I have a customer who wants me to sell him a 61" Marantz plasma. I have never sold this model before and would like to know if any one has experienced any problems with it in the past. It's a sizable investment for the client and I would hate to see him unhappy or have to give him a refund for a white elephant.

What do you think of it? Is there a better value? Maybe the Dreamvision? I know that I can read reviews in magazines, but I would rather hear it from the guys in the trenches. I am mostly concerned with reliability issues, installation issues, compatibility issues, remote issues, etc.

I would appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Keith

The Marantz is good but it is based on the NEC glass wich means IR discrete commands are not there for input and possibly power. In my opinion the Fujitsu
is a better performer and has a full compliment of discrete IR commands. Of course, if you choose the Marantz, Celedon has a IR to RS 232 converter that will give discrete command via the RS 232 port and send you a Pronto ccf. as well. The have the software for the Marantz in their library so it should only be about $80 plus shipping. I have found that most DLP's look like crap. The Runco VX-1000 is nice as is the new Marantz and the Sharp 9000(with a Faroudja NR). It is application dependant as to the best choice of course. The RP DLP's are all inferior on an absolute basis and with the 50" plasma's dropping in price serve no purpose.

This message was edited by Shoe on 07/22/02 20:16.01.

They all look like crap at different times Go DLP if you can .
Tell your customer to go look at all the plasma's they can first and not just the signal they want you to see but all available signals .
I tell my customers to bring a known by them dvd that they can watch on any plasma they are looking into buying. Most will decide not to get a plasma at this point in time.

Remember if you sell it and install it you may have to take it out when they aren't happy with the picture quality.

To make it look better you can put a scaler/line doubler on it but make sure its in your bid.

The Marantz is a nice unit. We have put plenty of the 50 and 61 in. Full discrete via RS-232. Look over at AVS forum for NEC IR codes. I always use 232 but noticed that some people at AVS have found discrete IR codes for NEC plasmas.

Dave

I think that the Fujitsu 50" has a better picture and does better w/o a scaler. The NEC / Marantz can look decent with an appropriate scaler. The 61MP1 added a multiple picture mode that could be very usefull to some clients. I don't think that similar DLP products perform better, in fact I think that DLP units look worse. By similiar, I mean any of the shallow, small footprint rear projection units from Sony, Panasonic, and soon Samsung. When you are talking DLP front projection, that is another story entirely... but application will dictate what you can sell, obvioiusly.

USE THE FUJITSU IT HAS THE BEST PIC AND A 3 YEAR WARRENTY

Thanks a lot guys! I appreciate all of your input.

Like so many things, there are a lot of different opinions that conflict with each other. But that's OK.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Fujitsu.

I would appreciate any further input about any 60" options. What about the Sony Grand Wega, if I could find a space for the depth? The picture looks pretty good to me, at least in the HDTV mode. At $6000, it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

Any time a customer makes a $25,000 investment in anything, it makes me nervous. They expect to be REAL happy. $25,000 happy! Any short comming is not acceptable to a custmer who spends that much for a TV.

Send your wisdom my way. Thanks!

Keith

Go tube if you can and have them spend the money on something else. or get them into a projector for about the same money ( also , just because it's a projector doesn't mean you need a huge screen )

If you do go plasma make sure it is a non reflective screen .

Look at the JVC professional line too. ( look at them all ) it could cost you if you don't .

I'm sorry but I have yet to see a plasma worth $15000 to $25000 look good enough on ALL formats to be worth anything near that . For that matter $10000.

This message was edited by kabster on 07/25/02 03:11.41.

I have done some stuff with the Fujitsu It is very good I would recommend that more than the marantz.