500 (factory recon), and cables/connectors at ~$200 (all from monoprice.com). Also, I got a Harmony 880 universal remote for ~$150, which is GREAT to have (wife factor). Add in today's pricing for the second amp and the other components, and all the speakers, and that's probably an additional ~4000 or maybe more.

In the end, I am highly please. DVDs are absolutely great, and HD content over cable is STUNNING... the shuttle launch on 7/4 was a blast to watch.

And Civ4 at this size and in full surround is... somewhat ridiculous.

[TaxSheemaSter]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
[q=Lul Thyme]He even contradicts himself directly, first saying the estimated life is 60K, then saying that after half the material is gone, after 30 K hours, this should be considered the end of the life...[/q]

I don't know many people who like their TV's to have half the brightness as it started out with, do you? In such case, it basically is the practical end of its life. Then this contradicts the estimated life of 60K doesn't it?


The point is not how you like your TV.
the point is he both says estimated life is 60K and that 30K is the end of the life.

[CKDIWEQ]

Lul Thyme, the reviewer means that the "total life" of the phosphors of a given display should be appr. 60k hours, and thus the "useful life" of the display itself should be half that, or 30k hours.

At which point, btw, I;d be willing to sell my particular display to you for half off.

[thighikergove]

Let me guess, you like chinese and medieval history, right?

Nice clock And in a very useful position too

[XzBZB2UV]

We're starting our family very late (I'm 43, wife is 35), so, yeah, we can spend more on stuff like this.

That said, declining prices mean one can buy a little bit behind the curve and get fantastic deals/value. I bought the Marantz receiver about 18 months (more?) after its intro, and factory reconditioned, so less than 50% of what it would have cost otherwise.

[Theariwinna]

I don't know why it is so hard to follow. 30k hours is the half-life, half of the full life of the TV. However, at the half life, the brightness will be half as it was when first bought, only to go down from there. Therefore, it will still function after 30k hours, but by that point in time, most (if not all... if you can afford a plasma, you can afford to replace it after 30k hours) will replace the TV because the screen quality has degraded so much.

[KellyMP]

My setup, which is no way as good as Theseus (besides I don't play Civ on my TV either ). Great timing as well, as I got it right when SportsCenter was starting up, and well... you'll see

[blackjackblax]

That IS the premium XBox 360.

[GrolmangHat27]

On the left hand side of the console (where the top would be if it was stood up).