Got a Plasma screen, now I would like to do some 16:9 home video.

[jeepman]

I finally saved enough for a "cheap" Plasma. I got the Akai at Costco for about $3.2K AR. I have a Sony Camcorder which will do 16:9, so that is what I will use from now on, but I would like to redo some of my current tape library in 16:9 mode too. I have used TMPEGenc to create a 720x400 MPEG2 file, but ULead MSP 6.5's DVD plugin it refusing to use it, and says to use an MPEG2 compliant source. Is there a package that will let me do very basic authoring of a 720x400 source, or am I on the wrong track completely?

[Jerry Jones]

I noticed the plasma screen prices are dropping almost to within reason at the local Best Buy.

In another two years, they'll actually be affordable.

I suspect you may be on the wrong track.

When you say you want to 'redo' your tape library in 16:9... I'm a little confused.

Were they shot in 4:30 aspect ratio?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[rylan]

I hope you got the extended warranty if there was one offered. Unfortunately I've heard that the cheaper odd-name plasmas are pretty unreliable

[jeepman]

Originally posted by Jerrold Jones
I noticed the plasma screen prices are dropping almost to within reason at the local Best Buy.

In another two years, they'll actually be affordable.

I suspect you may be on the wrong track.

When you say you want to 'redo' your tape library in 16:9... I'm a little confused.

Were they shot in 4:30 aspect ratio?

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

They were shot in 4:3 aspect ratio. I want to simulate, or do a "conversion so the scene fills up the screen in wide mode.

[Flying dutchman]

Make sure you get a decent warranty! The German CT magazine had an article on Plasma screens last month; it seems they get darker with time and suffer from burn-in.

[Kris1]

... that article stopped me from buying a Philips Plasma now. Brightness losses of 10 to 20% per year were stated as possibility in that article, and the unreversable Burnin especially when doing split-screen stuff really scared me of for the time beeing. That said, congrats on your purchase, and may it work flawlessly for years to come !

[wkulecz]

Without actual model numbers being mentioned hard to realate what we may be seeing, but the Philips Plasma display I saw at Best Buy for ~$10K was the first I've seen with the brighness/contrast to make me even consider these things, but the price has got to come down by a factor of 4-5 before I'd seriously even think about it at this screen size. My friend has an older one (don't recall the brand) and after the "coolness" of having the TV hanging on the wall wears off, I've always thought is was rather poor as a TV -- very poor blacks unless the room is too dark to see the remote.

I made the mistake of taking my wife with me to MicroCenter last Sunday where they recently opened up a "home theater" store. She parked in front of the 65" Toshiba rear projection HDTV and just had to have one. Only the ~$3K price slowed her down. Turned out Fry's had it on sale for $1999 in Friday's paper and Best Buy price matches ..... so its being delivered Saturday. I'll give my opinions once I've had a chance to try everything it can do, but its clearly my wife's toy for watching DVDs. All I wanted to get was some large format paper for my Epson 2200, which neither MicroCenter or Best Buy had in stock, instead I spent the rest of the weekend moving furniture to make room for the damn thing. At least now she can't bitch when I spring for the VX-2000 :-)

--wally.

[Flying dutchman]

MY wife is the one who always drags me AWAY from these toys!

[Kris1]

... same here.

The Philips I was considering was the 42PF9964. Nice screen, good tuner electronics but I think the panel itself is a Hitachi development. "Cool Factor" means nothing to me, I just had a couple of demands that I did find quite easely on a Plasma, but not on a regular set.

As stupid as it may sound, I was more looking for a TV set that has a DVI or 15Pins input and combines that with a dual tuner system : it doesn't necesserally have to be a Plasma. I know years ago, Philips had that kind of TV-sets with a VGA input, but these days the only TV I could find with that connector was a top-of-the line Samsung .... which had a rather terrrible image quality. The rear projection sets have made considerable advances these last 2 years in terms of quality, but they still remain _terribly big_.

If anyone now is urged to say "stupid *ss, why haven't you looked at XYZ, they have what you need", I'm all ears. Just remember, I need a PAL device.

[Kris1]

Back on the subject..

... and my appologies for frayning from the subject.

Something bothers me : I'm no hero in NTSC stuff, but I always thought 4:3 and 16:9 did have no influence on the actual resolution needed for DVD compliancy (720x480). In that case I'd suspect every DVD-authorer will chocke on that 720x400 file, no ? In which case, converting back to a 720x480 will become unavoidable.

[wkulecz]

Originally posted by Flying dutchman
MY wife is the one who always drags me AWAY from these toys!

The trick is first choosing the correct model of wife. :-)

This was really out of character for us as usually we shop and compare beyond the point of rationality for even trivial stuff like cat food. But she saw a DVD playing back on this thing and was blown away. Our player supports progressive scan so should be all set. I've not paid much attension to HDTV, being underwhelmed by the displays of our local HDTV channels I've seen in the stores so I'm looking forward to playing with it.

--wally.

[jeepman]

Re: Back on the subject..

Originally posted by Kris1
... and my appologies for frayning from the subject.

Something bothers me : I'm no hero in NTSC stuff, but I always thought 4:3 and 16:9 did have no influence on the actual resolution needed for DVD compliancy (720x480). In that case I'd suspect every DVD-authorer will chocke on that 720x400 file, no ? In which case, converting back to a 720x480 will become unavoidable.

I kind of discovered that last night. I upgraded my TMPGenc to the latest version, and I was able to set the aspect ratio to 16:9, and as it rendered, I could see it was "scrunched" up so when viewed on the panel, it will look correct.

Off topic, I didn't know the subject would create so many posts about Plasma. I agree, there are better ways to watch TV out there, but in Southern California, the houses are small. Our front room/TV room is 14'x16', so taking up space with a rear projection was not an option. Also, watching DVD's in 480p mode is absolutely awesome once you get everything adjusted.