another LCD vs. Plasma

[Curlypaul]

I play my wii on a 32" Samsung LCD and thru the component cables it looks noticably more pixelated, but the colours and lighting effects look MUCH better. You may not notice the difference in the pixelation though, this is a PAL tv that runs in a slightly higher rez when using composite cables.

I would recommend an LCD, although I've never owned a plasma to compare it too.

[Niode]

Plasma all the way. LCD just looks poor in comparison. Every single LCD I've seen look inferior to Plasma. I'd recommend no less than a Viera, I can't see any point in getting anything else. They've won tonnes of awards and their upscalers are really good. SD content looks really good on my TV. All my old consoles look perfectly sharp and no colour bleed/blurriness/artefacts as long as I use RGB SCART. Of course, we're at an advantage in the UK and the rest of Europe, since pretty much everything outputs RGB SCART or better.

It helps to do a lot of research when buying a TV, and buying one that you know is going to last you since it's a purchase you make once maybe twice a decade. Make sure it does everything you need it to do. Always, always compare the TVs in real life. You can read a 100 and 1 positive reviews and if you don't like it in person it's not the right choice. Nothing can compare to actually going to an independent TV retailer and comparing the TVs side by side. Don't forget to ask the rep about seeing the TVs displaying the content you're likely to use it for. If they want the sale, they will help you out. If they don't, take your money elsewhere, it's not like TVs are in a shortage, most places will be begging for sales due to the slow down post Holiday buying madness. I find the deals are better around this time of year, rather than the boxing day - 1st january sale rush. Just after the madness, the electronic outlets are looking to shift the stock they bought for the sales.

I managed to get my 42" Viera for £425 last year, which considering the price just after xmas was £500 I managed to get a nice £75 knocked off just by being patient. Most of the plebs were plumping for whatever LCD with the biggest size was for the lowest price (a Toshiba 50" LCD, which at the time was the previous years model, IE the none REGZA models without the CELL upscaler, which is pretty good, but sadly not as good as the pioneer or panasonic upscalers) I'm glad I held off because the lowly viera was sat in the back. I decided to hold off since the cheapy cheap TVs just weren't that good and I didn't really want to spend more than £400. So yeah. Don't just plump for whatever is the best in the store straight away, sometimes you'll get an even better deal if you shop around. Or if the reps are desperate for a sale they'll just give you £50 off or whatever just to get a sale.

[Ivo]

LCDs are more economical and green as they take in less power, I don't know if that is relevant for your decision.

I don't know enough about the quality of the image but I guess the best thing would be to go to a store where you could actually see "side to side" of specific models you are interested in.

Ivo.

[noiseredux]

LCDs are more economical and green as they take in less power, I don't know if that is relevant for your decision.

well if what you are saying translates to "it will cost less on yr electric bill than a plasma," then yes it is relevant.

[Ivo]

LCDs are more economical and green as they take in less power, I don't know if that is relevant for your decision.

well if what you are saying translates to "it will cost less on yr electric bill than a plasma," then yes it is relevant.

That is what I meant, although more recent plasmas are not as bad as it used to be.
http://reviews.cnet.com/green-tech/tv-power-efficiency/

Technology type: Plasma TVs use more power than LCD TVs. In our tests of TVs since the beginning of 2008 plasmas consume, on average, roughly two to three times more electricity to produce an image of the same brightness as LCD. In the last couple of years, plasma TV makers have made some progress--Panasonic claims improvements of 30 percent yearly, for example--but they still can't compete with LCD for energy efficiency. One problem is that in plasma TVs, each pixel is a discrete light source (think of it as a tiny light bulb), so when resolution increases, say from 720p to 1080p, power use goes up as well. The intensity of light from each pixel must be increased to brighten the picture as a whole.

I didn't do independent research on it though, but it doesn't seem like it is just a myth. This is something that should be relatively easy to measure, so if it wasn't true companies selling Plasmas would debunk it easily. In fact I think some countries are intending to pass laws banning sales of Plasmas based on their energy consumption.

Ivo.

[Niode]

The way I understood it is that they were planning on banning plasmas in the EU because of the Lead used in their construction. Apparently, Panasonic has found a lead-free manufacturing process, but Pioneer didn't and since they didn't want to pay Panasonic a licensing for their tech, they canned their plasma division. Panasonic is now the only manufacturer of plasma displays, any TV that isn't Panasonic but is a plasma, is a Panasonic display with different brand housing. I could be wrong, it's just what I gleaned from various reports when I was researching my plasma TV purchase.

[elvis]

The way I understood it is that they were planning on banning plasmas in the EU because of the Lead used in their construction.

In Australia there will be regulations in later this year that cap power consumption on devices, and apparently Plasma TVs will be affected here. I don't know when that deadline is, but I know Plasma's are significantly cheaper here as manufacturers try to move units quickly.

Back to the picture quality: I have *subjectively* compared my friend's Plasma Panasonic Viera to my LCD Sony Bravia. To my naked eye, his Plasma looked slightly better for SD stuff (smoother picture updates), whereas my LCD looked better for all HD stuff (better quality of the overall picture, less blurry picture).

I wouldn't call the tests complete, nor would I consider the results enough to sway my decision either way if I had to buy a new TV again. As before, I chose LCD mainly on power consumption and daytime viewing as the two primary arguments. If my requirements changed (say I was buying purely for night-time viewing of HD content), I'd most likely go Plasma instead.

[executioner]

How about the image quality comparison with the new led LCDs against plasmas? In December saw some amazing quality on a Bravia and a Samsung led lcd.

[hailrazer]

How about the image quality comparison with the new led LCDs against plasmas? In December saw some amazing quality on a Bravia and a Samsung led lcd.

I personally don't like the slight "halo" effect of the Led Lcd's right now. Maybe when they get that perfected.

[itsmattxp]

Had the same question during Black Friday. Have to say that the information that Niode gave me was very good and that I will have to say go with a plasma.