I just got back from extensive testing (3-4 hours ) of the Hitachi 42HDT79 (1080i with motorized swivel stand) and Panasonic PX600 (720p). Both are plasma obviously. There is 1 known problem with both of these TV:

Panasonic - horizontal banding *not really a banding, will explain why later
Hitachi - Screen flicker when there is a sharp change in contrast

Apparently the Hitachi flicker can be fix with a firmware, and also can be curb with some settings in the service menu...so it is really not a big problem. I find the hitachi to be more vivid than the panasonic, but also a little noisier...but my GF says that the Hitachi is better and much more natural, very close to a CRT.

The panasonic seems smoother to me, but my GF says the screen sorta looks like it had added photoshop smart blur on the picture and a little unnatural. Having said that, the panasonic is less noisier than the Hitachi.

Anyway, in general, I've found that LCD gives the smoothest picture with virtually 0 noise of it own. Plasma is much noisier and it can be seen easily if you compare an lcd and plasma side by side. As for color reproduction, plasma seems to be better off, and of course...black level as well. I can't decide which TV is better...the Hitachi or the Panasonic. I am actually leaning towards the hitachi as it can take 1080i (not as clean and clear as LCD @ 1080p though). Another thing is the Hitachi looks alot nicer (aesthetic), the panny looks really gross...especially the base. Anyway, at about 8 ft apart, Plasma noise is acceptable and not very significant. I think the panasonic has slightly better black level but the Hitachi black level is not bad at all...much better than my LCD imho. The panasonic is 400 (RM1300) bucks more than the Hitachi.

Anyway, regarding the flicker issue on the Hitachi..I didnt see a thing, but the content I was playing back didnt have a sharp change in contrast. As for the panasonic horizontal banding..It is fairly obvious when you display a pale background. The banding looks like poor gradient to me which causes a bunch of lines on the horizontal axis. I dont think this has anything to do with uneven surface/backlighting...it looks more like color banding to me. It is not visible in shows at all, and these poor gradient is often seen in LCD as well but less severe in projection (due to softer image)

As for the power consumption...yes...plasma suck up almost 150-200% like piscesguy said. If you live in Malaysia...power shouldn't be an issue *cough*. Plasma has poorer resolution and the noisier image makes it not so well to use it as a pc monitor. I've read alot about the newer plasma and image retention issue. It seems that if you burn in the plasma for 200hours or so with alternating color and image, the image retention issue will not appear, even less with Alis panel. However, I can tell you for sure that I saw some image retention on a set of Pioneer earlier. When the scene changes, I still see some text on the screen. But after a min or so the retained image went away.

EDIT: I think I will get the hitachi if they can do RM7.3k for me after 14% tax.

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 5 2007, 12:37 PM

The price is definitely still a concern to me. I found out something very interesting. I went to this shop earlier called www.audiotronic.ca, not the online store, but the local store. The guy quoted me 2248.88CAD for the hitachi. When I went to the online store earlier, it is 60CAD cheaper. Im guessing he is putting that in as a commission. I'm gonna try calling another store and tell them about the online price and ask them to do 2000CAD for me. even if it is 2100 CAD, it is still a good price but I am paying 100cad more than the lowest price in the market.

As far as the warranty is concerned, I think there is little thing to warrant about for a plasma. The Hitachi carry 1 year on-site warranty, credit card will carry extra 1 year (whoa damn..almost forgotten about this..I wanted to pay cash) The only thing they really warrant you is the functionality of the electronics anyway.

The after sales service of this store is no where gonna near crutchfield (the place I got my westinghouse) but I can still return it within 15 days full money back guarantee. They have local store near my place so exchanging is not gonna be a problem. The best thing with this TV is that there is alot of user (forum) support for it and the firmware can be user upgradable (same for panasonic)

I'll be returning my LCD and will be picking up the Hitachi 42HDT79:


Btw, here's what my eyes tell me how each different technology look like:
LCDTV

Plasma

SXRD

ah yes, LCD is definitely the sharpest. Plasma is almost as sharp but with extra noise and the jagginess around the edges is more prominent than lcd. SXRD RP has the poorest PQ imho.

The Panasonic PX600 plasma looks very ugly imho so ugly that I'm not gonna bother with the PQ

made a more extreme example:
LCD

Plasma

RP

Yes, pretty close to film, but wthout the sparkling artifacts (forgot what was the correct term) seen in films. Some ppl would find LCD to have a flatter image and less lively compared to plasma and CRT...I'm not so concerned about that myself though.

EDIT: forgot to mention this in my previous posts....Plasma off axis viewing is by far the best...I was looking at the panasonic at 175 degree angle and the color, brightness, and contrast is still the same as if I was viewing it from the front. RP off axis viewing is NIGHTMARE! I was looking at the 60" Bravia XBR SXRD RP at
Sony Store that day..you really need to sit at the front sit and at a proper height to get the best PQ, if you move around, you will see color banding right away. LCD is Second best imho, but still depends on the model itself. My Westinghouse is quite horrible..the screen would look very pale and bright at about >45 degree.

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 6 2007, 08:08 AM

The SXRD is very horrible imho. I've spent lots of time with the game Motorstorm on my LCD and I am very used to LCD's high resolution and definition. Moving to the SXRD is just plain nightmare. As I have mentioned, the image is significantly softer, and the jagginess is alot more obvious on the SXRD. The worst thing about RP besides the poor viewing angle is the texture of the screen. Depending on how sensitive you are, you can see the screen's grain at almost anytime. It is most obvious when you are looking at a single spot and particularly when the screen is on a white background. The gain will look like noise on the plasma, but seems rougher and you can see color reflection within the grains. Unfortunately, they need the grain for the screen to work...I would have prefered a crystal clear glass like the plasma...or better still, anti glare screen with virtually no visible gain like the lcd. The only pros that I can see in RP is screen size vs price. RP will look alright if you are sitting very far away (10ft or so) but at the same size and resolution, plasma will beat it in PQ easily...at a higher price of course. LCD lagi no doubt

I dont consider my ps3 a bad source I've tested both the 50 and 55" model, projection are all the same. It's easy to tell how poor the PQ is, just look at other plasma/lcd with the same source (even without tweaking), the PQ will trounce RP btw, which part is not that bad? you can't see the projection screen grain? picture not soft? btw, the jagginess can easily be seen in console games, not that obvious in movies.

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 7 2007, 12:22 AM

Even at 8 ft away I can still see the grains. But for plasma, the noise will almost be invisible at those distance. I'm still trying to get the best deal out of the Hitachi...most places selling 2100+CAD...i want to get it at 2000CAD

PS: 50" 1080p SXRD is just a little more...but really no feel for RP

EDIT: w00t, best price for hitachi is 2100CAD shipped + 7% tax that's still cheaper than 2000CAD + 14% tax (if i buy from my province)

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 7 2007, 06:41 AM

no idea, but the graphics is actually very good. It is just alot worse on RP. I'm actually a little hesitant to pick up the plasma due to the burn in issue, I'm wondering if it'd be ok for gaming.

oh really? didnt plasma have picture shift? So far I've read alot about IR, which is quite normal and I have seen it myself on a Pioneer. But it doesnt last long and the next min I look at it, the IR is already gone. I do plan to use my TV for all sorts of things and really, I dont believe watching movie with black boarders for a few hours doesn't have any problems but playing games for the same amount of hours would have problems hope I'm right

EDIT: btw, how obvious is the picture shift?

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 8 2007, 06:35 AM

I read the hitachi manual...it only shift 1 pixel per row/column. I've tried reproducing this with a 1920 X 1080 wall paper. I made the picture move up by 1 pixel, then down by 1 pixel, then down by 1 pixel, and finally up by 1 pixel back to center. The image "picture shift" was done in every 5 seconds (Hitachi has setting from 5 mins and onwards i think)...as far as the slideshow is concerned, it is noticeable...but if the picture moves every 5 mins, I'd probably not notice it. Pioneer is not the leading brand AFAIK, Fujitsu is - Hitachi is a partner of Fujitsu

When I get the TV, i'm gonna do a pre-calibration and leave it facing the wall and break it in for 6-7 days staright (200hours), with some time breaks of course. I'll start using it after that. I noticed that only "some" games are a concern for serious IR. Especially those that display a particular pattern of image for long period of time (CS, and some other FPS games). While I was playing Untold Legends yesterday, as well as motorstorm demo, I noticed that the game will take a break itself (go into save menu, loading screen, and etc) in every 10-20 mins. So I'd think those "HUDs" images will not have seriously ill effect on the TV. Btw, I game no more than a few hours in a day (maybe 6 MAX)...I can't stand lying on the bed playing games and wasting time whole day, and I'll automatically take a break once in awhile. Good to have some self control

@tong
That's true, I think the picture shift is useless if u are displaying a solid block of color at a particular location

no I havent received it, I'm still waiting for the refund on the LCD TV before I could order it...otherwise my CC will explode

This post has been edited by AlamakLor: Jan 9 2007, 02:09 PM

42" 1080p plasma will be launching this year. I suppose there is no reason to wait since there will still be no 1080p HD broadcast yet.

I happen to discover something very interesting today. I noticed that it is actually easier to see if an LCD TV has banding with the TV turned off instead of when it is turned on. If you have the screen turned off and look at it side ways (with some ambient light as you will need the reflection), you should be able to see some darker streaks and some lighter color ones. Those will be the spots that would cause different brightness.

Coz there was a time where my sig was also black/grey, just wanted to match the theme

I'm having second thought on the Hitachi TV. I called them 2 times asking for some concerns and they kept on giving me bull shit...I heard that even Pioneer does that......god...I hate buying stuff nowadays.

the flickering issue. I need to know if they can truely fix it...if they can't fix the problem, i'm not buying their TV. The issue had been raised 3 months ago yet they dont have a solution to it.

There will definitely be some problem of its own besides the price tag. I think I might call off purchasing the Hitachi now and wait for the 1080p Plasma...seems like most of them will have a MSRP of 3.xK usd for 50"-60"+ I think 1080p will definitely be the new standard which explains why the drastic price drop on the 720p/1080i sets now. Sigh...got $$ also cannot buy something good zzzzzzz

I'm waiting for my component to DVI adapter to arrive and hopefully my LCD monitor can tahan for a few months.

65" 1080p Plasma
MSRP: 3500USD
Street Price: probably 3K USD
Availability: June 2007
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-96723....html?tag=promo

Hitachi P50H401 50" 1080p
MSRP: 2500USD
Availability: Feb 2007 (next month WTF )

Pioneer and Panasonic will also have a few affordable 1080p plasma this year, mostly available in summer (July 2007). I guess it is definitely worth the wait for these 1080p TVs!