GadGets

As I have purchased many electronics items for myself and my friends and relatives, I have been appointed the ambassador of all things that have a plug attached. A few days ago I found myself in search a number of items I was given a list and a wad of cash to purchase them. After I deposited their monies, I sat down at my computer, and opened up Electronics Expo’s bookmarked website and started my virtual journey.

The first thing on my list from my sister-in-law is a large plasma TV, “the biggest one with the best picture, and don’t even think about spending more than three thousand dollars, including an extra 3 year warranty,” she was quoted as saying on her way out the door. After I clarified the tax issue on the phone, I penciled in the Panasonic TCP-65V10 (a personal favorite in plasma as I like the THX mode that comes built in), and then moved on to the next item on the list for her son Richard.

He is a young man starting out, but as my nephew and a budding videophile, he wants the best set he can get for the money, and so it is Uncle Gregg to the rescue as usual. I thought about his situation for a moment and his small, well-lit apartment and decided a Samsung LCD would work best. Given the distance from his bed to the opposing wall, a 46″ seemed the most appropriate size. He already has a PS3, so I thought it best get him one of the new 3D sets, probably the UN-46C7000 (I’d like a 55″ for myself), and kick in a few bucks for him myself in advance of his 23rd birthday. Check mark number 2.

The next item on my list was from my neighbor Nish , a man of eclectic tastes and little technical knowledge of electronics devices despite being an engineer. He has been in need of a new receiver for some time, and after spending many evenings listening to jazz on my Denon AVR-4810ci, he wanted one but did not need all the bells and whistles. I wrote down the AVR-4310ci and saved him some money with no qualitative differences I thought he would notice. I looked like my Expo coupon WS901X3807 was going to get a good workout today. Check mark number 3.

The last item on my list is one that has been in my own home now for some time and has sprouted to a total of three: the venerable Velodyne Impact Mini. This one is going to my old college roommate Max for his house on the Jersey Shore. Check mark number 4. Whew.

My nephew has had the good fortune of my choice for him being out of stock, so I added Christmas present to his total and got him the Samsung UN-55C7000 for a total of $2776, including the tax and shipping. My sister-in-laws’ TCP-65V10 came out to the outstanding price of $3064 with the same tax and shipping and of course the Denon AVR-4310ci for Nish at $1417.00. The Impact Mini was an astounding $214.00, all inclusive.

All in all I think everyone did outstanding and my position as the electronics Guru has been set in stone.

Rating: 5 / 5

Panasonic is widely known as a major manufacturer of some of the most popular plasma displays available. What is not known however is that this company is EXTREMELY cruel and has no regard for the customers that pump out thousands of dollars for their sets. It is becoming more and more public as each day passes that one of the MAJOR features of this set (the only one in my opinion that would set it apart from the remaining plasma competition) it’s black levels, are stripped away in an unacceptably short amount of time. Numerous long time members of enthusiasts website “AVS Forum” have posted results taken by actual light meters that their black levels had DOUBLED in as little as 200 to 300 hours of use. In addition, a feature that is a marketing gimmick to begin with also becomes even more of a non-feature when this bug in their software begins it’s reign of terror on the panel. I am referring to none other that the “infinite black feature”. Now you would think that this feature enables the T.V to display an infinite level of black in content viewed on the panel lending an unparalleled amount of depth, richness, and realism to the images. Um…no. All it does is drops an input with either no signal, or an image that does not require one pixel to be lit up to 0.00FTL. Which is essentially absolute black. Rest assured that if one lowly little pixel lights up, your infinite black 0.00FTL turns into 0.08FTL, which is not bad at all, but by no means infinite black. Hold on it gets better. This feature as useless as it is, is only available in the most useless of all AV selections, that’s right folks, Vivid. Try this on Custom, Game, Standard, or even the mighty (sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth) THX mode, and it’s a no go. Well, when the panel “Cancer” begins, one of the symptoms is that you may loose this wonderful feature. Essentially you will have an LCD with none of the perks of an LCD. The once rich deep picture becomes a washed out, uninspiring mess to look at. I hoped that I might be spared of this disease but as soon as I hit around 130 hours, my lush beautiful Panasonic plasma transformed into a 65″ LCD that only gets half as bright as an LCD and none of the pop either. Not to mention I get a free side order of severe image retention to go along with it. There is no way Panasonic does not know exactly what is causing this. The “leaders” of this company could have all of the people that know every inner working of this T.V assembled in a room within a day if they wanted (which no doubt they did) and have the issue explained to them as this is a necessary “job” for every display to do. However, Panasonic is the only plasma that compromises it’s black levels to do so. Voltages that charge the display’s pixels need to be adjusted to compensate for wear on the materials in the panel. Panasonic basically bought themselves a stretch Hummer made of platinum to compensate for the little winky in it’s pants. Basically I am saying that the voltage increases are way overcompensated. Sorry, I can be a little evil when I am angry. Anyway, this is the statement that Panasonic has released to C-Net.

“Panasonic Viera plasma HDTVs deliver exceptional picture performance throughout the lifetime of these products. Various elements and material characteristics of all electronic displays change with use over time. In order to achieve the optimal picture performance throughout the life of the set, Panasonic Viera plasma HDTVs incorporate an automatic control which adjusts an internal driving voltage at predetermined intervals of operational hours.

As a result of this automatic voltage adjustment, background brightness will increase from its initial value. After several years of typical use, the internal material characteristics will stabilize and no additional automatic voltage adjustments are required. The Black Level at this stabilized point will yield excellent picture performance.

The newest Viera plasma HDTVs incorporate an improved automatic control which applies the voltage adjustments in smaller increments. This results in a more gradual change in the Black Level over time.

Need I say more. Additionally Panasonic CSRs have told many customers that the investigation is complete and there will be no fix because there is no problem. Many chats on Panasonic’s concierge chat feature were posted on the AVS Forum where they contradict themselves in the same chat over, and over again. Please google this issue and you will never buy ANYTHING with a Panasonic badge of shame on it again.
Rating: 1 / 5

Have only had the TV for two weeks. The picture is wonderful right out of the box. You will need to lower the factory settings and go through a few hundred hour break-in period to allow the panel to settle in before displaying the truly brilliant video. Still waiting to determine if ISF calibration will make the display better but it looks really good as is. Have over one hundred hours to date.
Rating: 5 / 5

Long overdue, enjoying it so much! In addition, this is a first for large online purchasing in our house. The process was so smooth and easy! The underlying vendor (OneCall) was better than the local box stores or electronic shops we were otherwise considering. Two thumbs way up!
Rating: 5 / 5

This TV is amazing and I LOVE it! Pass the LED and LCD TV up if your going above 50 inches, this 65 inch monster kills the competition. It has so many features and options you can’t go wrong and with a 600Mhz refresh rate you don’t see any blurring on screen during fast image changes. I did find that my eyes were straining a bit when I watched the tv for long periods of time in the dark room. So I purchased a product to light the TV up in the back, it really helps reduce eye strain, it’s called Illuminaire – See it here – [...]
Rating: 5 / 5