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Costco is having a sale on a 50" Vizio P50HDM plasma this week for only $2600 with a coupon. This unit boast a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. Check out the link: http://www.VINC.com/c.417054/site/products/product_p50hdm.html
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Yes this unit has a good picture. Have you called the company to find out more about them. Compare the unit with the Maxnet unit $1999 and the Pioneer unit $3000.
Remember this is a Display ONLY, it has NO tuners. John
That is correct, the unit does not have a tuner, but how important is that when the bulk of the population are either DISH, DIRECTV, or CABLE users.
I have seen the plasma at COSTCO and it does look very impressive, but you never know until you get it in a home enviroment.
Vizio is one of those 2nd tier companies that uses components from other manufacters. From my research, I found out that they use LG glass in this unit.
More importantly, with COSTCO's famous return policy, how can you lose?
I just purchased the Vizio P50HDM plasma TV at Costco for $2499. This is the new, reduced price per Costco and Vizio as of 11/25/05. I am very pleased with the picture from my DVD player (using component hookup) - excellent image quality, but the picture from my standard (not HD) Direct TV satellite hookup (using S video) is less than ideal. Some false contouring and some pictures are a little blurry. Some channels are worse than others. Not sure if this is typical of all HD TV's that are showing a standard definition broadcast, or if the Vizio is worse than others. Eventually I will upgrade to Direct TV high definition equipment, hopefully that will improve things. Not sure if the Panasonic or Pioneer plasma's do a better job of "up converting" standard def broadcasts, or if they do, if it warrants spending the additional $1 - 2,000 for that benefit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I purchased mines back in Aug on there coupon book sale and I am very pleased with the unit. I have Comcast HD and the picture is very impressive. As far as standard the chanels are concern, they range from bad to ok. There may be models that do a better job with standard definition signals, but who wants to watch regular tv on a HD set anyway. I did break down and bought a HDMI cable, but the results were not impressive. In any case, you cant beat the price for a 50" plasma. Good luck with yours.
I played around some more with the various settings and managed to improve the standard Direct TV signal image. I'll be making the switch to Direct TV High Def sooner than I expected so I can maximize my enjoyment of the Vizio 50" plasma. For $2500 it is hard to argue that this is a screaming great deal for a really nice plasma TV.
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