Phillips 42" HD Plasma - $800 shipped

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SEALTeamSix

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Shamelessly ripped from Brad's Deals: Link to Deal

"The Philips Outlet now has their factory reconditioned 42" HD Plasma for $799 after $180 off coupon code 42PLASMA-0207 valid through 2/27. Shipping is free, resulting in the best net shipped price yet. The plasma has 1024 x 768 resolution and is loaded with 2 HDMI inputs, 2 internal tuners (including HD), CableCARD, built-in speakers and a USB port for displaying photos via memory card. I've heard several positive reviews from people who have ordered these previously."

Some Specs:

Picture/Display:
Aspect ratio : 16:9
Brightness : 1500 cd/m2
Panel resolution : 1024 x 768p
Contrast ratio (typical) : 10000:1
Viewing angle : 160° (H) / 160° (V)

Supported Display Resolutions:

Computer formats : 640 x 480 - 60Hz, 800 x 600 - 60Hz, 1024 x 768 - 60Hz, 1366 x 768 - 60Hz

Video Formats : 640 x 480i - 1Fh, 640 x 480p - 2Fh, 720 x 576i - 1Fh, 720 x 576p - 2Fh, 1280 x 720p - 3Fh, 1920 x 1080i - 2Fh

Connectivity
Other connections : Cable Card Interface, Monitor out, CVBS, L/R (cinch), SP-DIF in (coaxial), SP-DIF out (coaxial)
AV 1 : Audio L/R in, CVBS in, RGB+H/V, S-Video Y/C, YPbPr, Component Video in, (1, 2, 3Fh autoranging), Y/C
AV 2 : Audio L/R in, CVBS, S-Video
AV 3 : S/PDIF digital coaxial, YPbPr, (1, 2, 3Fh autoranging)
AV 4 : HDMI
AV 5 : HDMI
Front / Side connections : Audio left/right in, CVBS in, Headphone out, S-video in, USB 1.1
 
Looks like an awesome deal to me!!

Anybody know what the warranty would be on this????
 
Putting "reconditioned" in the title would've been nice. Still pretty amazing deal with shipping included in the price.

Although, does this alarm anyone else or is this normal?

The plasma has 1024 x 768 resolution
Click to expand...
 
GJSNeptune said:
Putting "reconditioned" in the title would've been nice. Still pretty amazing deal with shipping included in the price.

Although, does this alarm anyone else or is this normal?
Click to expand...

Bothers me as you would get a squashed image on your PC/HTPC. I wish it was at least 1366x768
 
GJSNeptune said:
Putting "reconditioned" in the title would've been nice. Still pretty amazing deal with shipping included in the price.

Although, does this alarm anyone else or is this normal?
Click to expand...
That's normal for a 42" plasma. Very annoying for PC use, but looks fine with video.

It's very tough getting the plasma elements below a certain size, which is why 1080p plasmas are so god awful expensive.
 
I'm not sure how you can have a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 aspect tv without messing up your picture. I would think this is a typo.
 
b_tenant said:
I'm not sure how you can have a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 aspect tv without messing up your picture. I would think this is a typo.
Click to expand...
It's not a typo. Virtually all 42" HD plasmas are 1024x768.

If you take a 1280x720 image, resize it to 1024x768, and stretch it to 16:9, you will have an image very very close to the original.

Pixels don't have to be square.
 
arcsum68 said:
1366 x 768 - 60Hz


Listed under PC formats
Click to expand...
Yeah, and my 1366x768 plasma will take a 1920x1080 PC input.

That doesn't mean it displays it at that resolution.

These TVs have video scalers that take a variety of inputs, whether larger or smaller than the panel's native resolution, and scale it to fit the entire screen. 1366x768 will simply be resampled to 1024x768.

The advantage of using 1366x768 PC resolution instead of 1024x768 is that the aspect ratio will be correct. if you use 1024x768 PC resolution, the image will be stretched, but pixel-perfect. 1366x768 will give you the right aspect ration, but it will drop pixels horizontally.
 
I have this plasma and I must say it beats any LCD I saw to date in picture quality.

The price is phenomenal, even for refurb (this is a very high quality unit).
 
Ockie said:
Bothers me as you would get a squashed image on your PC/HTPC. I wish it was at least 1366x768
Click to expand...

under the products specs it reads
"Supported Display Resolution
Computer formats : 640 x 480 - 60Hz, 800 x 600 - 60Hz, 1024 x 768 - 60Hz, 1366 x 768 - 60Hz
Video Formats : 640 x 480i - 1Fh, 640 x 480p - 2Fh, 720 x 576i - 1Fh, 720 x 576p - 2Fh, 1280 x 720p - 3Fh, 1920 x 1080i - 2Fh"
 
thejulex said:
I have this plasma and I must say it beats any LCD I saw to date in picture quality.

The price is phenomenal, even for refurb (this is a very high quality unit).
Click to expand...
I agree. This is a very good plasma. LCDs don't - and never will - produce the same video quality as a plasma. They can be, and are, generally superior for PC use, though. Getting 1920x1080 on an LCD of virtually any size is great for PC use. The lower resolution of plasmas makes them a poor choice for PC use.

However, the phosphor technology of plasmas simply produces much better video than using an liquid crystal matrix to filter out light from a backlight.
 
aggiec05 said:
under the products specs it reads
"Supported Display Resolution
Computer formats : 640 x 480 - 60Hz, 800 x 600 - 60Hz, 1024 x 768 - 60Hz, 1366 x 768 - 60Hz
Video Formats : 640 x 480i - 1Fh, 640 x 480p - 2Fh, 720 x 576i - 1Fh, 720 x 576p - 2Fh, 1280 x 720p - 3Fh, 1920 x 1080i - 2Fh"
Click to expand...

kumquat already covered this.


But yeah, overall this is a good buy for tv viewing.
 
Important!
Some information is either incomplete or needs to be corrected.

Invalid Promotion Code
You have entered an invalid Promotion Code (42PLASMA-0207 ). Please check your promotion code number and try again. Remember promotion codes are case sensitive. If you continue to receive this error please contact Customer Service at 1.800.451.2851
Click to expand...

Hopefully I am stupid and I'm doing something wrong:(
 
You are probably doing the same thing I did and cutting and pasteing the code with a space at the end. You can't have a blank space before or after or between the code or it won't work. Hope it works for you.
 
Question, how big of an issue is burn in with current gen plasma displays? I do play a few video games and I'd hate to have a picture of Marcus or a car stuck on my screen for all eternity!
 
Really? Hrm, that was one of the biggest deterrants for me vs. plasma. With no burn in as an issue, what's the life span of these sets (typically)?

Also, with 1024x768 resolution, how sharp is the picture? I know I've seen 1366x768 plasma displays before and they looked quite good, especially color-wise.
 
kabob983 said:
Really? Hrm, that was one of the biggest deterrants for me vs. plasma. With no burn in as an issue, what's the life span of these sets (typically)?

Also, with 1024x768 resolution, how sharp is the picture? I know I've seen 1366x768 plasma displays before and they looked quite good, especially color-wise.
Click to expand...
Many years. The useable life on a typical panel is 50,000 hours. That's 23 years of use, 6 hours every day.

The electronics and power supply are usually the limiting factors, and those are pretty much the same as any TV (or any electronic component).
 
Nice deal. I often wonderd how can plasmas displaly HD when their resolution is 1024x768 and 720p is 1280x720. The math doesn't add up to me.
 
celwin said:
Nice deal. I often wonderd how can plasmas displaly HD when their resolution is 1024x768 and 720p is 1280x720. The math doesn't add up to me.
Click to expand...
The same way they can display 480i, 480p, 1080i, etc.

Just like any LCD panel, the internal scaler resamples the original image, regardless of aspect ratio, to its native resolution. TVs have much, much, much better internal scaler than computer monitors.
 
So will the resolution be noticibly lower than a 1366x768 to the average viewer?
 
kabob983 said:
And for SD? And what about a 720p Xbox 360 signal?
Click to expand...
It'll look perfect with a 720p signal.

It *won't* look perfect for SD. No fixed-pixel technology does.

480i/p will look as good as any other plasma, which is not great. Philips tends to be middle of the pack with SD programming among the big names (Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, LG, Hitachi).
 
kumquat said:
It'll look perfect with a 720p signal.

It *won't* look perfect for SD. No fixed-pixel technology does.

480i/p will look as good as any other plasma, which is not great. Philips tends to be middle of the pack with SD programming among the big names (Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, LG, Hitachi).
Click to expand...

Who tends to put out the "best" SD picture? This is pretty big for me. I don't/won't have DirectTV HD or an HD-DVD player anytime soon. Progressive scan 480p DVD player and lots of traditional TV signals will be what I watch most, along with my 360.
 
kabob983 said:
Who tends to put out the "best" SD picture? This is pretty big for me. I don't/won't have DirectTV HD or an HD-DVD player anytime soon. Progressive scan 480p DVD player and lots of traditional TV signals will be what I watch most, along with my 360.
Click to expand...
That's tough to say. Pioneer and Panasonic, probably.

You should get DirecTV HD. The difference is absolutely astounding. At the very least, get a $20 HDTV antenna and get your local stations (CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, ABC) in HD.

480p from a DVD will look great. 720p from your 360 will look great. Local broadcast HD stations will look great.

It's NTSC from DirecTV that you have to worry about.
 
Hrm, Panasonic and Pioneer 'eh?

I really don't watch enough TV to justify getting Direct HD. Basic cable I might get for free, but that's about it. This particular set comes with the tuner to pick up local HD though as well as local SD.
 
kumquat said:
Many years. The useable life on a typical panel is 50,000 hours. That's 23 years of use, 6 hours every day.

The electronics and power supply are usually the limiting factors, and those are pretty much the same as any TV (or any electronic component).
Click to expand...

im not sure but dont plasmas have a half-life as well, in 10 yrs the brightness will only be half as good as it was then first bought but not like it matters much since most people replace their TV's within 10 years
 
How do these work now? People have said the screens on plasmas die in 1-2 years...
 
kabob983 said:
Really? Hrm, that was one of the biggest deterrants for me vs. plasma. With no burn in as an issue, what's the life span of these sets (typically)?

Also, with 1024x768 resolution, how sharp is the picture? I know I've seen 1366x768 plasma displays before and they looked quite good, especially color-wise.
Click to expand...

I believe it is something to the order of 60,000 hour, which means after 60k hours the luminance is guranteed to be of 50% of original value... the unit is I think 1,200 nits to begin with.

You won't tell the difference between 1024 and 1366 if you are not REAL close to the unit. Trust me. Of course each HD station differs in quality as well. I have several HD channels that have real bad quality (like 720p res with some real bad codec issues, some are awesome quality). The stations with 1080i look REALLY awesome with this unit.

Colors are unbeatable. I have a friend with 42" Westinghouse LCD and that unit is a sorry excuse for a TV next to mine (even though his is higher res). There is just no comparison PQ wise.
 
wow...i was tempted to get one for the bedroom, but those comments on Resellerratings are pretty scary.
 
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