I'm reconfiguring my living room, and will be upgrading from a BV5 to a BV4 65" with BL10. My dealer has given me the option of buying one of the new model (with the round-shouldered frame) or taking his showroom model of the square-framed version (seven months old) for £2000 less. What would everyone else do? 

is it full HD on that?

Although I truly prefer the flat frame of the current BeoVision 4, the new model is not just a stylistic upgrade. It will have a camera built in which will calibrate color as the panel ages. It is the same plasma panel, but with the color management, the BeoSystem 3 will adjust its output against the panels changing color properties to retain ideal color throughout its useful life.

Of course you can have ISF calibrate your old panels every now and then, which would be recommended for any panel where this is applicable, but it's certainly easy when you can just press a button! 

Yes, the 1080P panel.

politician:

I'm reconfiguring my living room, and will be upgrading from a BV5 to a BV4 65" with BL10. My dealer has given me the option of buying one of the new model (with the round-shouldered frame) or taking his showroom model of the square-framed version (seven months old) for £2000 less. What would everyone else do? 

From a style point of view i like the square frame, the rounded frame males the unit look less streamline and ugly.

From a pefromance point of view the 'monitoring system' is pointless and a gimick for bno to justify the price.

Take the saving on the stock model

I disagree what 355f says about the frame, but I should stick with the stock model if money is an issue

I would choose the new one, b´cause I like the rounded look better.

If you don´t see any other + or - with each of them take the one you found most attractive. Even if you save some money bying the demo ex it´s no good if look at your (still) expensive screen and think "Would have looked better with round corners".

Don´t forget that in seven months a demo ex is used about 1 400 hours.

Fantastic upgrade for your living room! Besides the look, I am not sure if a 2000 GBP discount on this huge price tag would please me to get the demo model. I recommend to ask the dealer to show you the service counter to see the usage of the panel.

Karsten 

 

very nice tv best picture i have seen,(b&o) retained their badge on this one tv imho,but for the price  is steep for a tv after all!!!!!!1

355f,

It's actually not a pointless gimmick, but one of the more useful additions I've seen to any television. I would suggest doing a bit more homework or at least seeming a bit less willing to sound foolish.

One of the main problems with plasma screens is the disproportionate rate at which the phosphor lamps age. While the three colors age, they do not age at the same rate, nor is the aging consistent from one panel to the next. Because of this, the screen can loose accuracy in color rendition in a matter of just a few years, while the screen may operate mechanically for decades beyond this point.   

As many of us know, the panel accounts for about 20% of the quality chain. The BeoSystem 3's Picture Engine takes care of all the necessary processing, but could not really "see" the panel the way it measured the brightness and color temperature of ambient light. With the addition of the camera in the panel (which actually moves down over the screen like the microphones in the BeoLab 5s!) the BeoSystem 3 can actually measure the way the panel is aging and adjust the color values its using to put the image together.

Thanks to this advancement, the panel will display accurately rendered colors throughout its useful life. I would say its one of the most practical additions to a plasma television system yet.

So, with a bit more explanation, my recommendation stands. Buy the new panel and let someone who is more concerned with money than with quality enjoy the older model.

 

TripEnglish:

355f,

It's actually not a pointless gimmick, but one of the more useful additions I've seen to any television. I would suggest doing a bit more homework or at least seeming a bit less willing to sound foolish.

One of the main problems with plasma screens is the disproportionate rate at which the phosphor lamps age. While the three colors age, they do not age at the same rate, nor is the aging consistent from one panel to the next. Because of this, the screen can loose accuracy in color rendition in a matter of just a few years, while the screen may operate mechanically for decades beyond this point.   

As many of us know, the panel accounts for about 20% of the quality chain. The BeoSystem 3's Picture Engine takes care of all the necessary processing, but could not really "see" the panel the way it measured the brightness and color temperature of ambient light. With the addition of the camera in the panel (which actually moves down over the screen like the microphones in the BeoLab 5s!) the BeoSystem 3 can actually measure the way the panel is aging and adjust the color values its using to put the image together.

Thanks to this advancement, the panel will display accurately rendered colors throughout its useful life. I would say its one of the most practical additions to a plasma television system yet.

So, with a bit more explanation, my recommendation stands. Buy the new panel and let someone who is more concerned with money than with quality enjoy the older model.

 

Well ive only been in the business of the manufacture and development of consumer electronics including plasma and lcd for 15 years - so  I read your lesson with great interest. Clearly you are an expert on the subject and for one minute I dont want to sound 'foolish'

But im afraid the above statement  is pure nonsense, ( where do they come from) and I will not respond to it- please go on thinking that the panel is only 20% of the picture!! and that the colour management is the best thing in plasma yet!  At a time when other leading manufacturers have developed double life panels with greater colour rendition BnO carry on with the older series panasonic panels and come up with this rrather silly gimmick.

BnO need more customers like you! , a marketing mans dream! if it were a question of quality I would have no hesitation is suggesting to buy the panel- but i regret this is not the case.

 

Well ive only been in the business of the manufacture and development of consumer electronics including plasma and lcd for 15 years - so  I read your lesson with great interest. Clearly you are an expert on the subject and for one minute I dont want to sound 'foolish'

I have been in business 30 years, but been told I learned 1 year-worth, 30 times.  Oooops.

Unfortunately I am not that expirienced in plasma, lcd and color mangement technology as others here, but an automatic adjustment for the color setup would be not on the top of my wishlist either....understanding the fact that B&O has limited develpment resources this feature would be the last one I would have spent time and money on....

Automatic sound adjsutment like most of the current receiver have (like the Denon's, Yamaha's etc) would be feature I would love to see (not to mention a new digital masterlink, or a BC2 with HDMI or a media server or a BS3 with an HDTV STB or.....) 

Karsten 

The automatic sound adjustment is a feature of the BeoLab 5s, not the TV. The other B&O speakers offer a simplified version of this in the form of the position switches.

I think you'd appreciate automatic colour adjustment after several years of owning a plasma. The colours do tend to deviate over time and the whole screen eventually gains a yellow tint...

Why are people complaining? B&O only want to ensure the best picture quality during the lifetime of the TV.

They also had a circuit in CRT TV's which measured the degradation of the 3 color beams 50 times a second and adjusted them accordingly, so that the picture was as optimal as possible during the lifetime of the TV.
 

Alex:

The automatic sound adjustment is a feature of the BeoLab 5s, not the TV. The other B&O speakers offer a simplified version of this in the form of the position switches.

I think you'd appreciate automatic colour adjustment after several years of owning a plasma. The colours do tend to deviate over time and the whole screen eventually gains a yellow tint...

 

As I am a proud owner of the beolab 5 I am aware of the sound adjustment of the lab 5, it is a good start but in a 5.1/7.1 surround system not good enough. Technology is much more advanced these days, no need anymore to know the distance of the speakers, sound level or correct connections. Would be very much in line with B&Os attemp for ease of use....you may want to check out this here:

http://www.audyssey.com/technology/index.html

I am considering to buy this device in the moment to interface between the BS3 and the lab speakers 

This is what I would prefer over a color calibrating system without any doubt! 

Karsten