Planning on new HDTV looking for help

[IKK]

Sorry for the long post.

Okay folks I am looking at going the Plasma HD route. I plan on buying a new Plasma 50” to put over the mantel. Not sure in which one yet, looking at the Panasonic Monitor type although Costo has one with a built in tuner for around 5500. If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.

I have been using Sage for just about 2 years now. I use 2 250 cards hooked up to 2 DirecTV receivers. Using the composet cable. I plan on moving my system into the closet and running cable under the house to the fireplace. I plan on using the DVI input . I also am thinking of installing a HDTV antenna in the attic attaching in it straight to the TV another thought was buying the new ATI hd card and recording ota hd and playing it through sage if this can be done.

I guess my real question is what should I be careful of when going this route of connecting sage to an HDTV. I would like to make this as painless as possible with the best picture as possible. My current system is.

AMD 2500+
1 40 gig for windows and sage
1 250 gig for movies planning on adding another HD.
7000 Radeon with TV out and DVI input.
1 gig of Ram
serial cables connected to receivers
Philips Pronto Remote
Airboard keyboard
MVP running as client in bedroom

[stanger89]

What I would suggest is that you look at the "business" model plasmas. They have the same glass as the consumer ones, but lack some of the electronics (tuners, some inputs, breakout boxes, scalers sometimes) and also the highly inflated pricetag.

Specifically take a look at the Pioneer PDP-504CMX. The Pioneer 50x's have always been popular at AVS for their good quality and (relatively) low price. For example the 50x is the same glass as the Pro1000HD, but at about half the price.

Plus since you'll be using a PC to drive it, you won't need the extra electronics. Of course with the Pioneer, there's at least one company making boards for them with scalers/tuners/inputs/etc if you want that functionality.

Of course there are a lot of Panasonic fans there to. I suggest you check out the Plasma forum at AVS for more info.

[edmc]

And if you have a particular affection for Panasonic (e.g. the beautiful new 50" Onyx), you'll find folks referencing the "7UY" which is actually the next generation panel (Onyx is equivalent to the previous "6UY" according to various AVS posts) in it's commercial form.

Of course you'll likely give up things like built-in QAM (HD Cable) tuners (such as that in the Panasonic Onyx mentioned above).

You might also pay attention to the numerous threads discussing the LCD flat panel offerings - particularly the 45" Sharp models (GX6U, GD4U, and GD6U). These have the advantage of being "Plasma burn-in fear" free. I went this route for that reason as well as the well-lit environment my panel will go into. My panel arrives Thursday evening - yipee!

[IKK]

At this point I am not particular to any plasma. I just want the best picture for the best price. I like the sound of the Pioneer I checked the price and it is almost half of the consumer Panasonic. I really dont care for all the extras like being able to insert a cf card to watch a picture slideshow. I care for quality of picture, quality of build, and good price. Like most electronics I also dont want something that will not be able to meet my needs years down the road.

[stanger89]

If you're concerned about the future, you may want to look at this:
http://www.plasmaextreme.us/amec.htm

[IKK]

Stanger89
By chance do you have this model? I had been doing some digging on the AVS forum. I did look at the different cards, pretty cool. Decided to drive by God Guys noticed the consumer version for 9000 bucks. Reason I asked if you had this or any other plasma is because I am debating on how to connect the system. If I am going to buy plasma I really want the ability to use the HD channels. I currently use analog DirecTV and was thinking of purchasing on HD receiver as well as the DirecTV HD service. I know Sage wont record HD but I figure I would let the analog record and use the HD receiver for live TV. Just hope one day Sage moves towards HD recordings. I would do ota HD but for one of the tuner cards I could put towards the purchase of an HD receiver. Whats your setup like.

[stanger89]

Nope, don't have a plasma (46" Mits CRT RPTV with analog cable), but I followed the plasma info for a while when the 503CMX was new so I remember some of the stuff I found out then. As far as hooking D* up to a "industrial" plasma like the 504, you'll probably need one of the cards with component inputs. IIRC the inputs native to the plasma are rather limited, usually just computer inputs (like VGA/DVI) and maybe an S-Video or something. You should be able to get the 504 specs of the Pioneer site.