I just bought a 42" plasma TV

**McAfee** · 08-07-2006, 07:26 AM

I was in the market for one and got a Best Buy 10% off plus 15,000 Reward Zone points card in the mail for this past weekend. After much back and forth between plasma and LCD, I decided on the LG plasma HDTV over the HP plasma.

Much as I'd like to say I'm up on the tech, I'm still pretty wet behind the ears on a lot of the details. Got a few questions that I dared not ask the "professionals" (

) at Best Buy:

1) Should I get the 4-year extended service plan?

--It's an extra $300, but I've got 30 days to decide to get it or not. New/high-dollar technology scares me a little in regards to durability and dependability. I had one guy there (the salesperson) tell me it really wasn't necessary, but another (the manager, who swore he wasn't trying to be a salesperson!) tell me to get it.

2) Is an "upconversion" dvd player necessary?

--I hadn't even heard of these before since I haven't been in the market for new players or tv's in a long while. These supposedly take advantage of the HD technology of the television...or something like that.

3) Any other necessities I might need?

--I'll be using this TV with digital cable, for playing PS2 and watching movies on dvd. All these newfangled cables you need these days for this, that and the other thing...yeah, I am clueless on those.

Any and all help would be appreciated!

**Brewtown Andy** · 08-07-2006, 07:31 AM

It's like we're Best Buy brothers. I used the same card to get my 56" Samsung DLP.

Absolutely get the service plan. Why take the chance? I got it for my computer when I bought it from Best Buy and I've had to replace the HD twice. (Don't buy HPs.)

I don't think the upconversion player is needed. With component cables, DVD's playing in the PS2 looked awesome. Haven't tried my actual DVD player yet, because I need to get a set of audio cables for that.

Oh, and you might need a cable switch, depending on how many component cable inputs you have on the TV. I only have two, and have a PS2, HD cable box, and DVD player to hook in, so I needed the switch.

**McAfee** · 08-07-2006, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by Brewtown Andy

It's like we're Best Buy brothers. I used the same card to get my 56" Samsung DLP.

Absolutely get the service plan. Why take the chance? I got it for my computer when I bought it from Best Buy and I've had to replace the HD twice. (Don't buy HPs.)

I am also wondering, "why take the chance"? However, with a plasma I don't have to worry about buying $250-$400 bulbs like with a projection tv, and I don't have to worry about the occurrence of a dead pixel of an LCD. Plus, it's at least $300 (might be $400) which is about 20% more than I've already spent.

I also got the 18-month 0% financing option through the Best Buy credit card so that I can keep spend about $100/month on the tv until I'm better off financially to buy it.

**Frozen Sooner** · 08-07-2006, 08:31 AM

1. Yes. Sure, you don't have to worry about dead pixels or burnt-out bulbs. You DO have to worry about the screen itself burning out. The newer models aren't as bad as they used to be, but it's still worth it.

2. No. Your TV very likely has an upscaler already built in that's better than the one in the DVD player. HDMI is very wonky technology. I know very few A/V pros who actually recommend using it over component cables.

3. Buy the Yamaha RXV-659 receiver with the iPod dock. You absolutely cannot beat it at the price point, and it has HDTV switching built in.

**ERNIE_E** · 08-07-2006, 08:36 AM

Absolutely get the service plan. The trouble with the big TVs is servicing them and if you paid that much for a TV, I would hope you have enough to buy the service plan and trick it out.

Jumping into the real of HDTV is a whole different level because of you can jump into the real of the PS3, High Def Cable TV, and you can be one of the rich beta-testers for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players. It's too rich for me, man. But I'm still jealous.

**Lyfeforce** · 08-07-2006, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by McAfee

Much as I'd like to say I'm up on the tech, I'm still pretty wet behind the ears on a lot of the details. Got a few questions that I dared not ask the "professionals" (

) at Best Buy:

1) Should I get the 4-year extended service plan?

2) Is an "upconversion" dvd player necessary?

3) Any other necessities I might need?

Any and all help would be appreciated!

I'm an A/V tech at my job, so maybe I can help

1) HELL. YES. while it's come a long way, plasma still has siginificant burn-in problems and LG's in particular have this issue where one or more scan lines directly in the middle of the tv completely die out (and will show up as a nice ugly color line). Get that warranty.

2) Meh, it's really a coin flip. I prefer component video myself. HDMI isn't really proven itself in the consumer market yet. Hell, I have a LG Up-convert dvd player at home and i've hooked a monitor up to it on both connections and didn't see much of a difference.

3) if you don't have a surround sound system yet, there's really no excuse left not to get one

Honestly it sounds like you're good otherwise. Good luck to you on the new purchase.

**hakubi** · 08-07-2006, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Frozen Sooner

2. No. Your TV very likely has an upscaler already built in that's better than the one in the DVD player. HDMI is very wonky technology. I know very few A/V pros who actually recommend using it over component cables.

Exactly, HDMI is one of those technologies that exist to try to plug the A-hole (analog hole) so you can't copy things off the DVD. It is questionably superior and only exists to keep you from using the movies YOU OWN in any way you want. Like making a legal backup. Which Circuit City is now doing for people apparently. Mmmmm....litigious movie studios.

**Frozen Sooner** · 08-07-2006, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by hakubi

Exactly, HDMI is one of those technologies that exist to try to plug the A-hole (analog hole) so you can't copy things off the DVD. It is questionably superior and only exists to keep you from using the movies YOU OWN in any way you want. Like making a legal backup. Which Circuit City is now doing for people aparently. Mmmmm....litigious movie studios.

Yup. In fact, I hooked both up on my TV and the component actually looked better. Plus, the HDMI connection kept sending a signal to the DVD player every time I switched between the two connections that would make it so I had to turn the DVD player off and on again to get it to play.

HDMI technology is nominally superior in that it can carry higher bandwidth than component cables can. Plus it limits the number of cables going to your TV, especially if you're using the speakers on the TV. However, I don't think anyone seriously believes that the HD-DVD players and BluRay players are going to limit resolution on the analog side for very long. It's just going to end up pissing off too many consumers.