Any comments = Gateway 42-Inch Plasma TV under 3K

Saw the product announcement on audiorevolution.com. The set is not HDTV compatible- a good product description can be found on www.gateway.com.

I went to my local Gateway Country store this afternoon and checked one out. They were using some type of Bose Lifestyle HT system and cheapo cables. I'm no videophile, but I wasn't really impressed. I'm not sure if it was the plasma itself or the crappy ancillary gear. I sure am tempted at the price however.

It's not hdtv; it's just DTV. Highest resolution is 780 x 480 which is good for 480P or progressive scan from a DVD. Pioneer has a plasma for about $4500-4700 street price that does HDTV.

It's the same as the Sampro that sells at Costco for about the same price. It's not a HDTV monitor. The Sony is better, but at a higher cost. The Sony PFM-42B2 is 1024 X 1024 pixels, but cost a couple grand more. I'm reluctant to go plasma for reliability reasons. It's so new that no one knows the life expectancy of the screen. Everyone admits that they cannot be fixed or recharged. Once they are dead they're dead. The manufacturers estimate (possibly biased) is 12 to 15 years of life expectancy. That's if you only watch 4 hours a day and don't turn the brightness up too high. What a dilemma. They look so beautiful, but is it worth the risk of spending $5K and up for something that may be a paperweight in 4-6 years (maybe more, maybe less). I think I'll try to hold out another year and see how the technology evolves.

For excellent reviews of all the recent contenders in the Plasma field, check out plasmatvbuyingguide.com. And for more info than you could ever want, avsforum.com. Long and short, the overwhelming consensus seems to be that, even at the cheapest entry in the 42" plasma market, the Gateway just aint worth the scratch.

Plasmatvbuyingguide.com and avsforum.com both seem to think the new 42" Panasonic for around $3800 is the best plasma currently available.

I bought the new Panasonic 42". Delivered to my door it went for 4K including table top stand. I will admit that it's a pretty nice piece of technology.

This TV is HD compatible but you better have a means for switching component video. The TV itself only has one set of video inputs for R,G,B,HD. You could use an s-link cable for your DVD in a pinch but personally I'll wait till Theta develops component video switching for the Casa-Blanca II which currently drives my H/T system.

Movies never looked better than they do right now. They sound pretty good too if you get my drift. Currently I do not use progressive scan or HDTV on this monitor, maybe down the road when the price comes down a little more for the signal and the players.

My thoughts are to upgrade from my Theta DaViD to the DaViD II with progressive scan one day. That should do the trick!