[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Plasma vs LCD (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/4/2007 6:06:27 AM EDT
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Hey guys I need some advise. I am going to get a new TV in the next week or so and would like some advise. Should I get a Plasma or LCD TV? I am leaning towards Plasma for a few different reasons, size and price mainly. I know that they both have pros and cons and would like to hear about what your expeiences have been with them. What brands do you have, what size, how long have you had it, any service related things? I have about $1800 to spend and have scoped out theese TVs one the net; Circut City has a Vizio 50" Plasma for $1699; Best Buy has a Maxent 50" Plasma for $1599; HHGREGG and Walmart have a Magnavox 50" Plasma for around $1797; All seems to be a good deal. I currently own a 31" CRT Sanyo (Walmart Special) and am looking to up-grade. Any advice helpful, And Thanks  If I can round up the wife and kids I may go look at a few today. poll coming? Plasma or LCD or CRT edited fur spilling 
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| I agree with the post above me. LCDs are getting less and less expensive everyday. Most brands should be putting out their new models over the next couple of months so prices will be better in you could wait until april. The new stuff will be lower priced than the current models, and the left over stuff will be slashed to get them lower than the new ones. |
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Plasma still has the lead. It can produce contrast ratios you just can't get in LCD. It also doesn't suffer from the artifacts LCD produces today. Do yourself a favor. Go to a Best Buy or Circuit City and have them put on a basketball game. Watch LCD and plasma side by side. When the camera pans from one side of the court to the other, watch how LCD pixellates the banners and audience for a second or two until it catches up. Doesn't happen with plasma. The burnin problem is pretty much mitigated with technology over the years. Remember however, LCD will catch up with plasma in another year or two. Ignore the 1080p game. I recommend Panasonic Plasmas first and Pioneer Plasmas second. www.avsforum.com for more information. |
Only shitty LCD's do that. Talking like just a few hundred dollar LCD's, which basically you dont get in a TV. |
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Well I can say that I have a Panasonic LCD and it is a big POS. It is a 2003 model, from when they first came out, and I am now on my 4th bulb. Actually, Panasonic has already settled a class action lawsuit over this TV, and the settlement sucks. I paid $2700 for it, and they are only offering to extend the warranty one year, or to give me $1000 off a new Panasonic TV over $1500. The bulbs are $300 each, and the last one lasted about 4 months. $133/month, in addtition to a $2700 TV, is just a bit outrageous Luckily, I purchased a Best Buy warranty, and it has paid for everything, and it is about to replace the TV under their lemon policy. However, based on the terms of the settlement and the way Panasonic has handled this, I will never buy another Panasonic product again. |
| i went lcd samsung 32'', stay away from off brands tou might get a bigger picture ,but clarity will suffer,with lcd i would go samsung ,sharp aquios, sony .sony is great but you pay for their rep. lcd also uses less electricity and will last longer. rember youre going to have this for a long time spend alitte more and get a better tv. you might save a few hundred with a cheaper tv but in the long run you.will be disappointed. your eyes will tell which set to buy. good luck |
| I won a 50 LG Plasma a couple years ago. It has a great picture and I have had no problems with it so far. The burn in thing has not been problem. I have noticed it a few times when a DVD has ended and gone back to the menu for a period of time. No permanent problem, it resolves when I hit change channels or get the video going again. |
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Had the same question last Thanksgiving, and after weeks of reseach on sites like avsforum.com, settled on a 61" Samsung HL-S6187W DLP HDTV w/ HDMI input. I have not regretted my decision and 1080 resolution rocks. Personally, I'll take screen size over display thickness for the price any day of the week. Got it off Amazon.com with free shipping, too. 
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Plasma has a better picture then LCD in all the TV's I have looked at. And i install them for a living... Half life on a plasma is the same as an LCD. You going to have a different TV in 10 years anyhow... LCD's bring the suck! The only reason the salesman are pushing them is because there is no point margin on the sale of a plasma right now. So fuck stick is not going to make money by selling you a plasma. If I sold you a plasma right now, I would make $7... If I sold you an LCD (SUCKERFISH HAHAAH) I would make almost $400 on the sale. Ge the plasma, it is a better picture overall. |
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Right now the Plasma display, or ANY DISPLAY to have is the Panasonic TH-50PH9UK http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16889187012 Alot of people are going to come back and say this and that about Plasma VS LCD. Last weak I put almost 15 LCD's and Plasmas in homes. THis is about the average amount of TV's I install in a weak so trust me, I have looked at them all up close and personal. If you purchase the above display you will real happy. I own the above display and I am direct with all the major brands. |
It lacks HDMI inputs.
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I bought this Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD set from Newegg and am very happy with it. I put it in front of a recliner and use it as a computer monitor, Bluray discs and for HD cable. I haven't noticed any problems and the picture is great. I did a lot of research at avsforum and this seemed like the most bang for the buck. I do not own a plasma set so I can't really offer a comparison. I wanted 1920x1080 resolution for my PC and that limited my plasma choices greatly. Hope this helps, Ken 
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Nice toes.
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We had a 4 year old rear projection TV that went south about a month before the warrenty was up. The service guy from Best Buy who came out said that based on his experience fixing big screen TVs he felt the DLP was the best bang for the money. After working on our old set for 3 hours, he said he declared it unfixable. That allowed us to pick out a new TV. Based on what he said and reading everthing we could we find about LCDs, Plasma, and DLPs we chose a 57" Toshiba DLP. We have had it about 6 weeks and love it. |
Contrast ratios are one of the least important properties in television. The ratios are limited by the source material. Until they change 100 IRE from being 100 IRE then you've got something to start to look at. In most lit homes you're not going to see anywhere near the limts of any technology. If you want real contrast you're going to be watching in a perfectly dark room and enjoying the Sony OLED that was demostrated at CES 2007.
No display technology is going to create or mask the artifacts that you're describing. That sounds more like MPEG macroblocks which are the result (normally) of over compression. Not enough bits, too much information. Normally caused due to a temporal overload. Also be aware that nobody actually working in Best Buy or Circut City has clue zero on how to set up any type of display system. Most of the time the displays are so screwed up - they over saturate and over sharpen like crazy. They're also likely way over brightened (blowing away that contrast ratio). For me its about color rendition and reduction of display artifact (not MPEG ones) the screen door effect, clay face, ... AVS forums are a good place to learn. I don't own either a plasma or LCD television screen, CRT's are still the best thing going for any size and I went with a direct light amplification projection screen (Sony and JVC call them by different names), At work I've bought seven 70" Barco projectors and one light cannon (CRT projector). We've replaced 270 8" CRT screens with LCD ones but those mainly for heat/power use. |
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IBTIRM In Before The Image Retention Morons. "Plasmas will burn in the image IMMEDIATELY upon turning them on. I have never owned an LCD, but compared them with Plasmas ALOT before purchasing. I subsequently bought a Sony plasma and havent regretted it since(almost 2 yrs). I play Xbox 360 for hours at a time sometimes, watch DVDs and satellite. Have had zero problems and love the PQ. If you have a very bright viewing room, I may consider LCD, otherwise I think you will be better off with Plasma. Dollar for dollar, DLPs are pretty rough to beat though. |
That's been solved after the first few generations of plasma. We replaced our early plasma's every two years as we had problems with the time code windows and quad displays burning them. We still get complaints from overseas with our viewers with plasmas as the logo's (bugs) for our 12 stations are all in the same place. They burn the screen as no matter what channel you're watching the bug is the same shape, size, and location. We're changing to a system which will allow our bug to drift a few pixels in each direction over time moving so slowly that the view won't notice but will be more gentle on both plasmas and CRTs. |
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We're gettingready to replace the TV in the living room as well. When I ask friends/acquaintences, most of the time I'm told that LCD is the way to go. Well LCD and 1080i (whatever the hell that means). From what I'm reading here, plasma technology has improved greatly? So the best bang for the buck can be found in a Plasma screen TV (HD tuner built in for me)? I'm only looking to spend $2k or less. OP, sorry for the hijack, but it looks like we're looking for the same thing... |
Not a problem. Thanks for the good advice today! My living room is nothing but windows, and at certain time during the day (Morning till Noon) it is almost impossible to watch TV with my CRT TV. Is this going to be a bigger problem with Plasma or LCD? I have done alot of reading today about both Plasma & LCD and am still leaning towards Plasma. I heard somewhere that if you are not a HD subscriber, I have standard cable, that the picture quality on a HD TV is crap. True/False, anyone know? A few of you have mentioned DLP, are those not much bulkier, problematic? |
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A CoWorker bought this for his mama as a Christmas gift. www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th42px60u-review.html He spent a lot of time researching TV's & felt this had the most bang for the buck. |
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There was a Consumer Reports in Late Nov, that talked about buying the new HD TV's. Lot's of good info there. After reading all of that, I opted to go with a Plasma. Right now, Costco is selling the Panasonic-TH50PX6U for $1999.99 PLUS, Costco (besides being "anti-gun") has the BEST return policy in the industry. At Best Buy or Circuit City, the push the Extended warranty, for about $400. I Have had a problem with reflection from the windows, but drapes solve that. LCD's are expensive for the size. DLP's have SHORT BULB LIFE. Great Picture, but, you're changing the bulb every year to 18 months. But, the best thing to do is go, watch, and make up your own mind. AVSFORUMS.COM is a good place to go too....Lots of info! |
I don't know where you're coming from, but contrast is the most important quality in any LCD or plasma, bar none. Of course you have to calibrate your display and turn down the brightness from factory settings. The artifacts are quite real in LCD, but not plasma. You can even see them on an Aquos. Has nothing to do with compression. We're talking the same signal source. |
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I have bought two LCDs in the past month. I got a Sony 1081 47 inch for the family room and a Sony 10801 40 inch for my den. The 47 inch cost 3K and the 40 inch $1.7K Both of them have great pictures. They had the best pictures of any of the display models at Costco. The HD picture (cable) is absolutely first rate and the colors are bright. I know I paid for the Sony name but the sets are really good. |
You need to calibrate your TV or check your signal source. There is no artifacting in a properly set up lcd with a good source like hd-dvd or blu ray. I know this because I have a 40xbr2 that I use as a computer screen and TV. Ive been on AVSforum for over 2 years and have tried about 15 different TVs each has there own problems but "artifacts" on an lcd has never been one of those. |
A graphic artist that works for us part-time tested one from (IIRC) Spectra View. She said the color was almost as good as her old Trinitron CRT. Wow. She has one of the LaCie LCD's that was over $2k that is absolute garbage so she was skeptical before seeing it. This monitor is $5k, but it's promising that decent LCD's may one day be affordable. Of course, it can't compete with CRT's near the edges since colors are very inaccurate due to the viewing angle. It looks like LCD's might finally be able to compete with CRT's for the first time.z |
I wonder if he is talking about the lines from the horrible interlacing? I have a new 32" LCD in my office, and it looks terrible (like everything does!) with an interlaced signal. Anything moving, especially sports, looks horrible with interlacing but it's what most of the networks are pushing. We were stuck with interlacing with NTSC for over 50 years, and it sucks to see the networks try to ruin HDTV the same way. Most computers got rid of interlacing 15+ years ago. It would be nice not to see TV ruined by all of the horrible lines and flickering.z |
Oh ya, I completely understand the interlaced signals found in regular non-hd broadcasts and I agree it looks terrible. That problem is not inherent in LCDs though, it has to do with how well the tv handles the SD signal. This is also a case where lots of people say current LCDs experience motion blur, although the fact is that it is in the broadcast. |
Umm, Infocus X1 DLP projector. 2.5 years old ...2500+hours on original bulb with no visible dimming.So I'd disagree on that. Costco IS a great place to buy due to return policy. AVSFORUMS.COM IS the best place to get info. On DLP rainbows,even on my dinosaur I quickly couldn't see them, unless trying to. |
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DLP is the best. Well, CRT is the best, but that's a different story... LCD is good for tv's smaller than 40 inches IMO; also, they don't reflect light off the screen, which can be good in bright rooms. Plasmas are great for larger televisions (50 inches and larger, etc.) 1080p is the best, and MAKE SURE it has HDMI inputs. 1080i is okay...I wouldn't get 720 though. |
Yes, the TV does not come with the HDMI expansion board ($125)... Thats correct, I said expansion board. If you need a specific input on the TV you just drop one of the three cards on the bottom of the set and plug the one you need in... So I dropped the A/V card and slapped my HDMI card in next the DVI card. Another plus to the panasonic is it's ability to upgrade to inputs as they come about. If for example a new style of connector comes out, panasonic will have a card that will go directly in this set and upgrade it. The panasonic plasma that I posted has had the same chassis for almost 8 years? It is a professional line that you are not going to find at Sucker City. Again, you will not be dissapointed by this set. Go to your AVS forums and what not and ask those guys about the Panasonic Pro line. |
I'm not talking about interlacing. I'm talking about an HDTV sportscast coming right off of the Directv bird of a basketball game broadcast at 720progressive (or at least downconverted to 720p). On LCD during panning of the camera, you see blurred artifacts on the LCD that you don't see on plasma. Side by side setup - same signal to both sets. After a second or two of still shot, the blur clears up on the LCD and matches the plasma. I kid you not. I've seen it several times at the local Best Buy and Myer Emco. You may or may not see it with a movie, but you'll definitely see it during a basketball game. You'll even notice a lot of 'dot crawl' around text on an LCD that you won't expreince on plasma. |
OK. That definitely does exist. My new ViewSonic LCD claims a response rate of 8ms, but I can still see the lag caused by the time it takes the crystals to turn. I'm driving it with DVI connected to a computer so I know the blur isn't caused by the source. That problem exists just barely enough to see with my contrived tests on a screen 32" screen that I am only 2' from. It shouldn't be as much of a problem as you described with any new LCD. As a wild guess, the dot crawl problem you describe sounds more like a problem with the scaler in the TV that converts from the source resolution to the resolution of the LCD. With my ViewSonic if I dive it with 480p, I see distortion that is worse during movement. If I dive it with a native 720p source, that problem goes away. It's also one reason why 720p sources like Fox look a lot better than the crappy interlaced signals from CBS and NBC. CRT's don't have that problem since you can drive them with any resolution source that they have the bandwidth to handle.z |
<Borat>Those toes are noooooot niiice!</Borat> |