Any Bravia owners here?

[divine]

So there are, all of the XD models it would seem, so avoid those and you're grand.

[Toby]

Well, having got it all set up, I have to say I'm damned impressed with this Sony. Ok plasmas (and Kuros in particular) may be better in some regards but for 600 quid this thing is a steal.

I also went for the BDP-S350 player for £99 and it's superb. Iron Man in 1080p/24 is utterly stunning. I've also only just discovered that Sony are running a promotion whereby, if you register the player online, they send you Batman Begins and Casino Royale on blu-ray for free - result!

Overall very very happy with the purchase.

[ElRazur]

Lucky man. Good choice and am jealous tbh.

[phykell]

I was in John Lewis in Manchester and they've got a room with a couch that you can view some of the TVs in. There's a Philips LCD in the centre, a Sony KDL-46W4500 to the left and a Pioneer 5090 to the right. All three were playing HD content and all three looked excellent except that the Pio's colour looked a bit too saturated. The odd thing was that I couldn't really tell any difference between the three though the Pio was suffering from a bad setup I think.

I'm sure that the plasma *does* offer the better picture but TBH, it's twice as expensive as the Sony and there's still the risk of burn-in. I know they say that the new plasmas don't suffer as they did but having read AV Forums, there are many who suggest that you don't play games at all for the first 100 hours or more and then if you do, limit game-play to a couple of hours maximum. I'm also bound to forget one day - the phone will ring or the door bell will go and I'll forget I've left my PS3 on a static image. No doubt that will be a permanently burned-in image.

In bright rooms, plasmas suffer a bit - our living room opens out to a very large glass area so in the day time it's very bright. At night I have the glow from a marine aquarium as well so the room is never *that* dark. The Pio is also right at the limit for size (probably too big actually).

I'm back to the Sony again. Sick of all this TBH :/

On the plus side, John Lewis are going to price match apparently

[Mark]

The best advice about the first 100 hours on a Plasma is simply (regardless of source) don't crank up the brightness, and after that, if you have to up the brightness, do it gradually. Having said that, games do tend to be vivid which is probably what lead to the gaming advice. That may well be a problem for you if you have to compete against a lot of light, so maybe the LCD is the right choice for you.

[Toby]

It was the risk of burn-in (together with the bargain on the Sony) that made me get an LCD rather than a plasma. As mentioned, regardless of the manufacturers claims and pro-plasma propaganda from some quarters, they do still stuffer from retention. In most cases it's only temporary and will fade after a short period but it's still annoying. We have a Panasonic 50PX80 at work which we use for Powerpoint presentations and the like and the retention is very noticable at times, although it's yet to leave a permanent mark on the screen.

[phykell]

There's no doubt about it though, the "fans" of Pioneer are right about the latest one - Transformers on Blu-Ray was absolutely stunning and the best picture I've seen. The salesman was good though and if I hadn't arrived only 15 mins before closing time my wallet would have been substantially lighter

The other thing is that Pioneer are actually suffering because their high-end product is not selling in the necessary quantities. Seems a shame really because people are understandably going to buy the cheaper alternatives, especially with the current financial climate.

[divine]

Originally Posted by phykell

I'm also bound to forget one day - the phone will ring or the door bell will go and I'll forget I've left my PS3 on a static image. No doubt that will be a permanently burned-in image.

Woah, even on the old plasmas it takes dozens of hours to do it, it won't happen in half an hour while its on a pause screen.

The reason games get picked on is because of the HUD elements that sit in the screen permanently for hours on end.

You'll never in a million years cause burn in from leaving a game while you answer the phone.

[phykell]

Originally Posted by divine

Woah, even on the old plasmas it takes dozens of hours to do it, it won't happen in half an hour while its on a pause screen.

This is all messing with my mind now

Are you sure about this? It's not the impression I've got from AV Forums.

[Toby]

Originally Posted by phykell

The other thing is that Pioneer are actually suffering because their high-end product is not selling in the necessary quantities. Seems a shame really because people are understandably going to buy the cheaper alternatives, especially with the current financial climate.

I'm not at all surprised. IMO, plasmas may offer a better picture (on average) than LCDs and Pioneers are undoubtedly the best of the plasmas but the quality difference doesn't reflect the cost.

A 42" Kuro would have cost me over twice what my Bravia did and it's not even 1080p! They only start doing 1080p at 50" and that would have cost four times the price. Is it really four times as good? I doubt it somehow.

The general plasma versus LCD debate is fair enough and, for those who prefer the former, Panasonic offer far more reasonably priced screens which only command slightly more than their LCD equivalents.

Pioneer are living in cloud cuckoo land with their pricing. Sure there will be die-hards who must have the best quality at any price but the majority of people will look at the Kuros and wonder why the 720p panels cost twice as much as similarly sized 1080p LCDs and the 1080p panels cost twice as much as similarly specced plasmas from Panasonic.