LCD or Plasma - Whats best

[zed]

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.

Actually, the DLP's are not that bad, energy-wise, IIRC. There was an article somewhere a while back about how much energy various types of TV's use and DLP's fared pretty well. Plasmas were by far the worst, with CRT's the best, followed by LCD's, then DLP's. My 65" Mitsu draws 250W (according to the manual), where some of the 40+" plasmas draw up to 600W...as much as a large refrigerator (according to the article).

I think that smaller (< 50") DLP's are falling by the way-side because LCD's are getting cheaper but for > 60", DLP's are much more affordable.

[Kevl]

I too considered buying a DLP.

I was going to buy a Sagem 56" 720p DLP set. I saw one demoed in a local shop. Picture quality was stunning on HD sources. Really sharp and crisp colours with no LCD type artefacts. Also no screen burn to worry about.

But after looking at it for a while I was able to see rainbows. Apparently this is quite a common failing (though some people dont see them). Supposedly the newer LED lit DLP sets are better as they dont use a colour wheel.

You need to check out the picture is OK in a darkened room (i.e. no rainbows) before buying one as once you start seeing rainbows it can be annoying.

Kev

[whurlston]

A very small percentage of the population can see the rainbow effect supposedly. It is very annoying for the ones that can.

[skippy_nz]

thanks for all the replies - i went in to take a look for the M81 series of samsung lcd's i posted about before but it seems they are a discontinued product - so it might be hard to find one of those - they seemed like a nice screen but i guess my next bet is to check the other make suggested ie panasonic and pioneer - (the guys at harvey norman reckon that pioneer only do large plasmas nothing in a 40 or 46 lcd) - a dlp could be getting a little bit too big as we dont have a whole lot of room in the lounge thats why i was going to get a lcd or plasma. guess i might do some more research to see whats what.....

cheers
Skip

[stustunz]

dont go dlp the rainbow thing is a pain in the arse 20% of people see
samsung must a have a new version of what you were looking at
or is that harvey norman no longer stock them so they are saying they are no longer been made sales people do that

[skippy_nz]

dont go dlp the rainbow thing is a pain in the arse 20% of people see
samsung must a have a new version of what you were looking at
or is that harvey norman no longer stock them so they are saying they are no longer been made sales people do that

both harvey normal and noel lemmings say they are a discontinued product - the noel lemming website still has them for sale on there by the looks of things and also lv martin has them on thier website - i would say they are coming to the end of life - im not sure if the next generation is the F81 model - they had some of those are harvey but not at lemming....

[stustunz]

bring it on

number 2 is about the only one that is wrong sort of

they werent exactly put downs just points
and i agree get what you like not what others like

persoannly i wouldnt buy either
if you really want to get down to it the nicest picture i like is a crt projector not cause its got high resolution or nice colours or does cartwheels but because the picture is smooth and flowing

[psycik]

one thing also, to add a cat among the pigeons (and having just come back from Harvey Normans and Norman Ross in Lower Hutt where they have all got big sales on at the mo). Including the M81 46"

But have you thought about whether you want a dvb-t tuner on your tv? I only ask as Oz has them, but they used mpeg2 for dvb-t and having come back from a couple of days away to find my pvr with a blown power supply (----WAF nothing recorded since Xmas eve). I thought it might be a nice to have.

[stustunz]

sounds like your mate needs glasses rather than another tv

[stustunz]

what was the resolution like for them both you didnt say ?
thats what im talking about when you connect it to the tv by the way that plasma you mention isnt true HD i didnt check the lcd