BeauReview Links -> Plasma Displays 40 inches and greater for Home Theater and HDTV

Welcome to the Home Theater, DTV, FlatTV and HDTV plasma display information resource, manufacturing links, where to buy and magazines. We are also building a similar page for DVD Players and HDTV Receivers. The available Plasma diplays information changes frequently so don't forget to bookmark this page! And if you have found Plasma displays that are not in our list you can send us the manufacturers link and model with the form at the bottom of this page!

In pursuit of a good Home Theater system, I have found that there are four (was five) basic video output devices. Each has benefits and issues.


Type Of Video output Benefits Issues
Conventional CRT
  • Bright image
  • Small in size maximum is about 35"
  • About 18"-28" deep
  • Only support 4:3 Aspect Ratios
Rear Projection
  • Screens of about 40 "to 60"
  • Dimmer image in comparison to CRT
  • About 18"-34" deep
  • Viewing angle much reduced
Front Projection
  • Screens 50" to 100"
  • Less than 2" deep
  • Viewing angle greater than 160°
  • Requires a dimly lit room
  • Projector within the room
  • Short room angle of attach artifacts
Plasma Display Panel (PDP)
  • Screens up to 63"
  • High viewing angle
  • Can be viewed with high ambient lighting
  • Less than 5" deep
  • Maximum of 63" at the present time

When I first set this page up, there was a fifth choice of LCD. The LCD displays are no longer available nor can you find any information about them anymore. Due to the high cost of LCD manufacturing, and the low candle power they quickly fell out of market favor.

High Definition Television (HDTV) is on the horizon. Very soon HDTV will dominate the market. It will replace television as we know it. Currently there are 7 HDTV channels in the Dallas viewing area. This number is expected to increase to 9 by the end of this year (2002). By the year 2006 all the current TV channels will be converted to HDTV channels. So in the pursuit of a video display system for the home theater at this time, one must be sure to plan accordingly for HDTV. The HDTV specification has 1080 lines and 1920 pixels per line of resolution. Though most systems today don't provide a strict 1080 lines, they are quickly approaching this number. These systems most likely will be more costly than the 480 lines we are accustomed to.

As with many pieces of electronic equipment, they have a finite lifetime. That is if you bought a VCR 15 years ago, weather you use it every day or once a month it is probably on its last leg. The plastics get brittle and break. The internal batteries finally leak enough to damage other components. Servicing it will cost more than a new one and the parts are probably out of manufacturing.

Since the best return on investment is use, the the family room or living room is the best location for a home theater; however, these rooms often are not designed to house a video system that requires reduced light environments. I like an open plan, and blocking the windows seems such a waste. In my search for the best home theater, I have found it interesting how many home theater shops have no windows and use dark wood paneling. I have found that front projection requires a dungeon of a room with no windows. With front projection, a greater viewing distance is necessary to prevent blocking the projector and so viewers won't have to deal with high angle of attach effects on the final image. Rear projection also requires reduced lighting, not as reduced as a front projection, but significant enough that a sunny room would have poor picture quality. The brighter rear projection units suffer the viewing angle and depth of the physical unit is rather large. It is also fair to say that viewing a movie on a 35" direct view video output device just doesn't do justice to the movie. The plasma displays seem to offer the best of all worlds, they are 5" or less in depth, they don't need a mid room projection unit with fan, and they can be viewed in sun lit rooms. Plasma screens don't require another piece of furniture to be built to house them, nor do the require special wiring within the room as in the front projection systems.

This page has been dedicated to the pursuit of the best Home Theater system. So far the Plasma Displays otherwise knows as plasma display panel or PDP for short are the current best solution. They bring the brilliance of the conventional direct view video device and the size of the rear projection screens without the loss in viewing angle and the loss of valuable room space. They can be placed in relatively small room or large rooms without a redesign of the room or a room addition. There are no mid room fans to add to room noise which is then compensated by turning the volume up. Below are the links, model numbers, and resolutions I have found so far on Plasma Display units. The first unit has the best picture quality so far as I have found. Below the plasma displays list you will find another list of locations to buy plasma displays from. This list is in best overall values for plasma displays.

At the bottom of the page, I have described a couple of products that enhance the HDTV viewing experiance.

Manufacturer
and Model Number
Diagonal
Size
Aspect
Ratio
Resolution
ROWxCOL
Contrast
Ratio
Luminance
cd/m^2
Samsung PDP-63HD 63 16:9 1366x768 700:1 450

NEC PlasmaSync 61MP1 61 16:9 1365x768 700:1 ?
Runco PL-61cx 61 16:9 1366x768 1000:1 .

Plasmaco/Panasonic Plasmaco 60 16:9 1366x768 500:1 450
LG Electronics MP/MT/MU/MZ-60PZ10 60 16:9 1280x720 250:1 180
Zenith DPDP60W 60 16:9 1280x720 330:1 180

NEC PlasmaSync 50MP2 50 16:9 1365x768 ?:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 50MP1 50 16:9 1365x768 580:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 5000W 50 16:9 1365x768 400:1 .
Panasonic TH-50PHD3U 50 16:9 1366x768 3000:1 500
Toshiba 50HP81 50 16:9 1366x768 3000:1 500
Panasonic PT-50PD3-P 50 16:9 1366x768 3000:1 500
Pioneer's PDP-502MX 50 16:9 1280x768 ? .
Pioneer PDP-505HD 50 16:9 1280x768 ? .
Pioneer PDP-501MC
^^^--- Replaced by PDP-505HD
50 16:9 1280x768 ? .
Pioneer's PDP-V501 50 16:9 1280x768 ? 350
Sharp PZ-50HV2U 50 16:9 1280x768 830:1 350
Eizo P5071 50 16:9 1280x768 550:1 200
Eizo P5070
Discontinued
50 16:9 1280x768 ? .
Samsung PDP-50SD 50 16:9 1366x768 600:1 dr 500
Runco PL-50c 50 16:9 1280x768 420:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 50PD1 50 16:9 853x480 350:1 330

Sony PFM-510A2WU 42 16:9 1024x1024 ? .
Sony PFM-510A1WU
^^^---Investigating current status
42 16:9 1024x1024 400:1 .
Hitachi CMP4120HDUS 42 16:9 1024x1024 700:1 600
Hitachi CMP4121HDU 42 16:9 1024x1024 . 750
Hitachi 42HDW10 42 16:9 1024x1024 . 750
Hitachi CMP402HDE 42 16:9 1024x1024 350:1 250
Hitachi CMP402HDU 42 16:9 1024x1024 350:1 250
Fujitsu Plasmavision 4222 42 16:9 1024x1024 350:1 500
Fujitsu Plasmavision 4221 42 16:9 1024x1024 350:1 500
Marantz PD-4298HD 42 16:9 1024x1024 450:1 .
Sharp PZ-43HV2U 43 16:9 1024x768 830:1 350
Panasonic TH-42WD4UY 42 16:9 852x480 3000:1 780
Panasonic PT-42PD3-P 42 16:9 852x480 2300:1 650
Samsung PDP-42SD 42 16:9 852x480 700:1 dr 660
NEC PlasmaSync 42MP2 42 16:9 853x480 550:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 42MP1
Replaced by NEC PlasmaSync 42MP2
42 16:9 853x480 450:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 42PD2 42 16:9 853x480 400:1 .
RCA PR42300 42 16:9 853x480 500:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 42PD1
Replaced by NEC PlasmaSync 42PD2
42 16:9 853x480 400:1 .
LG Electronics MP/MT/MU/MZ-42PZ10 42 16:9 852x480 500:1 250
NEC PlasmaSync 4210W
Replaced by new models
42 16:9 853x480 ? .
NEC PlasmaSync 4205W 42 16:9 853x480 350:1 .
NEC PlasmaSync 4200W 42 16:9 853x480 . .
Sony PFM-500A3WU 42 16:9 852x480 ? .
Electrograph DTS42DD 42 16:9 852x480 400:1 .
Sony PFM-500A2WU 42 16:9 852x480 400:1 .
Sony PFM-500A1WU
^^^---Product has been obsoleted by newer product
42 16:9 852x480 400:1 .
Fujitsu Plasmavision 4214 42 16:9 852x480 580:1 400
Fujitsu Plasmavision 4209 42 16:9 852x480 450:1 300
Fujitsu Plasmavision 4203, 4207
^^^---Replaced by newer models
42 16:9 852x480 400:1 .
IEE Ruggedized, shock-resistant UltraVue 42
^^^---The company has decided not to continue
promoting the Ultravue Plasma Display
42 16:9 853x480 ? .
DAEWOO Electronics Co., Ltd DSP-4210GM 42 16:9 852x480 500:1 .
Toshiba DP42W1 42 16:9 852x480 550:1 350
Revox E-542 42 16:9 852x480 500:1 260
Panasonic PT-42PD1-P 42 16:9 852x480 550:1 550
Marantz PD-4290D 42 16:9 853x480 450:1 .
Marantz PD-4280 42 16:9 853x480 ? .
Runco PL-42cx 42 16:9 853x480 1500:1 .
JVC GD-V4200PZWG 42 16:9 853x480 500:1 240
Eiki PLD-42UE 42 16:9 852x480 400:1 300
Conrac XsightA 42 16:9 852x480 400:1 300
Conrac 4042A UFD 42 16:9 852x480 450:1 260
Zenith IQB42P97G 42 16:9 852x480 400:1 .
Akai DP-W4200 42 16:9 853x480 400:1 .
Philips 42PW9962 42 16:9 852x480 350:1 250

Hitachi CMP401XU 41 4:3 1024x768 150:1 120

Pioneer PDP-V402 40 4:3 640x480 ? .
Mitsubishi Leonardo[tm] 40 4:3 640x480 150:1 300
Pioneer PDP-V401 40 4:3 640x480 150:1 400
Mitsubishi DiamondPanel
^^^--- Mitsubishi no longer sells this product
40 ? .

Panasonic TH-37PWD4UZ 37 16:9 852x480 3000:1 650

Other Manufacturer Links

(.pl) Super 42" FUJITSU Plasmavision Display
(.de) Spheros 42" PDP

Places to Buy, and Dealers

ProActive Web Marketing
PlasmaDepot.com
DTV Express
The Monitor Outlet
Absolute Home Theater
Advanced Display Technology
1-800-Plasmas
Av-Sales.com
Plasma Tek
Plasma City
DTV City
Plasma Connection
Plasma Display Group
PlasmaVision.TV
Global Mart
Now On Special.com
Plasma Outlet.com
TvAuthority
1-888camcorder.com
HiDefDisplays
V and A Products
Plasma Flat Screen.Com
Etronics
Competition Sound
SutterTel
ImmersiveTV
Cyberteria A/V
Shaw Associates
pcprojection
Planet DTV
Constant Fusion
ECoustics - Everything Hi-Fi Online
Amerinet Electronics
Hollywood North Entertainment Services
International Audio Visual, Inc.
Network Spectrum
Projection 1
Plasma-USA
PlasmaOne
No longer with us, or DNS not valid
1Cache
buyhdtv.com

Plasma Accessories

Plasme Experts

Magazines

Presentations.com

Dallas Area Stations and HDTV start dates

KDTN (ch 2) ?
KDFW (ch 4/35) HDTV: ?
KXAS (ch 5/41) HDTV: Nov 1998
WFAA (ch 8/9) HDTV: Sept 1997
KTVT (ch 11/19) HDTV: May 1999
KXII (ch 12) ?
KERA (ch 13) ?
KTXA (ch 21) ?
KUVN (ch 23) ?
KDFI (ch 27) ?
KDAF (ch 33) ?
KXTX (ch 39) ?

Other Links and Accessories

Plasma TV Buying Guide
Fully Integrated 1080i Sets
Graphics Card with Wide-Screen 16:9 Drivers
Absolute Home Theater - Accessories
HDTV Introduction and FAQ by Richard Gillmann
Lusoscreen
Plasma Shipping Cases
Plasma Stands.com

Looking for a very good HDTV receiver? The Samsung SIR-T150 HDTV receiver should meet with your demands. It is available at Best Buy and many Web outlets. The receiver provides composit, s-video, component, and RGB outputs, and the picture quality is execelent.

OK, now that you have a good display and video source you may have noticed that the medium for transferring the Video and Audio is less than desirable. Have you looked into CAT-5 to move your video? Check out the CAT-5 Video Baluns. CAT-5 is extremely cheap compared to Video cable and can run for much longer distances without video loss.

A very good video selector is the SIMA SVS-4. It has 4 input sources composite or S-Video and 2 outputs. It converts the composite to S-Video for output if needed. Automatically switches when detecting a new video source. This product eliminates the need for having a super remote that attempts to control all devices. It also allows the user to use the TIVO remote which has not been delt with on the super remotes. For those that have a TIVO you know what I am talking about. The TIVO is the only remote we use, the Sima does the rest. All for $149 at Best Buy.

I normally don't put a product down unless it really is a piece of junk. I normally just don't promote it. But after pruchasing an RCA VH920 selector I was truely unimpressed. This video selector claimed to be able to switch based on the input equipments remote 'on' sequence. Well it works for RCA devices, but doesn't work for Toshiba DVD or TIVO input devices. There are also many reports of poor IR operation for the devices it can learn. After returning it I bought the SIMA and wow! a video selector worth the price.

Sugested 40" or greater Plasma Display, Places to buy or Magazine Links

If you have found a manufacturer, a place to buy, magazine or other high definition television links that you think should be included in the above lists. Fill in the below form and submit it.

Sugested Link(URL)    :
Description (Model #) :
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PDP - Plasma Display Panel
HDTV - High Definition Television
FlatTV - Flat Screen TV
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