Lcd vs plasma (anything new i should know?)

Consumer Electronics
#1

i know i know… old tired thread subject… but im REALLY close to buying a new tv (finally) and was wondering what i should lean towards buying… i WAS leaning towards a LCD but now im not sure and talking to my tech nerd brother in law. I’m looking for a 52", hdmi, 120hz type tv… and would like to keep it around (or under if possible) $2000.

Here’s my setup as of now… i run digital cable thru time warner, i have a xbox 360 (no hdmi - component) and i only have a regular old dvd player (no bluray yet)… so, for the most part im using this tv for movies and gaming…

i’ve been told in the past that if im gaming i want a LCD for sure since plasmas have burn in issues (is that still the case?). i’ve also been told if i want to watch movies i should look for a plasma since they are better for motion and have deeper blacks. does 120 hz take care of the motion problem for lcds? I’m also hearing that plasmas dont last as long and are noisier than lcds… but i know that plasmas ARE cheaper than lcds as well for the most part…

with all of this info, i keep going around and around in circles… which is better to have for what? i guess i need to answer that myself… but i thought i would ask some of the experts out there too for what they thought. the living room im setting this up in tends to be on the brighter side, but not overly bright i dont think… not sure if that is pertinent.

thanks for the help in advance!

#2

Plasma displays no longer have image burn issues or at least shouldn’t have. Plasma displays are much faster than LCD displays and do indeed have blacker blacks compared to LCD. There is no evidence that one technology lasts longer than the other. In fact, Panasonic issued some details about their latest plasma panels. They estimate, under normal use, their displays will last 42 years.

120Hz doesn’t solve motion blur on an LCD panel and, motion blur is probably the single reason i find LCD unacceptable, although many people are very happy with their LCD displays.

Best advice i can give you is. Get yourself down to your local TV dealer and use your own eyes to decide which is best. Forget about the salespersons sales pitch. In my experience, most of them don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

#3

I have both LCD and Plasma. The 42" Samsung Plasma is 720p meanwhile the LCD is 1080p but not 120Hz.

Comparing both, my vote goes to Plasma. The color quality is just far beyond the LCD although its 720p vs 1080p. During this summer, my boys play PS3 games on the Plasma for like… 10 hours a day and I don’t see burn-in problem at all. If the kids forgot to turn the TV off while the game is showing a static image, there will ghosting, but not burned, and it will disappear easily once you playback a cable channel or a DVD movie for a few seconds.

I don’t hear noise on my plasma.

I heard that on some 120Hz LCD didn’t fix the problem and actually all depends on the electronic components behind the panels. So if you plan to get 120Hz LCD, get a well known brand.

#4

ok thanks for the suggestions… a few things tho.

i’ve tried going down to a tv dealer, but in my experience, they link the same picture to multiple tvs which in turn distorts and kills any crispness at all… so its a little hard to tell HOW good OR bad the picture would be when i got it home…

also, as far as a well known brand, obviously a sony or samsung would do the trick, but would you consider a sharp, philips, or vizio good as well?

and just to get something straight in my head… plasmas ARE better for lighter rooms, correct? or is that not the case anymore?

thanks again for comments… i really appreciate it!

#5

Plasma displays are better in dimmed lighting conditions, much like the average lounge, after dark. Shops generally have very bright lights, which makes LCD panels look brighter than plasma. So be aware of this when viewing.

#6

so if my living room is on the brighter side then, i should maybe lean towards a lcd? or dont you think it would matter unless we were talking as bright as a show room… thanks

#7

This sums it up quite neatly. CNet’s Plasma vs LCD: http://reviews.cnet.com/4351-12658_7-6583301.html

All articles I’ve read, plasma is still the way to go. Your average room/house is not considered “bright”.

#8

[QUOTE=Dee-27;2113774] Shops generally have very bright lights, which makes LCD panels look brighter than plasma. So be aware of this when viewing.[/QUOTE]

ok, i understand your first sentence fine… but your next two are a little confusing…

are you saying that the only reason lcds look better in shops are BECAUSE of the bright lights or are you saying that it wouldnt matter either way in normal conditions because most homes ARENT as bright as shops? thanks

#9

[QUOTE=zaina;2113877]This sums it up quite neatly. CNet’s Plasma vs LCD: http://reviews.cnet.com/4351-12658_7-6583301.html

All articles I’ve read, plasma is still the way to go. Your average room/house is not considered “bright”.[/QUOTE]

well, here is my setup for the room… tv wall (with a window next to it), then perpendicular to that (right next to it) is a sliding glass door to my backyard. both this and the window have vertical blinds on them so when shut, they can block most of the light (but when not shut completely they still light up the room). then, further back on the wall with the door is another double window about 6 ft wide. this window actually reflects on my current tv (sony vega) so im a little worried about a plasma glass screen again…

so, with this setup (im sure its a little hard to follow) would you consider this to be less than ideal for a plasma?

btw, this is the current set i was looking at…
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11304597&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|79|2341|3316|74672&N=4018657&Mo=15&No=1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=74672&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&hierPath=792341331674672&topnav=

any thoughts? altho im having trouble finding some reviews… but it looks pretty decent in store. thanks again for the help

#10

Just a heads up for ya

As of April 09 2008 Philips has announced that it will no longer make any televisions for the North American market. Philips will, instead, license its name to Funai for use in North America. Funai currently makes Emerson, Magnavox, Sylvania, and Symphonic branded Televisions, DVD players, DVD recorders, and other electronics products for sale in North America. However, despite the exit, Philips still remains one of the most popular Television brands in the European market.

I don’t know if one would run into any complications on the warranty.

Below are our recommended plasma models in the 50" size for 2008. These recommendations are based upon price, value, quality and features.

Panasonic TH-50PZ85U
Pioneer PDP-5020HD
Samsung PN50A650
LG 50PG60
Panasonic TH-50PZ850U
LG 50PG20

:cool::cool:

#11

[QUOTE=platinumsword;2114438]Just a heads up for ya

As of April 09 2008 Philips has announced that it will no longer make any televisions for the North American market. Philips will, instead, license its name to Funai for use in North America. Funai currently makes Emerson, Magnavox, Sylvania, and Symphonic branded Televisions, DVD players, DVD recorders, and other electronics products for sale in North America. However, despite the exit, Philips still remains one of the most popular Television brands in the European market.

I don’t know if one would run into any complications on the warranty.

Below are our recommended plasma models in the 50" size for 2008. These recommendations are based upon price, value, quality and features.

Panasonic TH-50PZ85U
Pioneer PDP-5020HD
Samsung PN50A650
LG 50PG60
Panasonic TH-50PZ850U
LG 50PG20

:cool::cool:[/QUOTE]

ok… thanks… any recommendations for lcds then? and for a philips warranty on a tv they still need to honor it, tho right? thanks again for the help… maybe i will hold off then and wait for another costco tv to get on sale… (gotta use that store credit somehow) thanks again…

#12

I wouldn’t touch anything other than Panasonic (PZ85) when it comes to PDPs (Plasma displays). I’m not sure what Dee-27 means with “Plasma displays no longer have image burn issues or at least shouldn’t have.”, this is a “design flaw” it cannot be “cured”. Todays display do on the other hand have a much higher burn-in time than older ones so its harder to get burn-ins but certainly not impossible. Regarding PDPs/LCDs I have to say that I find it quite funny that people say that LCDs have higher contrast (looks brighter) than PDPs. It’s actually quite the opposite (in general), of course if you look at the cheapest set of either type and then compare it with one that’s much more expensive this can be true but that’s not a fair comparison. As for motion issues, I can’t honestly tell where this comes from unless you look at high latency LCDs (nowdays) or really cheap sets. As for the PDP/LCD war in general, Panasonic (Matsushita) are the only ones who are expanding their PDP panel production, the rest are winding it down even Pioneer. 120Hz (and 100Hz) isn’t even made to fix the rather non existing motion blur, it’s sole purpose is to display NTSC and PAL material properly without any judder. How this is made is on the other hand very different, some use motion adaption which makes overall motion extremely (excessively) smooth while others just duplicates frames. This way of handling PAL/NTSC material is outdated now since pretty much all new TVs support 24p although it requires that you have equipment that can output 24p otherwise you might encounter some judder. If I were you I’d look at Sharp LC52D64U which is a great buy (esp now with the price drop), it doesn’t have 120Hz but it does indeed support 24p and have great picture quality. Otherwise you have the W4100 series by Sony which are very good TVs although more expensive. In the long run I would recommend you to get a player that upscales your DVDs (a bluray-player will do this much better than a reqular DVD player unless you go for Oppo) or preferably a HTPC as it will hold back picture quality (doesnt depend on set). With your current setup I would recommend you to use your Xbox360 which upscales but I presume it sounds like a vacuum cleaner. Also, if you plan to have a wall mounted… make sure to get a TV that doesn’t have connections that stick right out on the back (Philips comes to mind), this will cause some trouble when mouting.
//Daniel

#13

120hz on LCD was invented by JVC to reduce motion blur when displaying fast moving objects like racing cars or any other fast moving objects as a ball in baseball etc… But motion blur is a flaw in the technology of LCDs and can not be fixed (120hz improves it but doesnt fix it). Another problem with 120hz is that when gaming the timing gets messed up (this is because to add frames it needs a buffer) and many gamers here in Japan dont like the 120hz feature. About burning in with Plasma: this is also a flaw in the technology and can not be fixed. But many makers have developed plasmas with much higher burn-in time than older models.
Plasma also seems to have problem when direct (sun)light is falling on the screen. It gets very difficult to see the picture. This problem can not be found with LCDs.

I would recommend to go to a store and look at the screens and decide yourself if you want plasma or LCD. Both products have their pro and cons.
About motion blur with LCD I would compare the screens by watching a baseball game, a car race or a tennis match to see whether the ghosting on LCDs disturbs you or not.

#14

What is the actual state in case of LCD vs. Plasma when it comes to power hungry ??

#15

Regarding 120/100Hz you probably want to read this Wikipedia entry as it means several things… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV_blur

I would say that this isn’t an issue any longer at least on good panels and you don’t find it at all on computer screens. You do on the other hand see this as “ghosting” depending on how fast/slow your panel is.

This feature (rather naming) is mostly because of the CRT era when all CRT needed 100Hz because it made it much less straining on the eyes due to higher refresh rate and for marketing most kept the name. It is by the way with current panels impossible to view 100/120Hz “correctly”.

At least in EU (220V) a PDP draws roughly about 100-150W more than a LCD set at the same size (40" or larger).
//Danne

#16

Here are some in depth reviews. Select a TV. Things like Picture on (watts) , Picture on (watts/sq. inch), Standby (watts) and Cost per year are given.

:cool::cool:

#17

In depth? cnet reviews are up to a page long and the reviewers doesn’t seem to have proper knowledge compared to “real” reviews.
//Danne

#18

Proper knowledge in what respect?

Who has a real review?

I suppose that these guys don’t have proper knowledge either?

:cool::cool:

#19

A good read, especially the white paper.
http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.eu/home/

#20

@ platinumsword
So you’re comparing Cnet to hdtvtest.co.uk?
You have to admit that there is quite a difference between those two…

@ Dee-27
If you are going to view pros and cons with each panel type at least use an objective site, Panasonic and Pioneer are far from objective.
Even if Synovate claims to be objective you can always phrase a question so one answer is favorable. It’s like asking Toshiba if HD-DVD is/was better than Blu-ray.

I still find it quite amusing that people are still claiming that PDPs are great, sales (and shipping) figures shows the opposite.
I do on the other hand see areas where PDPs are a better choice than LCDs but for home use I don’t (in general). PZ-series by Panasonic are great for being PDPs though…

//Danne