LCD or Plasma - Whats best

[mkenyon2]

CRT is still better than both, though.

Really? You think so?

Right now I have a 37" Panasonic with purple and green blotches. I could get it fixed, or I could use it as an excuse to upgrade. But first a need a 'slightly' larger entertainment center.

[bdgbill]

LCD picture quality caught up to plasma real quick. Plasmas are less durable than LCD.

Honestly, imo, plasma is a dying technology.

Here's the important part:

Plasmas tend to be cheaper in BIG sizes.

LCD tend to be cheaper in small/medium sizes.

What size do you want?

CRT is still better than both, though.

Agree with most of this. I think LCD will eventually take over. I do not think LCD picture quality (especially blurry motion) has been fixed yet. Anything smaller than 37" I would definitly go LCD but think the motion blur thing would be very pronounced on a 50" set. This is probably why there are so few LCD sets above 45".

I just picked up a 50" plasma for $1200.00. Picture is beautiful. You could not get a 50" LCD for less than triple that price. This was enough of a savings for me to take the worry about panel life and power usage out of the equation.

[Ted the Penguin]

Agree with most of this. I think LCD will eventually take over. I do not think LCD picture quality (especially blurry motion) has been fixed yet. Anything smaller than 37" I would definitly go LCD but think the motion blur thing would be very pronounced on a 50" set. This is probably why there are so few LCD sets above 45".

I just picked up a 50" plasma for $1200.00. Picture is beautiful. You could not get a 50" LCD for less than triple that price. This was enough of a savings for me to take the worry about panel life and power usage out of the equation.

52" LCD at BJs for $2500

[sub]

If I was buying today, I'd be shopping for a 1080p LCD TV. I'd also make sure it supports 1080p24 to get the most out of Blu-Ray/HD-DVD.

That said, my four year old Fujitsu Plasma produces a much better picture than I see with most LCD TVs in the shops these days. We dont have high def TV broadcasts here yet, so I'm referring to the picture produced by watching standard def TV - like peoples faces and the colours etc look much nicer on my Plasma.

[zed]

How about a DLP? I have a Mitsubishi 65" DLP that looks better to me than any LCD or plasma that I've seen. They're brighter, no burn-in, good viewing angle, and cheaper. OTOH, they're projections so they're quite a bit thicker than LCD or plasma...that's not a problem for me but YMMV. Only thing I don't like about it is that it's not a 73"...

(The best part about it was that it was free...my daughter won it and didn't have room for it in her apartment )

[toboR]

DLP's seem to be disappearing quickly. It's a shame, because I just bought one at a great price (57" Toshiba @ $1100US). It probably wastes a lot of energy, but the colors are great, viewing angle is extremely wide and it's got loads of inputs. For someone who doesn't have a lot of cash (like me), it might be the best way to go.

[Kevl]

Hi

I've been looking hard at this for about a year now. Came to the conclusion following numerous side by side comparisons that a Pioneer plasma is about as good a picture as can be had (unless pockets are really deep). This is certainly true for watching moving video anyway. I've yet to see an LCD which does not have motion artefacts and which has as natural looking colours as a well set up plasma can produce. On the other hand LCD screens dont burn so if you play lots of games or want to leave static menus on for long periods then LCD might be a better bet.

It can be tricky to get a set looking its best. Mostly this is just a matter of turning off all of the picture enhancements/ noise reductions/ sharpness filter settings etc - but it can often take some doing. It took me several hours to get my picture looking nice. Lots and lots of settings to tweak.

The default settings (which may be the ones applied in showrooms) are really awful for proper viewing. They are designed to make the picture look impessive under the big lights of the shop.

I ended up getting a PDP508XD. But I'm not sure this is necessarily best value for money. I wouldn't be surprised if you can get 90-95% of its picture quality for say 50% of its cost.

If you want see the quality issue with LCD then get a live football game up on the screen. When the players are static the picure will be sharp and clear. You'll be able to see the blades of grass etc. But as soon as the camera starts to pan to track the ball the the motion artefacts start and the blades of grass dissappear. This also happens on plasma panels but the effect is much less severe. To my eyes LCDs are still not quick enough. I think some people are less sensitive to this effect but I find it annoying. Make sure you are happy with it before you hand over notes.

Before buying anything make sure you do a side by side LCD vs plasma comparison and make sure both screens have been well setup.

Kev

[pBS]

sis recently got the 73" Mitsubishi DLP and it looks fabulous...
120hz 1080p and haven't seen a better picture yet...
[you should see playstation3 on it!..hehe]
yes there's the bulb thing, but it's an easy tray slide away, latest gen. bulbs last magnitudes longer, and the new samsung dlp with LED light source promises to end bulb replacement forever.....

for really big,[50+] go DLP...for 40-50" go plasma or lcd...[1080p a must]
anything smaller go lcd...the latest gen screens are excellent!

[pastro]

Really? You think so?

Right now I have a 37" Panasonic with purple and green blotches. I could get it fixed, or I could use it as an excuse to upgrade. But first a need a 'slightly' larger entertainment center.

You might need to degauss the TV. Sets have a built in Degausser but they don't work that well for big splotches. I have a degaussing coil I pulled from a set years ago that works great to fix color problems like you described. Are there any magnets anywhere near the set?

[pastro]

Not sure where you can find the specs for the scaler in various sets but if you watch any SD content the scaler can make a huge difference. I looked at a Samsung plasma and the sd quality was terrible. Jagged lines. The Panasonic and the Pioneer were much better. The sets were 720p so they might not have had the latest technology in them, but the point is don't just look at HD content. Make sure you watch SD too.