LCD or Plasma screen

[ironcross]

your thoughts...

 

im thinking of finaly getting a new tv and would like to hear what you guys think about these two options.  from what ive seen plasma looks a LOT sharper, but i have heard that they give out sooner. also i noticed that the LCD is a lot cheaper too.  so is the plasma worth the extra dough??

[Barmacral]

I've done some looking into this in the past, and from what I've seen, go LCD, its not worth the cost to get plasma.

[Emperor]

Look it is pretty easy.

 

LCD has a longer life span than a Plasma.  It is also easier to fix a LCD if a bulb goes out... when a Plasma dies it goes to Plasma heaven.

 

Plasma may have a better picture than a LCD depending on brand.

 

Plasma seems to be a bit cheaper.

 

Plasma has a better 160 degree viewing area... meaning you can see it better from more angles.

 

LCD does not burn images to a screen.  So if you are a gamer, you probably want a LCD.

 

LCD uses less Power.

 

LCD HDTV is a little better than Plasma HDTV.

 

When I was waying my choices and trying to decide on a TV, I eventually chose a LCD mainly because the life is longer, I am a gamer and I wanted the best HD picture.  I did pay a little more to get this TV than probably the Plasma counterpart.  I highly recommend the Sony Bravia.  I got the 52' and am very happy with it.

 

 

[SinisterDeath]

Hmm, its been awhile since I've actually 'seen' an HDTV, and the 'newer generation LCD HDTVS'.

But, from what I saw of Plasma TV's, They were much, much better then LCDs, and were much, much more expensive.

 

Plasmas do have a better degree of viewing then LCD's, cause I swear some LCD HDTV's have a 10 degree viewing area... So if your using it for only Movies, Plasma, hands down.

 

If your using something for gaming, LCD, longer life span, no chance of burnins (and with Plasma, their are several known problems with them and gaming, causing burn-ins, I probably wouldn't be phased cause I know how to shut my tv's off. :P) and if your trying to play a game 'privately' you won't have to worry as much about people looking over your shoulder and trying to see what your doing.... You know unless you get an LCD HDTV like mine that has an awesome view angle probably 160-180 degrees. My notebooks LCD screen though, that had a freakin 1% of 1 Degree of a viewing area...

 

Also, don't let those 'sample screens' in stores fool you, many-a-times, some of those tv's have been run 24/7 for so long the picture quality has gone down hill, while the cheaper ones get moved out so fast, that they 'look' better then others.

 

I was a best buy several months ago, I saw a 'cheapo' brand tv there, Plasma, that was about $300 less then the compitition, (it must have been a mistake, cause it was just sooo freakin cheap! It was like $300 !!?!?!) the picture quality trumped the Sony on one side (LCD) ANd some other high end brand Plasma on the left. Now, I don't think those 3 had been running any significant amount of time, they all looked great, but DAMN that cheapo one just looked soooo much better...

[eclipse0]

I've worked in the A/V industry for a decade now. From my experience, its the size that makes the difference. If you're going 47" and lower, get an LCD, as was mentioned, it will last you longer. If you're going above 50", plasma is the way to go. The difference is the plasmas are emissive (the image gives of its own light) and LCD's are transmissive (the light source passes through the image). The pros for emissive only begin outweigh the pros for transmissive once you get to the 50" range and above.

[ChronoCrosS]

I am pretty sure that Plasmas are getting better. I know they were crap when they first came out but now there are a lot of nice features that save power and other things. I'm not sure what the life is on them but I know I have a Plasma and it looks great. Our plasma is used by my brothers almost nonstop for gaming and there has been no burn ins yet.

[eclipse0]

Well, I just heard some news that Plasmas will soon be going out of production because Sony has developed a new display technology which will match the quality of plasma and have the durability of LCD's.  I couldn't find any hard documentation, but that's the word on the street in the industry.

[Cadsuane]

WMDs were "word on the street" once, too, and look where that got us.  ;D

[Silver]

http://www.hdtv.ca/reviews/plasma/th103pf9ukplasmatvreview.php

 

Get that.

[eclipse0]

WMDs were "word on the street" once, too, and look where that got us.  ;D

 

My sources are more reliable than the Bush Administration...

 

::)

[SinisterDeath]

I'm thinking that new one your talking about is bio/led based. Supposedly it can render more colors then lcd/plasma, and some other fancy stuff...

[eclipse0]

I was thinking it's probably going to be LED based as well. As long as it doesn't weigh as much as a plasma I'll be happy, those SoB's are a PITA to move around, lol.

[ironcross]

http://www.hdtv.ca/reviews/plasma/th103pf9ukplasmatvreview.php

 

Get that.

 

dose the chick come with it?

[Tenshin_Xo]

eclipse/SD;  OLED is the technology you're thinking of, sony has a model out now, but for some reason people don't want to pay 2500$ for 13 inches. ;)  EXTREMELY power efficient, and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.  It can actually generate more color than the NTSC color wheel will allow for, which is pretty darn impressive, it's also "emissive" and has a 3mm thick display panel.

 

The Goods.

 

Back to the OP, If you are looking for a screen smaller than 47-52 inches, go LCD, the viewing angles are less of an issue these days(mine has an angle of 178), or if you are going to be gaming much make sure you get LCD.  Also if you watch TV in a room which gets more than occasional obscured sunlight go LCD(they're generally brighter and deal with glare better). 

 

If you are going over the 47-52 inch mark and expect to be watching movies and or TV in a true theater style room, with little distracting lights absolutely go plasma. At least if you have an eye for color palettes and want that extra boost plasmas will give you for color reproduction and richness.

 

Oh and if you live at 5000ft above sea level or higher(especially more than 7000 ft up) stay the heck away from plasma.  They'll make a god awful racket and flicker.  I don't know why.

[Emperor]

Again... I have a 52' LCD and have no problem with angles or watching movies.  So suck it guys. :P

[SinisterDeath]

The only issue I saw with Sony's OLED tv is, besides being 13", it said it has the same pixel density as a 52" 1080p tv...

Thats not alot of pixel density!

a 13" tv, with 1080p, had a hellava lot better pixel density, then a 52" 1080p tv.

 

Thats why when people say that the psp graphics aren't 'hd' because they aren't 1080p, its all about the pixel density! This psp has more pixels per square inch, then most LCD tvs do! ;)

[eclipse0]

Oh and if you live at 5000ft above sea level or higher(especially more than 7000 ft up) stay the heck away from plasma.  They'll make a god awful racket and flicker.  I don't know why.

 

Same reason why water boils at a lower temperature that high. Atmospheric pressure is lessened, making gas particles move faster and expand. The air pressure on the outside of the gas chambers helps stabilize the walls when pressure builds on the inside.  Upset that balance, boom vibration.

[Tenshin_Xo]

Oh and if you live at 5000ft above sea level or higher(especially more than 7000 ft up) stay the heck away from plasma.  They'll make a god awful racket and flicker.  I don't know why.

 

Same reason why water boils at a lower temperature that high. Atmospheric pressure is lessened, making gas particles move faster and expand. The air pressure on the outside of the gas chambers helps stabilize the walls when pressure builds on the inside.  Upset that balance, boom vibration.

There is a disturbance in the force...  I think it's caused by SD's fanboyisms.

 

SD, it still doesn't have the overal resolution of an HDTV.  It's has a much more compact display because it's supposed to be 24inches from Your Face! where a 52" HDTV should be like 7 ft away. So no, until the PSP has a 1080x1920 native display it isn't actually HD.  The XEL-1 is more of a proof of concept than a real retail attempt.  It shows that it can have the pixel density needed to build HD displays for large home theaters.  BTW the new PSP-3000 display sucks royally.  I mean really, scan lines?!?  Come on.  ;D

 

Empy, I'm in the same boat, colors look great on a decently calibrated LCD.  Plus my visio has an awesome veiwing angle, and looks fantastic.  Plus I can watch it during the day which is nigh impossible here with a plasma.  (hides his size envy)

 

 

[SinisterDeath]

BTW the new PSP-3000 display sucks royally.  I mean really, scan lines?!?  Come on. 

 

Actually its superior to the PSP 2000 screen, no glare. ;)

 

And the scanline has been fixed via patching, except in a few of the older games... something about some kind of software refresh rate or something? ;)

[Tenshin_Xo]

mhhmm  I'm calling BS on that seeing as how it's a hardware issue, if you'd like I can post about how pixel orientation causes it, but really thats too geeky.  Besides Sony itself said no fix is coming.  I'll quote there own trouble shooting pages.

On some occasions, scan lines may appear on scenes where brightness changes drastically, due to the hardware features of the LCD screen on PSP-3000.

 

Installed with this LCD screen, PSP-3000 offers more natural and vibrant colors on its screen, but the scan lines have come out to be more visible.  This is normal and there are no plans for a system software updates concerning this issue.

 

In other words, tough luck sucks to be you, we're not even going to extend your warranty like MSFT did. :P  Also what Sony is calling a feature, I'd call a bug. ;)

 

And you know they sell glare reducers for the PSP for like 10 bucks right?

[eclipse0]

pwned...

 

 

[SinisterDeath]

mhhmm  I'm calling BS on that seeing as how it's a hardware issue, if you'd like I can post about how pixel orientation causes it, but really thats too geeky.  Besides Sony itself said no fix is coming.  I'll quote there own trouble shooting pages.

On some occasions, scan lines may appear on scenes where brightness changes drastically, due to the hardware features of the LCD screen on PSP-3000.

 

Installed with this LCD screen, PSP-3000 offers more natural and vibrant colors on its screen, but the scan lines have come out to be more visible.  This is normal and there are no plans for a system software updates concerning this issue.

 

In other words, tough luck sucks to be you, we're not even going to extend your warranty like MSFT did. :P  Also what Sony is calling a feature, I'd call a bug. ;)

 

And you know they sell glare reducers for the PSP for like 10 bucks right?

 

The scanlines only affect older games, and some specific ones. (And they could change it if they wanted to, but they'd have to 'patch' the games.

 

Also, the glare reducers are no where near as good as the actual psp 3000 screen, most in-part, because the psp 3000 actually retains its brightness/contrast, and doesn't reflect. (plus the refresh rate is faster, meaning easier on the eyes).

 

Also, the psp 3000 comes with a built in Mic, so you can use Skype that comes pre-installed, and actually call people with your PsP like a phone. ;)

[Tenshin_Xo]

Here I was thinking that all the PSP had to offer was older games. :P

 

Yeah and just fyi, the scanlines affect any high contrast games, like dark dungeon crawlers with brightly colored characters, or games which have large amounts of movement like shooters.  There are a ton of pics out there if you really want to look at it.

 

So you're saying I can use a PSP as a cell phone as long as I'm within throwing distance of a wifi spot...  Which begs the question, why not use my cell phone?  ;D

[eclipse0]

Because you can sneak on a wireless wan for free?

[Tenshin_Xo]

Yeah I get used to unlimited minutes I guess...

 

Oh and here is a side by side comparison for the 2000 and 3000.