So I ended up changing my stance on the whole issue. I went with a 42" Samsung 1080p Plasma. It had great reviews and the price was right during all these crazy Black Friday deals. I also ended up getting a BluRay DVD player. I was gonna get the PS3, as it's BluRay, but I just don't play games so I saw no need to spend the extra $100. I have my wife picking it up tomorrow, as I still can't. I told her after she picks up the box, it should be the last time she touches the TV until I get home.
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[quote=icantbejon;90893]So I ended up changing my stance on the whole issue. I went with a 42" Samsung 1080p Plasma. It had great reviews and the price was right during all these crazy Black Friday deals.

Nice pickup. You are going to love it!!
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Santa (my wife) got me one today...Man I love that woman :-)
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What blu-ray player if I may ask?

And that's... kinda mean about the wife thing :-)
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Biggest gripe I have with DLP's is the viewing angles. Not every room will allow proper viewing with a DLP, so it's tricky.

Other than that, they offer a great picture and as long as you get en LED model, then really no worry about bulbs.
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In all, colors and blacks are better on plasma. LCD are lighter (lbs) and have a slower response and poor blacks/colors. Done loads of research on this topic, bought a 1080p plasma and it's beautiful. Plasma uses more electricity but are cheaper initially. LCD uses less power and cost more initially. Burn in is a thing of the past, you have to TRY to burn an image in, especially after about 100 hrs of use has passed. The whole "watch it with the lights off" thing is dependent on your setup. On or off, looks great in HD, as long as you are at the optimal viewing distance (sweet spot) which is different for each size and for LCD/plasma.

Bottom line, do your homework and you'll find your answers. In the end, it's what do you want to use it for.
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Good for you Bro.... Give us an update when you get a chance to use it and make up your mind abou it.
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Panasonic DMP-BD35K BD-Live Blu-ray Disc Player is what I got my hands on. I hope to enjoy this as well.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...y+Viewed+Items

The wife had to be told, cause she'll break it. She's not at all technologically inclined. She plugs things in and they blow up. Seriously, it's insane.
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I'm excited to see how the blu-ray works out. I use an upconvert dvd player and my movies look stellar. For some reason I can't get excited about blu-ray. I suppose I need to come over and watch your tv to see why I need one. :-)
You forgot to get surround sound. :-)
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i use to use an oppo player to do all of my converting. thought it looked great till i bought my 50" pioneer. then i hooked up my blu-ray player and got a new denon that can handle the new HD codecs for sound. haven't looked or thought back since. regular dvd's even up converted look/sound way worse. i'll try to post pics of my setup at some point.
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Surround sound is next. I have a JVC 5.1 at the house now, but I want to upgrade that as well. Had to stay within a certain budget though. You know, hard economic times and all.
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Just picked up the same blu-ray player from amazon. Along with a 1080p 60" DLP that I got for a pretty good deal from BB. I can't wait till they finally get delivered. Congrats on the buy BTW.
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I prefer LCD to Plasma...Plasma burns out too easily and the picture isn't that much better. Just a little. But with the burnout it's not worth the hassel. My boy went through 2 plasma's before he would listen. Get an LCD.

I got a 46" Sony Wega LCD 720p. I've had it for 3 years. Got my bluray hooked up and Sony 5.1 surround sound. My tv still looks better than a lot, I am a expert at Calibrating for HD
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Thanks. I really look forward to plugging all this stuff in and experiencing HD.
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not to be a know it all but your boy didn't do something right. plasma half life (half point of brightness) is generally over 100,000 hours now. as for burn in with proper break in done (using a disc that displays solid color schemes for a certain amount of time) burn in is non existant. i've owned 3 plasmas so far, each one was upgrading resolutions and there is NO LCD that can touch the picture quality and speed of my pioneer. the technology for LCD's is not near as close to higher end plasmas yet and even with 120hz there is still crazy motion blur. if you've never had a good plasma you probably wouldn't know what you are missing. the LCDers who work with me are amazed when they see true 24hz reproduction with TRUE blacks displayed on the TV.

LCD has one advantage. it's cheaper. the cons everyone lists for plasma are generally sales tactics to get people into a set with a higher profit margin.
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So what kind of cabinets/stands are you guys using? If you have it wall mounted; did you set up an entertainment storage unit underneath? I just got a 50" Samsung plasma for the family's Christmas, and I'm looking at all options. I want to be able to hide all the movies and kids games. Pics would be great.

I'm thinking about using a vintage credenza. Fits our decorating. Something like this:

Image
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I haven't noticed any motion blur on my LCD.
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i have even with the 120hz.

the fact is that LCD's have slower response time and longer processing time. if you've never had a plasma you wouldn't notice it.
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:-)

I'll go even further and say if it's your first big screen or HD you probably would not even notice.

Before my plasma I had a 51 inch CRT. Coming off that I could barely stand the motion blurs on the LCDs in the stores and I couldn't get past the grayish blacks.

It was plasma or new generation DLP (I can see the "iris" in the older sets) for me and the aesthetics of a plasma was a better fit for us. :-)

That being said I would get a 22 or 26 inch LCD for the bedroom in a heart beat but the prices on the smaller sets just aren't dropping low enough right now. I refuse to pay $350 for 22 inch when I can get a 32 inch for $400.
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The company that installed my TV recommended a DVD player with HDMI and upscaling.They said the picture quality is just as good. Now I don't have a blue ray player to compare it to but my picture quality is awsome.
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