I'm thinking about buying an HDTV 42" plasma set. Can anyone give me any advice on which sets are better than others, what I should be looking for in a set, is it essential that the set have 1024x1024 resolution? I will be receiving HDTV from Time Warner Cable in NYC through their HDTV cable box? Anyone know which channels they broadcast in HDTV?

We do a lot of the Pioneer plasmas and I think they look great.

Have TWC HD in NYC we have 701-HBO, 702-CBS, 703-SHO, 704-NBC, 705-FOX Upconvert, 707-ABC Upconvert, 709-UPN Upconvert, and 713-PBS really nice looking loop but the same thing every day.

The set ought to have 1080x1920 resolution. Most (all?) plasmas don't. Fujitsu and Runco are the best plasma makers, but also the most expensive. Plasma screens don't do black well, yet. You'll have to look at them to see if that's a problem for you.

What does "upconvert" mean?

Upconverting is when they take a program that is in standard definition and upconvert it to high definition resolution. The result looks better than analog but no where near as good as true HD.

It's kinda like taking your old albums and burning them to CD. You've upconverted them to CD but the quality is still limited by the original source.

I would look at the new KE42 from Sony. Some new hardware... just about to be released soon.

Manufacturers will soon be forced to produce proper HDTV display devices soon. In the UK we don't have the luxury. If I was you I would wait for a proper 720p 1080i/p set to be marketed. If the Princeton can do it for CRT direct view, someone can do it for plasma.

Manufacturers will soon be forced to produce proper HDTV display devices soon. In the UK we don't have the luxury. If I was you I would wait for a proper 720p 1080i/p set to be marketed. If Princeton can do it for CRT direct view, someone can do it for plasma.

Take a look at the PFM42B2 from Sony is a brand new Plasma... I have the PFM42B1 and I am changing it right now. This is the review:
[Link: plasmatvbuyingguide.com]
It works great with the blacks.
Willy.

Is it me, or does it seem that all plasma tv units lack in the number of video inputs?

BL, no they don't lack in input. If you are using it the way you should. With a receiver or some other device doing the switching,then you only need one for each type of input. And A Fujitsu will have a load of proper inputs... There are finally a number of great units on the market. There are also a lot cheaper units.. And yes.. that's cheap as in quality and thusly price to some extent.

My personal favorite are the Panasonic sets. Their picture is great and I've never had any problems with them. And as far as I know there are only about 4 manufacturers of the screen. and Panasonic is one of those companies. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and sometimes FOX all have HD all over the country as far as I know

Any word on when Direct TV will carry HD for local channels?

Did a lot of homework and purchased a Panasonic 42" HD plasma. It has about the best pict and is more reasonably priced than some with pictures that are not as crisp and bright. I was just at a four day seminar and one of the "top gun" calibrators opinion's was that the Panasonic was the best at any price. He usually calibrates them in combination with a Runco scaler for an even better pictrue, however, I feel that to be overkill................

This message was edited by jgrossi on 11/21/02 07:41.27.