1080p Plasma - Is it worth the $ and the wait?

"Robert" wrote in message
...
You need to check out Sony's SXRD. Best picture quality by far. Except
for the Sony's discontinued Qualia, which is also SXRD. Also called LCOS,
Liquid Crystal on Silicon..


"Best picture quality by far" is quite an overstatement. It is a very
competitive product category, but there are pros and cons to SXRD just like
the other display technologies.

Check it out for certain, but do some homework and check out the competitors
as well.

Leonard

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Jim Gilliland wrote:
Alan F wrote:

As for technology, a 768p plasma with two HDMI and two component ports
is not going to be completely out of date any time soon. The TV will
accept 480i, 480p, 720, and 1080i TV signals. Those are not going to
change. The issue is whether the HDMI ports will accept 1080/24p signals
which will be useful for watching movies on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players.
1080/60p input signals are likely to be restricted to the occasional HD
disk source shot on expensive video cameras and game consoles for the
next few years.

Don't most BluRay and HDDVD players have the ability to downres their
output to 720p? It would just seem such an obvious need that I can't
imagine they wouldn't include that capability. Admittedly, I have not
looked at these players yet, but I would expect them to take into
account that at this point in time most displays in homes (and in
stores) are not 1080p capable.

I have not checked to see if most or some Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players
can downrezz to 720p. No reason why not, as the players downrezz to 480i
and 480p output for compatibility with SD TVs.

AFAIK, all movies that have been released on either format are either
1080/60i or 1080/24p. Since 35mm film is shot 24 fps, 24p has a lot of
advantages for better picture quality with no interlacing artifacts and
smaller storage.

However, if the native resolution of the TV is 1366x768, why would you
want to player to downrezz to 720p? The picture is going to get scaled
to the resolution of the TV screen by the TV electronics, so why
re-scale it more often than needed? If the HD TV can take in either
1080/60i & apply 3:2 pulldown or 1080/24p & play at 72 Hz (which is one
feature of the Pioneer plasmas), let the HD player output 1080 i or p
and let the TV do the scaling. Different if the TV has an exact 1280x720
resolution, but most don't. There is no hard fast rule here; one has to
experiment to see what looks better with their particular TV, player, or
STB.

Alan F

Alan F wrote:
Jim Gilliland wrote:
Alan F wrote:

As for technology, a 768p plasma with two HDMI and two component ports
is not going to be completely out of date any time soon. The TV will
accept 480i, 480p, 720, and 1080i TV signals. Those are not going to
change. The issue is whether the HDMI ports will accept 1080/24p signals
which will be useful for watching movies on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players.
1080/60p input signals are likely to be restricted to the occasional HD
disk source shot on expensive video cameras and game consoles for the
next few years.

Don't most BluRay and HDDVD players have the ability to downres their
output to 720p? It would just seem such an obvious need that I can't
imagine they wouldn't include that capability. Admittedly, I have not
looked at these players yet, but I would expect them to take into
account that at this point in time most displays in homes (and in
stores) are not 1080p capable.

I have not checked to see if most or some Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players
can downrezz to 720p. No reason why not, as the players downrezz to 480i
and 480p output for compatibility with SD TVs.

AFAIK, all movies that have been released on either format are either
1080/60i or 1080/24p. Since 35mm film is shot 24 fps, 24p has a lot of
advantages for better picture quality with no interlacing artifacts and
smaller storage.

However, if the native resolution of the TV is 1366x768, why would you
want to player to downrezz to 720p? The picture is going to get scaled
to the resolution of the TV screen by the TV electronics, so why
re-scale it more often than needed? If the HD TV can take in either
1080/60i & apply 3:2 pulldown or 1080/24p & play at 72 Hz (which is one
feature of the Pioneer plasmas), let the HD player output 1080 i or p
and let the TV do the scaling. Different if the TV has an exact 1280x720
resolution, but most don't. There is no hard fast rule here; one has to
experiment to see what looks better with their particular TV, player, or
STB.

That's fine, I didn't really mean to single out one specific format. The
important point is that the player can produce a signal that is usable with
current non-1080p displays. So there's nothing stopping us from using the new
disc formats with our existing sets. We may not get the maximum possible
resolution from them, but we can get results that take full advantage of the
capabilities of the display.

For what its worth I just got back from Tweeters and looked at the Panasonic
42px60u with a generic feed and the Poineer elite being fed a 1080p signal
from a blue ray.

While the Pioneer did have a great picture, it wasn't perfect. There was
still some artifacts when the camera slowly swept through a treeline.

When looking at the Panasonic with OTA HDTV it loked very good even after
looking at the $6000 pioneer just before.

My point is that the difference is not that dramatic from generation to
generation. I gets incrementally better each year and will do so for some
time to come.

I wound up getting the 42px600u from Vanns for $1300 with a free harmony
remote. That is cheaper than I can get the 60u locally even before tax.