Buying a new TV

[Richouse]

Well I've about decided to take the plunge and buy a new tv. I know most of the major differences between the two. I'm looking for some real world info from you guys. I've heard that the lifespan for a plasma is 5-6 years, something about the gas running out or something? wondering if there is any validity to that??? I don't care much about the HD quality since I don't have any any HD components to hook to it. I mainly want to buy the one that will last the longest and give the best picture (below HD quality).

Thanks for the info...

 

[Texan]

I sell the semiconductors into new TVs and meet with Samsung, LG, Sony, Sharp etc frequently. Most everyone is putting thier latest technology into LCDs. Plasma is a waning technology and won't be around for much longer. You didn't say how large a TV you want, but if it is in the 50" range, I will suggest LCD. I suggest Samsung, LG for the best deal. Both are very good. Sharp and Sony are also good, but might be a bit more pricey. LCD will have three advantages: it will be thinner, lighter and also consumer less power. Many of the LCDs do not even have fans. The plasma's always have fans to cool the electronics that drive the display.

The TV you get will be HD. Go ahead and get an HD cable or satellite box. You will marvel at the difference. And it doesn't cost but a few dollars more per month.

 

[bramfrank]

Actually, the half life of the gases they use in a Plasma display is 50K-60K hours.

What that means is that your plasma screen will have half the luminence (brightness) that it had after the set's been operated for that many hours. To give you an idea, there are 8760 hours in a year . . . And, once you've reached that point, obviously the TV keeps going and 50K-60K hours later it'll be down to 25% of the original brightness.

Plasma's do better in high ambient lighting environments than LCDs and when an LCD goes, it tends to 'go'.

LCD life is likewise pushing the 60K range these days.

Plasma sets tend to have better color rendition - LCDs can be very good, but it takes a lot of tricks to make them good . . . Plasmas are just naturally very good.

If you are buying a larger screen, I'd go Plasma for 50" and up. My 52 has no fans. There's a new generation of Plasmas coming out - think TVs with a 1" total thickness

Plasma's major disadvantage is that it is a radiant heat source and consumes more power than LCD.

Come back in 5 years and it could well be OLED that you're buying.

On resolution, note that broadcast TV is 720P and that Blueray does to 1080 . . . so if you watch a lot of DVDs you might benefit from buying a 1080 - other wise a 720 model will do the job.

 

[McRide]

I looked at both LCD and Plasma and found the Plasma to be hands down the clearer 'photo quality' picture. That was our goal on picture resolution, others have different reasons for one or the other. Panasonic Virea 52" . Movies and sports like you've never seen before!

 

[Wicked Webby]

What about the DLP's? They have a great picture and have

better contrast ratios (deeper darks) ranges than most LCD's. A DLP set will last a lifetime.

Never any color fading (Plasma), no way to get dead pixels (LCD) and never any picture burn in.

The downside is every few years you do have to change the bulb..(though its super easy).

But, then its a brand new TV again.. I have had my Toshiba HD DLP Big Screen for the last fours

years and have to do one bulb a few months ago. Bulb ran just under $200. I heard that a lot of

these style bulbs are moving to becoming high output LED's soon! They will draw less power and last

a lot longer than the current bulbs.

Great picture and built to last!

WW

 

[noob]

The plasma vs LCD battle rages on... and on... and on...

If you care to, a google search will give you tons of reading

opportunities.

But having owned a 40 and now a 46 LCD HdTv, I can tell

you this... most likely you will care about HD quality, because

that's what these TV's are all about.

Once you've seen a 720p or 1080i broadcast channel, or a

good quality Blu-Ray movie, watching anything in standard

definition is... well... painful.

So I'd suggest to plan for that possibility, because these

tv's are expensive and not something most of us can

afford to change numerous times a year etc.

regards and enjoy,

 

[AVGeek]

Plasma's do better in high ambient lighting environments than LCDs and when an LCD goes, it tends to 'go'.

Actually, its the other way around. LCD is better for brighter rooms, since they have a matte finish to the screen surface.

On resolution, note that broadcast TV is 720P and that Blueray does to 1080 . . . so if you watch a lot of DVDs you might benefit from buying a 1080 - other wise a 720 model will do the job.

Only ABC (which also includes ESPN and their other networks) and FOX broadcast in 720p, the other networks broadcast 1080i. In the real world, there is no noticeable difference on set sizes smaller than 50".

One other thing to keep in mind is that Plasma is a phosphor based display device (like the now nearly-extinct but still phenomenal CRT). While manufacturers have made improvement, Plasmas can still suffer from burn-in (image retention), so if you watch a lot of channels that have persistent images (think network ID bug in the lower corners), a Plasma can retain that image.

Because of the changeover to digital broadcasting (postponed until June 12), all TV's sold in this country now have digital tuners. If you subscribe to cable or satellite, you won't notice any difference. If you use an antenna to pick up local broadcast stations, any old TV's will no longer work after June 12 without a set top converter box (external digital tuner).

All TVs on display in the big box retailers are not anywhere close to set up for best picture quality; they are usually set up to stand out in way or another from the competition. To really maximize picture quality (and set life), it helps to calibrate the set with readily available test DVDs.

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

I vote for LCD if you're not concerned about high definition. Relatively cheap, good quality.

I also agree with the above statement about a DLP TV. It's also a very good TV for cost/benefit. But for lasting the longest, if don't want to do ANY repairs, LCD. The pixels will burn out one by one, but it'll last pretty long. If you don't mind doing some repairs every now and then, a DLP. Sometimes a mirror gets stuck and you have to have it repaired, and you'll have to replace the bulb, but it'll last a very long time with minor snags here and there. It's also very light (as in weight), but will take up more room than an LCD and cannot be mounted to a wall since it's a projection style TV.

Alexi

 

[scubatech]

MY research led me to a 46" Sony Bravada with Comcast Digital HD. It,The service, was $13.00 more a month with the DVR recorder. No more tapes. The picture is flawless and no problems yet. Supposedly the Vizio brand is excellent, and under rated too.

 

[Bounce]

What about the DLP's?

DLPs except in large, projection environments like theaters, is mostly dead or dying. The bulb life is short and costly to replace (2 friends, 2 different models, both had bulb failures multiple times in the first year and always at a bad time).

DLP is still rear projection and not a "thin" format; poorly lending itself to wall mounting like LCD and plasma.

DLP color renditions are sub-par unless you opt for the more expensive multi-chip designs with a DLP chip for each primary (with it's own color wheel).

DLP, single chip designs, use color wheels like those old aluminum xmas trees used to have. think - spinning wheel as it indexes for each color.

Check any DLP closely as some people's visual latency can pick up a "ranbow effect" as the color wheel indexes. Look at something to the side of the tv and see what your peripheral vision does with the screen (peripheral vision has less persistance than that at the center of your retina so it should help you gauge "worst case").

LCD and plasma have move past DLP at the consumer level. In addition to the above they are still plagued with all the issues of all rear-projection designs.

Alternately, you can build a DIY 1080p projector!

https://revision3.com/systm/projector/

And how to calibrate whichever TV you get

https://revision3.com/systm/HDTVcalibration/

 

[bmwhd]

I've got 3 plasmas and love them all. My main TV is a Pioneer 50" and I still sit in front of it like a little kid and just stare at the colors with my mouth open. Everyone that sees it just can't get over it.

For me, all three of mine came about because the rooms they are in are bright and have wide/shallow viewing angles. You can see the plasma picture at a much wider angle than all but the best LCDs

 

[Aasland]

5 years ago when we last looked for a TV (when 42" was $2500!) the LCD's pixellated pretty bad when there was a lot of motion. Is this still an issue with LCD's ?

(p.s. we bought a CRT then gave it to parents and bought a used DLP ... which has NO pixellation!)

 

[AVGeek]

5 years ago when we last looked for a TV (when 42" was $2500!) the LCD's pixellated pretty bad when there was a lot of motion. Is this still an issue with LCD's ?
(p.s. we bought a CRT then gave it to parents and bought a used DLP ... which has NO pixellation!)

That's actually motion blur, which is another LCD trait. It has gotten better in recent years, but its still something to watch for on cheaper sets.

 

[Fred W]

5 years ago when we last looked for a TV (when 42" was $2500!) the LCD's pixellated pretty bad when there was a lot of motion. Is this still an issue with LCD's ?
(p.s. we bought a CRT then gave it to parents and bought a used DLP ... which has NO pixellation!)

That's actually motion blur, which is another LCD trait. It has gotten better in recent years, but its still something to watch for on cheaper sets.

Are plasmas better in this area. It seems so.

(I'm in the market too...)

 

[AVGeek]

5 years ago when we last looked for a TV (when 42" was $2500!) the LCD's pixellated pretty bad when there was a lot of motion. Is this still an issue with LCD's ?
(p.s. we bought a CRT then gave it to parents and bought a used DLP ... which has NO pixellation!)

That's actually motion blur, which is another LCD trait. It has gotten better in recent years, but its still something to watch for on cheaper sets.

Are plasmas better in this area. It seems so.

(I'm in the market too...)

They are definitely better than LCDs on motion blur. The other Achilles hell of LCDs has traditionally been their inferior black level, but the new local dimming LED backlit models have been getting really good reviews lately, bringing LCDs that much closer to Plasma.

My rank for display tech picture quality (best to worst):

CRT

3 Chip DLP (hard to find in a one piece display, most digital cinema projectors use this tech)

Plasma

LCD

single chip DLP (most sets and a lot of cheap projectors).

Sony has a tech they call SXRD, which is a hybrid of LCD and DLP. They use it for their digital cinema projectors.

 

[Sportster]

I went with the Panasonic Viera 42" Plasma.

Right size for the room it is in.

As mentioned above, the photo color reproduction is just awesome. The TV comes with a SD card slot to view family pics, trip pics, ect.

 

[pinhead]

Since some of you seem to be experts, let me ask this question:

Several years ago, a salesman in an electronics store told me that I needed to stay away from the plasma sets because they didn't work properly, or perform reliably, at my elevation. At the time, I lived at about 9500 feet. I wasn't actually shopping at the time so I didn't really care, but I've always wondered if he was being honest or just being a salesman. Anyone know for sure?

 

[NYPete]

Since some of you seem to be experts, let me ask this question:
Several years ago, a salesman in an electronics store told me that I needed to stay away from the plasma sets because they didn't work properly, or perform reliably, at my elevation. At the time, I lived at about 9500 feet. I wasn't actually shopping at the time so I didn't really care, but I've always wondered if he was being honest or just being a salesman. Anyone know for sure?

Some are rated at 7500FT, others at 7800FT, and the maximum rating seems to be 9180FT. Read about Plasma TVs "altitude sickness" HERE

NYPete

 

[pinhead]

Some are rated at 7500FT, others at 7800FT, and the maximum rating seems to be 9180FT.

Yet another reason I love this forum. Sorry for the hijack.