The Death Of Plasma TV/Buying Advice

[techfreak85]

So i saw this link to an article on yahoo about how plasma is (almost) dead. Whats the deal? I have been looking for a new HDTV. Would this new "downfall" of plasma present an opertune time for me to get one?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

[Michael CM1]

I just got a Samsung 32" LCD 720p TV for $500 at Best Buy. You seriously can't beat that for a Samsung model.

I knew one person with a plasma model and he took it back because of how frickin' hot it was. It was probably a bad model, but I have heard many more bad stories about plasmas than LCDs. I'm also a huge fan of DLP when you get to about 50" or larger.

Stay away from plasmas. LCD and DLP seem to be the technologies that are going to stick around. Hunt around for deals, which are EVERYWHERE with sales being way down.

The overall deal just seems to be LCDs selling better. I have stuck with them since the technology has been around for much longer and seems to be good. Just make sure to stick with a decent brand when buying a TV. I recommend Samsung and Sony.

 

[gkarris]

Plasma screens easily burn-in plus LCD PQ is quickly catching up...

 

[AnthonyCM]

I don't know if this would be a good time for a deal on a plasma or not. I have an LCD (Samsung 750 series - and I love it), but there are some devoted plasma lovers out there. If anything, I can see them going out to get the latest, and last, model out there before they're gone for good.

And you'll hear a lot about burn-in, power hogs, etc. A lot of that is not as prevalent as it used to be. I'm no expert, though. I would suggest going to avsforum.com and getting a good feel for what's out there.

Good luck.

-anthony

 

[basesloaded190]

Plasma screens easily burn-in plus LCD PQ is quickly catching up...

Well speaking as someone who actually has both an LCD and Plasma i can disagree with you. LCD are cheap, yes. You can get a there are a ton of manufacturers out there selling cheap low quality LCD tvs. Great for people who don't care about PQ and all that. I will admit though that the high end LCD is getting darn near the quality of a plasma. Plasma still is going to give you a better picture quality with deeper blacks, and no need to worry about motion blur with plasmas either. Burn in isn't a problem any more. You have to be a real idiot (aka someone who leaves the TV on Pause for a whole day or more for something to happen).
Do i like My LCD or Plasma better? I would have to go with the plasma just because of the Deeper and better colors i can get.

 

[azdunerat]

That and you can pick up a 50 panasonic plasma for around 900.00 even 800 if you find the right sale. I will be upgrading to a 50 here sooner or later for my theater.

LCD has some huge pluses over plasma first is weight second is efficiency. Plasma tends to be very warm to damn near hot if you are near the screen while lcd's are cool. Power consumption is another, but for all that I will take a plasma over LCD all day long.

 

[wvuwhat]

It all depends on what you like. Plasmas tend to recreate movies better, while LCD's seem good for brightness. The average American tends to go for the brightest. With LCD prices dropping, it all is going against plasma. I could understand Pioneer getting out, no matter what plasma was doing, because they are amazing, but in this economy, not everyone wants to shell out 5K for a 60", although there are deals on the 5020 for under 2K, which I think is a bargain.

 

[johnnj]

My main TV is a Pioneer Elite Plasma 50". We also have a Sharp Aquos 42" wall mounted in the bedroom.

I have to say, the plasma BLOWS AWAY the LCD, at least these two models compared to each other. The natural quality of the color and the depth of the blacks are really like night and day between the two. The brightness of the LCD is also a bit too harsh for my eyes. When you crank the brightness down you start losing some of the detail/contrast and it gets a bit washed out.

I think that this article is right, that the wind is definitely blowing in the direction of LCD because of lower cost and good enough performance.

When we were shopping for the bedroom set I did look at the Samsungs. I think they probably were the best in terms of blacks, but (at least at the store default settings), the contrast and color was WAY overblown. Kind of reminded me of the Bose "trying to impress you with how such a small device can pump low frequencies by having the bass cranked up about 4 times too high" syndrome.

Hopefully the Elite will last forever, because by the time it'll be due for replacement I fear that there won't be anything better to replace it with. I wish I had the cash to buy the current equivalent Kuro, but you know... it's not the time for that what with the tiny little problem we like to call "the economy" and all.

John

 

[ibglowin]

Wow, never seen so much misinformation (on plasma) on a single page.

I have owned every type of flat screen out there in the last 5 years. RPLCD, LCD, and now Plasma. I picked up a 58" Panasonic back in November.

Plasma blows away any other technology out there as far as PQ. My 58" Panny is cool to the touch and whisper quiet.

Burn-in is a thing of the past on these sets. They have pixel shifting technology so that even if you did pause the TV and then walk away for a day with it on it would not burn in. They will also turn themselves off if they detect no signal so you don't have to worry about accidently leaving the TV on and everything else is off.

The colors (blacks included) are so accurate you would think you could reach out and touch the image. Jaggies in fast motion scenes are a thing of the past with a Plasma.

I have a 42" LCD and I am thinking about dumping it and picking up a 42" Panny Plasma for the bedroom as well.

That said, LCD's are better suited to gaming, do use less energy and do work better for rooms with very bright background light and room glare.

If PQ is your highest importance, Plasma is the way to go. If you can live with jaggies in fast motion, have a very bright room with lots of glare, do loads of gaming or want the set that uses the least amount of energy go LCD.

Plasma's are not going anywhere. Pioneer and Vizio are dropping out but Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba and Hitachi are still dedicated to this technology.

 

[obey908]

i didn't read the article but, companies are going to stop making plasmas because stores do not have the correct lighting/set ups to show the true beauty of plasmas and they feel they are wasting their time and would rather concentrate on lcd's. vizio has already stopped and pioneer is also

 

[rogersmj]

Plasma screens easily burn-in plus LCD PQ is quickly catching up...

No, they don't burn in any more and haven't for some time. Most LCDs pale in comparison to plasmas.

I'm so sick of misinfo about plasmas, but it seems it may be too late. That said, buy them while you can. I much prefer my plasma to my LCD, and just because they're a diminishing part of the market doesn't mean your set will stop working if they stop building plasmas.

 

[pilotError]

Pick up a Pioneer Kuro Plasma before they stop making them. Best investment you can ever make.

 

[scoobydoo99]

Plasma wins in Picture Quality, hands down.

As an owner of a 42" Panasonic plasma, a 50" Samsung plasma (PN50A650), and a 37" Samsung LCD, I can provide my personal experience. As some have noted, there is no issue with "burn in" on Plasma anymore. That is a holdover from very early plasma technology that has long since been corrected. As for weight - why would anyone care? I mean, after I mount it on the wall I'm not going to be picking it up again, so (?) Same for heat - my plasmas don't seem to give off an inordinate amount of heat, but if you're standing close enough to feel heat from ANY TV, I'd say you're too close

Finally, as others noted, plasma picture quality is in a different league from LCD. The black levels and color accuracy cannot (currently) be matched or even approached by LCD. And motion artifacts on LCD are, in my opinion, TERRIBLE and a huge distraction - I could NEVER watch a movie on my LCD.

 

[mchalebk]

While many people state that burn-in/uneven phosphor wear is not a problem on modern plasma sets, that seems to be far from a consensus. I spent a great deal of time researching flat screen TVs last year. As a movie lover, the more natural colors, deeper blacks and better motion handling of plasma really appealed to me. However, as I did my research, it became clear that burn-in is still a huge topic of conversation in the plasma community and there are quite a few people who maintain that burn-in/uneven phosphor wear is still a problem.

Part of me really wanted to buy a plasma, but I watch a lot of 4:3 material and did not want to worry about uneven phosphor wear from the side bars (my CRT-based RPTV had this problem and I didn’t want to run into it again). After doing a ton of research, I finally posted in the Master Burn-in thread in the plasma forum at AVS. I asked if I needed to worry about burn-in if 30% of the material I watched was 4:3. I got many responses, most suggesting that I stretch 4:3 material (no, I won’t do that). Not a single person there suggested it would be okay to watch 4:3 material 30% of the time. The consensus seemed to be that plasma was not for me.

I’m not saying that burn-in is still an issue with plasma TVs, just that there is no general consensus that it’s not. Before someone buys a plasma set, they should do plenty of research and decide for themselves. Burn-in may or may not be an issue with plasma TVs any more, but there seems to be no consensus among plasma owners either way

In my case, it turns out that the new house we bought didn’t have a good place for a hang-on-the-wall TV (the reason I was researching flat screen models) and I ended up buying a DLP RPTV. Amazing picture, no burn-in worries, great motion handling, low price. If you don’t need a really thin TV, you should at least consider a DLP set. It is, no doubt, a dying technology (mush more so than plasma), but there are still great sets out there for really low (comparatively speaking) prices.

By the way, in my opinion, plasma is far from dead. Panasonic makes some really good plasma sets and Samsung has made big advances in recent years. There are many people who thinks Samsung’s plasma sets are as good as, or better than, Panasonic's. If you decide that a plasma set is the best choice for you, I wouldn’t worry that the technology might be dying (which I’m not convinced it is). I’d say get yourself a Panny or Sammy and be happy.

 

[techfreak85]

yes to answer the question, i do want picture quality over anything. thats why im wanting to get a new TV. Im just getting frustrated with my Hitachi RPTV. If its not bright enough, turn down the lights, and even then its not that big of a difference to me.

 

[danimals]

wait for new panny's

oh man. finally something on here i have a clue about. plasmas are, indeed, still better picture quality than lcd's. you should buy a plasma. if you are in the market for a 4k tv, than i would (as someone above suggested) think about buying one of the remaining high end pioneers before they're gone - people who know about this stuff think it could be sometime before anybody makes anything as good. if not, i'd suggest holding off a month or two for the new line up of panasonic plasmas - particularly the S1 and G10 lines, depending on your budget. these look to be pretty sweet tv's from what i've been reading. i'm thinking the S1 myself, which i'm hoping will be priced somewhere in the range of the current pz80 and 85u models. check out hd guru or cnet for more info on specs and release dates (or avsforum, which is, to me, the best resource for this stuff, but requires more proactive searching).

 

[Superman07]

Advice - buy a Panasonic plasma.

And as a matter of fact Pioneer will still produce their plasma line into 2010 before they stop all production.

 

[bruinsrme]

I ahve a panazonic and it is very nice.

I also had a NEC MP series and I have to say it was far superior to the panny. But there is a price premium.
the only draw back,not to me, it is a comeercial style tv.

 

[obey908]

like i said, the stores have played a major role in why plasma's aren't going to be made any more. i found the quote

"According to one of the founders of Vizio, plasmas don't sell as well as they should because TV sets are often displayed in well-lit stores, where LCDs have the edge."

buy yourself a plasma

 

[harry454]

Get a LCD tv thats pretty much whats good these days, plasmas are okay, but if your gaming = no

 

[thankins]

Get a LCD tv thats pretty much whats good these days, plasmas are okay, but if your gaming = no

I normally don't post but I had to here...you might want to research your information there. The most common LCDs on the market now are 60 hz which will have noticeable ghosting effects with sports and gaming. The newer 120 hz TVs don't have this issue but cost a little more and are not as common on the market now.

Also you will get darker blacks on plasmas which will in return make the gaming experience better with richer colors. I recently bought a 50 inch plasma last week and don't regret it at all.

 

[techfreak85]

Well im sold on a plasma now. so will the pioneers come down in price or go up from the lack of large scale production? and is it possible for me to get a 46 inch + or less than 1000?. if not what should i get that wont break my studentish bank?

 

[thankins]

Well im sold on a plasma now. so will the pioneers come down in price or go up from the lack of large scale production? and is it possible for me to get a 46 inch + or less than 1000?. if not what should i get that wont break my studentish bank?

I am sure I will get flamed for saying this but you should look at a 720p Plasma if you want something around 1000.00 if you are sitting more than 8+ feet away from it you will not notice a difference between a 1080p and a 720 p that has been calibrated properly. I found a 50 Panasonic plasma for 999.00 at my local Sams Club that was 720p. It is amazing and you would not be able to tell a difference.

 

[techfreak85]

I am sure I will get flamed for saying this but you should look at a 720p Plasma if you want something around 1000.00 if you are sitting more than 8+ feet away from it you will not notice a difference between a 1080p and a 720 p that has been calibrated properly. I found a 50 Panasonic plasma for 999.00 at my local Sams Club that was 720p. It is amazing and you would not be able to tell a difference.

Well im trying to get away from this Fake 720p/1080i HD that is my hitachi. and second of all i live in oregon were we dont have sams club, but we do have a cool local AV store called video only. a real store where they can cut deals and stuff..

 

[basesloaded190]

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Vie...6?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1235539331&sr=1-6

Really can't beat that price for that TV. I was looking at that about 6 months ago and that was a $1500-$1600 TV. Seriously consider that.