Plasma/LCD tv experts.....

[hemispheredancer]

We are looking at getting a new tv. Specifically a plasma or LCD. We would like a 46 or 50" preferably mounted on the wall. Are LCDs wall-mountable? What has a better life span? Have they fixed the burn-in on plasmas? We won't buy Sony so what other good ones are out there? Any pros and cons on these tvs? Thanks!!

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

We are looking at getting a new tv. Specifically a plasma or LCD. We would like a 46 or 50" preferably mounted on the wall. Are LCDs wall-mountable? What has a better life span? Have they fixed the burn-in on plasmas? We won't buy Sony so what other good ones are out there? Any pros and cons on these tvs? Thanks!!

We have 2 Sony Bravia LCDs, one 26" for our bedroom and a 46" in our family room, and we absolutely love them. We opted for LCD over plasma because of the longer lifespan of the TV, and from what I understand, the burn-in is still a problem. However, plasma are less expensive. We get HD Cable, and the pictures are absolutely striking, especially the NFL broadcasts and DiscoveryHD. My only complaint is that the picture on some regular, non-HD television stations are not formatted for the TV and get cut off on the edges. The Sony's are great, and we went with the tabletop model (our interior designer said that the wall mount TVs were "out" ) but in the end, your preference is what matters most.

 

[bicker]

My only complaint is that the picture on some regular, non-HD television stations are not formatted for the TV and get cut off on the edges.

My Samsung DLP has settings I can use to control that. I suspect most Plasma and LCDs have such settings as well.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

My Samsung DLP has settings I can use to control that. I suspect most Plasma and LCDs have such settings as well.

You're right, mine does as well...problem is, you get the vertical black bars on the side with some programing. Funny, I've be conditioned to accept the picturebox format when it runs horizontally, but for some reason, not vertically.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We are looking at a Sony 32" LCD for our bedroom. I can either be mounted on the wall or set on the stand that comes with it (we will use the stand). We compared many at Best Buy and this one looked great in comparison to some others. We will have to add digital and HD to our Comcast though. Seems like LCD's are as good or better than Plasma's now.

Nov. Consumer Reports has the feature article on these TV's.

I am no expert, so I will be reading this thread too!

 

[Pinnie]

Subscribing to this thread because we are in the market for a new TV.

pinnie

 

[drag n' fly]

We just purchased a 42 inch HD LCD. Our reasons for choosing is the plasma burn has not be completely resolved. Any tv will burn if left static for too long. The plasmas are the worst though. We have HUGE gamers in our house and LCD is the best for gaming. Our LCD is wall hangable. We have settings to adjust the program width...pretty happy with it no problems so far.

 

[RAD]

You might want to go check out the www.avsforum.com web site. There's a forum out there concerning just about everything for home entertainment, including a section for LCD and plasma flat panels with reviews from owners.

I had a 50" Sony plasma that I purchased back in 2004 (we sold the house this year and the set went with it). The manual was very clear about burn in being a problem, don't play video games with static images for a long time, black bars on the side of the picture, etc. I never ended up with any burning but would see image retention. Example, watching a 4x3 image for an hour and then switching to a 16x9 image, I could see a difference in the picture where the black bars were, it eventually went away. Most folks are saying that for newer sets this entire problem has been greatly reduced, don't know how true that is. I will say that a new 46" Samsung LCD (LN-S4696D) that I just got in August has a warning just like the Sony plasma had about burnin/image retention. I also have a 32" Dell for the bedroom and a 46" Sony LCD rear projection for the game room, neither of those mention anything about burnin problems. But I'm not that worried about it since LCD is just open/close the pixel to let the back light through, not like plasma where you're lighting up individual pixels to make the picture.

While doing your research you'll also need to decide if you want a 720p or 1080p display. 1080p's are showing up on LCD's now in good quantities, plasma's are just starting to come out. If you're going to be sitting close to the display you might want to go with the 1080p.

Happy hunting.

 

[bicker]

DLP and LCOS also don't have burn-in problems.

 

[hemispheredancer]

Bumping...

 

[WishingOnAStar]

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice either. I'm jumping on to see what everyone else thinks. I have a feeling we'll be looking at a new tv next month, too.