LCD vs Plasma

[vettesea]

I am thinking of purchasing a TV for my dining room and wanted it on the wall out of the way. Because it is not going to be the main TV of the house so to speak (that honour goes to my Sony in the Living Room) it does not have to be that big, maybe 23-28 in.

So, LCD or plasma...

Your thoughts Ladies and gentlemen???

[DVD_Ripper]

Well I know Plasma supposedly has the best picture and doesn't suffer from high angle viewing but the prices are a tad high.

Some LCD's I've seen at BB and CC have had good pictures at high viewing angles... so my choice, due to price, would be LCD with built in tuner.

[pyrate83]

Plasmas aren't all they're cracked up to be. Everything I have read says that they will suffer from burn in, they get very hot, and they are also quite noisy. LCD in this case would do you much better.

[Cholerabob]

Plasma picture quality is way better than LCD. Burn in problems will not happen if you use your screen properly. LCD as other side effects, bad or dead pixels. Best place to get a very good idea is at www.avs.com . That forum is specialised on this subject.

[bugster]

Plasmas aren't all they're cracked up to be. Everything I have read says that they will suffer from burn in, they get very hot, and they are also quite noisy. LCD in this case would do you much better.

You are reading the wrong (or out of date) stuff.

Plasmas CAN suffer burn-in, if you display the same static image for hours on end, not with normal or even extreme TV viewing though.

They get no hotter than LCD's and only a few models from 3 or 4 years ago suffered from noisy fans. Todays models are fanless and so noisless.

In terms of size, Plasmas tend to start at 32", ver few smaller, and many have seperate tuner boxes, though built-in tuners are becoming more common.

I say judge for yourself. Find a decent independant dealer that offers both and arrange a viewing. You will probably find it difficult to decide

[Guest]

plasma lamps/pixels do burn out as well, even with normal use.

[ipgpe13]

Everything I read says plasma screens only have a service life of about 7 - 10 years while LCDs last longer.

Also all the plasma screens I have seen are a lot cheaper than lcds.

"Tech Guide: Plasma vs. LCD

By David Carnoy, ZDNet US

25 February 2004

You know you want a flat TV, but you may not know whether a plasma or an LCD is best for you. Here's what you should consider before buying.


Recently, a friend sent me the following e-mail:

Random question, oh tech guru: I'm looking for a new TV, what are your thoughts on plasma vs. LCD? Moved to a loft, so I can get a decent-size "tube," but don't want to go broke. Also, looking at a 20-inch Sharp Aquos for the bedroom. Right way to go? Again, your thoughts.

The question wasn't as random as he supposed; I've been receiving similar queries from other friends and readers regularly for the past month. The great marketing machines of Philips, Sony, and Samsung have combined with electrical retailers to work everybody into a flat-panel frenzy--even people who say they don't watch TV. The only problem, of course, is that there happen to be two kinds of flat panels, and both have their pluses and minuses. With that in mind, I've put together a quick rundown of what you should know before going the plasma or LCD route, along with a few pointers.

1. Price-to-size ratio
While neither LCD nor plasma TVs are a bargain, on a price-per-square-inch basis, plasmas currently have the edge. Look at it this way: technically, a 42-inch plasma gives you almost twice as much screen real estate as a 30-inch LCD panel, but they both go for about US$3,000. By 2005, you may see 37-inch LCDs hitting that price, but larger versions (50 inches or more) won't cost the same as their plasma equivalents for a while.





The reason my friend is looking at a 20-inch Sharp for his bedroom is that prices for smaller LCD panels are dropping the fastest, with a 20-incher coming in at a little more than US$1,000. Plasmas aren't available in that size; 32 inches is their lower limit. Just remember that a 20-inch screen is pretty small, and you'll have to sit rather close to it. It may be fine for viewing sitcoms in bed, but it's obviously less than ideal for enjoying movies. And a 17-inch model should be reserved for use as a kitchen television or a computer monitor in a home office; while you work, you can watch TV in a little picture-in-picture box in a corner of the display.

Bottom line: 22-inch LCDs and 42-inch plasmas offer the greatest value among bedroom sets, and your best bet for the living room is a 42-inch or larger plasma.

2. Performance
A general rule of thumb is that plasmas deliver better home-theater performance than LCDs. Our video guru, Senior Associate Editor David Katzmaier, says that the difference is due mostly to the fact that LCD TVs typically can't display black as well as plasmas; it ends up closer to dark gray. That shortcoming decreases the amount of detail you can see in the shadows and ultimately leaves the picture looking--as videophiles would say--less three-dimensional.

The picture quality of both LCD and plasma panels is improving each year, but it can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. But if you're buying a smaller LCD (26 inches or less) for the kitchen or the bedroom, don't agonize too much over performance.

3. Life span
Life span, the number of viewing hours a television provides before dimming to half brightness, is one of the biggest advantages LCD has over plasma. Though the numbers vary among the different brands, plasma displays generally offer around 20,000 hours, while LCD sets last for up to 50,000 hours.

4. Burning issues
One of plasma technology's known issues is something called burn-in. It happens when your television shows a still image or an icon for so long that its "ghost" remains on the screen. For example, if a stock ticker or a news crawl continuously runs along the bottom of your display, that strip may be burned into your set. The same applies to watching an excessive amount of standard TV (4:3) on a wide-screen (16:9) model; the vertical bars to either side of the picture could become permanent. Manufacturers have taken steps to prevent burn-in, building in screensavers and other technologies. And you can virtually eliminate the danger by not leaving still images on the screen and reducing your contrast setting to 50 percent or less.

To their credit, LCDs don't suffer from burn-in, nor do they have troubles at high altitudes, where the air-pressure differential causes plasmas to emit an irritating buzzing sound. So, if you live at the top of a mountain, we don't recommend that you get a plasma, though some manufacturers are selling special sets that they claim are immune to the problem.

5. Viewing HDTV
Most plasmas and LCDs can display a high-def signal. However, you'll need a model with a resolution of at least 1,280x720 to enjoy full HDTV once it becomes available in the Australian market. Most 50-inch plasmas and nearly all 26-inch and larger LCDs offer this resolution. Very few 42-inch plasmas do, but when you're watching HD feeds on a lower-resolution television of that size or smaller, you'll have to sit very close to notice much of a difference between true HD and what you're seeing. Take, for example, Panasonic's TH-42PA20U, which is arguably the best 42-inch plasma we've seen to date in its price range. Even though the set provides only EDTV resolution (852x480), HDTV looks really good on it.

6. Computers and video games
Most plasma and LCD TVs can double as computer monitors; many even offer a DVI port for optimal video quality. They'll also hook up to a game console without any problems. So which technology is better for these purposes? From a performance standpoint, it's hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma's burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming. "




Check these sites for some info:

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/plasma-vs-lcd.html

http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp

[bugster]

Everything I read says plasma screens only have a service life of about 7 - 10 years while LCDs last longer.

Thats probably not far off, though things are improving all the time. But with the rate of change of technology and the speed at which prices are dropping on both Plasma and LCD, personally I think 7-10 years is plenty long enough. In 7 years time, LCD's may well be as cheap, or cheaper than CRT's are today.


as vettesea was looking at 23-28 in range, LCD is the only option, plasmas don't go that small. For larger screen sizes plasma is, IMHO, currently the better option and certainly better on price from 42" upwards. How long it will remain that way is anybodies guess but I do think LCD will overtake plasma in the value stakes at all sizes within the next year or two.

[Doramius]

Just get one that's cheapest and the size you want. Even the best probability is that you're not going to do enough to the television to cause it to have such problems unless you're doing some extremely out of the ordinary use with it. If you want my opinion, just get a really good projection TV if you're going to spend the money, and buy a long life back up bulb. You don't even need a tuner with it. Just hook up a cheap VCR and you've got your tuner. Or connect it to a Home Theater System and control everything that way. If you're looking for which one is better VS. the price, it might come out wash if you look at it in general.

[handyguy]

"you may see 37-inch LCDs hitting that price, but larger versions (50 inches or more) won't cost the same as their plasma equivalents for a while. "

Its tricky to make very very large lcd sets due to the way they are constructed.

[Guest]

"you may see 37-inch LCDs hitting that price, but larger versions (50 inches or more) won't cost the same as their plasma equivalents for a while. "

Its tricky to make very very large lcd sets due to the way they are constructed.

please explain.