Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
bird_lover_2006

What is the best brand of 50' plasma TV's

bird_lover_2006
17 years ago

Please help me with this question. We are looking at plasma flat panel TV's at Costco and would like to your opinion on which brand is better. Please try to not get to technical, I am looking for great picture quailty and a TV that will not give me repair problems.

We live in a very small town and the only place to buy a TV is Sears and Costco. I would perfer to do business with Costco.

Thanks for you help.

Comments (19)

  • taboni
    17 years ago

    Best combination of picture quality/value for money IMO is Panasonic. If you want to spend a touch more, NEC would get my vote.

  • nine7xbam
    17 years ago

    I considered a plasma set for a smaller room until I looked at an LCD flat panel side by side with plasma and the picture on the LCD blew away the grainy looking plasma set . In fact Sony and Samsung are phasing out their plasma sets to concentrate on LCD flat panel which they see as a more efficient(less power consuming) technology with better picture quality. I'd consider LCD flat panel as the prices are falling and will fall even more around the holiday season . Sony ,Sharp and Samsung are good brands for LCD flat panel. Sony makes a 46" set for just under 2k if you don't mind buying online . Link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sony LCD Flat Panel

  • spolina
    17 years ago

    We have a 50" NEC and love it. I spent couple of months researching before buying this Plasma on avsforum. Finally, I went with NEC because it has the picture quality of Panasonic and the style and build quality of Fujitsu. While Panasonics have great picture quality I hated their finish quality and I am one of those guys who like my electronics to look as good as they function.

  • sharburk
    17 years ago

    I'm also looking for about 50" TV. My friend just bought a 61" Samsung DLP and it is a beautiful picture.

    You have mentioned here the Plasma and the LCD, how does the DLP compare?

  • vermont_blue
    17 years ago

    If you're looking for best brand, my opinion, Pioneer. I almost bought a 50" LG (they are nicely priced). I didn't purchase the plasma because a couple T.V.s on the showroom floor had "burn in". I was surprised that the store would keep the damaged T.V.s on display but it was enough to sway me away from plasma. I purchased a 32" LG LCD 720p and a 57" Mitsubishi DLP 1080p. I'm happy with both T.V.s

    If you want 50" wall mount - go plasma
    If you can live with a 46" - go LCD
    If you have room for a T.V. that's 18" deep - go DLP.

    These T.V. options are all nice. You'll be happy with any of them. Whatever you get... connect it to an HD signal.

  • rogeroh
    17 years ago

    consumer reports lists the panasonic as the best at any price in terms of performance.

    actually the pana 42" and the 50" are best in class.

  • cmon2020
    17 years ago

    The best 50" Plasma considering price is the Panasonic TH-50PH9UK. It goes for arround $1900.00 You can only get this tv online - it is the idustrial model. No stand, no speakers, and no HDMI. Although you can buy any of those for it. Most don'e need any of those except for the HDMI card.

    If you are putting it on the wall and use surround sound then that is all you need. The 50" Pany that you can buy commercially (pux something) is also good.

    If price is no option then Hitachi and I think the Pioneer have the best picture (although not alot better then the panny)

    LCD is not better in my opinion. Unless you like the dull colors and not so good viewing angle. If you are a big gamer than you probably don't care - then LCD it is.

  • nine7xbam
    17 years ago

    I disagree with the notion of LCD flat panels having dull colors and a poor viewing angle . While that may be true of the cheap LCD flat panel sets like Olevia , Polaroid , Westinghouse ,etc. - the better brands like Sony ,Sharp , and Samsung have a vibrant picture with a much better viewing angle than DLP . Get close to a plasma (10-8 feet) and the picture is so grainy you can see the dots on the screen mask . LCD flat panel also uses less power and when the 60K hour bulb goes , replace it and the set is like new . When a plasma loses picture quality , throw it out it's done !

  • huskyridor
    17 years ago

    I have an over 5 year old Pioneer pdp502 with over 44000 hours on the clock. It stays on 24 hours a day. The picture is still awesome.
    I'm wondering just how much time I can get out of it,LOL!!!
    I've heard as little as 20000 and as much as 100000 hours.
    Only time will tell I suppose.

    see ya,
    Kelly

  • randymeyer
    17 years ago

    50" Plasma = Pioneer Elite 1080P - expensive but is probably hands down the best on the market. No where near $2,000.00.

    I researched TV's for over 6 months, purchased a 46" Mitsubishi LCD for about $ 3,000.00.

  • Granite_Man
    17 years ago

    I would opt for the Pioneer. Their 5070 is a wonderful set.

    Fujitsu makes great plasmas as well, but they aren't cheap.

    Panasonic makes a lot of noise because they offer excellent black levels at low prices. However, I just don't think they compare to Pioneer or Fujitsu.

  • mhly01
    17 years ago

    I follow most of the HT forums. As a combination of price and quality, the pioneer 70 series and Panasonic are the top two. If you do not need speakers or a a tuner, the Pannie 9UK series is great, I have the 50 and 42 version. It runs about 1800 on a few sites now.

  • karsha
    17 years ago

    I have the Pioneer Elite 1140 and am very, very happy with it.

  • g8rgrad98
    17 years ago

    The Pioneer PDP 5070 is the best consumer grade plasma on the mkt. I have one and love it. Panny's are ok, but not quite as nice. NEC, Pioneer Elite, for $4k or so then you are talking! Check out the avsforum site for lots of good info and a place called invision displays which has great prices.

  • johnwc
    17 years ago

    Best plasma picture I have seen was a Pioneer Elite.

    I personally have had bad experiences with Panasonic. Reliability has been an issue.

    Lower end than Pioneer Elite, Sony or Hitachi.

  • bafeuer
    17 years ago

    We just got our beautiful new (looks/sound great) 50" Dell TV, awa CD player and a great Denon receiver. Comcast doesn't have a code for Dell, so we have it's remote, awa 3 others now! It's driving us crazy, and we figured since we spent all this $ for a great surround sound system, we might as well get a universal remote for everything. Which one is the best for the $ which will be user-friendly for civilians, and if we press a wrong button, not take us days to figure out!
    Barbara

  • cinnamonsworld
    17 years ago

    I agree with nine7xbam, one of the early posters on this thread - that the LCDs we saw looked way better than the plasma. (Though this was with 40" screens, and I'm not sure whether there's any reason to go to plasma for a bigger screen size.)

    I think finding a good deal on a Samsung LCD would be advisable. I had no concept of what all the gobbledygook specs meant until I actually went to a few stores and saw sets side-by-side. I could never get the color on one that was supposed to be great from what I'd heard (a Sharp Aquos) to look as good as a Samsung sitting right next to it. Someone pointed out to me that the high contrast ration on the Samsung (something like 5,000-to-1 or 7,000-to-1 I think) was what made the colors look so much better and to me made the picture look sharper. The other thing I walked away with after looking at TVs was that I would rather not have a plasma TV unless it had what's called 1080 resolution (instead of 768). The 768s looked anemic.

    If you have a BestBuy at all locally or there's one in reasonable driving distance, that's where we saw the best lineup of TVs. They nearly matched a price from an Amazon.com ad I brought in, though said their policy was to only match brick-and-mortar (not 'online') store prices.

    Of the much larger sets we glanced at there - of which they had a huge variety - I was surprised that the Magnavox brand looked way better to me than others, and among Sonys, the only variety that rivaled the Magnavox were the 'extra black' Sonys - not sure if those were designated XBR or just Bravia.

    Also, are you sure you need a 50"? The TVs are quite a bit less costly if you get down to 40-42" (and there I'd say, hands-down get a Samsung LCD. If there's more than one that they carry, choose by style and get the highest contrast ratio you're willing to spend for).

  • homeownerplus
    16 years ago

    Sony XBR or SXRD

  • nine7xbam
    16 years ago

    An Electronics store in NJ , Electronics Expo has a Samsung 46" LCD flat panel - 1080p with a 6,000 to 1 contrast ratio , LNS4695D on sale for $2197 and I believe that will be my next tv purchase in the near future . IMO the less costly Samsung rivals the more expensive Sony XBRs and Sharp top of the line LCD flat panels . I also agree that the Pioneer Elite series plasmas have the best picture quality for that technology . Prices seem to be dropping for both flat panel technologies , Vizio has a 60" plasma for $2900 . Haven't seen it since that brand only looks to be available at Sams Club and Costco , but I'd be very surprised if the PQ came close to the Pioneer Elite .

Sponsored
More Discussions