Great for what it is...but only EDTV
Written: Mar 31 '06
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Pros: Great Price, Rock Solid, Reliable and well built. Great sound from built in speakers.
Cons: Only EDTV. Suffers from color banding in shadows and other similarly complex tones.
The Bottom Line: I would buy this TV again in a heartbeat...for a second display. Not for use as the cornerstone of your home theater.
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| livitup's Full Review: Akai PDP-4294 42 in. EDTV-Ready TV |
I purchased this TV from Costco about a year and a half ago. We currently use it in our bedroom to watch evening news, Cops, Simpsons, and other junk off our Tivo.
The thing to remember about this TV is that it is only EDTV and thus shouldn't be considered in the same class as $5000-$6000 plasmas of the same size.
The EDTV standard is significantly below HDTV, and if you hook a HDTV set top box up to this TV you will notice a poorer picture than what they show off at Best Buy. For me it is most obvious in the subtle shading differences of faces in shadow, when a show fades to black at the end, etc. The color specification of EDTV just can't keep up, especially when your HDTV set top box is sending out full quality HDTV.
Another consideration, and this is true of all plasmas, is viewing distance. Plasma TVs can NOT be viewed up close. For a plasma TV of this size you need at least a 12 to 15 foot viewing distance, and something more like 20 feet would be preferable. Any closer and you'll get the dreaded "screen door effect," but again, this is not a fault of this TV in particular, but all plasmas.
This TV is what it is. A great bargain, a great performer, and rock solid. We've probably watched between 1 and 2 hours of TV on this set for the last one-and-a-half years. It's still just as bright and colorful as the day we bought it. The speakers put out good enough sound that I didn't bother setting up our bedroom home theater system.
Judge this TV fairly, and you'll see that it's a great performer in its class.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2500
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Epinions.com ID:
livitup
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Reviews written: 2
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