Best TV for Gamnig?

[Majors]

two cents, Pana' G10

Plasma is better if you are concerned about lag.

[RadarScope1]

What brand was your friend's plasma with the lag? I experience it on SNES (slight) but I feel my HDMI connected stuff doesn't lag.

[elvis]

LCD's are cheap and extremely low maintenance, but suffer from less color along with lower refresh rates and contrast levels.

Plasmas are expensive but have higher refresh rates better colors and superior contrast. The only thing to worry about is getting burn-in after having an unmoving image onscreen for an extended period of time.

Here in Australia Plasmas are about 1/2 the price of an equivalently specced LCD.

I recently went through the motions of LCD versus Plasma, and settled on the Sony Bravia 46" W series. It was more expensive than similar plasmas by a long shot, but to the naked eye appeared far better for daytime viewing (it was for the wife who spends more time watching TV in daylight hours than I ever do watching movies or playing HD games).

I play older games on CRT by choice (generally on 15KHz RGB monitors, or my Dreamcast on a 21" Sony Trinitron CRT monitor), so dealing with older games being scaled up wasn't really an issue. With that said, the Bravia's built in "game mode" handles 480i/576i and 480p with ease when I tested it, and no noticable lag (as a regular player of shmups and fighting games, lag is a deal-breaker for me).

It's probably also worth noting that Plasmas will be banned from sale in Australia at some point in 2010 (unless someone with enough political weight pushes it back), along with incandescent light bulbs due to power rating restrictions coming in place shortly. I can't help but assume that the low cost of Plasmas at the moment is simply to try and move stock quickly before the bans come in place.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

LCD's are cheap and extremely low maintenance, but suffer from less color along with lower refresh rates and contrast levels.

Plasmas are expensive but have higher refresh rates better colors and superior contrast. The only thing to worry about is getting burn-in after having an unmoving image onscreen for an extended period of time.

Here in Australia Plasmas are about 1/2 the price of an equivalently specced LCD.

I recently went through the motions of LCD versus Plasma, and settled on the Sony Bravia 46" W series. It was more expensive than similar plasmas by a long shot, but to the naked eye appeared far better for daytime viewing (it was for the wife who spends more time watching TV in daylight hours than I ever do watching movies or playing HD games).

I play older games on CRT by choice (generally on 15KHz RGB monitors, or my Dreamcast on a 21" Sony Trinitron CRT monitor), so dealing with older games being scaled up wasn't really an issue. With that said, the Bravia's built in "game mode" handles 480i/576i and 480p with ease when I tested it, and no noticable lag (as a regular player of shmups and fighting games, lag is a deal-breaker for me).

It's probably also worth noting that Plasmas will be banned from sale in Australia at some point in 2010 (unless someone with enough political weight pushes it back), along with incandescent light bulbs due to power rating restrictions coming in place shortly. I can't help but assume that the low cost of Plasmas at the moment is simply to try and move stock quickly before the bans come in place.

Jesus, Australia and their energy consumption laws and bans.

Pretty soon it'll all be like Mad Max down there, just you guys wait.......

Mad Max Road Warrior Headshot.jpg (42.55 KiB) Viewed 1000 times

Think about it.....

[elvis]

Jesus, Australia and their energy consumption laws and bans.

Pretty soon it'll all be like Mad Max down there, just you guys wait.......

Think about it.....

Yeah it's a bit odd. When you think about the draw of your average washing machine (particularly in my house with three young kids to clean up after) and compare it to a plasma TV, you have to wonder why they're going for some things and not others.

Who knows what drives our politicians....

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Jesus, Australia and their energy consumption laws and bans.

Pretty soon it'll all be like Mad Max down there, just you guys wait.......

Think about it.....

Yeah it's a bit odd. When you think about the draw of your average washing machine (particularly in my house with three young kids to clean up after) and compare it to a plasma TV, you have to wonder why they're going for some things and not others.

Who knows what drives our politicians....

Opera houses and Olympic bids?

Just kidding, I'm guessing that it's because they assume that it's always on or that it's an easy scapegoat for getting environmentalists temporarily off their asses.

[itsmattxp]

I have a few other questions, Is it LCD or Plasma that has the lag on video games? That is a pretty huge factor that I need to get clear before I make my decision. Also has anyone seen a huge difference between 60-120 Hz? I doubt I'll have time at Best Buy on Black Friday to sit there and stare at the TVs long enough to make my decision before someone takes what I'm looking for.

[Niode]

Every single LCD screen I've seen is vastly inferior to my plasma, input lag is non-existent on everything connected to my TV, however we have SCART as a standard over here which is a far superior RGB connection than s-video.

[crux]

I'm reiterating here, but as Mod Man eloquently said, there is no better television on the market (well, off the market) than CRTs. The 34XBR960 is a fucking monster (200 lbs, with no exaggeration), but boasts the best picture of any consumer monitor ever made. The best PC monitor, again, is a CRT, the FW900 (which with HDFury can also serve as a HD set for modern consoles, as well as Dreamcast and Gamecube).

I have the FW900 myself, as I needed a PC monitor, which serves well for a MAME setup. I have a Commodore 1084 monitor, which is tiny (14"), but has one of the best RGB pictures of any television, despite its age. And it's cheap too. I ALSO have a 27" CRT (these are all right next to each other), which I use for hooking up older consoles when I don't want to bother with the hassle or need a larger size than the 14" (it finds a lot of use with rhythm games).

Of course that setup is a bit much, but it does boast fantastic video quality for both retro and newer systems. The multiple televisions also serve the opportunity for LAN-type use, and the ability to play MAME games in true PC resolutions right along side everything else is awesome (I've never had the desire for a cabinet).

As for lag, the people that will truly notice lag are rhythm fans or competitive 2D fighting game fans. Lag makes a huge difference in those genres, and only something like XRGB or matching to the native resolution is tolerable with such games.

It's also worth mentioning that there's still no solution for older light guns with non-CRTs. There's TopGun for PC, PS2 and Xbox, but even that isn't perfect (especially compared to a GunCon) and leaves out a number of retro consoles.

For the all-in-one monitor, the XBR960 is definitely the best choice for Americans. It's impossible to get RGB without a television that accepts 15kHz, which is why I had to opt for the Commodore monitor to get the best picture quality out of retro systems. If you're not willing to consider a CRT, then good luck to you. There are some fantastic non-CRTs out there, but it's not my area of expertise. I know there's at least one television that competes with the XBR960, but unfortunately I can't even cite it. And who knows how it compares for video games anyway.

[itsmattxp]

I understand that CRTs are the best bet and I have a lovely CRT for my old consoles. I'm really looking to get a plasma or LCD for my two most used consoles and for college. Most likely my PS3/Blu-Ray(HDMI) and CMVS(S-Cable) will be hooked up to my new TV. After researching it looks like I'm more interested in plasma but everyone is telling me the burn in problem is a huge issue since even a careless mistake can ruin it. I'm really on the ropes here haha, all the LCD TVs that are going on sale during Black Friday are only 60Hz and more expensive than Plasmas. Looking to get something from 32 - 42 inches. I'm not looking for someone to tell me a CRT is the best but between LCD/Plasma which is the best route. Thanks!