| Author | Message | ||
     Stevedplumber |
Plasma TV vs. LCD TV | ||
| Coal400 |
Size n contrast Plasma's generally look better over LCD's the larger you go. LCD's look fine at smaller sizes provided they are high contrast. Don't forget DLP which may be another option. Lots of info out on the web | ||
| Court |
Good to hear . . . I seem to have "inherited" several BIG plasma units from my wife's hedge fund when they replaced the ones in their conference room last week. We have Sharp Aquos in the house and she's already told me the "monsters" are going in the basement. . . she's even agreed to an endless loop of Buell commercials comingled with Clapton at the Crossroads Festival . . . life's good!  (Message edited by court on October 29, 2007) | ||
| Mm128 |
GO to a LCD. Less chance of burn out. I have a 50 PLASMA and WISHED i would have gotten the LCD. ***ALSO... dont know if your into XBOX or similar, but you are warned to NOT use them with the PLASMA. Matt. | ||
| Josh_ |
I've used an XBox (and XBox 360, Dreamcast and Wii) with my 42 Plasma for a year with no problems. What I've seen is while there are lots of good generalities, you need to compare screen-to-screen. My brothers 42" LCD sucks compared to my Plasma, while my sister's 55" DLP kicks my ass. avsforum.com, read the TV/home theater mags at the newsstand ask your friends and see as many as you can at the stores. Look at what you are connecting and how and think about what you'll plug in in the future. a killer home theater receiver means your TV doesn't need speakers or more than one video connection, no receiver means you want good speakers and a ton of connections. | ||
| Midknyte |
Do the current crop of plasma tv's still degrade over time (brightness), or is the period of time [now] so long that you'd never notice it... | ||
| Barker |
 | ||
| Mikej |
Yeah, I thought the plasma screens had a limited life well within the normal ownership time period. | ||
| X1glider |
The big beef I have with plasma is when watching programming with lots of darkness, such as movies like Matrix, doom or horror flicks. The darker the flick is, you tend to notice moire effects in the dark areas. Very annoying. The price is still ridiculous. It's a friggin TV. Maybe what irks me most is there is nothing but crap on the tube. History channel rocks tho. | ||
| Josh_ |
I expect mine to burn out in 10 years, assuming I leave it on 24/7. 'course I'll get a new one in 5 years ... | ||
| Ratyson |
As Coal said, don't forget about DLP. They are great and are less $ than Plasma or LCD. And, in my humble opinion, have just as good of a picture. The wife and I just got a Samsung 61" DLP with the stand for $1900. Man... I love that thing. College football on HD rocks. I just wish our cable company (Knology) had more HD channels.. Direct is going to have 100 HD channels by the end of the year, so we may be moving over to them. | ||
| Blake |
"Plasma's generally look better over LCD's the larger you go." Not for a year or so now. But I agree, visit a store and compare them side by side. I think you'll find that the LCD's, even the large ones, are now providing the best picture. Plasma and DLP are not as compact and are heavy. The LCDs are nice and slim and lightweight. They may not be the lowest priced. | ||
| Slowride |
So, I am not trying to troll this thread, but I need to throw in my 2cents. I currently have a Panasonic 53" rear projection TV (HD Ready) I purchased in 2003. I run my xbox360 and HD Dish network on it daily. I have yet to see a Plasma or LCD or even a DLP that can compete with the crispness and clarity of my TV. I have been to every home theater shop in DFW, TX looking for an upgrade. I just can't see the draw of the Plasma,LCD or DLP. Outside of space saving, I can't stand the digitation (pixelization)of the programing during fast pans or action shots. The only downside to my old TV is the Convergence reset that I have to do when I go from xbox to HD Dish. For some reason even though they are both set to us the 1080i setting, they still jack my convergence up when I switch back n forth. | ||
| Bads1 |
Plasma and DLP are not as compact and are heavy. The LCDs are nice and slim and lightweight. Blake,actually I have a DLP at The Boiler Room is 62 inch. Its a total of 22 inches deep. It weighs..... 50 pounds maybe. Samsung units are testing the best....check out the reviews on the net for yourself. As far as DLP's are concerned is that they are cheaper in repairs. The only real thing that can go out is the bulb and it can in some cases done your self. Plasma's cannot be fixed on location as the same with LCD's in most cases. | ||
| X1glider |
I had heard that the DLP chip with all the little mirrors had to be replaced aprroximately in 3 years or the degradation was unacceptable. It was about 6 years ago when I read this. I've been pretty impressed with how good the LCDs are these days. | ||
| Spinzealot |
Well I wasn't going to throw my 2 coppers worth into the mix but here goes... Plasma technology has come a long way just in the past 5 years. Picture,performance and cost has improved greatly. However they are subject to burn in which is a major problem. Not an un-recoverable problem but the solution to fix it leaves you with less picture quality. The life of a plasma has improved slightly. The standard is 5 to 7 years depending on how much use it gets. LCD is a better option over a plasma sharing many of the same properties as a plasma and yes it still is prown to the burn is issue. Life expectancy is slightly better than a plasma. DLP is your best option. No burn in issues, superior picture quality. Excellent life expectancy. Lamp burns out, put in another and you have once again a brand new TV. Most all of todays' DLP sets can be serviced (lamp swap) by the end user. Price point has become much more competitive compaired to Plasma and LCD. The biggest advantage to Plasma/LCD is you can put them pretty much anywhere you like due to the low profile that they have. DLP is thicker but not nearly as thick as a projection system. Speaking of projection systems you might also consider a DLP projector. Prices are still a tad up there but they are getting much more affordable. Also they can give you the most picture size for the buck, keeping mind the type of screen (hi-gain, reflective) and lens (long throw or short throw depending on size of room). Good luck and enjoy! | ||
| Trac95ker |
I have a panasonic ph509uk plasma. I heard about burn in being an issue so I called panasonic, not an issue. I didn't break in the tv with a special dvd. I turned down the picture settings for 100 hrs and it works awesome. It's just a monitor which makes it a lot cheaper. It got really good reviews (editors pic)and is commercial grade. 50" delivered for $1500 from Abes of Maine. Check out this forum. http://www.avsforum.com/ | ||
| Diablobrian |
I have a Hitachi "Ultravision" HD LCD projection 51" TV. I bought the extended service plan and it paid off when the "light engine" went out this year. On the good side it is an LCD screen and only has 1 bulb to burn out, no worries about convergence, and no issues with playing video games on it. I've been thrilled with the TV and how well it has worked. HD service via Directv is awesome on the big/wide screen. I have yet to buy a blueray or hddvd player yet, but I will. IIRC OLED technology is coming to market in big screen TVs soon and they are supposed to revolutionize the market with thin, light weight screens that can be mounted almost anywhere. | ||
| Beachbuell |
I just bought a flat screen LCD when I moved into my new place. Love it so far! | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I've got a 42" LCD I use for a PC monitor. My only complaint is it's so bright sitting only about two feet from it I feel like I should be wearing sunblock or something. It kinda wears on the eyes after a while. I would 2nd the notion that if you're going the LCD route, you need something with a high contrast ratio to make the darks look good. Mine's 6000:1 and it runs HD/Blueray and my PSIII pretty nice. It does magic with 1080i cable signal too. Hell for that matter regular 480p digital cable even looks damn good. This one is my first foray into HD televisions, and I'm pretty tickled with it even though I know there are even better TVs out there. I figure if it's so clear the picture looks almost 3D and you can see the pores on an actor's face from across the room, that's good enough for me right now. I didn't choose a plasma because dollars for dollars, I couldn't find one that had as good a picture as the LCD I bought. Plus I was worried that the plasma life expectancy was way less than my LCD. I'm not saying I plan to keep this monitor 20 years, but I did want to max out my bang for the buck. | ||
| Blakers |
I was sold on a LCD until the salesperson asked me where it was going to be installed. When I told him on the mantle, above my fireplace, he said I had to use the plasma because it is far more tolerant to heat from the fireplacc. Seems the plastic layers on the LCD can delaminate, while the plasma uses a bulb and more glass and can handle the heat. Also, I bought a LG. Comes factory with 2 year warranty, rather than 1. Meant that I didn't have to consider an extended warranty program. PS: Our wives have been lying to us for years BIGGER IS BETTER. | ||
| Mikej |
Does that LCD layer delamination also apply if you have it where the sunlight can hit it? I'm kind of waiting until the HD kickover hits before getting to worked up over TV upgrades. I think we've got 3 or 4 "old fashioned" standard TV's in the house ranging in size from 9" up to maybe 30" or so. No cable, just broadcast and DVD stuff, so no big rush for me to upgrade. But this is all good to read about it. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Okay guys, we need to put some myths to rest here. A new plasma TV can have a lifespan as much as 60,000 hours to half life (when the screen is half as bright as it was when new). That's longer than tube TV's. Now, let's assume you're a total TV junkie and watch a solid 4 hours a day. Do the math. A plasma TV will last you more than 40 years before half life. You need to go to a store and look. I've seen some really good LCDs, I've also seen some lousy ones. Same for plasmas. I shopped for 2 months and ended up with a Hitachi 42" plasma. It's not the best picture, but it's far from the worst, and I have yet to touch a single setting on the thing. HD programming just looks amazing on it. I have a freind with a 52" Sony LCD - supposed to be the best of the best, and it just looks like ass to me. Go to the store, look for yourself. Then decide. The general rundown is: Plasmas: Heavy, great contrast, best blacks, can lead to burn in in EXTREME cases. LCDs: lousy blacks (but getting better), always seem to look more pixelated to me, light weight, no threat of burn in. | ||
| Blake |
Dana (BadS1) is right. "Plasma and DLP are not as compact and plasmas are heavy." There. Fixed it. ![: ]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif) | ||
| Mikej |
Okay, facts vs myths, apart from playing time life, is there also a time degradation regardless of how much it is used? One of our TVs is currently well over 20 years old and is doing just fine. Just curious how it would be if it were a plasma or lcd and if this was 20 years from now. | ||
| M1combat |
DLP. Get the newer technology with the LED lighting. With both plasma and LCD you can get dead pixels, they burn in, they're heavy, only the plasmas have slightly better quality but you can tune just about any TV to give the same quality as long as you have the resolution. Plasma and LCD both generate a good bit of heat (as do the older DLP's with the regular bulbs). The technology in a DLP is simple and less expensive. User serviceable. Less money. Another issue I've noticed with LCD's especially is that they bleed out the detail in a dark area where the back-lighting is. Instead of seeing, say, a guy wearing leather or a dark suit in a dark room you'll just see some guy that looks like he's wearing a dark outfit with less detail. It only is an issue with dark scenes and only in the locations where the back-lighting is. I would hate to see how they butcher "Godfather" or the original "Gone in 60 Seconds". HD-DLP with the LED back-lights are the way to go. "plasma" sounds cool and LCD is a technology that people have been wanting for a long time because of what they expected out of it. Neither of them make a "great" TV. Better than an older tech TV for sure, but they both have significant drawbacks that make them not worth the extra money IMO. If you want the utmost in picture quality you'd go with the plasma, but the extra picture quality level isn't really noticeable once you tune both screens. If you want THIN and less spendy go for the LCD but be SURE to view the screen in a dark room with no picture (A black screen) BEFORE you buy. If the back-lighting bleeds through you will be disappointed the first time you watch a dark scene. If you want light, size, quality, less worry about burn in, long life and price is any concern at all the only choice is DLP. I just purchased a 24" LCD for my PC. I bought a 22" first (same manufacturer... Samsung screen, Gateway label) and the back-lighting was horrible on the $379 22" screen. Bad enough that I spent the extra $300 to move to the 24" that uses a different back-lighting method. If I had looked at the 22" with a black screen in a darkish room I never would have bought it in the first place. The 24" isn't perfect, but it's a LOT better than the 22". It's the same with the larger screens... It's all about how they do the back-lighting whether it'll be a good looking picture. They'll all do a bright scene just fine. So there's my 2.2c... (Message edited by m1combat on October 30, 2007) | ||
| M1combat |
Oh one more thing that I believe all three suffer from... Banding. None of them reproduce as broad of a range of color as a CRT. They're digital instead of analog (like our eyes...). If you have a way of getting it to display a gradient image of one color (like light grey in the bottom left corner to dark grey in the upper right corner (a "color" will work just as well)) you'll notice banding instead of a nice smooth gradient. Some people don't really care that much as their eyes just tune out the banding. Some people are VERY bothered by it though... These things are spendy so do your research. About the only advantage they offer over a CRT is color vibrance and resolution... LCD/plasma technology (DLP uses LCD's) just isn't that good IMO. It'll get there though... | ||
| X1glider |
I'll be keeping the rear projection for a while longer, at least until the HD format war is over. The blacks and dark image quality of plasma and LCD is still unacceptable IMO. They stil suffer from the rainbowesque moire effect. As for "banding", jagged lines and such, I find that really annoying and it fatigues my eyes. I'd be more inclined to go with a projector and screen setup and possibly a Foroudja line doubler or the like. | ||
| Etennuly |
So my 1960 Magnavox vacuum tube manual knob unit may be out dated? It is color when I put the rainbow film over the screen. | ||
| Metalstorm |
I was paving a lot for a TV shop a few weeks ago. She (the owner of the shop) told me 2009 is the year HD becomes the standard broadcast signal. HD TV prices should come down then. |
