Plasma panels - what to choose?

["Paul Gordon" <paul_gordon@xxxxxxx>]

Thinking of buying a 50" plasma, what are the current recommendations
either
to buy, or to avoid?

I see there is actually quite a choice of 50"-ers around now, -
unbeatable
has panels by LG, Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and
Phillips.

Prices seem to range from about £5000 ish to £7000 ish...

I must have a PC input, preferably to XGA res (1024x768) and would prefer a
silent fanless panel if possible. I don't mind too much if the tuner unit
is
onboard or external, but I'd like it not to be at extra cost!

Also, looking around there seems to be some wildly different contrast ratio
figures being quoted: - for instance the Hitachi CMP5000WXE quotes 700:1,
whereas the Panasonic TH-50PHD5BX quotes 3000:1 - thats quite a difference?
- is there some hidden story here? - are they really that different? - is
it
noticeable?

Also, what's the deal with PC resolutions? - 1024x768 produces a normal 3:2
aspect ratio image, so how do the panels display this? - with black bars
either side, or does it stretch the image horizantally to fill the screen,
or better still, are there PC drivers which can give proper widescreen
desktop resolutions?

So many questions!...

TIA

Paul G.



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