Plasma vs LCD TV

[ardypilot]

We're planning on getting a new flatscreen TV for the living room to replace the old-school CRT one that we have at the moment, but we're not sure whether to get a Plasma one or a LCD one.. I googled this and found lots of debates and forum posts but can't be bothered reading through them right now; could anyone give me quick summery of which is best and why?

And question number two: On our family PC, we have a LCD screen and if you move your head too high/low sometimes, the colours go inverted almost, does this happen with LCD tv's too?

[benwynn]

Apprently, it depends how big your lounge room is. For us, its quite small so we have a 32" LCD, but the bigger the room, They say Plasma is better.

[AlisterC]

My 42inch LCD and I are BEST friends. Especially with an Xbox 360 hooked up Plus LCD you can hook up your flight sim PC to it
Certainly no viewing problems on my LCD. I can view it from almost any angle no problem. I asked this question of the sales person also before buying. Plasma don't like running things like Playstation or Xbox I've heard..

[Alfashark]

I'd take the LCD any day.
Based on a few sessions watching the in-laws (Samsung 42") the only time the screen got the inversion effect with the colours, was when I was heading into or back from the kitchen and I was at about 80-90 degrees to the screen (who watches TV at that sort of angle anyway?)
Also have a good mate who works for Harvey Norman, selling TV's and Home Theatre/Audio gear. He swears by LCD and rates it highly against Plasma in terms of bang for bucks.

Head on into a decent home appliance store and actually sit down and watch both for about 15-20min (one at a time) and try to sit at about the same position/distance as you would at home. Try getting up and moving around a bit too (like you would if you were gettin up for a cold one) and see what you think.
Most of these shops will have a dummy living room set up with one of each, so it shouldnt be too hard

[Kelburn]

Well our LCD 21" (yes that is the biggest t.v. we have in our house ) works fine with pretty much no angles at which you can't view it (except from 90* onwards e.g. behind it)

[toprob]

I'd be inclined to choose based on viewing -- I'd go to the biggest store with the most TVs showing the same source, and find something I could live with.
But apart from that, everything I know about LCD vs Plasma I learnt from Tone magazine:) I have quite an old article, and the guts is this:
LCDs have come a long way, but Plasma still has the edge at larger sizes. However since the article was printed, I would think that LCDs have got even better and bigger, and Plasma is on the way out.
However strictly based on quality, I prefer Plasma. I wouldn't buy one though, as I've seen some great LCDs, and they are cheaper with more features.
One other point about Plasmas -- the plasma gas slowly changes and becomes inert over time. This means that your nice bright image will fade over time, but Tone mag did say that this takes years and years, so in reality it isn't a big issue.
Your second question: all LCDs have less peripheral quality than any other TV (because of the way the backlight has to shine through the LCD), but they've certainly come a long way, to the extent that this is really a non-issue for me. My LCD monitor (Viewsonic 22") shows some drop-off in brightness as you move to the side, but none of that image flip that you used to get.
The same with the old problem of grey-looking blacks -- the best LCDs have great visibility and good blacks, so again, not an issue. Of course you can still get rubbish LCD TVs.
There are a lot of brands I wouldn't touch, and I'd only buy HD (720p would be enough for me, because an equivalent top-quality 1020p costs the earth.)

[brownbox]

I cant really be bothered reading it all, but in a nutshell from what ive read over my time on the internet is this
LCD=good picture, low power, good colour (on expensive ones), and depending on the price a good response rate. Also, high resolution. Viewing angle can be shocking on the cheap/low end ones
Plasma=slightly cheaper, higher power, great colour, no response rate, but lower resolution. Also suffer screen burn in or whatever its called. No problems with viewing angle.

This is just off the top of my head, so i may be wrong. Id go for an LCD, if your willing to pay the $$$.

[Kelburn]

look at consumer magazine (they have good information and comparisons and reviews in there)

[Charl]

LCD made by Sharp if you can find one - they defined the art of good LCD screens.
Some of the mainstream names use 'em too.

Decision to be made now:
Is HD something to invest in, for the future?
The image is absolutely stunning in 1080p!
So's the price.
I'm sorely tempted to go out and buy a 42" LCD non-HD TV runout model because they went from 6 grand down to 2!
Do not get suckered into salesman patter about "HD-ready" - if it's not 1080p, then it's not HD, and Blu-Ray will look quite ordinary.

[toprob]

QUOTE (Charl @ Apr 10 2008, 09:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do not get suckered into salesman patter about "HD-ready" - if it's not 1080p, then it's not HD, and Blu-Ray will look quite ordinary.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm not the person to ask about technology, since I bought into the betamax of the new millennium, HD-DVD:)
But my HD-DVDs (and Xbox games) look pretty amazing on a 32" LCD at 720p. I think I'd need to have better eyesight to take advantage of 1080p (or a humungous TV, which isn't very likely.)

[Charl]

Well, you said it, go to that BIG store and look.
I stumbled on a wall-sized Philips 1080p thing, and just stood there, slack-jawed...
Like a lot of things, until you've experienced it, there's no problem.
But once you've had the taste, there's no going back

[Anthony]

LCD definitely.
Once you get over 40 inches then Plasma has the edge in many ways (contrast, colour, size, sometimes even price), but even then, I would still go for LCD.

1080p is not necessary until you get over about 40 inches as barely anyone can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p at sizes smaller than that.
Also, if you sit too far back from it, you won't be able to tell the difference either.

Broadcast stuff is also 720p usually - both Freeview HD and whatever HD offerings Sky brings out will be 720p, not 1080p.
Only Blu-ray and stuff will need 1080p, and even at 720p, Blu ray will look better than standard def or DVD or something.

Recommendations are Sharp, Sony and Samsung. Don't buy cheap no-name rubbish, 'cuz you'll probably end up regretting it.

Cheers
Anthony

[AlisterC]

To be honest I doubt anyone could tell between 1080i and 1080p at 42 inches I for one couldn't afford the 1080p option (not that I've paid for my tv yet) But, I must say, if you don't have anything that will run at 1080p, then why waste your money? My dvd player only runs about 526p, xbox dvd player about 720p, and xbox gaming 1080i. So really, unless you have other high technology to plug into it, the difference between I and P might be a mute one.

Edit: Changed to 1080 - that's being up too early in the morning talking

[HardCorePawn]

slip of the fingers I'm sure... but its 1080 people... dont rob me of that precious 60!

I think I'll hold off getting one until they are as big as the 120" picture I get from my projector .... or my current telly blows up

[Alfashark]

QUOTE (HardCorePawn @ Apr 11 2008, 10:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

slip of the fingers I'm sure... but its 1080 people... dont rob me of that precious 60!

I think I'll hold off getting one until they are as big as the 120" picture I get from my projector .... or my current telly blows up

Haha the trusty old projector!
Back when I was living in a half converted industrial warehouse at The Mount, we had a projector hanging from the garage ceiling and aimed at the far wall of the actual warehouse.
Also scored a bloody huge spa pool and sat that at floor level and built a wooden deck around it (also in the garage) ahh the joys of 3-phase power included in $200 a week rent between four of us

[h290master]

LCD anyday they have a way longer lifespan and still get pretty much the same quality as plasmas as well as being cheaper

[benwynn]

Get the LCD, so you can do this-

[SUBS17]

QUOTE (Charl @ Apr 15 2008, 10:44 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LCD made by Sharp if you can find one - they defined the art of good LCD screens.
Some of the mainstream names use 'em too.

Decision to be made now:
Is HD something to invest in, for the future?
The image is absolutely stunning in 1080p!
So's the price.
I'm sorely tempted to go out and buy a 42" LCD non-HD TV runout model because they went from 6 grand down to 2!
Do not get suckered into salesman patter about "HD-ready" - if it's not 1080p, then it's not HD, and Blu-Ray will look quite ordinary.

I think HD TV is the way to go but I'd only buy a TV with that resolution if it were at a reasonable price unlike some of the TVs a few years ago selling for $20000. I'm curious about Blue ray and HD-DVD so far I've only seen one HD-DVD in a video rental store and I wonder about the cost for a blank HD-DVD or Blueray DVD? In Europe people don't rent DVDs from shops alot don't use DVD players at all since the technology now is SAT receivers with Hard drives built in to record movies(without adds) and also Cable TV and online movie rental of movies are also used. NZs still got along way to go before the video shops are finally no longer used but I don't think its that far off.

[spongebob206]

Hi,

Definately LCD, Make sure you get a fast response time, 2 sec preferably, however 5 is still ok.
Slower and you will get a shadow trail on fast moving productions or Rugby matches.

I have a Sony Bravia, absolutely brilliant TV. Have been advised against Toshiba as a friend of mine had one fron 3yrs old and they said they couldn't fix it as it was old technology. He now has Sony as well.

And yes if you get the pc input TV, flight simming is at a new level.

Plasmas I heard have a better picture, but its life is not as long and they are prone to screen burn.

Go th LCD

[yak52dude]

get an lcd and new blue ray player but make sure you also get an hd cord i got a 42 inch panasonic lcd its great for watching that show dogfights you know the 1 on history channel.