Plasma Tv's/home Theaters

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by kingcraigj, Sep 19, 2006.

  1. kingcraigj

    kingcraigj Well-Known Member

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    go lcd plasmas only las 3 years well so ive heard, if your from the UK i would use ebuyer.com very cheap.

    but lcd all the way for me, as for brands well any there all around the same, eg, toshiba, panasonic, sony ect ect.
     
  2. Logicaly

    Logicaly Senior Member

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    I would have posted this in Off-Topic, but I don't want a bunch of people trying to spam up my topic, or reply with senseless BS. That being said, on to the topic at hand...

    My partner and I, are in the market for a Plasma TV. We already have done our research on the LCD vs Plasma, so please dont turn this into a debate on which is better. We are in the market for one in the range of about 42 inches. My question is, what do ya'll prefer and think is better? Brand wise, that is. Which one has certain benefits or edge over another.

    Right now, we are currently leaning towards the Panasonic brand of Plasma's, because they seem to be getting a good review, and they have an affordable price.

    That being said, we are also looking into buying a home theater to go with our wonderful new tv. We haven't yet begun to do the research on home theaters yet and I was wondering what everyones thoughts where on those, which is better, etc etc. I have no knowledge of home theaters as of yet.
     
  3. AssailantOperative

    AssailantOperative Well-Known Member

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    Well logic, you have to look at the pros and cons. Plasma is good for watching sports or shows u watch regularly because of the size. LCD is more movie oriented because you get better quality and it lasts longer. There are many others, my mom used to have a plasma in the living room and decided she wanted an LCD so I am now using a plasma for my computer moniter. It is really up to you, it is like coke and pepsi, hope this helps, have fun shopping :rofl: .

    This is copied and pasted from CNET:
    1. Plasma and LCD technology - what's the difference?
    Plasma and LCD panels may look similar, but the flat screen and thin profile is where the similarities end. Plasma screens, as its name suggests, uses a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture. LCD screens (liquid crystal display) are in layman's terms sandwiches made up of liquid crystal pushed in the space between two glass plates. Images are created by varying the amount electrical charge applied to the crystals. Each technology has its strengths and weaknesses, as you'll read below.

    2. Is there a difference in picture quality between plasma and LCD screens and normal CRT TVs?
    It's not what's happening behind the screen that's important - it's how the screen performs as a television that matters the most. In that regard, both plasma and LCD sets produce excellent pictures, although many home entertainment specialists and gamers still say CRTs produce the best overall images (although plasmas and LCD sets are quickly catching up in terms of quality).

    Those same home entertainment specialists will tell you that for basic home theatre-like usage, plasma screens have a slight edge over LCDs. This is because plasma screens can display blacks more accurately than LCDs can, which means better contrast and detail in dark-coloured television or movie scenes. The nature of LCD technology, where a backlight shines through the LCD layer, means it's hard for it to achieve true blacks because there's always some light leakage from between pixels. This is steadily improving with every new generation of LCD, however.

    3. What advantages does plasma have over LCD?
    Apart from better contrast due to its ability to show deeper blacks, plasma screens typically have better viewing angles than LCD. Viewing angles are how far you can sit on either side of a screen before the picture's quality is affected. You tend to see some brightness and colour shift when you're on too far of an angle with LCDs, while a plasma's picture remains fairly solid. This is steadily changing, however, with more and more LCDs entering the market with viewing angles equal to or greater than some plasmas. Plasmas can also produce a brighter colour, once again due to light leakage on an LCD affecting its colour saturation.

    Plasma pundits will also tell you that some LCD screens have a tendency to blur images, particularly during fast moving scenes in movies or in sports. While that was true for older generation LCD screens, newer models have improved significantly - so much so that the differences in performance between LCDs and plasmas in this regard is almost negligible (here's a tip -- if you're shopping for LCDs, check the refresh rate. The lower it is, the better the image quality in fast moving scenes).

    Perhaps the biggest advantage plasmas have now over their LCD cousins is price, particularly in the large screen end of the market. Plasmas typically come in larger sizes than LCDs at a cheaper price. Plasmas being sold in Australia generally run between 42-inches and 63-inches wide, with the cheapest 42-inch selling for approximately AU$3,000 (although you can expect to find sets cheaper than AU$3,000 in real world prices). 60-inch and above plasmas can go for as much as $20,000. LCDs, on the other hand, top out around the mid 40-inch mark, and are more expensive than similar-sized plasmas. Sharp's high end 45-inch LC45G1XSYS LCD, for example, retails for AU$8,999, while Pioneer's top of the line 43-inch PDP-436HD plasma goes for AU$5,999.

    4. What advantages does LCD have over plasma?
    It's not all doom and gloom for LCD though, as it has the edge over plasma in several key areas. LCDs tend to have higher native resolution than plasmas of similar size, which means more pixels on a screen. If you're a true high-def junkie who's keen to see every pixel of a high-res 1080i/p image reproduced pixel-by-pixel (providing you have a source that high, of course), then LCDs are the way to go.

    LCDs also tend to consume less power than plasma screens, with some estimates ranging that power saving at up to 30 per cent less than plasma. LCDs are also generally lighter than similar sized plasmas, making it easier to move around or wall mount.

    LCD pundits also point to the fact that LCDs have a longer lifespan than plasma screens. This was true of earlier plasma models, which would lose half of their brightness after more than 20,000 hours of viewing. Later plasma generations have bumped that up to anything between 30,000 and 60,000 hours. LCDs, on the other hand, are guaranteed for 60,000 hours.

    You might have also heard that plasmas suffer from screen burn in, an affliction not as commonly associated with LCDs. Screen burn in occurs when an image is left too long on a screen, resulting in a ghost of that image burned in permanently. Newer plasmas are less susceptible to this thanks to improved technology and other features such built-in screen savers, but we still hear anecdotal reports here of burn-in with new plasmas.

    5. Which is better value for me right now: plasma or LCD?
    If you're in the market for a big screen television -- and we're talking 42-inches and above -- then we'd suggest plasma as a safe bet. Plasmas give you more bang for your buck at the big end of town, and while LCDs can give you better resolution, the price difference is currently too wide. However, if money's not an issue and you want the sharpest image in town, then a large LCD is for you. At the smaller end of things (15" to 36" TVs), LCD is the only way to go if you want something slim and tasteful. And the best thing is that LCDs are getting cheaper all the time.

    This is copied and pasted from ZDNet:
    1. Price-to-size ratio
    While neither LCD nor plasma TVs are a bargain, on a price-per-square-inch basis, plasmas currently have the edge. Look at it this way: technically, a 42-inch plasma gives you almost twice as much screen real estate as a 30-inch LCD panel, but they both go for about AU$3,000 [updated 07.03.06]. By 2006, you may see 42-inch LCDs hitting that price, but larger versions (50 inches or more) won't cost the same as their plasma equivalents for a while.

    The reason my friend is looking at a 20-inch Sharp for his bedroom is that prices for smaller LCD panels are dropping the fastest, with a 20-incher coming in at a little more than AU$1,500. Plasmas aren't available in that size; 32 inches is their lower limit. Just remember that a 20-inch screen is pretty small, and you'll have to sit rather close to it. It may be fine for viewing sitcoms in bed, but it's obviously less than ideal for enjoying movies. And a 17-inch model should be reserved for use as a kitchen television or a computer monitor in a home office; while you work, you can watch TV in a little picture-in-picture box in a corner of the display.

    Bottom line: 22-inch LCDs and 42-inch plasmas offer the greatest value among bedroom sets, and your best bet for the living room is a 42-inch or larger plasma.

    2. Performance
    A general rule of thumb is that plasmas deliver better home-theater performance than LCDs. Our video guru, Senior Associate Editor David Katzmaier, says that the difference is due mostly to the fact that LCD TVs typically can't display black as well as plasmas; it ends up closer to dark gray. That shortcoming decreases the amount of detail you can see in the shadows and ultimately leaves the picture looking -- as videophiles would say -- less three-dimensional.

    The picture quality of both LCD and plasma panels is improving each year, but it can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. But if you're buying a smaller LCD (26 inches or less) for the kitchen or the bedroom, don't agonize too much over performance.

    3. Life span
    Life span, the number of viewing hours a television provides before dimming to half brightness, is one of the biggest advantages LCD has over plasma. Though the numbers vary among the different brands, plasma displays generally offer around 20,000 hours, while LCD sets last for up to 50,000 hours.

    4. Burning issues
    One of plasma technology's known issues is something called burn-in. It happens when your television shows a still image or an icon for so long that its "ghost" remains on the screen. For example, if a stock ticker or a news crawl continuously runs along the bottom of your display, that strip may be burned into your set. The same applies to watching an excessive amount of standard TV (4:3) on a wide-screen (16:9) model; the vertical bars to either side of the picture could become permanent. Manufacturers have taken steps to prevent burn-in, building in screensavers and other technologies. And you can virtually eliminate the danger by not leaving still images on the screen and reducing your contrast setting to 50 percent or less.

    To their credit, LCDs don't suffer from burn-in, nor do they have troubles at high altitudes, where the air-pressure differential causes plasmas to emit an irritating buzzing sound. So, if you live at the top of a mountain, we don't recommend that you get a plasma, though some manufacturers are selling special sets that they claim are immune to the problem.

    5. Viewing HDTV
    Most plasmas and LCDs can display a high-def signal. However, you'll need a model with a resolution of at least 1,280 x 720 to enjoy full HDTV once it becomes available in the Australian market. Most 50-inch plasmas and nearly all 26-inch and larger LCDs offer this resolution. Very few 42-inch plasmas do, but when you're watching HD feeds on a lower-resolution television of that size or smaller, you'll have to sit very close to notice much of a difference between true HD and what you're seeing. Take, for example, Panasonic's TH-42PA20U, which is arguably the best 42-inch plasma we've seen to date in its price range. Even though the set provides only EDTV resolution (852 x 480), HDTV looks really good on it.

    6. Computers and video games
    Most plasma and LCD TVs can double as computer monitors; many even offer a DVI port for optimal video quality. They'll also hook up to a game console without any problems. So which technology is better for these purposes? From a performance standpoint, it's hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma's burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming.
     
  4. ThA-ViLLAin

    ThA-ViLLAin Well-Known Member

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    Go for LCD
     
  5. Logicaly

    Logicaly Senior Member

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    See, heres the thing. We don't want an LCD. We did our research on comparing the two...and at a larger scale, Plasma is better than LCD. If we where buying something under 36 inches, we would go with LCD, but because of the size we are going with, Plasma is better.

    And by the way, you really shouldn't be using your plasma for a computer monitor if you play video games, video games actually damage the plasma screens for a reason that I cant remember.
     
  6. Broken

    Broken Well-Known Member

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    Hm.
    Like you said, Panasonic is a good choice.

    The main two are Panasonic and, Samsungs are preety good.
     
  7. ZERV

    ZERV Well-Known Member

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    logic is right. larger size = plasma. panasonic is a good brand for plasmas too. as for home theater, i have a sony, and am very satisfied. i dont know much else about home theater, so eh.
     
  8. AssailantOperative

    AssailantOperative Well-Known Member

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    I know what you mean, but there are two types of video games that I play. RPG/RTS and FPS. FPS involves alot of quick flowing lights which drains the plasma at a quick pace, RPG and RTS games have very basic graphics thus there is no differance then a movie. Dual moniters is nice to have for this sole reason :D .
     
  9. Mcal

    Mcal Well-Known Member

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    i have a sony lcd works very well i suggest going to a store and looking at some and seeing what would work best with you
    why dont they last more than 3 years
     
  10. FroZeN-FiRe

    FroZeN-FiRe Well-Known Member

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    My family recently purshased a HD 72" Toshiba LCD
    I believe it is LCD
    It's very high quality and the HD Channels are orgasmic.
    It looks really good and thats my 2 cents
     
  11. AssailantOperative

    AssailantOperative Well-Known Member

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    I am sorry for going off topic but for some reason I just spent the past 20 minutes staring at your avatar, the wierd part is I have seen that before so many times :wacko: .
     
  12. Logicaly

    Logicaly Senior Member

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    I have gone to the store and compared and to be perfectly honest, the Plasmas in the store offer a more clean and better picture then the LCD I have seen.
     
  13. AssailantOperative

    AssailantOperative Well-Known Member

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    Just remember, a plasma screen compared to a lcd is like a pair of sneakers. The sneakers with time will loose its quality and appeal, but boots will often stay the same for a very long period of time and keep the same quality.
     
  14. ihatebeans

    ihatebeans Senior Member

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    Hmm I suggest going with an HDTV. I have a 56" Samsung HD and I find it better then Plasma. My aunt has a home theatre system and it is sick. I dont know where they got it but it is totally jacked. They have a screen that with a press of a button, comes down from the ceiling with real seats and a candy counter with popcorn maker, its sick.

    Good Luck with finding one!
     
  15. FroZeN-FiRe

    FroZeN-FiRe Well-Known Member

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    :lol:

    and btw
    i think we didn't get plasma cuz of something to do with lightbulb life length or sumthing
    where it will burn out and cost mad doll hairs to replace
     

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