TV experts-42" Plasma or LCD?????

tdunirl

I have a chance to get a 42" LCD at a good price (wholesale), but have read some posts suggesting that for regular TV watching, Plasma is a lot better. After 5 hours searching and phoning, i'm more confused than ever. 1 post, that seemed to know what they were talking about, said plasma better in darkish rooms, lcd better in brighter rooms. Different posts claim 'fade' for sports on LCDs and 'plasma burn' on others.
Basically, i am not a tecky or a perfectionist. Mostly it will be used for evening time (i.e. a bit darker) TV viewing, with a good bit of sports(i.e. fast moving) on the agenda. My signal is NTL (Dublin Apt).
If it comres down to price, the plasmas are normally a bit cheaper, but it's the reverse for me, I can get the LCD for e200 cheaper (Brands not well known, Viewpia/Daiwa, but research suggests are good).
I'd appreciate any views from anyone who has solid/well grounded opinions (no offence, but after 5 hours of mostly hearsay.......................)
Thanks

slave1

there is no correct answer to this question, you need to go yourself to a shop that has a LCD and a Plasma and choose yourself because its all down to personal preference and a topic that's trashed about here with great frequency but simply cannot be answered because its so subjective

big_moe

http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk and also, i agree with slave1. look at them both and see for yourself

prospect

big_moe wrote:

http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk and also, i agree with slave1. look at them both and see for yourself

LOL, I was about to make the exact same post....

Hyzepher

If you are going with LCD and SD channels and sport are the main sources for viewing, then it is very important that you get to see the tv in action. A lot of the major brands have a lot of processing built in to produce a picture compariable to CRT or even plasma, especially for sport. Less known brands usually leave a lot of this processing out.

Another thing to note is the quality of the tvs internal scaler. LCD's have a native resolution - yours is probably 1366 x 768 - so the tv will scale all images to this size - SD source via NTL is not broadcast at this resolution so the tv will be scaling most things. If the scaler is crap the image will be crap.

All in all it is a bit risky to get a 42" screen - which is normally a big outlay - purely based on price. There are loads of cheap tvs out there but some are so bad you couldn't watch them. If price is a factor then look at importing one from the UK - generaly the prices are much lower even with the convesion rate and shipping. There will be no VAT or Duty to pay on top as that is all catered for in the price you pay

Hyzepher

IgsTer

that site sems to be a bit plasma fanboyish..i dont know that much bout the different types..but i know enough to see that they are way more edged to plasma than lcd..less and less plasma's are even avaible to buy now..on the first page for example they listed all over lcd's weaknesses and put questions like better blacks,response times etc which obviously would be better with the plasma..but what about the electricity use,actual weight of set,bigger pixels,..and there also prone to burn in...they might have better colour,blacks etc but i think that plasmas aint going anywhere..where as lcd's are actually fixing there problems which are fixable..not like plasmas

big_moe

IgsTer wrote:

that site sems to be a bit plasma fanboyish..i dont know that much bout the different types..but i know enough to see that they are way more edged to plasma than lcd..less and less plasma's are even avaible to buy now..on the first page for example they listed all over lcd's weaknesses and put questions like better blacks,response times etc which obviously would be better with the plasma..but what about the electricity use,actual weight of set,bigger pixels,..and there also prone to burn in...they might have better colour,blacks etc but i think that plasmas aint going anywhere..where as lcd's are actually fixing there problems which are fixable..not like plasmas

if you take care of your plasma for the first 100 hours or so, you will be grand. yes plasma suffers from screen burn but at least the (decent) manufactures take care of it under guarantee. plasma may have screen burn, but LCD on the other hand, has pixel dropout. and a certain percentage of the total number of pixels have to "die" before the manufacturers will entertain guarantee work.

and yes that website is made by manufacturers of plasma tv's but the info there is from a survey they carried out.

IgsTer wrote:

actual weight of set

who cares?? what does that have to do with anything?? the tv is going on the wall or on a cabinet, so the weight of the yoke is a pointless criticism. and just to screw things up a bit, the new sony x-series LCD is heavier than a similarly spec'd plasma.

plasma all the way for me. again to OP look at both types of screen and see what u think looks the best.

moe

IgsTer

well im no expert and dont look into tvs that much..so sorry if i got a few facts wrong..lcd just came across to me as the better..so if i wanted to get a tv for both ps3 gaming and watching movies..which would i go for considering that plasma suffers from burn in..but is better for viewing movies..?

big_moe

just for the first few weeks take it easy on the plasma and you will be grand, in relation to screen burn. i use my computer on my plasma and i havent got any burn yet from the task bar area etc and its been about 3 months. screen burn only happens after a LONG period of time with the same image. if you play a game for few hours its not gonna do any damage. i saw a plasma in a shop that had burn on it after 2 months of having the same company logo on it 24/7, so unless you play your game 24/7, non-stop, for 2 months, then you will be fine.

moe

IgsTer

oh alri..well from actually seen that site i never kinew that the plasma was sharper because i tought the bigger pixels would have made it less sharp..but anyway there will be a fair amount of watching movies and it will probably be the main use for it...but id say when i do get a ps3 i would be playing games probaly for about 6 hours plus at a time..most days..so if i play a game for about 6 hours a day 5 days a week..i wouldnt get any burn in..?? and like when i finished.. the tv will be used for watching tv..so that would take the stress off the places where the game hud was displayed like health bar and stuff..wouldnt it..?

well my dad said he was getting a 40" tele..im not sure he knows the differences between lcd and plasma..so was just wondering before he goes ahead and buys...

big_moe

most decent plasmas have refresh systems built in. the panasonic i have got slightly burnt once after the dvd menu was left on for a few days while i was away. i turned the tv off and the next day the slight burn was gone.

IgsTer

lol..nice..so what this refresh system can like refresh the screen loads of times and will make burn in go away..is there like an actual name for this system so i know what to look for when my dad is looking for a tele..and you saying that your tele was on for days with same picture and had only a slight burn in..well thats good too hear..plasmas dont sound that bad after all..but there isnt really that many around..more lcds than plasmas..what makes would be the best plasmas and have less chance of burn-ins??

big_moe

i dunno what the refresh thing is called or how it does it but all i know is that my slight burn went away on my panasonic after i turned it off for a while. i would recommend the panasonic, stunning picture and great value for what it is. the pioneers are the ultimate in plasma but you will pay extra for it. nearly €700 more for a pioneer (pdp-427xd €3000-ish) over my panasonic (th42pv600 €2300-ish).

IgsTer

alri cool..thanks for the help mate..ill probably come back here when it comes closer to when my dad will be buying the tv..

thanks for all the help..

CivilServant

Nah Plasma is at least 3 times better in contrast ratio than LCD ever will be. Whatever new fangled gadgets are gizmos they have to crank the picture to the max, there are basically working from these starting points so Plasma has the natural advantage. A fairy dies every time someone buys a Samsung LCD. Nice LCD, yes, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, not a chance in hell. It's all marketing, LCDs are coming down in price but not the same league as concern's picture quality. Even when it comes down to HD footage yes a lot of LCD panels offer full HD, which is great, but that still doesn't change the inherent contrast ratios. The reason why HD looks great on LCDs (as well as plasmas) is the increase gamut range of colours that HD offers. And of course the increased resolution, but most of the time viewers have little to no experience of HD so they don't really know if it's the quality of the material or the screen. I've seen both and plasma is by far the better picture quality.

LCD has it's advantages, no screen burn, higher native res and price. But if you must have the best, you must have plasma.

sarahn11

just a questin. i have a 32" lcd tv which i have my htpc and my xbox360 running thru. i shied away from getting a plasma first time around because of this screen burn! im happy with my lcd, but i just felt it wasnt enough. so recently i upgraded to an LG 42" plasma. it hasent arrived yet, but im still worried about this burn issue.

mostly the set will be used for my htpc. i do surf the net also on it, so its not just media center. sometimes at night when im watching a movie i will fall asleep, when the movie ends, the pc takes about 20mins for the screen to go off, however it doesnt go off, it just goes black. my concern is what to do with the plasma. will this damage it??

im not too worried about the gaming, as ide only play for around 1-2 hours 3-4 times a week

PC

big_moe wrote:

i dunno what the refresh thing is called or how it does it but all i know is that my slight burn went away on my panasonic after i turned it off for a while. i would recommend the panasonic, stunning picture and great value for what it is. the pioneers are the ultimate in plasma but you will pay extra for it. nearly €700 more for a pioneer (pdp-427xd €3000-ish) over my panasonic (th42pv600 €2300-ish).

The pdp4270xd is currently €2099 in Currys Blanchardstown...just in case you're interested. You can get the 427xd for around €2400 in town...Cheers PC