Consul
Well-known member
I was going to use some of my saved-up cash to buy a nice oscilloscope and otherwise fit out my basement lab, but ultimately decided that I don't have much use for such gear right this minute. So, I stumbled upon a great deal for a 46" Panasonic Viera Plasma 1080p ($700 as opposed to the normal $1100 for this model) and decided to go for that instead. Next up, time to think about a Blu-Ray player and a set-top box, like the Roku.
And for those who would rather warn about all the issues with plasma screens, I would like to point out that the burn-in and posterization issues are a thing of the past. Modern plasmas have come a long way in ten years, and in this price range I think plasmas have the best picture, with a 600hz refresh rate, a 200,000:1 actual (not "dynamic") contrast ratio, and a very wide viewing angle.
The HD cable box is on the way, but in the meantime, I have the DVD player plugged into the analog input, and I am completely blown away at how good the DVD picture looks, even going through analog. The quality of the upscaling is another advantage of plasma displays, as it turns out.
I'm pretty pleased with it, so far. Now I have two problems to solve. One, network connectivity for streaming, with good codec support for things like Youtube, and two, to be able to replace our standalone DVD recorder for recording shows. The first is easy, the second, not so much.
And for those who would rather warn about all the issues with plasma screens, I would like to point out that the burn-in and posterization issues are a thing of the past. Modern plasmas have come a long way in ten years, and in this price range I think plasmas have the best picture, with a 600hz refresh rate, a 200,000:1 actual (not "dynamic") contrast ratio, and a very wide viewing angle.
The HD cable box is on the way, but in the meantime, I have the DVD player plugged into the analog input, and I am completely blown away at how good the DVD picture looks, even going through analog. The quality of the upscaling is another advantage of plasma displays, as it turns out.
I'm pretty pleased with it, so far. Now I have two problems to solve. One, network connectivity for streaming, with good codec support for things like Youtube, and two, to be able to replace our standalone DVD recorder for recording shows. The first is easy, the second, not so much.