50" LG plasma at Game?

[marco79]

How is this plasma compared to the Samsung 50" HD ready plasmas?

I see the LG has a USB input and has a refresh rate of 150Hz compared to the Samsungs 100Hz and no USB.

We will get an extended warrentee with which ever plasma we decide to get.

 

[Penquin]

After a year of research I decided on the LG 42pg60 in December last year. My final choice was also between the LG and the Samsung A450. At the same price point the LG had more features 3xHDMI 1.3b vs the Samsung 2x HDMI 1.2. The built in usb player is nice to have, plays music/photos/avi's. The LG PG60 also won the CES Design award in 2008. The LG got good reviews all round as well. Samsung has been having a lot quality issues lately. So I would take LG over the Samsung.

I've secretly grown in to a type of LG fanboi without me knowing it... I always do thorough research before I spend large sums of money and LG products always came out tops. I have a LG plasma, fridge, washing machine even a LG cellphone. None of it gave problems so far. (touch wood). On the other hand I have a Samsung microwave that lasted 2 days and a Samsung amp and dvd player which is now starting to give me issues.

 

[Saajid]

How is this plasma compared to the Samsung 50" HD ready plasmas?

I see the LG has a USB input and has a refresh rate of 150Hz compared to the Samsungs 100Hz and no USB.

We will get an extended warrentee with which ever plasma we decide to get.

Not much help from me, but I'd rather go for LCD, or LED / AMOLED if you can afford it.

USB input is nice. But what sort of Codec support does the TV have? Can it play DivX, XVid, mp3, jpeg, and do you care?

How intuitive is the user interface of the USB player/software? Is it user-friendly?

If it has USB, can it read from a USB hard drive formatted using NTFS, or does it support only FAT32 formatted drives? FAT32 supports a maximum file size of 4GB - not so great when you have an ext HD packed with FULL HD content that your TV can't read (file sizes are typically bigger than 4GB).

These are just some of the issues I picked up when buying a surround sound system with DVD/USB player.

 

[marco79]

Thanx for your opinions. I will do more research regarding the plasma on sale and take it from there.

I will be using the tv for sd dstv for 95 percent and xbox 360 only 5 percent of the time.

 

[K T]

I've had the LG 50PQ30 since Sunday and I am very happy with it, but at that price there are bound to be some disappointments.
The 50PQ3***'s do not support movies over USB, and even those models that do only support SD (MPEG1/2/4-SP/4-ASP, Divx and Xvid).
The USB interface does however support NTFS and external HDD's, so you can view lots of photo's while listening to lots of music
The other niggle I have, is the fact that when watching a non-16:9 picture size, the slack screen space is grey as opposed to black. (The Samsung doesn't have an "Original" size option)
So, I know it doesn't sound like it, but for the price I would recommend it, as does Plasma TV Buying Guide http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/50-plasma-tv.html

 

[mercurial]

Plasma = awesome and the refresh rate is very good. How much is it?

If you want to watch DivX, get a multimedia player and hook it up to the telly. Don't expect the teles to do all that.

 

[Saajid]

If you want to watch DivX, get a multimedia player and hook it up to the telly. Don't expect the teles to do all that.

Agreed... but make sure you get a good multimedia player. Try to test it out before buying. I've read about a good Netgear device, with HDMI out, and excellent codec support. Also comes with WiFi and plugs into your home network seamlessly... Can't remember the model number though..

 

[mercurial]

Agreed... but make sure you get a good multimedia player. Try to test it out before buying. I've read about a good Netgear device, with HDMI out, and excellent codec support. Also comes with WiFi and plugs into your home network seamlessly... Can't remember the model number though..

There are many good ones. Eg: Western Digital HD player, mede8er, Popcorn Hour, Mvix etc.

 

[marco79]

I am going to get myself the LG 42PQ30 from Game for R7999. The Samsung PS42B430 is also R7999 at Game.

I wanted a 50" but I just cant justify paying R12500 plus R1500 (extended warrentee) = R14000 for it.
The 42"s are R8000 plus R600 (extended warrentee) = R8600
Difference of R5400 which can go for a HD DSTV decoder.

Another plus is the usb to play jpegs or mp3s.

 

[I am Penguin]

I am going to get myself the LG 42PQ30 from Game for R7999. The Samsung PS42B430 is also R7999 at Game.

I wanted a 50" but I just cant justify paying R12500 plus R1500 (extended warrentee) = R14000 for it.
The 42"s are R8000 plus R600 (extended warrentee) = R8600
Difference of R5400 which can go for a HD DSTV decoder.

Another plus is the usb to play jpegs or mp3s.

I'l take a decent 50" over a 42" for R5400.00 any time, unfortunately I settled on a 46" Bravia.

 

[mercurial]

Trade Centre has a 42" HD Ready Samsung plasma (100Hz) for R7500.

 

[ipodmusicman]

The other niggle I have, is the fact that when watching a non-16:9 picture size, the slack screen space is grey as opposed to black. (The Samsung doesn't have an "Original" size option)

I assume that you're referring to the "black bars" right? If they are grey, I suggest that you need to calibrate your TV. Actually, this is a first thing you do when you bring your shininy new flat screen TV home.

1) Take the settings off dynamic
2) Get hold of a the Digital Video Essentials Blu Ray or DVD and calibrate it yourself. You can hire somebody to do it with good accuracy, but it will cost you a few bucks.

Your TV will love you for it.

 

[milomak]

On my Samsung PS50A550, I think there is a setting in the menus to have the bars black or grey

 

[sand_man]

On my Samsung PS50A550, I think there is a setting in the menus to have the bars black or grey

You noticing any screen burn on your Sammy? My kid watches cbeebies and that horrible logo is burning into the screen!!!!!!

I've since dropped the brightness and contrast settings and I run the scrolling to eliminate the burned in logo but with limited success!!!!!!

Might just be image retention...

 

[Dolby]

I heard 100hz doesn't make a difference on a plasma - correct ?

 

[ipodmusicman]

I just don't think I can ever understand why broadcasters don't make their logos transparent. I'm looking at getting the PS50B650 perhaps the beginning next year.

 

[iceman23]

I just don't think I can ever understand why broadcasters don't make their logos transparent. I'm looking at getting the PS50B650 perhaps the beginning next year.

My B650 should arrive by next week. Really excited but also scared about the burn in issues...

 

[ipodmusicman]

@iceman23

It is always a concern with plasma, but I think the technology has matured a lot since the late 90's and I'm not too worried about the burn-in.

You must be very excited. I'm envious already. How much are you paying for yours? And are you taking an extended warrenty?

 

[milomak]

You noticing any screen burn on your Sammy? My kid watches cbeebies and that horrible logo is burning into the screen!!!!!!

I've since dropped the brightness and contrast settings and I run the scrolling to eliminate the burned in logo but with limited success!!!!!!

Might just be image retention...

i think my contrast and brightness are around 50. I can only see the image retention when I move close to the screen and there is a white image.

So every two weeks I run the white screen protection (though I find these days i probably do it every 3/4 weeks). and even then I think it is more out of paranoia than absolute need.

my daughter also watches a lot of cbeebies and i don't notice any image retention. i also will spend weekends watching sport and the SS logo doesn't retain.

 

[sand_man]

i think my contrast and brightness are around 50. I can only see the image retention when I move close to the screen and there is a white image.

So every two weeks I run the white screen protection (though I find these days i probably do it every 3/4 weeks). and even then I think it is more out of paranoia than absolute need.

my daughter also watches a lot of cbeebies and i don't notice any image retention. i also will spend weekends watching sport and the SS logo doesn't retain.

mmm.. interesting, apparently it is imperative to run in a plasma for up to 200 hours before increasing contrast and brightness settings... I find the Cbeebies logo is more prominent when running the scrolling anti burn tool as opposed to the white screen... Bit of a nuisance...