[QUOTE]Originally posted by pellisS2k
Cyrus, not true about plasmas.

The latest ones are rated at 60000 hours to half-brightness.

 

well, not many people have had plasmas for more than 2 years. plus, their black performance is sub par at best.

i chose a tube, not because of cost, but quality. tubes are the best thing going right now for contrast and color.

 

I have -- it is still working fine, often left on for days at a time.

 

I disagree about the blacklevels of plasmas. LCD's look like crap when trying to display black, but plasma is still a phosphorous technology, and displays a near pure black, VERY VERY close to that of a CRT.

Also, Steven nailed the ISF calibration post (except that standard is 6300k, not 5800, but what does that matter?)

ISF calibration on a tube tv will take about 4-5 hours when done properly. You cna do a decent job of calibration by yourself with a tune up disc such as Sound and Vision or DVE, but ISF is a must for perfection. The ISF certified tech can get into the advanced menus that you have to press a "secret" series of buttons to access.

Best of luck with everything.

 

Also, check out the latest issue of Sound&Vision. There is a short little blurb in the Q&A about plasma life. Most are turning out to last about 13 years till you can even notice a difference in brightness, being used 6 hours a day.

 

yes, newer plasmas are better with black, but the early ones and cheap ones are only okay. the DLPs I've seen look very nice, that may be the next step when i want to upsize my tube.

actually, the secret codes are well known. i just posted Sony and Samsung. samsung's isn't that thorough, but Sony's has HUNDREDS of settings.

yea, i got NTSC white wrong, but not by much setting the white color is the only thing you can't do at home. it took me several hours to perfect the colors. it is amazing how much red is in every color by default.