View Full Version : Gateway Plasma:
MLapointe
11-02-2002, 09:42 PM
I called Gateway to find out if I could purchase this Plasma HDTV for personal use with a State Government discount and the rep told me yes but I could only buy one Plasma TV with my State ID for personal use every time period allotted by my company. I'm allowed to buy the Plasma TV once every year with my discount as well as I can only buy 2 computers per year with my discount. When I talked to the Gateway rep he told me not every government agency would allow people to buy this TV for personal use so you would have to get authorization from your supervisor ahead of the time and have him/her give you an authorization code to give to the Gateway rep to authorize the discount simply stating to gateway that my agency will provide them the required funds as per their contract with Gateway. I also made sure that it was an HDTV Plasma and not an EDTV or something like that since it didn't state this on their website.
Here's the features.
42inch widescreen (16x9) Plasma HDTV
Advanced Digital Image Processing
Picture-in-Picture ( PIP )
Picture-on-Picture ( POP )
Integrated NTSC Tuner
Viewing Angle: 160 degrees
Connections:
VGA
DVI input
RS-232
VGA Out
NTSC RF Antenna
Composite Video
Component Video (2)
S-Video
Audio Inputs (6)
Audio Output
Subwoofer
I just found the additional information that's more detailed:
http://www.gateway.com/dw/digital/pd_specs.shtml
It says that this Plasma TV requires an external HDTV decoder such as the SA Explorer 3100HD and the like but it displays 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i natively so that's good. If you had an OTA receiver this TV can display every signal natively. It also autodetects the incoming signal and selects the required input.
It also has 1280 x 1024 SXGA support if you want to use it as a computer monitor. It also has a built in 3 by 2 pulldown.
It also has digital zoom modes to get rid of black bars.
The extended warranty options are as follows:
399.99 for 3 years parts and labor that's inhome.
599.99 for 5 years parts and labor that's also inhome too.
Now here's the kicker if you work for a Government agency that's local, state or federal go and ask your supervisor for authorizations and you can get this great Plasma HDTV for 2,999.99 flat rate with no rebates or anything. Amazing HDTV Plasma for Three Thousand dollars. Here's the link to buy and I've allready bought this HDTV and it's allready been authorized and shipped.
http://www.gateway.com/work/prod/sb_plsmtvb_ProdDetail.shtml
Wooger
11-02-2002, 10:23 PM
This will probably honk you off but... my brother-in-law showed me an ad for this on his TiVo tonight... direct from Gateway... no government ID or anything necessary... $2999.99. He is buying 2 I think. He is a rich bugger. Both for his business (he SAYS).
Direct off-air (or maybe off-cable or off-DirecTV) advertisement. Sorry. :)
MLapointe
11-03-2002, 09:03 AM
I called the government division of Gateway because I work for the government as you can tell and they told me this. I did read your reply very early last night but I got called in for security reasons so I had to split but I called Gateway home sales this morning and they told me any customer can buy this product at that price whether their home consumer or not. So you were right. Thanks for that info and now I'm going to buy these plasma TVs for Christmas for some relatives. I get one for my mother and father, my brother, me (of course) and maybe my ex-wife and/or ex-girlfriend but I'm affraid to do that because they may think I want more in return from this gift.
gwicks
11-04-2002, 02:37 PM
Hey Santa, what's one more in the bag...
I'll give you my chimney's adress in PA...
MLapointe
11-04-2002, 02:54 PM
Hey I'll be getting something in return you know. One big discount on their own company discount plan. I don't have that much money to spare without anything in return. Plus as stupid as this sounds the more money you have the more bills you end up having to pay. Weird isn't it. I make over half a mill and am still broke. Go figure. To be honest I can't afford it without anything in return but I'm only getting it for my father and my brother and that's it. I would love to give you one but can't afford it just like you. Americans just end up spending to their limit no matter what they make at work. Where just never happy...ohh I have an idea why don't we get rid of all these nice optional things in our lives like TVs, cable and Satellite. How about we git rid of all the shelves that have 45 different types of AA Batteries and 105 different brands of walkmans that sony makes and puts another name on them. Corporate america sucks. I don't have all kinds of money but for what I do make I do have to take a whole lot of government crap every day for the money. I'm on call 7 days per week and I work an average of 70 hours per week where no time schedule is set and I sleep when I can if that. I work my butt off for that half a mill every year. I'm not a rich CEO that just sits in an office every day and does nothing for his money....oh I wish I did. I'm not criticizing you for what your saying I'm just venting a little anger on corporate america.
Oh I wish I could buy this TV for everyone on this board. Sorry.
AdminJoe
11-04-2002, 04:18 PM
but you can always buy one for the owner of the site!
:)
kevinw
11-05-2002, 07:41 AM
My heart bleeds for you.. You earn more money than 80% of the rest of the country. wah wah Not all Americans spend to the limit just those with huge egos and no self control.
If you can't afford to buy them don't..oh yeah your expecting something in return.
:mad:
BadCamper
11-05-2002, 10:45 AM
kevinw is exactly right about "Not all Americans spend to the limit..." I know of several people who sit on a nice nest-egg of a Net Income and don't make a fifth of what you make, MLapointe.
It's good to see that you're generous enough to spend your money for people like your father and your brother, but I should hope you don't give people presents simply because "...I'll be getting something in return you know."
Kind of reminds me of the 2002 release of Spiderman, which I just saw for the first time over the weekend:
Harry Osborn (on his mobile phone): "I want to take you out tomorrow morning....and buy you something."
Harry Osborn: "What do you mean Amazing? "
Harry Osborn: "I just wanna buy you something to make you feel better."
FreckleBoy
11-05-2002, 12:17 PM
MLapointe,
Actually, the Gateway Plasma doesn't display native 1080i and 720p, everything is downconverted to 480p.
-= Henry =-
gwicks
11-05-2002, 12:19 PM
Go figure, probably wealthiest guy on this board and still trying to get a plasma for the cheapest down and dirty price possible, trying every avenue to get beat the price down.
I see it everyday, even millionaires beat you down until you finally give in, piss you off, burn every bridge...but when something goes wrong...I GOTCH YA!
WOW, on call 7 days a week, average 70 hours a week.
That would explain why she pages me every damn day...
Robotpedlr
11-05-2002, 05:46 PM
Not to get off of subject...but how do you earn over a 1/2 mill and still work for the government and have to ask your "supervisor" for permission to use the company discount. Dont know of too many gov employees making huge checks. Last I heard the pres only makes about $200k. I think he is getting a gateway plasma also :)
:D
OK, let's stop slagging MLapointe. I'm sure he's learned his lesson and will keep his personal financial information to himself, since no-one really wants to hear it.
robmx
11-05-2002, 11:51 PM
Originally posted by FreckleBoy
MLapointe,
Actually, the Gateway Plasma doesn't display native 1080i and 720p, everything is downconverted to 480p.
-= Henry =-
So it is not capable of any HDTV at all?
Nope, just EDTV - it will accept the signals and downconvert. Equivalent to DVD or Fox.
Even the high end plasmas "only" do 720P (1080i downconverted, which is nothing to sneeze at). I saw one that claimed to do 1080i...
See --> This Link (http://www.monitoroutlet.com/plasma--flat-tv-.html) for a wide selection.
BadCamper
11-06-2002, 08:30 AM
I see a couple of plasmas on that website and others that are full 1080i capable...
http://www.monitoroutlet.com/999923.html
or
http://www.monitoroutlet.com/999851.html
They don't mention anything about a downconverted signal....am I either reading something wrong or are they not telling everything on the website?
kevinw
11-06-2002, 08:37 AM
I am under the impression they will convey whatever signal comes from the STB. If 720 then it will display 720, and if the signal is 1080i then 1080i. At least with the Pioneer and Phillips brands.
If you look at the horizontal resolution of those plasmas, they don't have the necessary resolution for true 1080i (1920 pixels horizontal), so they extrapolate. It's a technicality, but just thought I'd clarify. (720P requires 1280 horizontal)
Most would say that the same goes for RPTVs in that they don't actually "resolve" to that level - there was an earlier very long discussion on this subject. (those with 9" guns may get closer...;) )
FreckleBoy
11-06-2002, 09:12 AM
From the Technical Specs:
852 x 480 native pixel with progressive scan
HDTV signal compatible: Capable of accepting 1080I and 720p HDTV signals using an external HDTV decoder with RGB or component video outputs
1280 X 1024 SXGA support: Built-in digital scaling engine accepts various computer and HDTV signals, then digitally maps the signals to fit within 852 x 480 pixels
robmx
11-06-2002, 09:13 AM
Originally posted by kevinw
I am under the impression they will convey whatever signal comes from the STB. If 720 then it will display 720, and if the signal is 1080i then 1080i. At least with the Pioneer and Phillips brands.
The Pioneer converts everything to 768P.
The Phillips says it does 1080i on a 42 inch screen. How close do you set to the screen to see 1080i?
I wonder if the Phillips can squeeze 1080i into 1024 pixels also.
The DLP projectors have the same problem.
gwicks
11-07-2002, 01:23 PM
I've lost some respect for how important the numbers are.
I think you all need to get to a high end video outlet and see what the "down converted" HD image looks like in these plasmas.
You will get on your knees and thank human evolution with regards to our wonderful vision.
robmx
11-07-2002, 09:49 PM
Originally posted by gwicks
I've lost some respect for how important the numbers are.
I think you all need to get to a high end video outlet and see what the "down converted" HD image looks like in these plasmas.
You will get on your knees and thank human evolution with regards to our wonderful vision.
If we are looking at 480P or 480i delivered digitally and viewed on a great display and saying this is wonderful or downconverting HDTV to SDTV or EDTV and saying that the result is excellent and considering that few displays can do justice to HDTV and even fewer can afford true HDTV capable displays then why do we need HDTV so bad?
Few devices can truly display it.
Few can afford such monitors, plasmas or projectors.
Most are in awe of good 480P displayed well and could not tell the difference between 480P and 1080i on most affordable displays.
If we just delivered 480P we could do 5 times as much programming at this incredible quality as we can do with HDTV.
You are correct to a certain extent. It takes a fairly good display to be able to see the difference between 480P and 1080i or 720P, however, most of today's good quality RPTV's can show the difference quite easily.
Viewing a show on Fox in 480P looks good, especially when you compare it to SDTV. A good DVD player hooked up to a good TV also makes movies look great.
However, when you see Jay Leno on HDNBC, or the HDCBS NCAA football, or an HD Movie on HDABC, or an HD science programme on HDPBS in 1080i, you can really see the difference. It's quite dramatic, how much "punch" these shows have.
HDTV is truly like looking out a window, while 480P and DVD is like looking at a good TV.
As for the bandwidth issue you mention last, that will go away as soon as systems are upgraded (Cable, Satellite) and/or when there are fewer analogue stations, which are the bandwidth hogs.
Once a cable system is upgraded, it can show 100s of HD channels, in addition to PPV, VOD, virtual PVR, cable video telephony, etc, etc.
Wooger
11-08-2002, 07:50 AM
Yeah, I have to echo that. Watching a live event (baseball on HDNet, football on CBSHD) is a WHOLE 'nother level! You can actually tell the difference between a pre-recorded event and the live event, even though logic tells me that, if recorded digitally, it SHOULDN'T make a difference. Nonetheless, it does. A lot!
480i is OK. 480p is really good. But live 720p or 1080i is just incredible. Really.
