http://www.dell.com/downloads/us/dhs/plasma_challenge.pdf

Interesting read.

8/25/2005 11:32:22 AM

it's on dell.com's site - bias possibly?

this line alone invalidates the entire study

CONCLUSIONS
The Dell model tested is overwhelmingly preferred to the Sony model tested when both
picture quality and price are taken into account.

8/25/2005 11:35:19 AM

well, there COULD be a bias.

but the results are interesting.

8/25/2005 11:36:55 AM

Im not surprised. Sonys quality has tanked in recent years. And this is from someone who has owned 2 HDTVs.

8/25/2005 11:55:18 AM

my Pioneer HD still looks nice...but I mean yeah thats like a link on cnn.com saying CNN is the best news source

8/25/2005 12:11:24 PM

if you give me two tvs and i can control the brightness on each ill have 8/10 people believing the inferior is better.

go ahead test me.

8/25/2005 12:15:42 PM

^haha yeah you can take a great TV and fuck up the red and blue alignment to make it look horrible

8/25/2005 12:34:17 PM

pwns is not a word moron

8/25/2005 12:38:57 PM

it is on the internet moron
where the fuck have you been surfing

8/25/2005 12:40:38 PM

^^pwned

Well, someone had to.

8/25/2005 12:46:55 PM

Quote :

"^haha yeah you can take a great TV and fuck up the red and blue alignment to make it look horrible"

I just need brightness control. Im not going for a super obvious fuck up.

8/25/2005 12:54:25 PM

Quote :

"well, there COULD be a bias."

Jesus, the report is 70-some pages. Just glancing through it, it immediately start describing its survey sampling methods/coverage/etc. etc. Have fun digging through that and determining statistical bias

8/25/2005 1:40:38 PM

I didn't even know that Dell made TVs.

8/25/2005 1:47:23 PM

Sony HDTV settings out of the box are known to be conservative.

However, Sony TV's that have been professionaly tuned are always reviewed as being "the best."

8/25/2005 3:14:55 PM

I'd like to point out that sony isn't making plasmas anymore or atleast I was told that

8/25/2005 4:04:46 PM

Well sorta.

Sony is supposed to be introducing a new high-end line for home electronics.

I think plasma TV's will fall under that.

Whether its Sony branded or not I don't know but I do know that they will be available online or through hi-fi stores.

8/25/2005 4:09:28 PM

the easiest way to make the sony not look as good would be to shake it around and bang it against some walls a few times

8/25/2005 4:38:59 PM

^ Watch out for the memory stick.

8/25/2005 4:39:42 PM

sony needs to stick to gaming

8/26/2005 5:26:00 AM

You need to stick to chit chat.

8/26/2005 7:55:36 AM

haha gg

8/26/2005 8:24:09 AM

Quinn's got a point. All you gotta do is set the inferior TV to "flamethrower mode" (brightness + contrast jacked up) and people will pick it 9 times out of 10. I didn't read the whole "survey" but I didn't see anywhere where it mentioned that the sets were properly calibrated.

so the survey doesn't mean jack.

8/26/2005 10:25:39 AM

Survey says!: Biased

8/26/2005 10:32:33 AM

Quote :

"Each TV was set as the manufacturer recommends for home entertainment (“standard” picture mode for the Sony, “movie” mode for the Dell.)"

I don't think the lack of having the sets properly calibrated necessary devalues this study. I would expect more than 50% of the purchasers of these TVs will NEVER have them properly calibrated and thus out of the box settings/modes are a good basis point for making a comparison. I also find it a bit odd that Sony would have their out of the box settings be so shitty as to drive sales down based on in store "test drives".

Quote :

"All you gotta do is set the inferior TV to "flamethrower mode" (brightness + contrast jacked up) and people will pick it 9 times out of 10."

Are you kidding? I don't imagine too many consumers that enjoy washed out and too bright images.

Quote :

"As mentioned earlier, the short segment of Big Momma’s House had been selected to include outdoor and indoor footage, and bright and dimly lit as well as high and lowercontrast scenes."

This should help a little to have an averaging effect to the viewer on any brightness differences between the two TVs.

But, if you look at a lot of the respondents, the trend definitely lends towards the Dell being brighter than the Sony.

8/26/2005 10:53:11 AM

Quote :

" "All you gotta do is set the inferior TV to "flamethrower mode" (brightness + contrast jacked up) and people will pick it 9 times out of 10." Are you kidding? I don't imagine too many consumers that enjoy washed out and too bright images."

Why do you think all TV manufacturers ship their sets with these kinds of settings? It creates the illusion that the picture is clearer when really you're just missing out on image detail and light nuances. And I think these companies probably did a litttle research before deciding to ship their products in such a manner.

Case in point: the Toshiba HDTV I just bought came with the brightness set to max and the contrast up in the 70's (out of 100). I had to turn the brightness down to about 60 and the contrast down into the 20's to get the picture how it's supposed to look.

8/26/2005 3:25:38 PM

but how do you know how it's supposed to really look?

8/26/2005 5:18:35 PM

If you have two identical tvs, and you know the source being played you just adjust the brightness according. Most people will go with the brighter screen. Walk through a best buy and notice your eye is attracted to the brighter sets. Too bad every tv in that store has a bad feed so picture quality is also hard to judge.

8/28/2005 5:53:26 PM

^^it's called calibration. You can get it done professionaly by some dude w/lots of expensive equipment. There are also other ways, like test patterns for contrast, brightness, color.

Avia and Digital Video Essentials are a couple DVDs meant to help you calibrate your set.

8/28/2005 9:27:21 PM

^^ haha yeah, most stores don't know how to properly display HDTV's. I'm sure HDTV sales to date would have been much more if they were all properly displayed with 1020 i HD feeds that weren't degraded horribly.

8/28/2005 9:52:17 PM

Sony KDE-42X955 42" Plasma WEGA HDTV - $2995 + $199 S&H = $3194
Dell W4200 HDTV - $2999 + $130 S&H = $3129

i don't know where that survey got it's prices from...

8/29/2005 12:56:57 AM

Try going to dell's website. 42" Plasma tv is $2599 on the site (even cheaper if you buy one at a kiosk).

And I don't know where you got that s&h price from. There is only $19 handling fee.

[Edited on August 29, 2005 at 2:50 PM. Reason : S&H]

8/29/2005 2:49:00 PM

^that's "on-sale" and for a "limited time", i'm talking retail price for both, and when i added it to my cart it said $130 s&h

8/30/2005 1:44:18 AM

Quote :

" Price for the Sony $5k $4k Prefer the Dell model 72.4 68.8 Prefer the Sony model 24.7 28.2 No preference 2.9 2.9 These results are highly significant statistically. The results substantiate an overall preference claim at the prices tested, as well as a claim that at least three out of five respondents preferred the Dell model."

Basically, the survey itself said that price was a factor in people's preferences. Even with the supposed $2k saving you get from the Dell, there were still people that preferred the Sony.

Quote :

"Sony KDE-42X955 42" Plasma WEGA HDTV - $2995 + $199 S&H = $3194 Dell W4200 HDTV - $2999 + $130 S&H = $3129"

^From what Prospero is saying the price difference between the two is not nearly as onesided as the survey says. Even if we factor in the price Raven gave it is still not a large difference. One would think that if people were surveyed with a better price estimate the numbers would be different.

8/30/2005 7:02:59 AM

Quote :

"^that's "on-sale" and for a "limited time", i'm talking retail price for both, and when i added it to my cart it said $130 s&h"

Of course it says that, but trust me, the tv has been on 'sale' for months on end now. Actually, the listed retail price was $3499 up until about 3 months ago, where they dropped it down to $2999 and listed it as a "price drop". And as far as the shipping, they will show the same for desktop and laptop purchases. They still list shipping, but right under it (whether it was filled it or not), it will show the "shipping" discount taken off, but the "handling" fee still remains.

Quote :

"^From what Prospero is saying the price difference between the two is not nearly as onesided as the survey says. Even if we factor in the price Raven gave it is still not a large difference. One would think that if people were surveyed with a better price estimate the numbers would be different."

Of course, because you still have name recognition. Not to mention, the usual fanboys who will won't buy any electronics unless Sony's name is on it.

Quote :

"I didn't even know that Dell made TVs."

^Not to mention, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I hear this at the kiosk. People don't associate Dell with selling TV's, so very few even know that Phillips makes them for Dell. Upon hearing this, it's alot easier to associate Phillips with TVs.

After tax and handling, I can get a Dell plasma for someone for $2692.93. Hell, I could even get one for as low as $2503.80 for the next few days, so if anyone wants one

[Edited on August 30, 2005 at 11:32 AM. Reason : price]

8/30/2005 11:27:58 AM

Can I like buy one for 30 days and then return it to get my money back?

8/30/2005 1:52:54 PM

21 days, and yeah, if you don't mind paying for shipping to send it back.

8/30/2005 8:10:50 PM