I'm in the market to buy a television & need assistance.

[ice grillin you]

i went to look at plasmas yesterday and the sales rep told me above and beyond the price of the tv i would have to drop another 500-1000 on cables and a power center....how true uis this???...especially re: the power center which he said start at $250

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

i went to look at plasmas yesterday and the sales rep told me above and beyond the price of the tv i would have to drop another 500-1000 on cables and a power center....how true uis this???...especially re: the power center which he said start at $250

"power center"?  Is he talking about an A/V receiver, or some sort of battery backup system?

Anyway, decent cables can be had a lot cheaper than the snobs want you to believe.  99% of us couldn't tell the difference between a $100 Monster "silver" cable (don't buy Monster cables, period) or a $15 Radio Shack cable.  It's more about the TYPE of cables you connect with, not the brand/quality.

[ice grillin you]

it was something like this http://stores.tomshardware.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=430926/id_type=M//


im not building a home theater system or anything...im just looking to get a 50 inch plasma tv so that i can get hdtv...other than upgrading to a hdtv receiver what do i need to make all this happen to ensure i get the best picture quality out of my tv

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

The power center looks to be quite the gimmick.  I'm sure you'd be better off with a half-decent receiver and a good battery backup/surge protector.  When you buy the plasma, you have to make sure it supports HDTV (many of the cheaper ones only do 'EDTV'), and the receiver would depend on your source.  If you use DirecTV, you will need some sort of HD receiver if the TV does not have a built-in receiver, which more and more do.  If you use digital cable, HD receivers can be rented just like regular digital cable receivers, and usually for the same price.

[ice grillin you]

I'm sure you'd be better off with a half-decent receiver and a good battery backup/surge protector

when you say receiver here are you speaking of the same kind of receiver as you are here

you will need some sort of HD receiver if the TV does not have a built-in receiver, which more and more do

or in the first instance are you talking about a stereo receiver


the tv im getting is hdtv ready...so in addition to that i need:

hdtv tv receiver
battery backup/surge protector (can you reccomend a good one)
decent cables (recommendation?)
stereo receiver??


will i need new cables for all the av components im hooking up to the tv or can i use standard rca cables

[Seabiscuit36]

IGY for a reciever if you have cable just get the HD cable box.  If you have Dish or Direct Tv just call and you can get upgraded to a new reciever for free right now the H 20 model.  A battery backup isnt necessary jut get a surge protector, i bought one for around 60bucks at tweeter and thats what the sales guy backpedaled to after trying to sell me the $150.00 one.  For cables just buy a hdmi which has audio and video that run $99 or a four ft cable,  and if your going to use a stereo reciever for surround sound you will need a digital optical cable.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Sorry, I should clarify between an A/V receiver and a HD receiver.

Seabiscuit's advice is good.  I simply use a decent surge protector for a power source.  Usually, you can find ones with a certain dollar amount of protection offered (ie: if it blows up $6000 worth of equipment due to a power issue, they'll pay you $6000).

I would recommend an A/V receiver with at least some decent satellite speakers w/ subwoofer or tower speakers.  However, nowadays, you can easily get a quite decent "HTB" (home theater in box) for about $500, which can include the A/V receiver, surround speakers, subwoofer, and a decent DVD player.  If you don't have decent sound, why bother with a really expensive TV anyway?  As for the picture, digital cable is the easiest HD way to go, as we've said already.  If you have satellite, the options for HD receiver ARE getting cheaper and cheaper also.

I know you said you just want to go to HD and aren't worried as much about sound, but you'd be surprised how important sound becomes once the picture is nice and clear.  BTW - you 'married' to the idea of plasma?  They tend to be pretty expensive.  If you have the floor space, you can get a really nice (and longer-lasting) LCD-based projection TV for a lot cheaper (and use the extra money to get HD and A/V equipment).  Plasmas kick ass, but if you find yourself worrying about money for cables and ancillary equipment, maybe you should look into cheaper HD-ready TV's.

CRT Projection HDTV's are still out there and are dirt-cheap... and offer the best black levels around.  Of course, they're monstrously huge, which is why LCD Projection (ie: DLP, LCoS, etc) is a good compromise between price and footprint.

[ice grillin you]

at this point im not concerned with sound just getting the best picture quality i can...later on when i have the finances to support it ill add on the home theater part of it all....the tv i think im getting is a $4000 pioneer plasma...and i just want to maximize the pic on it

For cables just buy a hdmi which has audio and video that run $99 or a four ft cable

is this the only pricy cable i will need...im assuming this is the one that will run from the cable receiver to the tv...but what about the cables that run from the dvd player that are now generic rca cables...do i need to upgrade those

[Seabiscuit36]

HDMI will be all that you need for sound from DTV or your Cable box just make sure that your cable box has HDMI, Satellite boxes all do if they're been manufactured in the past 8months.  For your DVD player IGY i would go component cables.  You will get a much better picture than RCA cables.  You can use the RCA cables for the sound on the DVD player to the TV but Definitely get Component wires.  They're also a little pricey but have come down since HDMI is the new leader in audio/video.  Check out http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php? for all of you plasma questions.  The avs forum came up a few pages ago, you can get lost in there but you can really get answers there.
My suggestions:
1.)Buy a decent Surge protector
2.)Buy HDMI cable(for hdtv from cablebox/satellite reciever) and Component cable(for dvd player)

[ice grillin you]

thanks a lot....to both of yous

[ice grillin you]

oh one more question...what about the $400 four year service/warranty plan that places like best buy offer...i normally never get them, but ive also never bought something this expensive either...worth getting or are all those bullshtein

[Seabiscuit36]

FF knows the deal with them.  I bought a 2 year because my TV is the new Sony technology and i dont trust first year products.  You may want to check consumer reports or cnet.com for the TV's reviews.  Most of the time its wasted money, you can gamble or just pay it upfront and have the piece of mind. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

oh one more question...what about the $400 four year service/warranty plan that places like best buy offer...i normally never get them, but ive also never bought something this expensive either...worth getting or are all those bullshtein

Yeah, it's a tough choice.  Long-term reliability of plasmas is a little questionable, but you'd have to check what exactly is covered under the warranty.  If they don't cover burn-in (or other 'standard' wear & tear items), then it's a definite SKIP.  Even if they do, you have to understand that warranties are cash cows for places like Best Buy for good reason.  More often than not, you will be throwing your money down the drain.  Plus, I think you take better care of something if you don't have the mindset that all is good since it's under warranty.

If you really want to hold off on the sound system, that's cool... HDMI is definitely the #1 right now.  You just have to make sure the HD cable receiver you get has it (not all of them do).  If not, go with component video and digital coax audio (again, you may have to go with OPTICAL digital, if that's all your cable box has).

The key is what inputs are available on the TV and what outputs are available on your DVD and your cable/satellite HD receiver.

Cable/Satellite:
Choice one - HDMI.
Choice two - component video/coaxial digital.
Choice three - component video/optical digital.

DVD:
Choice one - component video/coaxial digital. (your TV may only have one digital coax input)
Choice two - component video/optical digital.
Choice three - component video/plain-ol' RCA L/R audio.

Your TV will almost definitely have at least: one HDMI input, 2 sets of component video inputs, and 2 digital inputs of some sort.  So, what you have to do is make sure the cable/sat receiver and your DVD player both support the cabling you want to use BEFORE you buy more cables.  If you're getting a new satellite receiver, it WILL have HDMI.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

If you have a TV with an HD tuner built-in, you can get HD via ANTENNA or SATELLITE only.  You won't be able to get any digital feed from a cable company without an HD cable box, which isn't really a big deal, because the rental fee, as many of us have said before, is the same whether you have a plain cable box or an HD cable box.

[ice grillin you]

not where i live....but you answered the question