General Plasma & LCD discussions

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Hey everyone

I've been following this thread and the plasma/lcd bargains for quite some time now. Tomorrow is my bday (and payday!) and I think I'm finally ready to take the plasma plunge this weekend. It's gonna be either the 42c430 or 50c430 at Game (for R5299 and R8499, respectively). These Sammys look like the best value for my vibe, which is:

- My viewing distance is around 2.5m
- Going to connect it to my PC, which is nearby, via HDMI.
- I'm looking at getting an XBox at some point, which I'll probably then network with my pc and use as a media player for the (totally legit...) movies and series on my pc, plus some gaming, obviously.
- I might get DSTV or TopTV at some point, but it's probably gonna be mostly SD/sport.
- Not really gonna do PC gaming on it as I only really play counterstrike and starcraft 2, besides I'll get an Xbox for the big screen gaming deal.

So my questions are basically:

1. Will the Sammy plasmas do the trick, or is LCD a better option? (I can already see PostmanPot assuring me the plasmas are gonna be fine ;) )
2. If I buy the 42", am I going to wish I got the 50"? (I'm a size-does-matter kind of guy, but the budget is screaming "42 inch, 42 inch!")
3. Does the PC output sound via the HDMI cable as well, or do I need to run a separate optical/composite audio out to the TV? I'm currently using a firewire external soundcard.
4. I've already got two Samsung monitors hooked up to my GTS8600, will I be able to use all of them at the same time in Windows 7?
5. Is there anywhere else where I can pick these puppies up for cheaper? I'm in Cape Town CBD.

Not worried at all about burn-in or IR, my parents have a Hitachi plasma and that thing works just fine. I'm not gonna leave the TV on for extended periods of time anyway, just gonna fire it up when it's cricket, movie or XBox time.

Any feedback/opinions would be appreciated, as always.

<3 <3 <3
 
Depends what you're going to be doing on the PC while it's connected to the plasma?

Does the 8600 have HDMI? Think it might. Not sure if it does sound over HDMI though so yes you might need to output via co-ax/optical.

Are 8600s not perhaps limited to 2 screens? You may need a new graphics card, like a new AMD one that supports more than 2 screens, as well as sound over HDMI.
 
Woops it's an 8800GTS, actually. I think I have an old 8600 at work though. I have an extra PCI-E slot on my mobo so I can just feed the TV through that. My soundcard can do SPDIF output so I can just send that to the TV. I'm having a bit of trouble with dropouts on the soundcard though, so I might get a pci soundblaster card or something. Then I can drive my KRK speakers through that, and use the on-board sound for the TV. Then when I wanna watch movies off the PC, I just switch the windows default device.

Seems it's quite a mission trying to have an audio workstation, gaming pc and HTPC all in one...

Postman, which size Sammy plasma do/did you own? The 50" would stretch my budget to the limit, but I'm scared I'm gonna always look at the 42" in my living room and wish I'd gone bigger...Ever had that problem?
 
It will be less of a mission if you just get an ATI EyeFinity card that supports 3 screens and outputs sound over HDMI.

Can you even run a second, different card in a second PCI-E 16x slot? Doesn't it have to be the same?

Samsung PS42C450, I urge you to go for the C450 - better anti-reflective coating, extra HDMI, USB media player, better menu system, FM tuner. C450s are usually about R700 more. C430 is still great though and uses the same panel, so picture quality is the same.

Bigger is always better, but 42" is big enough for me. Wall unit is also built to spec around it, so I can't go bigger. No regrets whatsoever with 42" from 3 - 4m viewing distance.
 
I'm also hoping to buy a plasma screen soon... had my eye on them for years, but they are now affordable :) And with DSTV HD and some wide screen channels, I am ready :)

Was just wondering if anyone has had any issues connecting a PC to their 42" plasma (with 1024 x 768 resolution). I know that you can set your PC to 024x768, and then set the media player to set the aspect ratio (use rectangular pixels)... but what about normal the normal Windows desktop? Say I want to browse the net?

Is there a way to get the image to display properly not stretched. I don't want to set up the PC @ 1366 x 768 and letting the TV scale it, as I heard you loose a lot detail then.

Anyone have luck with this?
 
greg_SA said:
I'm also hoping to buy a plasma screen soon... had my eye on them for years, but they are now affordable :) And with DSTV HD and some wide screen channels, I am ready :)

Was just wondering if anyone has had any issues connecting a PC to their 42" plasma (with 1024 x 768 resolution). I know that you can set your PC to 024x768, and then set the media player to set the aspect ratio (use rectangular pixels)... but what about normal the normal Windows desktop? Say I want to browse the net?

Is there a way to get the image to display properly not stretched. I don't want to set up the PC @ 1366 x 768 and letting the TV scale it, as I heard you loose a lot detail then.

Anyone have luck with this?
Click to expand...

The pixels will always be rectangular - it's their physical shape.

I don't see why you would have any problems, other than the obvious lower resolution compared to FHD screens which suit PC work/use. To my knowledge, text will still be sharp.

Make sure you use the image sweeper if you intend on connecting your plasma to a PC to work/browse on. Static images will burn into your screen if you don't. Of course movies/games are excluded, since they are not static.
 
PostmanPot said:
The pixels will always be rectangular - it's their physical shape.

I don't see why you would have any problems, other than the obvious lower resolution compared to FHD screens which suit PC work/use. To my knowledge, text will still be sharp.

Make sure you use the image sweeper if you intend on connecting your plasma to a PC to work/browse on. Static images will burn into your screen if you don't. Of course movies/games are excluded, since they are not static.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feed back :)

I understand about the pixel shape. I have just hear people complain about using normal HD resolutions on their PC, saying that the TV processing doesn't work well on text. While, if you output the PC signal to the TV with 1:1 pixel mapping, then the results are much better... luckily the scaling can be sorted out for movies / XBMC. I won't use the screen for low periods for normal PC use - was just thinking, if you want to google something while at the TV - would be nice.
 
greg_SA said:
Thanks for the feed back :)

I understand about the pixel shape. I have just hear people complain about using normal HD resolutions on their PC, saying that the TV processing doesn't work well on text. While, if you output the PC signal to the TV with 1:1 pixel mapping, then the results are much better... luckily the scaling can be sorted out for movies / XBMC. I won't use the screen for low periods for normal PC use - was just thinking, if you want to google something while at the TV - would be nice.
Click to expand...

But surely you can set the second screen (the TV in this case) to it's own native resolution from the computer itself.....? My PC screen runs at 1920x1200 but the resolution that is sent to my TV is completely different. (If I'm understanding your comments properly)
 
Zenbaas said:
But surely you can set the second screen (the TV in this case) to it's own native resolution from the computer itself.....? My PC screen runs at 1920x1200 but the resolution that is sent to my TV is completely different. (If I'm understanding your comments properly)
Click to expand...

In my case, I don;t think Windows can scale a 1920x1200 desktop to a 1024 x 768 resolution with the correct aspect ratio?
 
greg_SA said:
In my case, I don;t think Windows can scale a 1920x1200 desktop to a 1024 x 768 resolution with the correct aspect ratio?
Click to expand...

No thats not the point. My graphics card can support two screens(As most of them can). My PC screen and then "another" screen. I have set up my "other" screen as my TV with a resolution which is the same as my TV's resolution and not my PC screens resolution which is 1920x1200. You with me...? So there is no distortion or stretching of the image.
You select it from here: Click on the second screen and set the reolution the same as your TV's.

Screen.png
[/IMG]
 
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Zenbaas said:
No thats not the point. My graphics card can support two screens(As most of them can). My PC screen and then "another" screen. I have set up my "other" screen as my TV with a resolution which is the same as my TV's resolution and not my PC screens resolution which is 1920x1200. You with me...? So there is no distortion or stretching of the image.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Zenbaas said:
No thats not the point. My graphics card can support two screens(As most of them can). My PC screen and then "another" screen. I have set up my "other" screen as my TV with a resolution which is the same as my TV's resolution and not my PC screens resolution which is 1920x1200. You with me...? So there is no distortion or stretching of the image.
You select it from here: Click on the second screen and set the reolution the same as your TV's.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my previous post... My current GFX card can do that too...
The problem is that windows can't output a desktop with non-square pixels... There is no way to set the resolution of the 1st or 2nd screen to 1024x768, but with a 16:9 aspect ratio... or is there?
 
greg_SA said:
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my previous post... My current GFX card can do that too...
The problem is that windows can't output a desktop with non-square pixels... There is no way to set the resolution of the 1st or 2nd screen to 1024x768, but with a 16:9 aspect ratio... or is there?
Click to expand...

Just had a quick look and I can definitely set the second screen to a 1024x768 resolution...?
 
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