I have an 18 year old Panasonic 1080p Plasma 50 inch screen TV in my house. It's not a Smart TV, but the picture still looks great to me.

Some people in my household, not to be named to protect the innocent, have told me I need to ditch it and replace it with a new thin panel TV.

I know that the new stuff beats this old technology, even though this old one still looks and runs as good as new (as I remember it fwiw), and the quality of the existing picture is still great. Yes it weighs a ton, but I like the picture.

I guess I'm old fashioned not wanting to pitch a piece of AV gear that still looks and works great. And what would I do with it ? I doubt anyone would want it, since even cheaper TVs today surely outperform it (aka, 4k pixel screens, etc.), prob even cheap ones.

IF I were to replace it, I'd wouldn't want to get a cheap one, though it would probably be fine, as long as it lasted and didn't give me any issues for several years. When it comes to technical things like tools and electronics, I don't like buying crap, more of a cry or maybe wince once type of purchase.

So what would you do ? IF I DID get a new one, how much should I spend to avoid buying any shit TVs in the 50 inch screen range, since it wouldn't make sense to me to buy a new TV that had a better picture (by definition being new technology), but was actually a pos compared to my old one or better units in the mid range of quality and performance ? I certainly don't need or want top of the line.

What do you think ?

I have a 20 year old 47" Sony Bravia. Works great. I get the same questions from my family a few times each year.

Why replace something that works great and has proven reliability?

If you do replace the tv, Sony and Samsung would be the brands I would look at first.

I just went through this with my old Samsung and ended up getting a Sony Bravia XR A95L. I also upsized to a 75” and all I can say is that the picture quality is amazing.

They also make several other models that aren’t quite as expensive like the Bravia 8 and Bravia 9’s.

There's a lot to be said about smart TV's.

Are they giving you any reasons to upgrade the TV? Other than the fact that it's not the "hot new thing".

If they gave you any reason, such as the picture isn't as good as you think it is (I had this with my mother, her screen was literally tinted green), or it's not big enough, etc I'd say an upgrade never hurts. I own every flatscreen I've ever purchased. Every time I upgrade, another room gains a TV.

I very much prefer Samsung TVs with Sony in a close second. If you can afford OLED or equivalent I'd go with that. I still haven't reached that point yet.

We just went through this.

We had 20 year old Samsung 50" plamsa that finally gave up the ghost.

We replaced it with a Vizio (garbage) 55" LED. The picture was not better and the software got laggy. I majorly missed the old Samsung plasma. I started using an Apple TV 4k which made the software side tolerable.

This past July we bought a 65" Sony Bravia 8 OLED. It took me about six months of careful shopping and staring at TV's before I pulled the trigger.

Why the hell did I wait so long?

The Bravia 8 OLED blows away the old plasma TV's and is light years ahead of the LED and and a lot of the QLED TV's in my opinion.

Since you are used to a plasma only go OLED. None of the LED's will look right to you (they can't do the deep black the plasma and OLED's can). Go at least 65" or 75" if you can fit it.

For the smart TV features, be cognizant of the software. I would pick a set that uses the same ecosystem as your phone. If you use an iPhone an Apple TV works great. If you are an Android user Google TV, which comes on the Sonys is pretty darn good. I don't care for Samsung's software, but I suppose if you used one of their phones it would probable work out.

My wife is fairly neurotic and spent a couple hours one day dialing in the Apple TV 4k to fit exactly our needs and have what we want and got rid of what we don't want. It's pretty slick.

Walmart has a 75" samsung for $448

I bought my mil a 58" Roku for $270 some dollars. It works great.

Wow, you have a plasma TV still going strong after 18 years? I'd be hard-pressed to get rid of it.

If it were me, I'd wait until it dies, or the picture quality degrades noticeably. Probably in just a couple years.

Lot of new tech in the flat screens and they are super lightweight, you can get a lot more screen and features.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:


Some people in my household, not to be named to protect the innocent, have told me I need to ditch it and replace it with a new thin panel TV.

What do you think ?

If this group of people does not include your wife then tell them to git their wallets out and buy the new tv set.

If does include your wife then I would suggest
you seriously consider getting a new tv.

We replaced our 2012 65" 3D Panasonic plasma with a 85" Sony Bravia 9. Went bigger because we sit further from the TV in the new living room. As good as the Panisonic is/was, the new Sony is much better. The picture is brighter, the dynamic range is better, the colors are better, the resolution is better, the refresh rate is better, etc. As a side benefit, the Sony doesn't heat the room and uses way less electricity. You guys up north might like the extra heat though.

The picture is so good, college boy invited his buddies over for a movie marathon so they could marvel at how good the Sony Spider-Man movies looked. His buddies were amazed.

The Panasonic is downstairs now where it doesn't have to compete with as much ambient light.

My 55 inch LG C1 is now two generations behind, I recall I paid $1200 for it about 4 years ago. I think it still looks fabulous, faces are so lifelike, blacks are infinitely black, color saturation may be one half step behind the latest LG models… but not enough to make me invest in a new TV.

If you want the best experience I’d suggest the OLED screens from Samsung, LG or Sony. Each have their own predilections. E.g., most people believe the Sony does a better job with movies, the Samsung looks better with live sports and the LG somewhere between the two. Gaming… I haven’t a clue.

For a 55” screen you’re looking at $1200 to $1900 for the current generation of screens.

You can go down the deepest of rabbit holes comparing TVs these days. I like the rtings.com website but it looks like you need subscription to see the rating details. I am sure there are other comparison sites.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
There's a lot to be said about smart TV's.

Sure is. I'm really excited about ACR technology.

quote:

And what would I do with it ? I doubt anyone would want it, since even cheaper TVs today surely outperform it (aka, 4k pixel screens, etc.), prob even cheap ones.

Use it as a second TV in the house or most county landfills/dumps will take electronics for recycling.

I'm nostalgic about how much better the plasmas TVs were over anything else in their day. They fell out of favor because they were expensive to produce, but the picture always stomped the LED TVs. Yes the plasma is 2k vs 4k, but most of the time your only getting a 2k signal from your streaming or cable service, or over the air. Yes, I still get my local Hi-Def stations for free over the air from a big antenna that's been in the attic since the 1970s.

Over the years as people sold their Panasonic plasmas for bigger newer TVs I bought them for cheap, traded up from my square 36" tube tv to a 42" plasma, then traded up to 50", then traded up to 60" ($500 used 10 years ago). If you are used to a plasma picture, I'm not sure changing to an inexpensive LED 4k will really be a move up in picture quality. If you are used to a great picture I would go to an OLED.

On the smart TV aspect, my 14 year old dumb plasma TV with a Roku or Apple TV connected to any streaming service will do anything I need it to do. Only one time while connected to an Apple TV 4k have I gotten a message on the screen saying we cannot display this picture as your TV is not 4k.

Being a home theater enthusiast I bought a Sony Bravia 65" OLED a year ago. It's still sitting in the box, I haven't brought myself to take down the plasma. Listening to the former plasma admirers, KevH and trapper189 in this thread maybe I'll go ahead and get it out.

If it's in a dark room, you may want to keep it as long as you can. We had a Panasonic Plasma TV, maybe that same model, and it was perfect for a theater room. When it failed, I read how the plasma was famous for great blacks and picture quality. It was really hard to find something with similar picture and color quality.

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:
Being a home theater enthusiast I bought a Sony Bravia 65" OLED a year ago. It's still sitting in the box, I haven't brought myself to take down the plasma. Listening to the former plasma admirers, KevH and trapper189 in this thread maybe I'll go ahead and get it out.

Hook it up!

Run a good high quality HDMI and watch some 4k movies. You'll be shocked how good it looks.

I watch baseball religiously via MLB.tv through my Apple 4k which shouldn't be that noticeable. The difference is night and day. As good as my plasma was, the OLED puts it to shame. You'll be like me and wonder what took you so long.

For info, this is the one I bought: https://electronics.sony.com/t...ns/all-tvs/p/k65xr80

I hemmed and hawed over every single OLED model and after spending lots of time looking at them in person this is the one I picked (and have zero regrets). The panel acts as a speaker and the Dolby sound is actually quite good as well.

I have two older non-Smart TVs in bedrooms. I added an Amazon Fire Stick to them and now they have the same streaming options as my new TV.

I've got the same 50" plama TV, still chugging along. Not using it as main screen, it's in a bedroom.
Had the same in 65" that finally went POP after 14 years last year. Loved that TV, but the 77" Samsung OLED I replaced it with is a noticeable improvement.

I did have to give up the additional heating element it provided in winter, but offset that by not having to cool it in the summery. IYKYK.

And most every 50" TV is "shit" just in puny screen size. Unless you can't fit it or the space is too close, consider something bigger. Price will not be a hurdle.

I did a fair bit of research and kept landing back on Samsung, for either OLED or QLED. Have one of each, both are terrific.

When my parents downsized and moved 3 years ago, they gave me a 40" Sony flat screen TV, that I estimate to be at least around 15 years old. I put it in a spare bedroom. It's obviously not a Smart TV. But it weighs about 70 lbs and puts out some heat when operating. It's about 4 inches thick as well, so I don't know if it's a plasma or not. It is 1080p, and I have a Roku hooked up to it. Between the antenna and the Roku, it does everything I need.