LCD or Plasma

I am looking into a 42" (47" just would be too big for our room). I like the plasma but I do game (360) and I am told the power consumption is a lot more. Now at Panasonic's web site they say that burn is no longer an issue but I worry. I don't want to ruin the screen. We also have a funky space so we can't site directly across from the screen so viewing angle is an issue. Anyone have a great screen that they can recommend?

Thanks

Neither. Go DLP.


TL

TexLaw said:

Neither. Go DLP.


TL

Click to expand...

That's what I'd heard, too. I want to finally join the 21st century and go HD. I've always been loyal to Maggotbox, even when Philips bought them out. But now, with so many changes in the last five years, I think I'm going to have to do a lot of homework. I used to like shopping for electronics, but not anymore. I just want to get a reliable unit, plug it in and turn it on.

What does everyone out there own? (opens a can of worms with an open-ended question and stands back!)

I just went through this with my father in law. Short answer, go LCD.

The average life of a plasma is 20K hours. That is really not too long considering the cost. I am not a video game person, but I have heard plasmas are not good for them at all, and cannot for the life of me tell you why.

I have also heard that DLPs are being phased out by the high end stores. They are still redily availible at the mass market electronic outlets like BB and Circuit City. They are neat, and have a longer life than both LCD and Plasma, but it is a projected light technology. There will be a lower quality picture (in more cases than not) tha the other two.

I will have to say, the Sony Bravia KDL46XBR4 is by far and away the best TV to meet your needs. I say this after many hours of pain.

Best of luck.

We have a 50" DLP HD TV. SWMBO is kind of impulsive when purchasing things and she liked this one and decided to buy it. I actually had to talk her OUT of buying the 54" version and it was her money.

I like new toys but I'm also pretty easy to please. A big TV is a big TV to me. I'm not paying close enough attention to tell that much of a difference between a 2,000 dollar TV and a 5,000 dollar TV. But that's just me.

LCD...plasmas don't last as long and they're still too damn expensive

I have a buddy that has a LCD projector. We play Xbox and light is not an issue as it has a lot of lumen's ( not sure how many ). Looked at plasma and really didn't like the price or quality for the price. You'll loose a little quality but for a 5th of the cost would be worth it. LCD screen is ok but the projector gave him a lot more flexibility of where he wanted to put it. He had the ability to use 42" or go up to 72" if he had the screen space. Imagine a 72" Halo 3.

See from what I saw the lcd and plasma were pretty similar price wise. I am really thinking LCD.

If you do any kind of gaming, you DO NOT want a plasma.

I have a 65" HD DLP Mitsubishi. I needed one this large because of the size of the room. Plazma was way too expensive. LCD was also expensive and I didn't like the way the picture effed up when the camera panned. DLP has a great picture. I blew the wad last year with a Yamaha receiver, and 6 Klipsch speakers for surround sound. Makes watching TV a pleasurable experience.

Rhoobarb said:

That's what I'd heard, too. I want to finally join the 21st century and go HD. I've always been loyal to Maggotbox, even when Philips bought them out. But now, with so many changes in the last five years, I think I'm going to have to do a lot of homework. I used to like shopping for electronics, but not anymore. I just want to get a reliable unit, plug it in and turn it on.

What does everyone out there own? (opens a can of worms with an open-ended question and stands back!)

Click to expand...

I bought a 55" Sony SXRD A2000 last year (primarily for 360 and Baseball/Football) and I love it. I wish I could've afforded something that big to mount on the wall, just to make the room not look as filled, but I don't regret the buying the TV at all.



And here's my 360 with it's black replacement case...

Ryan_PA said:

I just went through this with my father in law. Short answer, go LCD.

The average life of a plasma is 20K hours. That is really not too long considering the cost. I am not a video game person, but I have heard plasmas are not good for them at all, and cannot for the life of me tell you why.

I have also heard that DLPs are being phased out by the high end stores. They are still redily availible at the mass market electronic outlets like BB and Circuit City. They are neat, and have a longer life than both LCD and Plasma, but it is a projected light technology. There will be a lower quality picture (in more cases than not) tha the other two.

I will have to say, the Sony Bravia KDL46XBR4 is by far and away the best TV to meet your needs. I say this after many hours of pain.

Best of luck.

Click to expand...

20,000 hours isn't that long? If you watch TV for 8 hours everyday, that's almost 7 years! Say you spend $3000 on a plasma TV (you can easily find a low end model for $1500), that's just over $1/day...you probably pay 2-3x that much on your cable bill.

If you're going over 50", then plasma is really your only choice, but since you only want a 42", then you have an option to get either. Most likely, the plasma will only be 720p, but you could get an LCD that is 1080p...unless you're sitting within 5-7ft of the TV, you won't notice a difference though.

I personally own a 50" CRT RPTV (5 years old last month) and a DLP projector (100" screen) in the basement theater. If I was going to replace the 50" RPTV in the family room today, I'd probably go with a 50" 720p plasma.

I'd also suggest doing some searching on avsforum.com, I read for days over there before I started to build my basement theater. You'll probably get better advice on an AV forum compared to a beer forum

LCD ... plasma's die young

JFI, we had a sony Plasma TV at my old work that has never been turned off and it is still going strong. But IMO DLP is the best way to go.

drunkatuw said:

...I'd also suggest doing some searching on avsforum.com... You'll probably get better advice on an AV forum compared to a beer forum

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Yeah, but those guys are geeks and probably wear pocket protectors and have Brylcreem in their hair and Clearasil caked on in spots on their faces. And I bet when they talk, it sounds like Professor Frink on "The Simpsons". And they've probably never kissed a girl and never tasted a beer. How can I trust guys like that?

Whereas, a bunch of drunks like you guys, I'd trust completely!

We have a 42" Sony WEGA DLP. The quality on HD is fantastic. Watching on the angle is what really sold this one to us. It supports a wide angle very well. The downside....replacement bulb on this thing ran 175$ Surge protect and get the extended warranty and make sure it covers the bulb. We Paid under 1800$ three years ago and we use it for gaming, sports, etc. My brother in law has a 1 year old LCD and both pictures in HD are equal in my opinion.

I have a 65" Toshiba HD. I'm pleased even though it's rear projection.

I'll go flat screen next time.

42" Panasonic Plasma owner here. I game and have left the game system on pause for extended periods with no problems what so ever. When I bought the TV the LCD screens were noticeably inferior. They all seemed to have problems with the display of a fast moving picture. I did a lot of research and concluded that the Panasonic was the best TV in my price range at that time (just over a year ago). I bought directly from Panasonic and saved about $500. The DLPs are nice but the bulbs degrade before they actually burn out and the picture suffers because of this. Also the price of the replacement bulb can vary greatly between models/brands. I love my TV and the only regret that I have is that I didn't wait a little while longer before I bought (you can get a 50" for the same price now). If you go plasma, definitely check out the Panasonic's, My buddy just spent twice what I spent on a 52" Pioneer and is pissed because the picture on mine is so much better.

Hey, I take offense to the geek-comment. I'm a member at AVS, (and HTL, HTF the old HTT, etc.) Beer brewing became my second hobby after home theater got too expensive.

The answer really depends on a few factors:

I'm going to assume you really want to know between Plasma and LCD for any number of reasons, and I don't know that much about DLP so I won't comment on it.

Plasma
Pros: Better (IMO) picture quality, black levels are deeper, colors are better. Lots more choices that are half-way decent in quality and the price, especially at the larger sizes. At 42, you're right on the cusp of either one price wise, though.
Cons: If you have a well-lit room, with lots of windows, you'll get a glare off the reflective coating on a plasma screen. I live in a cave, by my own choice, so this doesn't bother me. Potential burn-in problem but this has been so overblown that it isn't even funny. Any new plasma is essentially burn-in worry free, assuming you're not watching a static image for days and days at a time. Assuming you watch TV like a normal person, and change the channel once in a while you're fine. I game on my 4 year old plasma and have no problems, and have been gaming on it since I got it. If you're interested in 1080p (1920x1080 resolution) it's a little more expensive in plasmas. Only the best of the sets have decent scalers. If you're interested in a plasma, depending on budget, I highly recommend anything by Pioneer or Panasonic. If cost really isn't a factor, you CAN'T go wrong with the new Kuro Plasmas by Pioneer. They're really outstanding.

LCD
Pros - Can be seen in a well-lit room a lot more easily (also why they looks so good in the Big Box stores with all the ambient light.) No burn in to worry about. 1080p is almost a given, which is nice
Cons - (and this is a personal preference) colors suck on all but the best sets. They appear, to me, to be washed out and blacks appear to be grey. I find that LCDs have a motion blur on fast moving scenes. For example, I haven't seen many LCDs that I would be able to watch a hockey game on (or even football, though that doesn't move quite as fast.)

If you're considering an LCD, I like the Sharp Aquos, and Sony Bravia sets. I've also heard great things on the new Samsung sets but have never seen them in person so I can't comment on them.

As for the half-life of plasmas, that's another mis-information propegated by the Pro LCD folks. The 20,000 hour half-life was true 8 years ago. Now they all claim at least 60,000 hours and, like I said, mine is almost 4 years old and is still running strong. I'm only thinking of getting a new one because I want a bigger TV.

HighPlains, do you know the model number of your buddy's set? I wasn't aware that Pioneer made a 52" plasma (I thought they only made 42", 50" and 61") I consider Pioneer and Panasonic to be the cream of the crop in plasmas. Pannys have better black levels (you can see more detail in dark scenes) and Pioneers color is better, from what I've seen. The new Pannys have made their colors much better and the new Kuro Pios have made their blacks much better and I would not hesitate to recommend either.

SiB, I just tried to call him and couldn't get him on the phone....looked on Pioneer's site and did not see a 52" . It must be a 50" either way, he likes mine better, especially since his drunken roommate threw a Wii remote at his and chipped the glass. And the main difference that he cites is the black details, he says that when someone is wearing a black outfit it just looks like a hole.


I was looking at a Samsung the other day in the store and I was impressed by it. Its really hard to tell though because the stores usually will turn the "vivid" or equivalent setting to max to make the colors pop. Trying to stand at the distance, height, and angle that you would be viewing the TV at home is very important when picking your set.

Also a avsforum geek...

50" Vizio Plas here and I game on it daily. Never had an issue. 1080i looks great! LCD didn't seem to be as crisp with fast movements and small objects. Best thing you can do to decide is go to a Nice home theater store and take a look at them side by side. You will never really get to see the fine differences in them if it isn't set up correctly (no glare, same feed, high quality feed....)

Maybe I should just wait for an HDRI display

Picture quality wise- Plasmas
If you want to keep it over 15 years -LCD
Ability to change frames quickly-Plasmas
Power usage - LCD

Personally I take the picture quality of Plasmas everytime. The black are actually black and not dark-blue. The colors are true not over done for bright colors and under for dark colors. And Plasmas are smoother on curves (which are the bulk of the picture).

Plasma if your interested in picture quality. I use to sell both and plasmas are even known buy the manufacturers as being better.

I love my plasma, it has a great picture and was well worth the cost. However, if you game, I'd highly recommend a DLP or LCD (DLP in my opinion), with the static displays common in just about every video game (i.e. health meters, UI etc) out there you will get screen burn. If I leave a program on pause for longer then 10 minutes or so, I already start to see the burn in take place (noticeable only on white or bright backgrounds), but can be remedied just by getting a moving picture back on the screen. Most Plasmas will have a pixel shifting function, but that just helps prevent burn-in it does not guarantee it will not take place.

Highplainsdrifter does not seem to have an issue with burn in (and it looks like we have the same model) but it's food for thought.

Whiskey,

What you're seeing is called "image retention." That is different than burn in. Image retention occurs when the indivudal phosphors get over-excited and don't turn off the way they're supposed to. Usually watching a regular TV show for an hour fixes this, and in very severe cases (say an 8 hour marathon of Tony Hawk which the Special bar doesn't move, I know from exeperience) may take a day or so for it to go away.

Burn-in is a permenant and non-reversible situation where the TV's phosphors either can't shut off or can't turn on leading to a destroyed TV. This used to be a big problem with CRT monitors and is why screen-savers were invented. I don't think I've heard one reported case of true burn-in on plasmas in at least 5 years.

If anyone does decide to go plasma for the better picture quality, I do recomend going easy on it for the first 100 hours or so. Watch a lot of TV and Movies, limit gaming sessions to a short period (and hour or so at a time) and be careful about pausing. When the panels are new, the phosphors age at a quicker rate, and the whole image rentention thing occurs more frequently and last longer during those first 100 hours. Nothing will freak you out more than seeing some static image that looks like it destroyed your screen on your brand new tv. Its nothing that time won't fix, but you probably want to keep your sanity.

Rhoobarb said:

Yeah, but those guys are geeks and probably wear pocket protectors and have Brylcreem in their hair and Clearasil caked on in spots on their faces. And I bet when they talk, it sounds like Professor Frink on "The Simpsons". And they've probably never kissed a girl and never tasted a beer. How can I trust guys like that?

Whereas, a bunch of drunks like you guys, I'd trust completely!

Click to expand...

How'd you know I was like that?

We bought a 48" Phillips LCD (Walmart, $1599) and the reviews of it were great... comparing the quality to the 3000 dollar Sony LCD. The cons were the sound quality (which to us didn't matter because we have a Bose surround sound system) and when you turn on the TV, it takes about 4 or 5 seconds for it to turn on. (again, no big deal to me) We've had the TV for a few months and absolutely LOVE IT.

My only comparison to a DLP is my father-in-law has a 48" Samsung DLP. He has had it worked on twice now in the past year and a half. He says he has been disappointed in it, and after seeing mine hanging on the wall, he wished he bought LCD since his can't.

I have been looking online and it seems that most of the issues associated with plasma i.e. the burn in and the longevity are no longer issues but it is still worry some. I guess my problem is I just don't think the quality is there yet with LCD. Everytime I have looked at them I am not impressed I can see the pixels and I find it distracting.

Fish,

I work as a market analyst for the TV industry. The specific area I study is the 40"+ market space, going all the way back to the first CRT RPTVs in the 1980s. There is so much information (and misinformation/opinion put forth as truth) on the net that it is hard to weed through it all. Generally, each technology has strengths and weaknesses and there have been some accurate ones posted here.

Send me a PM and we can find a time to chat. I can help you rank the technologies as to how they fit the priorities you have for each critical attribute.

Thanks all for the feedback. After weeding through a bit of info I think I will go with this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...lasma&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1186004963573

Its the 42" pano plasma. I did not see a single LCD that I did not find distracting but I thought the pano plasma was really beautiful.

The answer for the average person is LCD. The quality/price tradeoff is the best. If you are a complete quality nut, DLP. No one should buy a plasma these days, they are more expensive and do not last as long - and, if you live above 2000 ft or so, they produce an audible 'buzz'.

I worked in the industry for 15 years, and was involved in the transition from analog to digital(Stan def to high def started happening long before the public saw it). I just purchased a 47" Vizio LCD for what it's worth. I also own a Sony LCD. They are virtually indistinguishable as far as quality goes.

Anyway - my two cents.

blacklab said:

The answer for the average person is LCD. The quality/price tradeoff is the best. If you are a complete quality nut, DLP. No one should buy a plasma these days, they are more expensive and do not last as long - and, if you live above 2000 ft or so, they produce an audible 'buzz'.

Click to expand...

See and I have heard all of this but in the research I saw I just thought it was untrue. Most manufacturers claim their plasmas can be placed up to around 7000' and a few are rated above that. But no review I had read saw any problem with altitude. And the price seems just about the same as LCD, and man I thought LCD's were really poor quality. And most manufactures are rating their plasmas to last 60,000 hours even half that is pretty good. And we watch about 4 hours a week.

No worries Fish, you got a GREAT TV. Enjoy it.

Well I aint bought her yet but she sure looked purty at the store.

Don't know why just felt like being a hick.

blacklab said:

The answer for the average person is LCD. The quality/price tradeoff is the best. If you are a complete quality nut, DLP. No one should buy a plasma these days, they are more expensive and do not last as long - and, if you live above 2000 ft or so, they produce an audible 'buzz'.

Anyway - my two cents.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the DLP being the best quality....I've got one, and don't get me wrong, it's nice; just not nearly as clear a picture as from and LCD/plasma. I'm always jealous when I go into BB and see the prices dropping on the cutting edge stuff.

i am not the most knowledgable on this by far, but i freaking search, obsess, and study up on anything i spend my hard earned money on. i was in the market for a new t.v. about 6 months ago, and i read, re read, researched, every possible option. then i went to about 20 different stores over a span of a month, looking at each option in person.

i went with a 40" samsung 1080 HD lcd

it was more expensive than bigger lcds, and much more expensive than bigger plasmas, but ****! the quality is retarded good. MUCH better than any other lcd, dlp, plasma i've EVER seen. it's an amazing t.v. and i don't regret paying for it at all.

Brian,
I just happened to be driving around on my lunchbreak and stumbled onto a grand opening of Butterflyphoto.com / Plasmabay.com warehouse showroom in town. I see why you bought the Samsung. I was freaking blown away. They had a blueray of Spiderman playing. The 40" 1080p is $1300. I got my eye on that sucker for a bedroom TV.

Bobby_M said:

Brian,
I just happened to be driving around on my lunchbreak and stumbled onto a grand opening of Butterflyphoto.com / Plasmabay.com warehouse showroom in town. I see why you bought the Samsung. I was freaking blown away. They had a blueray of Spiderman playing. The 40" 1080p is $1300. I got my eye on that sucker for a bedroom TV.

Click to expand...

agreed. i'm really not sure what it is about it, but comparable to the picture of ANY other t.v. dlp, lcd, or plasma, i've NEVER seen a better picture quality, big or small.