Are these good specs for a 50in Plasma?

Question

I'm a girl looking for a TV and I found one, but i dont know what any of this means. Any help would be appreciated!!!


Features

16:9 Aspect Ratio
16.77 Million Colors
Contrast Ratio 10,000:1
Brightness 1200 cd/m²
Native Resolution: 1366 x 768 Pixels
HDMI with HDCP x 2 sets
RS-232 Control Port
Preset Picture Settings (Vivid, Cinema, Standard, User)
Auto Video Detection/Synchronization
Burn-in Protection
MotionDSCTM II Video Processor
3-D Y/C Digital Comb Filter

Specification MX-50X5

Display

Screen Size
50" Diagonal

Aspect Ratio
16:9

Number of Pixels
1366 (H) x 768 (V)

Pixel Pitch
0.81 mm (H) x 0.81 mm (V)

Contrast Ratio
10000:1

Brightness
1200 cd/m2

Displayable Colors
16.77 Million Colors

Signals

Synchronization (Auto Detect)



Horizontal Frequency
15kHz/31~64 kHz

Vertical Frequency
60~70 Hz

Video System
480p, 720p, 1080i

VESA Resolution Support via RGB
Up to 1280 x1024

Sorry. i work for best buy so the price was $700. But it is just a monitor

Answer 1

$700 for a 720p 50" plasma is a pretty good price. However, since no tuner is mentioned this is likely to be a monitor (meaning you will need a external tuner or to use a cable or satelite receiver to feed a TV signal). You can connect a DVD player, etc directly though. Paradoxically, monitors usually cost more than actual HDTVs.

What doe the specs mean?

FIRST ... know you can't use specs as a substitute for looking at the picture as well. That's the real test since specs can lie or disguise many weaknesses. Despite anything I say below ... carefully view the TV with a good source signal (e.g. Blu-Ray or HD DVD over HDMI) under conditions similar to how you plan to use it (e.g. viewing distance, lighting) before buying. Get one of the HT staff to assist you if necessary (and after reading below you will be a bit less ignorant and better able to communicate with him/her!)

16:9 aspect ratio (width to height) means the native resolution is widescreen (vs 4:3 on older TVs). You will still see black bars if the program is other than 16:9 (1.78:1), but widesreen movies will fill more of the screen than on a 4:3 display.

1366 x 768 = numbers of pixels (PIcture Elements, i.e. dots)) that make up the picture (pixel pitch is distance between individual pixels). A higher resolution (1920 x 1280) exists but is much more expensive. High definition TV means 720p, 1080i or 1080p. This display meets the 720p/1080i HD standard, but not 1080p.

BTW, the "p" in 720p means "progressive" ... all the horizontal lines in a frame (one image of the 60/sec drawn by the TV) are drawn sequentially, rather than first the odd numbered lines then the even and the two halves together perceived as a frame (this is annotated as "i" or interlaced, e.g. 1080i). 1080i can give a 'better' picture (higher resolution) than 720p except when there is lots of fast action (when the interlacing results in some fuzziness because the two halves of the frame don't quite match). HDTV broadcasts are a mix of 1080i and 720p.

So your prospective TV is capable of 720p or 1080i. The picture on a true 1080p display would be slightly sharper, but if you watch a 50" 720p model at the optimum distance (9 ft / 3m) it will be essentially indistinguishable from a 1080p model the same size watched at the same distance (The 1080p at 6 ft would be sharper).

The contrast ratio of 10000:1 is good (some HDTVs have CRs of 1000:1 or so). It refers to the difference in brightness that can be seen between the brightest white and the deepest black (The latter is really a very dark grey). However this rating is interrelated with brightness (see below), so in actual use if the brightness is too high fully turned up (which it probably is) the actual CR will be reduced somewhat. Still, it's a good rating.

Brightness of 1200 cd/sq m (1200 candela per square meter or 1200 "nits") is plenty bright. On a positive note it allows you to watch in a room with ambient light (but if you watch in a dark room you will want to turn it down).

The HDMI connectors are good to have since this is the best way to connect HD sources like a HD DVD player or an upconverting DVD player. Don't buy cables from Best BUY ... get them at a fraction of the price ($5-$10) from Monoprice.com or BlueJeancables.com.

HDCP (HD copy protection) is not good or bad. It's a necessary evil to allow you to watch copyrighted HD material like HD DVDs. It's like a key to a lock ... if it's present the program will play, if not it is down sampled or won't play via the HDMI input (although you can play at lower resolution (e.g. 480p) via the component input).

The 3D Y/C digital comb filter is a feature which helps improve the picture clarity. Fairly standard these days, but nice to have.

Burn in protection is good to have. Plasmas, fed a fixed picture for a long time can 'burn' the image into the screen and if this happens a faint outline will then shows up superimposed on the normal picture from then on. Burn in protection prevents (or greatly reduces the chance of) this happening. It's a feature of newer plasma displays

The RS-232 port is used by automation systems to remotely control the TV. You probably won't use it, but it doesn't hurt to have.

The VESA resolution support indicates you can connect a computer, at up to 1280 x 1024 resolution.

Anyway ... maybe more than you needed, but it always helps to know what specs mean, not just whether they are overall good or bad.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The specs show that you have a decent 720p Plasma Monitor. This shouldnt be an issue if you plan to have a digital set top box like most consumers do. Also you are set to for the future due to the HDCP compliance, an all in all good set, even more so considering the cost.

Answer 3

There's a more important aspect than these specs. The most substantial difference from one plasma display to the next is the glass assembly. It's like the speakers in your sound system being the most important single item. Great specs + bad glass = bad TV.

Pioneer, NEC, Fujutsu and Panasonic are the good glass makers. Pick one of those. Pioneer is my choice. Panasonic is good glass but only fair electronics so it would probably be lowest of these 4 on my list.

Answer 4

Panasonic is the worlds biggest Plasma seller and has very nice products

But Pioneer TV's are the best plasmas but the 50in are all 5000 to 6000 dollars

Answer 5

Would be nice if you give the Price too.