I can mingle with the stars and party on mars..
I am a prisoner locked up behind xanax bars..

How did no one comment on this. What have we come to ladies an gentlemen?

That said, in my Opinion Plasma do have a better picture. But for overall reliability and use, I've gone with LCDs. Plus, I can even hook up my computer to the LCD and use it as a screen.

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Eion Gordon
Administrator

1080p

from what ive been told, they are going to start phasing out plasmas from the market

^ I wouldn't believe that without proper citation. Plasmas definitely have their place. If I were to want a very large TV (anything over $50) that was to serve only in a home theatre, I would definitely prefer plasma since they're cheaper, plasma is more readily available in larger sizes, and their ability to more truly represent black in ideal lighting is preferable for home theatres. I just don't see them being phased out of the market since they're continually improving their reliability.

HDTV UK: Philips scraps scanning backlight technology

Eh Philips isn't really a reputable company in terms of TV sets anymore. By the year's end they're no longer going to be producing for the American market (this also might be true for areas in Europe but I don't really recall). Instead, they'll continue producing TVs under another name to distance their TV sets from the Philips name, because they've had so many problems with them as a whole. But that does prove its possible, which is surprising.

I have a 20" Philips Magnavox TV right next to me and it's worked perfectly since 1998.

Hmm.

I have a 52" widescreen projection that i bought like 5 years ago....it still works good, but I may upgrade to a 52"+ LCD this year...probably do the whole wall mount thing.

I bought a Samsung 32" LCD.

milo, that's a 10 year old TV. I doubt that Philips has been making questionable sets for that long. Its more of an immediate issue. They definitely make some good electronics and my parents have had a Magnavox that looks great and has been around for a while (this might've been before the merger though) so I don't doubt their ability. I'm just saying that in terms of companies abandoning the plasma platform, Philips isn't a great example as they're pulling out of the N.A. market this year to cut costs and distance their TVs from their brand name, which is doing very well in other electronics.

spencer, what model TV did you get? I'm get a 32 and am really impressed by one of the Samsungs but I don't have any friends who own it to give me opinions.

Samsung > * , when it comes to Tv's.

Ah, I see... Yeah I didn't even know about recent problems up until now. Whom did they merge with?

I can actually vouch for the Phillips problem. When I first got into my dorm room, my roommate and I bought a small Phillips CRT TV just to kinda throw up for the time being.

It died after a month... one day we turned it on, it kind of flashed and then turned off. We couldn't get it back on. So we got store credit for it, and my roommate eventually bought a Sony Bravia LCD.

I'm honestly not sure if it was a merger or buyout but Philips and Magnavox are the same. There used to be products by the name of Philips Magnavox, but apparently that confused consumers so they've gone back to pushing them as two separate brands. I don't doubt that Philips has the ability to produce good sets though. They just can't compete with the upper-end brands so its probably not worth the cost. I almost bought a Philips set earlier this month actually since their family and friend sale had some pretty ridiculous sales, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

I don't know enough about the topic at hand to add anything to the discussion one way or the other, but I do think that there is a difference between attacking a person or their point with substantive content (such as what LaidBackPrep has done) versus attacking it based on one's ability to shit on it. You may be right, but you haven't really said anything of substance to respond to his claims and (here's the important part) prove that you're right. Falling back on your "credentials" rather than your points isn't all that effective...

If you really want risk, you should check out the Philips Outlet site: Philips Electronics Outlet. I commonly visit slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com for electronics deals, and I've heard some horror stories about my fellow cheap friends getting burned. Obviously there is an inherent risk in any refurbished product, but from what I've heard, about 1 in 3 items from the Outlet either don't work on arrival, or stop working within a month of purchase.

Admittedly, I've taken the risk once, but that was only because Philips makes a really good (cheaply priced) upconverting DVD player with USB port. I've had it for over a year, and it still works...but I would call that good luck. Otherwise, I avoid Philips, too.

Uhm that's actually exactly what I was talking about... They just finished up their (bi-?) annual family and friends sale. There were a couple of 37" LCDs for below $500, which I considered getting but 1. 37" would overpower my dorm room but 26" would not be large enough for post-dorm room living in a year 2. They'll cease to exist by next year which would leave me in an interesting predicament if my set stopped working in 7 months. A warranty would be worthless if they no longer had replacement parts. I really think the horror stories are hyped up. In places like that, every one who gets a bad set feels the need to post, rant, and rave, while when you get a great set with hassle-free delivery, you may or may not bother to post and let people know about it. Most of the things in the outlet are refurbs and at a great discount, so it seems in poor taste to whine about poor customer service when you get a bad set; you aren't going to get grade A service on a grade C price (which seems to be the basis of those horror stores: customer gets DOA set, has to wait on hold for a CSR, has to pay return shipping, has to jump through hoops to have the return allowed, etc).

what's better in the 46"+ range?

LCD is better with no competition now. Even since the summer they've gotten better.

Most companies have stopped making plasmas in general.