Hey guys, I am purchasing a plasma, the Panasonic TH50PHD8UK 50" commercial monitor.

I found a great deal on it, $3000 shipped.

Someone told me that these are NOT plug and play plasmas. That I will need to buy an additional tuner to make it work with my digital cable provider.

Can you guys take a look at these specs and tell me if this is true, or bs.

SPECS

Thanks a lot!

 

Don't do it Dave! Get a projector instead. Your picture will be just as nice and you don't have to worry about your screen breaking down. Remember you can't fix a plazma. Once they break, it becomes a very large paper weight.
Get a projector dude! Then you can have a 100" screen!

 

Oh I forgot to mention... you can buy a full home theater setup for about $3000 bucks

 

Thanks John. The room this is going in isnt projector friendly. I will buy a projector as well when I get a new house, in which I will turn the basement into a movie theater. Same thing with top end home audio. For now, I have all the home theater stuff, except the TV. Believe me, I wanted the projector, but it just doesnt work well in this room.

Thanks for lookin out tho. Ive heard these plasmas are incredible tho. Just getting scared that it wont work without a standalone tuner. Any experience with commercial monitors? I know you know cabling and such, so your input is important.

 

If I am not mistaken, if you need a box for digital cable, that is your tuner. You can project to any video input. This is assuming the box is not just a digitizer.

Down here in FL we have Comcast Digital Cable and Directv. Both of which come with tuners, but the Comcast is also a digitizer, as the signal is analog all the way to the box.

The specs have a TON of A/V possibilities......you can hook your computer up and download NetFlicks right to your TV. If you have a wireless mouse and keyboard, you can do office work on the couch.....the LCD TV/DVD combo I got for my room is going to be getting this treatment as soon as I can afford a new computer (probably fall).

I think what you heard is that it does not have a built-in tuner. If your digital cable box is a tuner as well as a digitizer, you will not need the built-in tuner. You basically need to find out what function the box serves in your current setup.

This is all what I got from the specs....

[QUOTE]

 

According to the instruction manual, this unit is only a "monitor". It has no built in tuner. You need an outside device like a cable box, VCR or some other piece of equipment with a tuner in it. If you look at the remote for this unit, it will tell you that the channel selector buttons do not work for this model.

 

Hmm...sounds like Ill be ok. I have Time Warner Digital Cable, and my box is a DVR box. From what I understand, I can watch 2 channels at the same time (P in P) without having that opition on my TV. I believe the box has 2 tuners.

So as long as I have a tuner cable box, I do NOT need a tuner correct?

 

Thanks Dave. One of the main reasons why I want this monitor is that its just a monitor. I dont want to pay for things I dont need. I dont want speakers, I dont want any fancy stuff in the TV. Just a display. Arent all Digital cable/satellite boxes tuners?

 

Yes, any device that will select "channels", have a tuner - VCRs, most DVD recorders, PVRs, some computers.

 

Sweet. So its settled then. Ordering one next week...woohoo!! Im excited! Never owned a TV this big before!