LCD or Plasma

[princess jackson]

We are looking around at TV'S.

We already have a widescreen TV. We have decorated the living room, DH would like to move our unit from the living room to the dinning room, and put a tv on the wall, to make more room, (new house!!!) so small rooms.

Has anyone got these products.

I prefer a LCD, but reports say Plasma is better.

 

[MickeysBuddy]

We are looking around at TV'S.

We already have a widescreen TV. We have decorated the living room, DH would like to move our unit from the living room to the dinning room, and put a tv on the wall, to make more room, (new house!!!) so small rooms.

Has anyone got these products.

I prefer a LCD, but reports say Plasma is better.

Plasma screens and LCD screens are really close in quality of picture. If you have kids that have video game systems that will be connected to the new display, I would go LCD. Plasma screens will get "burn in" really bad if the picture is not moving fairly constantly. I do video conferencing for a law firm and every one of our plasma displays have bunt in images of the tables and chairs in them. If you are not going to be playing video games on them and you really must have a palsma, I would be sure to turn it off whenever it is not being watched and keep an eye out for burn in.

 

[princess jackson]

Thanks for that.

I take it the LCD screen will last longer, we do have playstation and vtech computer system that is connected to the screen.

 

[trpscooby]

We also have an LCD as we heard that plasma didn't last as long. It's an absolutely brilliant picture!

Rox

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

The latest generation plasmas don't suffer from screen burn at anywhere near the rate that the early models did. Unless you have a very odd viewing patterns (eg a static picture for weeks at a time) I don't think you should worry about screen burn. I don't have much experience with large LCD TVs - one thing I had read about them was the rate at which the screen refreshes was slower than plasma displays, and some people found this resulted in an apparent flicker especially on fast changing video. http://www.avforums.com/ is a really good independent forum for reviews and comments.

We've had a plasma for two or three years now and have been very pleased with it. Here's a picture of our baby:

Regards

Rob

 

[allie5]

We have a Sony Plasma and although we havent had any screen burn, the images do "ghost" quite a bit (flesh tones look pixellated). It has improved since tinkering with the RGB and contrast settings.

We are about to buy another flat screen for the bedroom and have chosen an LCD this time.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

LCD is good up to about 37", afterwhich the slower refresh rate starts becoming aparant. Anything bigger at the moment, really has to be Plasma.

Take care with buying a Plasma though, as there are some tempting cheap offers around the £900 mark for a 42" at the moment at the likes of Aldi, Ebuyer, Tiny etc. These cheap Plasmas are NTSC spec, and have lower resolution than our current PAL system, so are immediately compromised, and are most certainly not HD Ready whatsover...in fact they arent even normal PAL TV ready !

If I were buying right now (and im not as mine is only 2 years old), It would be the 42" Panasonic TH42PV500WAL ( http://www.panasonic.co.uk/plasma-tv/th42pv500wal/index.htm )

Recently I was looking at a 50odd inch rear projector DLP High Definition set from Sagem of all makes, which was about 1500 quid at Makro.....I would have never considered such a set, but I have to admit the picture was stunning....I understand from further enquiries though that it is very good with an HD source, but is pitiful with a normal analogue broadcast.

 

[wicket2005]

As already suggested go over to AVForums, you will find all the info you want.
LCDs can be affected by screen burn too. You just have to be careful for the first 100 hours with brightness and static images as the set gets run in.

Usually plasmas offer the larger screen sizes though LCD is quickly catching up. Whatever you choose make sure it is HD ready. This will enable you to get the very best picture when connected to HD equipment. Sky is bringing out HD either at the end of this year or early next I believe. XBox 360 games are HD and dvd players can offer this high quality connection though at a price.

I have a 42 inch Panasonic Viera (non HD) and it is an excellent tv, we are well pleased with it. No screen burn just fantastic pictures plus it has a digital encoder built in for Freeview not that we use it much because we have Sky+.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

XBox 360 games are HD and dvd players can offer this high quality connection though at a price.

The current XBOX can also be used in HD mode...I use it that way msyelf, although only a handful of games work in 720P, most are 480P.

Theres only a handful of DVD players available currently that support HDTV, and even fewer disks.

 

[dazeddaisy]

As mentioned before anything under 37" and go for LCD, anything about Plasma.

If you can wait until after Christmas you will find the new big screen LCD's which have a better picture than Plasma. They just released a 120" LCD at a Japanese electronic show. But of coure there are smaller screens.

Just be wary when being told its HD. NOTHING in the UK has the full HD resolution. Yes the picture will be better, but its not the full resolution so why bother paying the extra? Also BBC will not be broadcasting HD until 2010 and only a very small handful of shows are being shown in the UK on HD at the moment - National Geographic shows from the US and very rarely at the moment. 2008 is when we will be getting alot of 'must see tv' as HD from the US.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

if you like watching sports or fast moving images, forget an LCD
As for life of the latest plasmas, well they now have a half life of 60,000 hours.
Screen burn is not the problem it was plaus, if you "run in" the plasma for 200 hours at less than high contrast you will be very unlucky to get screen burn.
The picture is absolutely superb, with SKY, DVD component and even freeview is OK
Just wait until next year when SKY brings out the HD boxes.....

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Just wait until next year when SKY brings out the HD boxes.....

Have you seen any decently mastered hi-def footage? Its amazing. It's like looking through a window rather than watching a TV.

Regards

Rob

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Have you seen any decently mastered hi-def footage? Its amazing. It's like looking through a window rather than watching a TV.

Regards

Rob

yes, where I got my plasma from (Pioneer PDP-435XDE) was running the 1080 sattellite, fantastic!
They have announced the SKY launch channels (not many but will grow)
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds23757.html

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

yes, where I got my plasma from (Pioneer PDP-435XDE) was running the 1080 sattellite, fantastic!
They have announced the SKY launch channels (not many but will grow)
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds23757.html

I've not seen 1080 satellite but I have seen a copy of Fellowship of the Ring in HD (I think it was 720p) projected via a very good 3-chip DLP projector. It was amazing. Like being in Bag End with Frodo and Gandalf! Doubt I'll ever be able to afford kit that high end, but I can dream...

Regards

Rob

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Theres plenty of HDTV available for download each week, raw captures from US TV broadcasts etc.
The only drawback being the filesize is high compared to the divx hdtv conversions I am used to, and also that its not ideal to have your pc sat next to your TV to play them.

 

[carolfoy]

where I got my plasma from (Pioneer PDP-435XDE) was running the 1080 sattellite

I've not seen 1080 satellite but I have seen a copy of Fellowship of the Ring in HD (I think it was 720p)

The only drawback being the filesize is high compared to the divx hdtv conversions

Theres plenty of HDTV available for download each week, raw captures from US TV broadcasts etc.

all I can say is

I haven't a CLUE what you're talking about but it sounds great

 

[jockey]

I would go with plasma mainly because they are available in bigger sizes than LCD - I was a bit concerened when we bought a plasma about the screen burn but we have had no problems and the quality is amazing! As others have suggested its wort paying a bit more and getting one that is HDTV ready!! I also have an apple mini mac connected to my plasma so I can surf the disboards supersize!!!

 

[trpscooby]

all I can say is

I haven't a CLUE what you're talking about but it sounds great

LOL! Carolfoy, I'm glad I wasn't the only one! My 32" LCD works and looks just fine so I'm happy with it. So what happens if it's not 'HD' ready?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

LOL! Carolfoy, I'm glad I wasn't the only one! My 32" LCD works and looks just fine so I'm happy with it. So what happens if it's not 'HD' ready?

Nothing really.
All it means is that when SKY bring out their High definition box, you won't get any better picture than what you get now.

To put it into perspective, HD takes picture viewing the next stage, rather like when the country went from Black & white to Colour.