Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on October 22, 2005 at 18:09:41

In Reply to: Re: commercial model posted by Kenreau on October 22, 2005 at 14:44:11:

Bigger is better in most cases when it comes to displays. 10' back is fine for a 50" display. But if you have to fit it in a certain space, obviously size considerations will be restrictive.

Hint: my name's not Christopher Lowell. Asthetics are important, but the wife should be happy she's getting to watch a plasma. I was just being honest with my assessment of $600 speakers from Panasonic -- your... err, her call on the speakers.

At 10' - 12' back from a 42" model, I wouldn't spend money on a video processor. My reasoning is that it looks like Panasonic is going with 14-bit processing in these new commercial models. That's nice to see: this will contribute to improved picture quality over previous models and much of the competition. But if you should get a 50" model, the investment in a dedicated video processor would be worthwhile. DVDO makes some nice products, but I would recommend that anyone interested in a video processor look for one that allows for a 10-bit signal path (the SI04 deinterlacer DVDO uses is an 8-bit processor). That means one that uses current Faroudja or Silicon Optix/Terranex processing. Check out the Video Processor forum at AVS. There's discussion about some recent announcements from a manufacturer incorporating HQV (High Quality Video from SO/T) processing in a processor (the Vantage-HD) under $3k. DVDO (makers of the iScan processors) is working on a future processor -- not the recently announced iScan VP30 -- that will use a 10-bit path. Dale Adams is hard at work, but it won't be available for a while.

Here's a link to the Panasonic site for their commercial models. For dimensions, click on the Features section after you click the link for the model you're interested in:

• commercial models   (Open in New Window)