Plasma vs LCD [ Sept 2008]

[shawn99]

Resurrecting the age old debate, which is better? I know Plasma has gone through some iterations of enhancements. With plasma's we no longer have to worry about BURN-IN's and less life out of the tv. New technologies have allowed plasma to last as long LCD's do. Only downside I see to plasma is that it has higher power consumption and after 60,000 hours you can't replace the inert gases.

PICTURE QUALITY( Plasma Wins)

- plasma technology has the better picture quality in normal to low room lighting conditions and are better in 4 out of 5 picture quality categories. Plasma technology will almost without exception triumph during night time viewing. LCD televisions are great for sunroom/breakfast room type environments

FAST-MOVING VIDEO PLAYBACK( Plasma Wins)

-Plasma displays get the nod here because of their excellent performance with fast-moving images and high contrast levels. There are still some 2nd tier manufacturers whose plasma product displays some phosphor lag, a dragging from brights to darks.

While the "response time" of LCD TVs has markedly improved in the last couple of years, they still suffer from a slight "trailer" effect, where the individual pixels are just slightly out of step with the image on the screen. During fast moving sports scenes, the most discerning eyes can detect this slight motion response lag.

[Silver Bullet]

I think the choice of TV comes down to what you plan on using it for (type of content - sports, movies, etc) and your room setup. Also as you mentioned Plasma uses a lot more power than LCDs. Also Plasma can still have a burn-in effect though it's not where near as bad as it was b4.

[MercenaryForHire]

Oh god not this argument again.

People, please just buy what you like and forget about what Magazine X, Forum Poster Y, or Your Buddy Z says.

(Besides, projectors FTW. ;) )

[B0000rt]

Oh god not this argument again.

People, please just buy what you like and forget about what Magazine X, Forum Poster Y, or Your Buddy Z says.

(Besides, projectors FTW. ;) )
Yep, Rear projectors ;) DLP FTW! :D

Under $3000 for 70" with amazing PQ! Too bad Sony and JVC dropped out with their LCoS technologies, those yielded amazing PQ.

[fooit]

Only downside I see to plasma is that it has higher power consumption and after 60,000 hours you can't replace the inert gases.
Where did you get this from?

[hOrnizuka]

My co-worker told me even if you turn off Plasma it still consumes a lot of power.

[pfbmgd]

How much more does the plasma use in power compared to a LCD ?

[Tennoh]

How much more does the plasma use in power compared to a LCD ?

Cnet reviews are good for this aspect. They list power consumption at the end of their reviews. On average, a calibrated plasma will cost you abour $30 more per year in electricity costs. Hmmm is it worth it for the better PQ? For me a no brainer. If you can control the light, plasma FTW.

[zoolander]

Plasmas also have greater viewing angles so are more suited than LCDs for home theatre environments with angled seating.

My co-worker told me even if you turn off Plasma it still consumes a lot of power.

The same plasma will use more energy when the on-guide programming is employed as it is constantly updating. When on, they make great space heaters for basements, da kuro is warm, lol.

Not everyone here is an AVSer so it's nice for the OP to review the differences. Like reminding people not to buy Monster cables, BOSE, etc...

[B0000rt]

Cnet reviews are good for this aspect. They list power consumption at the end of their reviews. On average, a calibrated plasma will cost you abour $30 more per year in electricity costs. Hmmm is it worth it for the better PQ? For me a no brainer. If you can control the light, plasma FTW.

Probably less than $30 as the cost of Electricity in Canada is peanuts, esp in Quebec.

[Tijuana]

OLED LCD just wait for it, and Laser as well.

[fooit]

OLED LCD just wait for it, and Laser as well.

Next year Panasonic and Pioneer will release plasma panels with so called 5-lumen technology inside.
These new panels will be slim, "blacker than black holes", consume about 2 times less electricity and as a trend in electronics they will cost less then today.

Yes, one day we might see OLED LCDs and Laser TVs for sale - the big questions are when, cost and are they really gonna be better than current plasmas and LCDs?
And Laser TV is like 10" deep - no flat, can't hang on a wall.

[tomthegreat]

One thing I'm not a big fan of for plasmas is the weight, If I wanted to go 52inch, I would need an extra person everytime I needed to move my t.v. plus it would probably break my t.v. stand.
I also have my t.v. next to a big window, so during the day it gets pretty bright.

And I just don't want burn in at all, not even a chance of it. A friend was telling me he just got a plasma and he has to use this calibration disk everytime there is image retention.. and that just seems like a pain in the ass since I use my t.v. for gaming where there is usually a HUD or something constantly on the screen.

Plus I kind of want to go with sony, and they don't make plasmas.:cheesygri

[fooit]

One thing I'm not a big fan of for plasmas is the weight, If I wanted to go 52inch, I would need an extra person everytime I needed to move my t.v. plus it would probably break my t.v. stand.
I also have my t.v. next to a big window, so during the day it gets pretty bright.

And I just don't want burn in at all, not even a chance of it. A friend was telling me he just got a plasma and he has to use this calibration disk everytime there is image retention.. and that just seems like a pain in the ass since I use my t.v. for gaming where there is usually a HUD or something constantly on the screen.

Plus I kind of want to go with sony, and they don't make plasmas.:cheesygri

You can get burn in LCDs as well... Just leave your Windows logo, turn off monitor auto off and screen saver - you will get it.

Sony left plasma business because they just couldn't get it right...
In LCDs - I am not sure Sony is the best, IMHO, Samsung and Sharp are better.

What plasma does your friend has? Older plasmas can not be compared with the current generations.

[zoolander]

The degree to which all displays approximate a sample-and-hold effect:
Best bang for your buck gaming... CRT

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6241/sahchartcopysu2.jpg

[B0000rt]

The degree to which all displays approximate a sample-and-hold effect:
Best bang for your buck gaming... CRT

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6241/sahchartcopysu2.jpg

No doubt, which is we're still waiting for SED tvs!

[tomthegreat]

You can get burn in LCDs as well... Just leave your Windows logo, turn off monitor auto off and screen saver - you will get it.

Sony left plasma business because they just couldn't get it right...
In LCDs - I am not sure Sony is the best, IMHO, Samsung and Sharp are better.

What plasma does your friend has? Older plasmas can not be compared with the current generations.

He said he just got it, but it might have been an older one, but I doubt that much older.
I know you can get burn in on lcd, but it has to be a while. The lcd monitors at work are on a similar screen 24/7 and the one that has been in my backroom for a year+ isn't burnt in at all yet. You can get burn-in on crt's as well.

The big reason is that I like sony, and I can get a 15% discount on t.v.s through my work. So if the t.v. is on sale below cost, I can get another 15% off, and sony's are probably the best t.v.s we carry. Though we did carry pioneer for a while...

[kenyu28]

Don't leave out Projection TVs. You can get a mid-quality 52" projection for like $300. I've got LCD's, but i dunno why we went it, because we don't use it for mobile purposes.

If you're 2-3 meters away from the screen, if it has good true colours and pixels, everything else doesn't matter as much. Unless you have source/video quality to match of course.