Plasma versus LCD televisions

[Mord]

see i got a nice 720p 23" lcd for 650 quid 2 years ago and sat it on my coffee table, my liveing roomis square and thier is no place to put a tv in it, plus when it's fairly close it looks massive, personally i'd go lcd, but make sure you input everything through component or s-video at least composite always looks lik ass, but anything better looks superb.

 

[Dave00]

DLPs have terrible viewing angle's. Just because of that I'd steer clear. It really makes for an unpleasant experience unless you're sitting directly in front of it at the right height. Then the picture is pretty decent.

I've had a 50-inch samsung DLP for 2-1/2 years, and there's absolutely no issue with viewing angle. At least, horizontal angle. I haven't had occasion to try to look at it from a very low angle to check vertical viewing, but can't see why that'd ever be a practical issue. Like anything else, try before you buy. For less that 2/3 the price of comparable plasma, with much lower energy usage and (IMO) better blacks/richer color, DLP is a nice option. I'd do it again for a 42" and greater TV (would probably go LCD at a smaller size than that.) Also consider ambient lighting. Different TV's do remarkably different in, say, sunlight.

Dave

 

[rye9]

DLPs have terrible viewing angle's.

I disagree with that. I looked at them in Best Buy over the weekend speciically to see about viewing angles bc ive heard complaints but it was fine. Maybe it was for the only model I was looking at (Samsing HLR4266W) but I doubt it, its probably true for most DLP's. Also, for video games, DLP is best because no blur from Plasma, no burn-in risk, and no blurring from LCD's either. I believe LCD is very expensive for larger sizes and blurs with fast motion. Plasmas also die within a couple years and generate lots of heat. DLP's cons are that the bulb burns out every couple years and thats really it. Plasmas and LCD's are good but have more cons and more serious ones too. DLP is the way to go I believe for video games, theyre also cheapest too.

 

[Espnetboy3]

I went and talked to the magnolia guys in best buy. They work in specifically for home theater systems and they said that its a myth that plasmas burn out and you need to refill the plasma, like you would change the crystal bulb in other tv's. They also said like any other tv , yes if you leavea dvd or game on pause for weeks the image might burn into it, but its total nonsense on how they say you cant play video games on a plasma. He also mentioned the life span of 8000 hours is BS also. I found this interesting becasue ive heard the myths myself but they seemed to know what they were talking about. Again in my opinion no one knows hahhaa. He was telling us this when my friend was buying that new sony 60inch dlp.

 

[iBlue]

even "experts" have a tough time defining the difference between 1080i and 1080p resolutions, or at least trying to explain differences the average user would notice.

HD programming on any of these sets is a huge upgrade from standard definition or digital broadcasting.

Plasmas have a 1/2 life of 10 years, i'm guessing if these changes as much in the next 10 years as they have in the first 10, we'll be looking at completely new technology and having to upgrade anyway.

if you can get 10 years out of a plasma, not have to have a 3-400 pound set taking up half your living room, and be able to wall-mount it - i'd go with a plasma over 40".

With all due respect, you can't compare a 300-400 pound lcd to the good lcds and plasmas on the market today. If you're in the market for a nice LCD you have to be looking at least in the 1000 pound range (for something with a decent 32inch screen). You can't even buy a decent size Apple Cinema Display for 300-400 GBP!😀

Heh heh! No, I know. Sorry, I wasn't being that clear. When I get dragged into a shop to look at the TVs 🙂D) it seems as if it's only the really high end ones (ie at least £1000-2000) that look any good. And a new flat screen CRT (for £100-200 or so) looks to me as good as these fabulous big TVs, but obviously the disadvantage being that they've got a huge arse and are a lot heavier. I was saying that it seems like a better deal at the moment to buy a flat tube CRT and then wait until the LCDs, etc. come down in price. I mentioned the £300-400 ones because we couldn't/wouldn't spend more than that, and so LCDs aren't really happening for me at the moment.

I guess I'm just not the kind of person that would ever spend £1000 on a TV - especially when there's one with equally good picture quality for £100-200 with just a space disadvantage.

i took the post as being in reference to pounds in weight, not price. 😕

informative thread though. 🙂

 

[shumster]

Need to replace plasma soon

Further to all these posts, I'm in the market for a new plasma (got mine 5 years ago as a wedding present). First generation Sony plasma, 1024x1024 and noisy as heck thanks to two big cooling fans...

Anyway, here in HK, we're still not going down the HD route, but most of the new plasmas/LCD's in the electronics shops are either HD or "HD ready"

My question is: What is the difference between an HDTV and HD-Ready TV, if any?

Thanks

 

[bousozoku]

Further to all these posts, I'm in the market for a new plasma (got mine 5 years ago as a wedding present). First generation Sony plasma, 1024x1024 and noisy as heck thanks to two big cooling fans...

Anyway, here in HK, we're still not going down the HD route, but most of the new plasmas/LCD's in the electronics shops are either HD or "HD ready"

My question is: What is the difference between an HDTV and HD-Ready TV, if any?

Thanks

HD-Ready generally means that there is not an HD tuner so you can't view HD broadcasts without a separate box. In that case, you need to look for one that no only has the tuner but accepts a card for HD cable transmission.

 

[supermacdesign]

If it wasn't for the narrow veiwing angle of the DLPs' i went and saw at my local Best Buy I would be buying one right now. Ater much research and several trips to various electronics stores I don't thing LCD's and Plasmas are ready yet. I am a creative director at an ad agency and I am very, very picky about my images. I also play a ton of video games so my eyes and tastes are very peticular when it comes to what I see on the screen. When I watch a LCD or Plasma I simply cannot ignore even on high end models that chop or aliasing that occurs when the images are moving fast, drives me friggin nuts. I just don't want to dump thousands on a picture infirior to todays CRT's and DLPs. Even though they seem old school, well maybe I am I just want the best.

Does anyone know if you play say an Xbox 360 on a new LCD or Plasma does the image stay sharp and HD when the source is HD or does it break down like when you watch a DVD and explosions happen and the image falls apart?

 

[Sdashiki]

i love how people can say:

plasma TV $2500, if i get 10yrs out of it, im happy.

WOW.

A $2500 CRT, or even a $1000 CRT would last for 35yrs +.

HDTV does not MEAN, and never has or will, FLAT PANEL AND THIN. Thats just aesthetics etc, and has nothing to do with HDTV in general. Yes a nice smaller thinner TV is cool, but the costs associated are too rich for what they give you. IMO

 

[IJ Reilly]

iA $2500 CRT, or even a $1000 CRT would last for 35yrs +.

Well now, that's not true. CRTs deteriorate. The phosphors wear out, slowly but surely, and it takes far less than 35 years to see a loss of brightness and contrast. But the good news is, probably before your CRT becomes totally un-viewable, the high voltage supply will fail. Not that I think flat panel technology is ripe yet -- but no display technology is without its flaws.

 

[Sdashiki]

Well now, that's not true. CRTs deteriorate. The phosphors wear out, slowly but surely, and it takes far less than 35 years to see a loss of brightness and contrast. But the good news is, probably before your CRT becomes totally un-viewable, the high voltage supply will fail. Not that I think flat panel technology is ripe yet -- but no display technology is without its flaws.

CRTs of course deteriorate, but not as fast and certainly not as horribly.

A CRT of age can be made to look new with some fiddly of the contrast/brightness/sharpness dials.

 

[virus1]

i also think the brightness plays a vital role. my living room is very bright due to lots of windows (witch sounds so dirty on these forums). my 42" bravia LCD is awesome. also, the entire image etching thing scares me. (and i have seen an example of it)

edit: power consumption

 

[IJ Reilly]

CRTs of course deteriorate, but not as fast and certainly not as horribly.

A CRT of age can be made to look new with some fiddly of the contrast/brightness/sharpness dials.

Not in my experience. You can overdrive a CRT just so much to compensate for age. When the phosphors wear out, they're worn out, and the high voltage supply is a weak link. A good LCD should actually last quite a bit longer than a CRT, assuming the back lighting doesn't give up.

 

[Espnetboy3]

There is no way a lcd or dlp or plasma for that matter will last longer than a crt. Not in todays world at least, maybe down the line. I have a 20 year old 27 inch sony crt tv in my den and it still looks very good and plays dvd sharp and crisp. That tv also takes a beating and is left on.

 

[Mord]

my current lcd has outlasted all crt's i've ever had.

 

[IJ Reilly]

There is no way a lcd or dlp or plasma for that matter will last longer than a crt. Not in todays world at least, maybe down the line. I have a 20 year old 27 inch sony crt tv in my den and it still looks very good and plays dvd sharp and crisp. That tv also takes a beating and is left on.

The deterioration in a CRT is so gradual that it will probably continue to look good, even though it's getting dimmer all the time. This is just inherent to the technology. I know our 25" Sony (about five years old) is wearing out because I have to fiddle with the settings from time to time to get good black levels out it. If it wasn't changing, I wouldn't need to adjust it. In any event, the flyback transformer will probably dump before the set becomes unwatchable. I guess that's the good news.

LCDs have their weakness too, and plasma -- I wouldn't touch it at any price.

 

[Dave00]

I went and talked to the magnolia guys in best buy. They work in specifically for home theater systems and they said that its a myth that plasmas burn out and you need to refill the plasma, like you would change the crystal bulb in other tv's. They also said like any other tv , yes if you leavea dvd or game on pause for weeks the image might burn into it, but its total nonsense on how they say you cant play video games on a plasma.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you talked to a moron. Plasmas absolutely do have a half-life, and lose brightness over time (half-life being the time it takes to lose half the brightness). There is no way to refill the plasma, it just doesn't work that way. Burn-in happens on some display technologies but not on others. You can leave your LCD on until the cows come home and you'll never get a burn-in. Plasmas have fixed the burn-in issue to some degree, but not totally. Look at an older plasma (e.g., airports) to see a nice example of burn-in.

dave

 

[Stridder44]

Screw that man. SED's are the way to go.

"Being the number two TV manufacturer, Toshiba has to make a big move in televisions, and their push this year will be into SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) TVs, something that number one Sony doesn't have. The lineup will start with 50-inch screen sizes, featuring 1080 progressive support, 8600:1 contrast ratio, 1ms response speed, and one-third the power consumption of plasmas."

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/09/toshiba-sed-rollout-planned-for-late-2007/

Oh totally. But we're talking about now, and my guess is that's going to take a while for SEC's to actually be seen in you average Costco or whatnot.


On a separate note: Rear projection is terrible. I don't understand how people can say they're good. They're bulky, have a terrible picture (too dark, etc), and the viewing angles suck huevos.

 

[Stridder44]

Unfortunately, it sounds like you talked to a moron. Plasmas absolutely do have a half-life, and lose brightness over time (half-life being the time it takes to lose half the brightness). There is no way to refill the plasma, it just doesn't work that way. Burn-in happens on some display technologies but not on others. You can leave your LCD on until the cows come home and you'll never get a burn-in. Plasmas have fixed the burn-in issue to some degree, but not totally. Look at an older plasma (e.g., airports) to see a nice example of burn-in.

dave

If someone's dumb enough to leave their Plasma TV on the same frame (however they could even do it) for hours at a time it's hard for me to feel pity.

 

[whoooaaahhhh]

MMM...LiCos

Sony LiCos...They're amazing...i have the 55" Wega and it's everything that I could have ever asked for. 1920x1080 Progressive Scan. And none of the Plasma baloney to deal with. They also make a 65" version. Check it out.

 

[t1rider321]

dont go plasma they burn out, take up alot of electric and dotn give true high def. defenatly go lcd

 

[Mord]

funny thing is the "dont do true high def" problem is the same with lcd's they have native resolutions of 1280x768 to 1336x768, so they can do 720p near natively, but 1080i is just converted into native 769p, it's still high definition, just not truely 1080i

though i agree i dont like plasma's too power hungry.

 

[ObsidianIce]

Oh totally. But we're talking about now, and my guess is that's going to take a while for SEC's to actually be seen in you average Costco or whatnot.


On a separate note: Rear projection is terrible. I don't understand how people can say they're good. They're bulky, have a terrible picture (too dark, etc), and the viewing angles suck huevos.

Not really true. I have a Rear Projection. Mitsubishi DLP 62 inch screen 40x59x20 133 lbs and the viewing angle is extremely wide. The image is not too dark, when calibrated correctly. Yes they have bad rear projections, but by no means are they all terrible.

 

[LethalWolfe]

If someone's dumb enough to leave their Plasma TV on the same frame (however they could even do it) for hours at a time it's hard for me to feel pity.

With how many channels have near permanent "bugs" in the lower right hand corner it's easy to have a static image on that part of the screen for hours on end.


Lethal

 

[HughJ]

jesus christ your an argumentative bunch, each to their own thats what i say, each technology has its pro's and con's, me i prefer plasma