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Has anyone had a chance to view the Sony Grand Wega LCD set? How does this technology compare in image quality to a Plasma Display.
Follow Ups:
I'm debating on the GWII 50". What is your opinion on the fact that the Ultra Bright Lightbulb needs replacement in order to keep the set's picture quality down the road? It makes the ownership process like owning a piece of tubed audio gear.
What you don't understand is that the KF50XBR800 is similar to a LCD front projector. However the bulb life is much better. 8000 hrs is the typical life of the bulb. replacement cost is $250cdn. The bulb dosen't need to be replaced in order to maintain quality it is too light up the picture. Conventional CRT's deteriate over time reducing performance. LCD's maintain integrety until the burn out period. The GRand WEga maintains its 100% performance over its entire life span rather then fading as time goes on. If you haven't seen one... Its a spectactular sight!
...I'd say the Sony has a ways to go not just on "black level", but more importantly on shadow detail - there was essentially no detail in deep shadow areas that I could see on these current LCD Grand Wegas. Dark shadow areas looked blueish or greyish to me on this set. I wouldn't buy this GW at any price. The new ones may be a different story.If the new ones are better, they'll still have to be LOTS better for me to buy one. YMMV.
I've seen a lot of plasmas in the past 8 weeks. The vast majority look great on HD. Not all of the preceding look as good on other sources. Pannasonic, Pioneer and Fujitsu were the winners of what I saw. Panasonic plasmas had superior black levels to the LCDs IMO, and better shadow detail, although with their high contrast levels, the Panny's did sacrifice some ultimate shadow detail compared to a good CRT. The Pioneers were better at shadow detail, but the blacks were not as deep as the Pannys. The Fujitsus were great looking, but expensive.
Yes, you will see some artifacts...from 1 foot away. Most sources have artificats IN the source material. All HD sets have compromises, especially with SD. BYW, you can get 52" plasmas under 5K online - the Panny 42WD5UY is $3500 at some vendors.
Before I shelled out major bucks for an LCD, I'd do research at avsforum, then look at the better plasmas, then look at the new SOny Grand Wegas. I would FOR SURE test these displays with different sources, DVD and SD content, and certainly not make a decision based on the HD loops that most stores feed sets on the showroom floor. Take a nice, shadowy DVD like Blade Runner, Dark City or LOTR (Moria sequence) to do the torture test.
You might also check out the lastest DLPs from Samsung and Optima later this year...or maybe even wait for Toshiba's flagship RP LCoS set, which is due in December - 1080p!
It appears the new Sony LCDs may be more impressive than current model, at least according to initial reports from Cedia.Look at both LCDs and plasmas with differnet sources, have fun. Your eyes be the judge.
Lots of discussion on LCD and plasma. Do a search for the Grand Wega and you'll dig up a good bit of info. The new models (50" and 60") are due out in October.
Yes, I have been checking the GW for a couple of months in a store near my house that has most of the HDTV technology set up and running. This includes most of the plasmas, direct crt, dlp and crt projectors, and both crt and lcd rear projection sets. The GW has gotten some negs for black level but the new model due next month in both 50" and 60" is advertised as 25% better black levels plus other features and a cheaper price. I think the current model is very nice but overpriced at it's current point. The plasmas are such a cool thing but motion artifacts can easily be detected by a casual viewer and some of them hum like a swarm of locusts, although not the Pioneer Elite or Sharp. The "little" 34 direct views from Sony (34xbr800) and Panasonic (34x52) look the best to me but they're so "small" and heavy.drobo
Yes; I'm buying one of the 2nd generation grand wega due out
in the next month or so. I am tempted to buy the 60" RPTV
from reliable audio-video at about $4.8K, but will wait for
the newer model.Plasma's are nice that they're mountable on the wall, but
IMHO, they still lack the resolution of the better LCD's and
CRT's - plus, by not buying one, I won't have a 2nd mortgage -
i.e., they stinkin' expensive.Good Luck. Take a look at the very latest DLP RPTV's - really
nice, also.Cheers,
Lon
Hi:
I too am very interested and choose to wait for Gen 2 GW. I have not yet found any info on it. Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks...
... Paul
avsforum.com - the rear projection forum. Some people saw the II at Cedia last weekend. Sveral threads there. Appears from comments that although not ideal, it's much better than current GW LCD.
Yeah, plasmas are stinkin' expensive, which sucks.Regarding resolution: A couple days ago I watched an HDTV feed on a Loewe HD wide-screen CRT, inches away from the same feed on a Pioneer 43" plasma. The Loewe should have had the advantage, as it was HD resolution, and a slightly smaller screen, which our eyes usually perceive as being sharper than a bigger screen. However, the plasma kicked the Loewe's butt in displaying a sharper, more precise, more realistic image in every way. There were natural details in the color and texture to people's faces on the plasma that were glossed over or rendered more crude on the Loewe.
In some instances the detail seemed to be there in the Loewe, but it seemed fuzzier, more crude, and never made that leap to the looking-through-a-window vibe that the Pioneer had. (Which I attribute to the inherent lack of precicion involved in the older CRT ray gun/phosphor screen technology, vs the always precise fixed pixels of a plasma). The Loewe just looked like a really good TV. The Pioneer looked "real."Rich H.
the rest of us think they're junk.
I'm obviously not part of "the rest of us".Two years ago I'd have agreed with you 100%. After 2 months of looking at HD displays of various kinds, I'd say that unless you're going to buy a high quality FP, there are compromises to be made with any current HD displays. If you think there aren't any compromises with the Loewe, think again. It's only a 38" screen, it's extremely heavy, has only one HD component input and it has a curved tube.
CRT, RP, DV, plasma, DLP, LCD...each has advantages and disadvantages.
The better plasmas on the market excell with HD content. They look very good to me, and while I'm no engineer, I'm fairly critical. Plasmas, of course, have their compromises, and they're relatively pricey. But one can buy a darned good looking Panny 42" for under $3800. That's competetive with RP and a Loewe Aconda, not to metion 200lbs lighter than the Loewe.
If you don't like plasmas, fine. Different strokes for different folks. But they're hardly "junk".
Black is supposed to be black, not grey, and nothing less than a 7 ft wide picture works for me after dark. During the day, I settle for 65". And nothing resolves HD like a CRT front projector.
...and I weren't selling this house in 6 months, I'd be going for a FP. Most of the people I know who really get cranky about plasmas are FP owners. I can understand why. FP on a 84" to 100" screen is wonderful done well. Great blacks too...assuming this is a CRT and not a DLP, although the FP DLPS are getting very good. I envy you. Glad your enjoying your system.However, for the rest of us, *subjectively* speaking, I just happen to think the better plasmas can offer a pleasing picture. It's not perfect. But I don't think it's junk. And it's way better than the big LCDs - if you think plasmas have grey blacks, the current Panny and SOny LCD RPs are far, far worse in this respect. Greyscale is poor. No deep shadow detail at all. I can live without the deepest blacks - I can't live without some detail in the shadows.
BTW, we're regulars over at our friend's house for watching his 65" Pioneer Elite RP. Nice display. This beast won't fit in my room.
***And it's way better than the big LCDs***I ageee. LCD looks horribly artificial.
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