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#11
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OT - Plasma TV question
Yes, and many projectors don't do well with normal ambient light levels
during the daytime. And the projectors that do handle this well, tend to eat those $200 light bulbs are a high rate. Unless this will be in an area that Jay can keep a little dark, I'd shy away from a projector. They simply generate the light levels required for daytime use in a room with unshaded windows. Well, this is inside a windowless meeting room -- so keeping light out is a simple matter. Do the projection TVs need a special screen, or can you just project the picture on a painted white wall? -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#12
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OT - Plasma TV question
Jay Honeck wrote:
Personally, I'd lean toward LCD unless I really needed the size offered by plasma. They don't seem to get much bigger than this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....1102655 91243 A 37-inch by Westinghouse (WESTINGHOUSE? What museum did they drag *that* name brand out of?) seems to be as big as Best Buy handles. I was hoping for at least 42 inch, but the LCD price is sure good, though. They get a lot bigger than that. http://www.i4u.com/article1082.html http://www.i4u.com/article2217.html However, the prices get a lot bigger also! Matt |
#13
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OT - Plasma TV question
Jay Honeck wrote:
Yes, and many projectors don't do well with normal ambient light levels during the daytime. And the projectors that do handle this well, tend to eat those $200 light bulbs are a high rate. Unless this will be in an area that Jay can keep a little dark, I'd shy away from a projector. They simply generate the light levels required for daytime use in a room with unshaded windows. Well, this is inside a windowless meeting room -- so keeping light out is a simple matter. Sounds ideal. Do the projection TVs need a special screen, or can you just project the picture on a painted white wall? They don't need a special screen, but everyone I know will strongly suggest one. The screen really makes the display work well and they aren't cheap either and come in a variety of colors, gain values, etc. There are three options with a projector: 1. Use a plain white wall. This is a very poor option. 2. Use a special paint made for projectors. This is a mediocre option. 3. Use a special screen made for projectors. This is by far the best option, but also by far the most costly. A decent screen will start at close to a grand. However, many reviews I've seen say if you are going to scrimp, scrimp on the projector and not the screen. A good screen will last 20 years. The projector will be obsolete in 3. And each dollar spent on the screen will return much more viewing quality than an additional dollar spent on the projector. Matt |
#14
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OT - Plasma TV question
Peter Duniho wrote: One big downside to plasma is the issue of burn-in. They are getting better, but you can still wind up with latent images of an image that stays on the screen for extended periods of time. This might be a TV channel logo, a ticker from CNN, computer graphics, or whatever. Another downside is that the lifetime of the display itself is somewhat limited, as it fades over time. Plasma displays are also VERY heavy, consume a lot of power, and generate a lot of heat. They do look VERY nice though. I bought a 42" plasma January 2005. I was concerned about burn in and how long it would last. The life of the TV is supposed to be 40,000 hours before it gets to half brightness. Well, run the numbers. That's 5000 days at 8 hours a day. I've never kept my primary TV that long. As for burn in it isn't a problem. We've got lots of hours with Fox News on the TV with the scroll running on the bottom. Just not a factor. Plasma is not heavy. Our 42" TV weighs about 75 pounds, less than any similar sized CRT TV and a lot easier to carry. As for power my 42" uses 350 watts which is quite a bit, a lot of heat comes of a plasma. As for picture, no question a plasma is better. I also have an LCD flat screen HD TV, the plasma makes it look silly. If you consider a projector make sure you check on the cost of repalcement bulbs. I see some of them can be over $200, plus not all projectors are capable of HD. You'll need to spen at least $1000 to get a halfway decent projector picture plus the disadvantage of having to have a dark room. |
#15
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OT - Plasma TV question
Newps wrote:
Peter Duniho wrote: One big downside to plasma is the issue of burn-in. They are getting better, but you can still wind up with latent images of an image that stays on the screen for extended periods of time. This might be a TV channel logo, a ticker from CNN, computer graphics, or whatever. Another downside is that the lifetime of the display itself is somewhat limited, as it fades over time. Plasma displays are also VERY heavy, consume a lot of power, and generate a lot of heat. They do look VERY nice though. I bought a 42" plasma January 2005. I was concerned about burn in and how long it would last. The life of the TV is supposed to be 40,000 hours before it gets to half brightness. Well, run the numbers. That's 5000 days at 8 hours a day. I've never kept my primary TV that long. As for burn in it isn't a problem. We've got lots of hours with Fox News on the TV with the scroll running on the bottom. Just not a factor. Plasma is not heavy. Our 42" TV weighs about 75 pounds, less than any similar sized CRT TV and a lot easier to carry. As for power my 42" uses 350 watts which is quite a bit, a lot of heat comes of a plasma. As for picture, no question a plasma is better. I also have an LCD flat screen HD TV, the plasma makes it look silly. If you consider a projector make sure you check on the cost of repalcement bulbs. I see some of them can be over $200, plus not all projectors are capable of HD. You'll need to spen at least $1000 to get a halfway decent projector picture plus the disadvantage of having to have a dark room. Burn in takes about two years to set in on the newer sets. I'm not surprised that you haven't seen anything in only 13 months. By 4-5 years it will be very noticeable if you watch certain channels too much. For folks that watch a variety of standard TV shows, then it likely won't be a big problem. Matt |
#16
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OT - Plasma TV question
Sorry I can't answer the questions for you, but I like your idea a
whole lot. We always attend movie night at our daughters' school even if we already saw the movies several times. Hooking it up to FS would be awesome, I suppose. Here's a link to a full size controls for sale on Ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/helic...QQcmdZViewItem or http://makeashorterlink.com/?C25F514BC It is for a helicopter though. The Monk Jay Honeck wrote: I'm considering installing a big-screen plasma (or LCD) TV in our meeting room at the inn, for use during presentations, etc. An alternative (and, to me, more important) use of this equipment would be as "God's Own Flight Simulator" for visiting pilots and their families to use. I think it would be way cool to have a wall-sized flight simulator display available for our guests, and it would be a great way to hook kids of all ages on aviation in general. (Most of our guests are not pilots, despite the aviation theme...) It would also be cool to have "movie nights" at the inn, showing classic aviation movies. 'Top Gun' on a 60 inch plasma TV would be a great draw! Sadly, I haven't kept up with this technology, and I notice there are several competing systems. Also, I'm starting to see the long-awaited convergence between computers and TV, with Dell offering flat panel "displays" that look just like TVs. Is anyone on the 'group an expert with this stuff? Anyone already own one? Can anyone recommend (or steer me clear from) any brands? Are all plasma TVs usable as computer monitors, too? Thanks! -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#17
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OT - Plasma TV question
You've already got some good info, but one thing that has not been
mentioned is that like VMC, not all HDTV is created equal. HD just means "better than standard definition" (525 lines). There are several HD standards, the best have 1080 lines, and are called 1080i (interlaced 30 fps video) or 1080 24p (progressive scan 24 frames per second, used for films). Some stations broadcast 720i, and some sets only have that number of dots, which degrades the better signals. And some sets are called "HD" but really just interpolate standard signals. Be sure you get a set that can display all formats in their native resolution - don't waste money on a set that's only capable of 720i. Also, please =please= don't stretch a 4x3 image to fit the entire screen. Everyone looks fat and squishy, and it just looks funny. Display it with vertical bars on the sides, in its natural 4x3 format, and save the wide screen display for real wide screen material. Jose -- Money: what you need when you run out of brains. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#18
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OT - Plasma TV question
I picked up an InFocus 4805 at Costco (a bit more than 1 AMU)
and it came with a 6 ft. screen "window shade" type. Mounted it on the ceiling, works fine. My friends went with the screen material (there are a number of suppliers, check google) and created frame to mount the material, then mounted that on a wall. This definitely eliminated any ripple or waves. On the other hand, I haven't noticed any on my window shade version, either. |
#19
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OT - Plasma TV question
In article ,
Blanche wrote: Best of all, it's a box the size of a large phone book, lightweight, and I can carry it to meetings if I need it. Otherwise I keep it mounted in the frame I built on the ceiling. Jay, if you go this route, make sure you lock it down, even though it is mounted to the ceiling, and 'out of reach'. We had two projectors walk off at work, and they were mounted high enough that even standing on the conference tables, you couldn't reach them. Since the newer projectors are so small, they are really easy to hide on the way out. John -- John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/ |
#20
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OT - Plasma TV question
On 25 Feb 2006 14:42:38 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote: I'm considering installing a big-screen plasma (or LCD) TV in our meeting room at the inn, for use during presentations, etc. An alternative (and, to me, more important) use of this equipment would be as "God's Own Flight Simulator" for visiting pilots and their families to use. I think it would be way cool to have a wall-sized flight simulator display available for our guests, and it would be a great way to hook kids of all ages on aviation in general. (Most of our guests are not pilots, despite the aviation theme...) It would also be cool to have "movie nights" at the inn, showing classic aviation movies. 'Top Gun' on a 60 inch plasma TV would be a great draw! Plasma or LCD are getting quite nice. Sadly, I haven't kept up with this technology, and I notice there are several competing systems. Also, I'm starting to see the long-awaited convergence between computers and TV, with Dell offering flat panel "displays" that look just like TVs. Starting? This monitor is only a 17" LCD, but being truly rectangular it's close to the area of a 19" CRT. They are now available much larger although not as large as the plasma displays. I've been using it for over 3 years. This computer and the one before it had S-video out along with advanced sound. It has also had the ability to work much like TVIO since before TVIO came out. They will also write to single and dual layer DVDs which are a lot nicer than tapes, but not re-recordable. The do make disks capable of that but none I've seen were trustworthy. The only thing it lacks there is the on screen menu. The video card on the computer in the shop also works with digital TV and both have tuner capability. (Look up RADEON all-in-wonder video cards along with tuners) BTW I've had at least one computer up and running with a tuner, video capture, and NTSC out for between 4 and 5 years. OTOH those computers and their setup was probably not something the average TV viewer would want to tackle. :-)) Both plasma and LCD have their own advantages. The plasma may be a tad brighter but they are making great strides with LCDs including very wide viewing angles. Plasma displays do age, but unless you are like us and it sets on the weather channel for 12 to 14 hours a day they should last a very long time. OTOH LCD displays may lose brilliance, but you only have to replace a little bulb. However, when the Plasma display gets dirty you get out the Windex (tm) and have at it. LCD screens are sensitive and can be damaged easily. Then some plasma displays generate a *lot* of RF noise which might be noticed in a nearby aviation receiver. If you go with plasma see if you can find a "try before you buy.". I've seen thin plastic sheets used to cover LCD displays that don't even show when looking at the picture when properly applied, but I don't know how large you can get them. Is anyone on the 'group an expert with this stuff? Anyone already I'm no expert on the things but I do follow them a bit. own one? Can anyone recommend (or steer me clear from) any brands? Are all plasma TVs usable as computer monitors, too? Here it's one of those "check it out in the store". Many, if not most have both NTSC and S-video inputs along with digital and some don't. I'm looking to get about a 27" flat screen LCD for the shop with at least 1280 X 1024 resolution (preferably 1600 by what ever). In this case the computer can serve as the TV set. I'm cramped for space and I'd put the monitor on a swing arm. Currently have one of those hernia developing, hemroid (sp?) busting, 19" CRTs that is always in the way. It's big and it's *heavy* and it's always in the way. Did I mention it's always in the way? Now for the big couch, refrigerator, small stove...sigh no running water out there, but it does have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Good Luck, Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member) (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair) www.rogerhalstead.com Thanks! |
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