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My friend is determined to get a $3000-3500 plasma tv. My expertise is in crts but my hunch is that plasmas in this price range are sub par. WHICH PLASMAS ARE BEST IN THIS PRICE RANGE (SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS MY KEYBOARD IS MESSED UP)?
Follow Ups:
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/index.htmlAs for glass manufacturers,the major players are:
NEC, Panasonic, Fujitsu, Pioneer, Samsung, LGThe above manufacture the glass panels for their own brands and also supply OEM panels to other companies;
eg. Hitachi, Philips plasmas use Fujitsu glass; Marantz uses NEC OEM glass.http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/whomakeswhat.html
That site is useful and informative in many ways but hardly unbiased.
Check AVS forum on the Optoma P50 at Costco(possibly same as the Nakamichi at Sam's). Optoma (a well regarded PJ brand) is the rage du jour and may well be the hot buy (approx 4k ish). Otherwise, Fujitsu is one of the best, but at the cost, there isn't the bang for buck ratio that Panny enjoys.It really does depend on their expected use. If they can get by on ED, then look at Panny. NEC and Hitachi(same glass as Fujitsu) are also regarded as good values.
AVS forum, I can't recommend it enough. Also, you might ping Joe Murphy here. He has a well reasoned and knowledgeable opinion on these things.
Your buddy can easily get an excellent plasma 42" for considerably less. The Panny panels have just about the best contrast ratio in the business @ 4000:1 See link below from an excellent Panny authorized dealer.I'm not sure if in your price range, but the Fujitsu 42" panel consistently seems to get top marks mainly due to its excellent scaler & similar contrast ratio to the Panny. I believe it also carries a 3 year factory warranty.
You can read about these panels and the dealer below for days at avsforum.com.
Jet
- http://www.visualapex.com/plasma/Plasma_details.asp?chPartNumber=TH-42PWD6UY&MFR=Panasonic (Open in New Window)
I can't say that they're the best, but my dad was going to get my sister one and he was in the like $6k range and had me do the research on them. Now, remember, you have different sizes and you really need to know if the person buying is going to get into it and set everything up properly. If they are like my sister, where she and the family watches the news and a show or ballgame here and there, then one might be wasting the abilities of a nice plasma, but...I found that the Fujitsus are probably the most highly regarded sets. They are also the most expensive. They seem to have superior glass and SOTA digital engines. They can pretty much display all of the most sought after resolutions and should be future proof for the most part. I have a buddy with their 50" which retailed for like $18k a few years back and it sure is a nice ride.
Next, I found that the Panasonic plasmas are up there near the top. They seem to use the same glass (NEC I think?) as the Fujitsus, but their digital engine isn't as sophisticated. They can display an excellent native resolution, so you are covered there. When I was in Los Angeles, the Pannie 42" was pretty expensive at the Best Buys, Frys and The Good Guys, like $5,500, which was still up there with the Sonys and Toshibas and less than the Fujitsu 42s, but if you look at my link, you can see that you can really move up the ladder buying on the net.
My sister didn't really feel the need to get one, due to a home remodel, but we had settled on the 50" Pannie at less that a store bought 42"
I'm no expert, but this is what I came up with.
Take care and good luck, Chris
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