Are Panasonic EDTV'S Good And Is EDTV HD?

rickbbb · 02-12-2006, 04:36 PM

I was looking at the Panasonic 42" Plasma EDTV Model # TH-42PD50U.

What's the difference between a tv that is HD and one that is EDTV?
I saw a Panasonic 42 inch EDTV in person and could'nt get over the sharpness and clarity of the picture and it had a great price and an ATSC tuner built in.Even had HDMI and component cable hook up.
Is EDTV good? I was told it has a life of 60,000 hours..just like an LCD HDTV !

EddieDZ · 02-12-2006, 04:49 PM

EDTV=enhanced definition TV .... HDTV=high definition TV

EDTV=max resolution of 480p....HDTV=resolutions of 720p,1080i and 1080p

pesonally dont waste your money on a EDTV, UNLESS!! you plain on NOT watching HD channels and plain on watching SD channels only and lots of DVD's...also for the price of a EDTV plasma you can get a HDTV LCD or HDTV CRT...alot ofHDTV's have a "life" of 60,000 nothing special about it in the EDTV's...

EDTV's are not going to take much advantage by having a HDMI input, component carries all signals except 1080p if im not mistaking...HDMI is digital not analog and not only carries video signals but 5.1 audio signals all in one cable...EDTV's cannot display anything higher then 480p so its almost pointless to use HDMI on a EDTV, i dont see the sense "in my opinion"

rickbbb · 02-12-2006, 05:55 PM

This tv has a 4000:1 contrast ratio.

sl7vk · 02-12-2006, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieDZ

EDTV=enhanced definition TV .... HDTV=high definition TV

EDTV=max resolution of 480p....HDTV=resolutions of 720p,1080i and 1080p

pesonally dont waste your money on a EDTV, UNLESS!! you plain on NOT watching HD channels and plain on watching SD channels only and lots of DVD's...also for the price of a EDTV plasma you can get a HDTV LCD or HDTV CRT...alot ofHDTV's have a "life" of 60,000 nothing special about it in the EDTV's...

EDTV's are not going to take much advantage by having a HDMI input, component carries all signals except 1080p if im not mistaking...HDMI is digital not analog and not only carries video signals but 5.1 audio signals all in one cable...EDTV's cannot display anything higher then 480p so its almost pointless to use HDMI on a EDTV, i dont see the sense "in my opinion"

Well I have to disagree with you here. I bought the Panny ED 42 from Costco and love it. In fact I was in there today and it was sitting next to the HD Philips and was blowing it away.

Yes, it does have less resolution, and no it isn't HD. But to say there is no point watching HD on an ED set is ridiculous. I spend the majority of my time watching HD programing, and it looks wonderful on this set.

Oh and your point about HDMI, I use it and prefer it to component. I wasn't sold at all on HDMI, bought a cable and tried them side by side. HDMI looked much better, so I don't really know what you're getting at.

Bottom line is, if you like the picture, who cares. Less pixels to go dead....

sl7vk · 02-12-2006, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Misconception #2: A high-definition (HD) plasma TV beats
an enhanced-definition (ED) Plasma TV every time.

Usually true, but not always. I suspect this misconception has been perpetrated by manufacturers, who want to move more expensive (i.e., higher-resolution) product, and by retailers, who are repeating whatever the manufacturer tells them. True, HD plasma displays are more expensive than their ED counterparts. The reason is that increasing the resolution on a plasma screen means fitting more pixels in the plasma display element (glass). A simple eyeball test will tell you, though, that this is not necessarily money well spent. Just because a plasma monitor is labeled "HD" does not necessarily mean that it handles things like internal conversion, contrast ratios, and interpolation well -- which are the very of things that ultimately make or break a picture in terms of its displayed quality. In most cases, the quality of the picture you get from a given plasma display (whether it's ED or HD) actually depends on the quality of its make. A good ED plasma TV from a 1st tier quality manufacturer will many times outperform an HD plasma TV from a 2nd or 3rd tier manufacturer.

One example in the past was a 1024 X 1024 resolution 42" plasma panel from 2001/2002 that produced significant motion artifacts on 480P (and less) incoming signals. This was actually the first high definition resolution for a 42" plasma TV. Eventually manufacturers actually reduced the resolution on a 42" high def plasma to 1024 X768 which is today's standard. This high definition plasma resolution is much more efficient at scaling to the native resolution of the plasma due to a more condusive pixel shape than the previous 1024 X 1024 resolution.

Source-

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...nceptions.html

EddieDZ · 02-12-2006, 07:27 PM

true SL.... only go by what your eyes see HEHEHEHE. i mean i've seen EDTV plasmas and yea i was blown away too by them, there picture quality is nice, but its only 480p so thats kinda what i "personally" dont like..i need 720p since my hands are geting a PS3 as soon as it comes out hehehe..got my money for reserve already just waiting for EBgames to annouce it...

sl7vk · 02-12-2006, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieDZ

true SL.... only go by what your eyes see HEHEHEHE. i mean i've seen EDTV plasmas and yea i was blown away too by them, there picture quality is nice, but its only 480p so thats kinda what i "personally" dont like..i need 720p since my hands are geting a PS3 as soon as it comes out hehehe..got my money for reserve already just waiting for EBgames to annouce it...

To each his own. I don't bash the HD or 1080p sets, they're great. But I was able to get mine, and take the wife to Cancun this March for the same price as the HD model. I just didn't see 1200 dollars worth of difference between the two. Sure the Panny, and Pioneer HD sets looked better.... but 1200 dollars better? Not for me. To each his own I suppose. Cheers!

hdaddict · 02-12-2006, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieDZ

true SL.... only go by what your eyes see HEHEHEHE. i mean i've seen EDTV plasmas and yea i was blown away too by them, there picture quality is nice, but its only 480p so thats kinda what i "personally" dont like..i need 720p since my hands are geting a PS3 as soon as it comes out hehehe..got my money for reserve already just waiting for EBgames to annouce it...

And a lot of us dont use our $3k plasmas to play games on........some of us just use them to watch tv/movies.................besides if I were going to use a large screen display to game on it would be a 40" LCD.................and keep my plasma for what it does best..........television.

iserum · 02-12-2006, 11:08 PM

for the price difference between ED and HD right now i would not even consider ED as an option to buy it just does not make common sense. We have HD DVD coming out next month with most of the contents are coming out in HD in the near future with all major events in Sports in HD for mere $500 difference why would i choose ED, if all i have to watch 480P why even bother to buy a new tv as existing tv will be good enough with S-video connection from DVD players.

sl7vk · 02-13-2006, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iserum

for the price difference between ED and HD right now i would not even consider ED as an option to buy it just does not make common sense. We have HD DVD coming out next month with most of the contents are coming out in HD in the near future with all major events in Sports in HD for mere $500 difference why would i choose ED, if all i have to watch 480P why even bother to buy a new tv as existing tv will be good enough with S-video connection from DVD players.

S-video looks like garbage compared to component on my ED. People saying there's no point watching TV on an ED haven't done it before.

I got my Panny 42 for 1699. Now tell me where I could have gotten the HD version for 2199? Sure I could have bought a Maxent or Philips, but they looked WORST on HD programming then the ED Panny did.

ChadT74 · 02-13-2006, 10:28 AM

Hey man I was in your shoes about a month ago. I decided on a 42 in plasma and was stuck between HD and ED. I looked at 3 different stores and on only one of the three did the HD look better on the HD TV. The guy at Circuit City even said that they keep the ED and HD versions apart because there is little difference and they were using an OTA to get the HD signal.

After beating myself up and wanting an HD set I went with the ED version. When I got my cable hooked up the prior weekend before the Super Bowl I had friends over and an artist friend said "wow that TV looks like 3D". Trust me you see a difference between SD and HD on an EDTV, well at least the Panny (they do a great job with TVs, I wouldn't trust anyone else for ED).

Yes I know that I am missing out on the extra 'umph' from a HD, but I have a PSII (420p and 1080i on ONE game) and will not get a HD DVD or PSIII for a few years so for me I think I made the right choice. I simply do not watch that much TV but I love my DVDs, games (yes they look good on plasma) and limited TV viewing (mostly sports) on my EDTV.

Consider what you will really use the TV for before buying and the life you expect it to have. I will probably move this into the bedroom in 3-4 years.

Good luck I know it is a tough choice, but you can't go wrong either way, either you'll get a really good TV that might be all you need and have extra $$ or you'll have a HD set ready for the future (yes the *).

Gn00b · 02-13-2006, 11:48 AM

I've had my Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK ED plasma for about 3 weeks now, paid $1350 for it, and I'm loving it. No looking back. No regrets.

techjunky · 02-13-2006, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sl7vk

S-video looks like garbage compared to component on my ED. People saying there's no point watching TV on an ED haven't done it before.

I got my Panny 42 for 1699. Now tell me where I could have gotten the HD version for 2199? Sure I could have bought a Maxent or Philips, but they looked WORST on HD programming then the ED Panny did.

Here is a review from an "ED" owner from another website. To each their own though.

Full Review
I bought this Panasonic EDTV for $1,800 about 4 months ago and have been fairly satisfied with it overall. I think it's a great value for the money and offers a good combination of features, quality and value. But I do have a few issues to point out.

1. Burn in.
The TV screen is in 16:9 format on this Panasonic. The unit comes by default configured to show bright gray vertical side bars, when you are watching a program in 4:3 size. The bars were extremely annoying so I turned them off immediately (leaving just black bars). That was a mistake! We watch about 80-90% of programs in 4:3 (satellite TV) and after couple of months I turned of the TV and before I turned on the satellite box I noticed burn-in (lighter screen) where the black side bars normally are on 4:3 broadcast.

I don't have previous experience with plasma TVs so I don't know if this is normal, but this was certainly very upsetting. I wish Panasonic included a BIG notice in the manual about not turning off grey bars. I have since restored the grey bars and found out that you can make them less bright than comes from the factory (there are several settings). I have no way yet of measuring if the burning is continuing to get worse or not.

2. Command response time. In addition to hooking up the TV to satellite box and DVD, I bought an over-the-air HDTV antenna and was surprised to find out that I'm able to get good signal on all local digital stations. This TV has a fantastic feature for pointing the antenna: signal strength meter. The problem is that it takes about 4-5 seconds to switch from channel to channel. This seems grossly excessive. Response time to some other commands is similarly too long, e.g. turning the TV on or switching the inputs. It seems like whenever the unit has to adjust video, it takes awhile to do.

3. Not the best menu interface. I've had two Panasonic TVs in the past and they had more intuitive user interfaces.

4. Picture quality is not as good as I was hoping it would be. It has to do with one specific problem that I find hard to describe, but I'll try using an example. When I compare the face of John Steward from the Daily Show on my rear-projection Sony KVHS30 to Panasonic, I can see normal skin texture with small imperfections (I can see that he shaves) on the Sony, but it is all uniform and unnatural looking on the Panasonic. Since I constantly switch between the two TVs, I can't get used to the way Panasonic displays picture and it's a matter of constant small irritation.

Other things:

* It's a good looking unit with excellent connectivity.

* The remote is well laid out, if a bit too big.

* Sound is good but not great.

* I don't know if it's a reasonable expectation, but I was expecting some sort of automatic logic to recognize aspect ratio of the incoming signal and adjust the screen automatically. I find myself constantly hitting the Aspect button. It also would be nice if there was a separate button for each aspect mode, since it takes unit very long to switch from one to another and you have to cycle through 3 modes sometimes to get to the right one.

* The stand is sturdy, but doesn't swivel. Not an issue for us though.

Recommended
No

sl7vk · 02-13-2006, 12:48 PM

Congrats Crackjunkey, you managed to find the one negative review I've ever seen online of this TV. Well done!

Here's one on your TV.

Dead Pixels Beware, March 3, 2004
Reviewer: An electronics fan
I bought the unit. I had exchange for three times and dead pixels
occur in the same area of the screen. Now they are refusing to exchange it and giving you a crap of within specs. Very defective
product. If you bought one look closely to your screen. I advise not to buy it. The cost is too much to give a "within specifications" crap of dead pixels.

techjunky · 02-13-2006, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sl7vk

Congrats Crackjunkey, you managed to find the one negative review I've ever seen online of this TV. Well done!

Here's one on your TV.

Dead Pixels Beware, March 3, 2004
Reviewer: An electronics fan
I bought the unit. I had exchange for three times and dead pixels
occur in the same area of the screen. Now they are refusing to exchange it and giving you a crap of within specs. Very defective
product. If you bought one look closely to your screen. I advise not to buy it. The cost is too much to give a "within specifications" crap of dead pixels.

Wow! yet another bash and name calling outburst from you.

This would come as no surprise if you were to follow the majority of his posts. Yet again, did "I" say anything bad about "Ed" televisions? Nope. I was simply educating the unknowing consumer of possible downfalls with purchasing an "ED". That is the purpose of this forum is it not? Have you ever considered Zoloft Sl7vk?

02-12-2006, 04:36 PM	#1
rickbbb Phillips 47 Inch LCD HDTV Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Southern California Age: 51 Posts: 2,108	Are Panasonic EDTV'S Good And Is EDTV HD? I was looking at the Panasonic 42" Plasma EDTV Model # TH-42PD50U. What's the difference between a tv that is HD and one that is EDTV? I saw a Panasonic 42 inch EDTV in person and could'nt get over the sharpness and clarity of the picture and it had a great price and an ATSC tuner built in.Even had HDMI and component cable hook up. Is EDTV good? I was told it has a life of 60,000 hours..just like an LCD HDTV ! __________________ \

02-12-2006, 05:55 PM	#3
rickbbb Phillips 47 Inch LCD HDTV Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Southern California Age: 51 Posts: 2,108	But This Tv Has 4000:1 Contrast Ratio This tv has a 4000:1 contrast ratio. __________________ \

02-12-2006, 11:08 PM	#9
iserum High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,955	for the price difference between ED and HD right now i would not even consider ED as an option to buy it just does not make common sense. We have HD DVD coming out next month with most of the contents are coming out in HD in the near future with all major events in Sports in HD for mere $500 difference why would i choose ED, if all i have to watch 480P why even bother to buy a new tv as existing tv will be good enough with S-video connection from DVD players. __________________ Panasonic 50PX80U/Pioneer BDP-51FD /Toshiba HD A1/Tivo HD SAMSUNG LNT-4661F/ Pioneer BDP-51FD/Dell XPS, Nvidia 9500 GT SONY BRAVIA 40V2500/40 GB PS3, WII, Intel Core 2 Duo with Nvidia 6800 Yamaha RXV1700 Def. Tech. Mythos III, V & Gems, Super Cube III Harmony Remote One Power Conditioner: Belkin PF40

02-13-2006, 12:48 PM	#14
sl7vk Panasonic Plasma Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Salt Lake City Posts: 603	Congrats Crackjunkey, you managed to find the one negative review I've ever seen online of this TV. Well done! Here's one on your TV. Dead Pixels Beware, March 3, 2004 Reviewer: An electronics fan I bought the unit. I had exchange for three times and dead pixels occur in the same area of the screen. Now they are refusing to exchange it and giving you a crap of within specs. Very defective product. If you bought one look closely to your screen. I advise not to buy it. The cost is too much to give a "within specifications" crap of dead pixels. __________________ "Their LCD tv's are also assembled in the Netherlands...Belgium to be exact." -Ward Cleaver Last edited by sl7vk; 02-13-2006 at 12:53 PM.

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02-12-2006, 04:49 PM	#2
EddieDZ PSN is Free Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Saint John, NB Canada Posts: 4,707	EDTV=enhanced definition TV .... HDTV=high definition TV EDTV=max resolution of 480p....HDTV=resolutions of 720p,1080i and 1080p pesonally dont waste your money on a EDTV, UNLESS!! you plain on NOT watching HD channels and plain on watching SD channels only and lots of DVD's...also for the price of a EDTV plasma you can get a HDTV LCD or HDTV CRT...alot ofHDTV's have a "life" of 60,000 nothing special about it in the EDTV's... EDTV's are not going to take much advantage by having a HDMI input, component carries all signals except 1080p if im not mistaking...HDMI is digital not analog and not only carries video signals but 5.1 audio signals all in one cable...EDTV's cannot display anything higher then 480p so its almost pointless to use HDMI on a EDTV, i dont see the sense "in my opinion"

02-12-2006, 07:27 PM	#6
EddieDZ PSN is Free Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Saint John, NB Canada Posts: 4,707	true SL.... only go by what your eyes see HEHEHEHE. i mean i've seen EDTV plasmas and yea i was blown away too by them, there picture quality is nice, but its only 480p so thats kinda what i "personally" dont like..i need 720p since my hands are geting a PS3 as soon as it comes out hehehe..got my money for reserve already just waiting for EBgames to annouce it...

02-13-2006, 10:28 AM	#11
ChadT74 How can anyone watch standard def? Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 22	Hey man I was in your shoes about a month ago. I decided on a 42 in plasma and was stuck between HD and ED. I looked at 3 different stores and on only one of the three did the HD look better on the HD TV. The guy at Circuit City even said that they keep the ED and HD versions apart because there is little difference and they were using an OTA to get the HD signal. After beating myself up and wanting an HD set I went with the ED version. When I got my cable hooked up the prior weekend before the Super Bowl I had friends over and an artist friend said "wow that TV looks like 3D". Trust me you see a difference between SD and HD on an EDTV, well at least the Panny (they do a great job with TVs, I wouldn't trust anyone else for ED). Yes I know that I am missing out on the extra 'umph' from a HD, but I have a PSII (420p and 1080i on ONE game) and will not get a HD DVD or PSIII for a few years so for me I think I made the right choice. I simply do not watch that much TV but I love my DVDs, games (yes they look good on plasma) and limited TV viewing (mostly sports) on my EDTV. Consider what you will really use the TV for before buying and the life you expect it to have. I will probably move this into the bedroom in 3-4 years. Good luck I know it is a tough choice, but you can't go wrong either way, either you'll get a really good TV that might be all you need and have extra $$ or you'll have a HD set ready for the future (yes the *).

02-13-2006, 11:48 AM	#12
Gn00b Gimme that remote! Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 51	I've had my Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK ED plasma for about 3 weeks now, paid $1350 for it, and I'm loving it. No looking back. No regrets.