LCD or Plasma...need help deciding please

[xneox]

Neither... go see the Samsung 42" LED... 12 months from now most SOTA mfrs will be highlighting their LED's and phasing out plasma first, then LCD.

RJ

See, this is why I hate Samsung's marketing of their new LED-lit LCD displays. They've effectively managed to convince the masses that it's a new technology.

Ugh. Do some goddamn research, people. "LED tvs" are nothing more than LCD displays with a LED light source behind the same old screens (ass opposed to the cold cathode fluorescent bulbs).

And actually, only the true BACKlit LED sets are any good (and are few & far between). Most are EDGE lit and have serious clouding, ghosting and uniformity issues. Many of the fluorescent-lit sets are still better than the edgelit LED sets.

And plasma is still the superior technology. No backlighting needed.

 

[RSL'67]

FWIW - I purchased a 52" Sony Bravia LCD about four months ago - the picture is absolutely stunning. It did require a bit of a time and research investment on my part, in order to get it optimally calibrated for my home environment - but it's dialed in and looks fantastic.

I also have a 32" Sharp LCD in an upstairs loft area and a 26" LG LCD in my master BR - these also look very good, but the Bravia is easily more impressive.

I don't own a plasma, so I can't speak to the "one to one" comparative aspects - but LCD has treated me well thus far.

Good luck!!

 

[Steelman]

I know this is a LONG time coming but, I pulled the trigger on my first television upgrade in 8 years...Thank you very much to all who replied here and helped me make a VERY educated decision.

I decided on a LG 42PQ10 Plasma...

To sum up this purchase...I am truly amazed!

The blacks of a plasma are unbelievably clean...
There is NO motion blur...
With a simple upgrade to a HD box with a HDMI output and component output from my DVD player...

Absolutely stunning picture quality.

The audio out on the cable box feeds my Sansui 661 and my JBL L100's...
The sound track of any movie/program now pans with amazing accuracy...
Car movements, rain, footsteps, explosions all have amazing realism and accuracy.

Thanks again to all who's opinions helped a great deal.

 

[whoaru99]

Congratulations! I'm happy that you're pleased with your new TV.

Look out...next thing you know you'll be looking at a HT receiver.

 

[ambient]

Do yourself a favor and get a Pioneer PDP 5020-FD.

 

[Bstable]

Need a TV for Superbowl...

I was going to get a new TV eventually anyway. The fact that my Colts are playing in a few days sped up my decision.

I am trying to research the best I can, but it is a confusing experience. It seems that now you need a technician to hook up your TV. That is what the guy at BB said...Oh if we don't calibrate it, your set will overheat and burn up. :sigh:

I think plasmas have a better picture in general, but I was told they have a limited lifespan (30,000 hrs) They are cheaper too.

So far I am looking at:

LG 42LH30-UA $615
Samsung LN46B530 $835
Toshiba 40RV525R $600
Insignia NS-L42X-10A $750 (2 year warranty on Insignias)
Insignia NS-L42Q120-10A $700

I plan on getting a Wie at some point, and still have a Playstation1 that I will use.

Not to hijack the thread, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on these. I read the entire thread because I trust AK opinions far more than average consumer opinions. You all have tought me a lot.

PS:I also found out that the "NEW LED SETS" are still LCD sets that are backlit differently.

 

[whoaru99]

I think plasmas have a better picture in general, but I was told they have a limited lifespan (30,000 hrs) They are cheaper too.

FWIW, 30,000 hours is 1/2 of what I've seen. I believe Panasonic claims mine is 60,000 hours. This is comparable to the figures I've seen for LCD TV as well.

Also, the hours quoted are typically what is called the half-brightness point. Meaning, the display will be approximately half as bright as when it was new at about this number of hours. Again, this is specifically meaning the display panel ("glass") itself, nothing more. It's not like the display just dies or something at that time. Note, however, this figure is only for the display panel "glass" itself. It is not a measure of the overall reliability of the TV.

Even if it were only 30,000 hours, the "old" CRT TVs were typically good for 25,000 hours to the half-brightness point.

Let's split the difference just to play safe and say it's 45,000 hours. Someplace I saw it was stated as 5 hours per day is the average TV watching time.

45,000/5 = 9,000 days
9,000/365 = ~25 years of watching TV 365 days per year, 5 hours per day. :thmbsp:

At least for me, anyway, "wearing out" the display panel is not really a factor since it's pretty likely I won't have the same TV for 25 years due to upgrades, etc.


My advice? Buy what looks best to you, don't worry about all the hype one way or another. FWIW, my preference is plasma by Panasonic.

 

[Brian]

I'd be happy to get 30,000 hours out of a light bulb. I'd not worry about the life span. Even if keeping it on for 24/7 that is 10.27 years. Their disadvantage is the screen burn if the picture is static and I understand that also means the black bands. I'd suggest you'd probably not want to listen to any of the 100 or so radio stations re-broadcasted by cable and counted in the magnificent total channels offered in their ads.

 

[Cleve]

I now own my second plasma - I upgraded a month ago from a 42" Samsung 720p plasma to a 63" Samsung 1080p plasma.

I used to LOVE the 42" Samsung, but she's pretty much forgotten now. (I gave her to a friend who doesn't have a job and has been ill!) I'm still filled with awe and excitement every time I fire up the new 63", which not only has superior picture to the 42", but more than 2x the screen area.

Picture wise, I have never seen an LCD that I liked as much as a good plasma. A friend got a 40" 1080p last year - and I underwhelmed when I saw it. I didn't want to hurt his feelings but the overall picture quality, brightness, black levels, and contrast couldn't hold a candle to my 42" 720 Samsung.

I think the BIGGEST disadvantage to a plasma vs LCD is the image retention factor. I haven't owned an LCD TV, but I have a 19" LCD computer monitor and the thing can sit for hours with a static image and no visible after effects. A plasma display would be ruined doing that.

And yeah, the electric consumption/heat.

 

[whoaru99]

Many (most, all??) of the newer plasmas have what essentially amounts to screen saver technology.

My older one does not, but I've watched 4:3 with bars on the sides or widescreen stuff with bars on the top/bottom for hours and yeah, there is some minor image retention of those areas for a few minutes if you look at a blank screen afterwards. But, I have absolutely no permanent burn-in on my ~3 year old plasma.

 

[yrly]

I was going to get a new TV eventually anyway. The fact that my Colts are playing in a few days sped up my decision.

I am trying to research the best I can, but it is a confusing experience. It seems that now you need a technician to hook up your TV. That is what the guy at BB said...Oh if we don't calibrate it, your set will overheat and burn up. :sigh:

I think plasmas have a better picture in general, but I was told they have a limited lifespan (30,000 hrs) They are cheaper too.

So far I am looking at:

LG 42LH30-UA $615
Samsung LN46B530 $835
Toshiba 40RV525R $600
Insignia NS-L42X-10A $750 (2 year warranty on Insignias)
Insignia NS-L42Q120-10A $700

I plan on getting a Wie at some point, and still have a Playstation1 that I will use.

Not to hijack the thread, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on these. I read the entire thread because I trust AK opinions far more than average consumer opinions. You all have tought me a lot.

PS:I also found out that the "NEW LED SETS" are still LCD sets that are backlit differently.

Insignia L42Q, I got one of these for $499. Best Buy substituted this because I was trying to buy the plasma. I decided at the time to keep it because the set was so much more expensive than the plasma. Its an OK set at best. Honestly Wal-Mart's 42" Emerson plasma which I got for my bedroom has a better picture. I'm not really too concerned this set will eventually be in the computer room. If you're a long time plasma user or have had an LCD rear projection you'll notice the motion blur in a heartbeat, and to me it is blatantly obvious. On the plus it has good black levels for such a cheap set, I got 18 months no interest buying it on my BB card so owning it is virtualy free and the Insignias have a 2 year warranty. On the bottom side is the motion blur, the fact that the plasma has still better black levels and more vibrant color.

I've been on both sides of this fence. I've owned plasma and LCD. I bought my first LCD 32" over 4 years ago for the bedroom (as a flat panel) and a rear projection about a year before that). Both still work. In fact the newer LCDs seem to have more uneven backlighting than the old one. I also have two smaller LCDs. One doubles as a TV/computer monitor, and honestly has held its own, has many many hours of use and looks as bright as the day I bought it, with vibrant colors. The other which should happen to be an Insignia has had something of a noticable color shift towards yellow despite having fewer hours than the even older 32". The rear projection model was getting dim and I ordered a new bulb from MAT a few months ago and looks as good as when it was new (its a Sony for what its worth).

Meanwhile on the plasma side, I bought a Vizio 50" for $768 2 years ago (which was insanely cheap at that time). It looks as good as when I opened the box and set it up. We were all worried about the plasma at the time but the price was too hard to pass up. As far as dimming? I've actually had to turn the set's brightness down from what I had it set at initially from a DVE disk because if you'll look some plasmas actually get brighter after the first few hundred hours. This set has chalked up a huge amount of use, probably close to 10k hours, my parents now have it at their house in the livingroom, my mom is retired and it, along with the Sony projection, is on most of the day while she cooks and cleans. The black levels of the 2 year old Plasma are equal to amongst the best of any normal priced LCD.

On Black Friday I purchased one of those $449 Emerson 42" plasma's Wal-Mart had for my bedroom, because in all honesty a 32" wasn't cutting it for a 19' x 15' bedroom, even though the TV wasn't set flush against the wall. Now I've only had it about 2 months but its not unusual for this TV to receive several hours of use per day. My wife usually works early, while I usually work in the middle of the day, so she heads up to bed earlier than I do, and as a result sometimes I'll watch the news when I'm getting ready for work too.. It's not unusual for the TV to run 6 hours a day. I've since found out this TV was made by Samsung and has performed quite well for me. I like it better than the Insignia but I'm not about to switch the two and wall mount this one when the Insignia is the one that stands to be replaced as it was a place holder.

 

[Axcel]

Plasma in a light controled room the big fault imo too shiney. LOve my LCD

 

[whoaru99]

Pioneer, at least on the commercial plasmas - which I have - quotes 120,000 hours half life.

Yes, I had seen remarks of 100,000 hours for some different models. But, for the average consumer, IMO, it's pretty much a moot point at 50,000 hours, give or take, anyway.

 

[willyrover]

30 000, 50 000, 100 000, 120 000....

...hour panel life ....largely irrelevant. Even if you did keep the TV for that length of time, other components are likely to fail long before then.

 

[yrly]

Quite true, I've seen many plasmas and LCDs with poorly designed power supplies or poorly laid out boards, either using cheap parts or with the caps postitioned above heatsinks that get hot and they're 85 degree rated ones. This is more likely to be the downfall of one of these sets going forward than the panel.

 

[BlazeES]

My 2 peso's...

Go spend some quality time with a movie you know (preferrably in Blu-ray) at the local retail establishment. Try to stay away from the "Vivid" modes during your demo time as those tend to over exaggerate dynamic range and subsequently performance; revert sets of interest back to standard mode and fiddle with the presets if you have to.

BTW, Pioneer has officially announced leaving the Plasma market and they are in the final months of phasing out remaining stock. It's a shame b/c they really produced some phenomenal sets in the Elite series.

Current LCDs with LED backlighting are experiencing a boat-load of backlighting bleed-thru issues on pretty much every set and every manufacturer out there... I'm in the market and I'm astounded at how it appears that LED emerged on the market place before being fully baked and ready to go. All you have to do is search "flash light", "clouds" and edge bleed through to find all the internet discouraging news. Sets with true zonal, localized positioned LEDs are sputtering to make to market without problems - and edge lit models are widely notorious for inconsistency and zonal shadowing type issues.

If LCD is your skew, stick with cold-cathode, relatively traditional, fluorescent backlighting models, as most of the issues associated with those panel types have been fully optimized for minimal bleed-thru at this juncture. Plasma can look utterly fantastic, but as others have mentioned, power can be an issue if that's a concern and the choices of quality offerings are starting to dwindle.

Personally, I'm waiting a few more years til things get sorted out on the LED front...YMMV, but that's the real problem...the greater the distribution of variance in the experience usually equates to a released to market too soon scenario...

 

[yrly]

The flashlighting and clouding is noticable on the newer CCFLs too, and honestly I think its worse than the sets available a few years ago. I chalk it up to manufacturing these things with such great speed to meet demand. Quality control takes a dive. Most people aren't going to be picky about it, its the serious viewers that are going to notice it. Despite the less than stellar contrast ratio my 4 year old 32" has a more even backlight than almost anything I see avilable today.

With plasma you're basically down to three choices, Panasonic, Samsung or LG. Hardly anything else is available (at least commonly and currently available in the US is going to be one of these, though Chinese manufacturer Changhong supposedly built some huge plasma panel production line, so I'm sure eventually you'll see no name sets using these panels filter in) you may occasionally see a Haier or other set from China made from who knows what parts. I wouldn't be too worried about any of the sets obviously sourced from a major manufacturer as far as plasmas. Image retention, burn in and such are much less of a problem than in the past. I'd be more worried about glare on the screen.

In all honestly I've had front projection LCD, rear projection LCD, flat panel LCD, plasma, and CRT in high def capable displays. Unless the room was overly bright I'd certainly choose a plasma, I'd only do front projection if I needed the huge screen. If you're viewing in a dark room its a no brainer plasma looks the best. If you're viewing in a bright room go with the LCD. If you're worried about motion blur, plasma. If you're worried about burn in LCD. Size for $ you'll almost certainly get a bigger plasma for less $, and a cheap plasma will almost certainly look better than a cheap LCD.

 

[uofmtiger]

I prefer plasma overall. As was mentioned, the LED screens look great, but they cost too much when compared to plasmas with similar picture quality. Also, when I was shopping, the LEDs maxed out at 55 inches, which made it easy to decide on a 63 inch plasma instead.

I still think that most people would be happy with either technology if they were feeding it an HD signal.:scratch2:

 

[Zeromancer]

I also prefer plasma.
I'll be sticking with Panasonic plasma tv's for awhile.

 

[aidynphoenix]

i got some questions.. i didnt read the last few pages though.. hope they havent been answered already..
are either plasma or lcd effected by magnetic fields like crt's??
which type gives problems with viewing angles?
and what is usually cheaper by type??
thanks!