Is it time to buy Plasma display?

[dvdegger]

I like the form factor of Plasma displays, and would love to buy one to put above the fireplace in the family room. Our primary use will be DVD playback.

Looking for advice from forum on...
a) Is mounting the plasma high on the wall okay for viewing?
b) Any worries about additional heat from the fireplace?
c) Should I buy SD plasma if HD will break the bank, or wait a year?
d) Brand and model suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!

[Titleist]

Take a thermometer and guage the temperature above the position of the fireplace. If it's above the recommended temperature of most tvs, then don't do it, honestly most fireplaces should channel the heat out forward, but I can't say for sure.

If it's too high then it'll be a problem, I'd assume this isn't going to be your primary home theater room? Then if it's for TV viewing, like Cable or SAT, then at 6-8 feet high it should be okay.

I'd go HD plasma, why waste the money on a technology thats out of date.

As for models, I of course love the pioneer plasmas, like the PDP 4340, which is mine. However Samsung makes a few nice ones as well.

[plissken99]

I would avoid plasma alltogether. It looks good at first, but a long look reveals the screen foor effect(pixel grid). Of course, thats a problem with all digitals, however the main concern is burn in. If you play a lot of games, forget about it.

And from what I hear, companies are trying to push out their plasma stock to get ready for newer technologies(like Sony's SXRD for example).

[Dilmo]

dvdegger, listen to plissken99. He's right.

[tic-tac]

Well, having just bought a 50" HD plasma, I have to disagree with Plissken and Dilmo.

Do you know about the AVS Forums? EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know, speculate, and possible learn about plasma as well as the other emerging display technologies. Your question comes up there at least once a week... You can read the typical responses yourself here but you'll have to do a little searching and browsing. Basically, for the next couple of years, plasma is one of the best-looking display technologies and plasma prices continue to fall. LCD is still too expensive at this point for screen sizes over 30 or so inches, and the other technologies are still in development. (I'm not including CRT, DLP, etc.) We decided to buy because we feel a good 50" HD plasma will serve our needs at least 5 years, and we feel that we can possibly afford to upgrade by then if there is something exponentially better and more affordable by then.

FWIW, I have never noticed a screen-door effect in our plasma, nor in any of the plasmas that I see at the TV station where I work. I think glare and reflections from the glass is more of a problem but that can be somewhat controlled. Also: we have a plasma set in my building's lobby that is on 24/7, with the PBS logo usually in the same corner for hours on end. 2 years of almost constant use and no visible burn-in.

a) Is mounting the plasma high on the wall okay for viewing?
It is, although you may want to use a tilt mount so that you can point the screen more directly at your viewing position. The best height is supposedly at eye level but my fiancee wanted ours higher for aesthetic reasons. We have ours slightly tilted downwards.

b) Any worries about additional heat from the fireplace?
Like Titleist said, I'd measure it. Also look on the AVS Forums... This has been discussed there in great depth with lots of photos, etc.

c) Should I buy SD plasma if HD will break the bank, or wait a year?
Well, it truly depends, but I'd suggest going for the HD as more and more HD programming is available and on the way. If you are completely uninterested in cable or any other kind of HD and are solely going to be using the set just as a "monitor" for your DVD player, then maybe an ED, but HD-DVD is not far around the corner. This topic also has had plenty of discussion and insights gleaned at the AVS Forums.

d) Brand and model suggestions appreciated.
Depends on your budget and what looks good to your eyes. On the Forums, Panasonics are considered best bang for the buck and as having best black levels. Pioneer has most vibrant color. Sony is up there too, as is NEC. LG is starting to come on strong. If cost is no concern, the Fujitsu 50" is supposedly the one to get. Again, I can just point you there and tell you to have fun researching.

Oh yeah: After nearly buying a Pioneer 5040, we bought the 50" Panasonic 7UY since we were able to get it with everything we needed fr less than $5K shipped. Still in the process of setting it up, but we love it so far. We're going to have Time-Warner HD, a Samsung 1080i upconverting DVD player, an Xbox, an old laserdisc player, and our new tricked out PC with a wireless kb/mouse hooked up to the set with connections enabled if we want to plug in our still or video cameras...