Bombertalk

Hi all

I'm in the market for a new TV and I'm having trouble deciding between getting an LCD or Plasma.

I'm just wondering if any of you can give me some tips, hints, warnings etc.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

swoodley

This might help:

http://gadgetguy.com.au/article.asp?m_article=2352
http://gadgetguy.com.au/article.asp?m_article=2349

Anything above 40" will probably be overly-expensive for an LCD.
Images are better on LCDs but black colours are a problem. I think Samsung LCDs are generally pretty good for blacks but with any TV, your best bet would be to view as many screens as you can & decide with what you see. Response time is important. Older Plasmas & LCDs suffer a bit during action scenes from a bit of visual lag.
& make sure you have the inputs you need. HDMI inputs definitely as your TV will be futureproof even if you don't use them now.

DON'T BUY ANYTHING TILL NEXT YEAR!

There are couple of new formats coming out which are going to be a lot better.

Even if you can't afford the new ones, the prices on LCD and Plama will drop dramatically.

LCD if your going to be playing 360/ps3. Plasma if you just want a big TV to watch movies etc.

LCD.
Plasmas probably handle fast movement a little better, but LCDs give brighter, sharper pictures.

Make sure you get full HD (1080p), even though a lot isn't broadcast in full HD yet, it's better to have it than not. And get one with several HDMI inputs. ALso you want a refresh rate 5 milliseconds or better ( I think our TV's is 4ms). I'm not certain on that last one though, but you don't want a refresh rate of more than 15ms I believe..
Don't ask me what it all means, but trust me that that's the sort of stuff you want.

We just got a 37" Sharp Aquos - brilliant. Family down the road has the 52" version - also brilliant, although a little big unless you have a massive room to put it in.

A few points IMHO:
-LCD if you want gaming, apparently, and plasma for watching sport (well I think it is better) and movies;
-Plasma have a better quality picture at wide angles;
-Arguably better colour saturation on plasma, and the blacks are blacker on plasma;
-Life span is about the same these days - around 60k hours, supposedly;
-Refresh rates are much the same now at around 4-5ms. It might an issue if you buy cheapie which are generally a previous generation name brand panel. You get what you pay for. Having said this, I am yet to see an LCD that does justice to sport and motorsports as well as a pasma does, but I'm not sure why this is.
-Go 1920x1080p on either. Prices have continued to decrease over the past year. 1080p's are now cheaper than my 1366x768 was 14 months ago;
-There is some argument about power consumption. LCD's have a lower max power output, but the backlight is always on, which plasma does not have, so any advantage may be nullified. If it's a factor for you check the panel's wattage on the spec sheet, and that's basically the maximum energy it uses per hour so you can calculate the running cost if it turns you on. I didn't give a toss. I just switch everything off at the PP when it's not in use to save on "standby" power consumption, but I did that with my old CRT as well for power and safety reasons.

Test both with whatever you watch, be it sport, movies, games (if you can), or whatever, and simultaneously if possible. Don't judge based on the digital animated movies that they always play on them in-store. They do that for a reason: they look best on both types of panel. There is no right or wrong, really. Buy whatever YOU prefer at the end of the day.

Either way, don't wait until next year. If there is new technology on the way, and I think from memory it is LASER, it will be expensive for at least 2 years. You be saying "I'll wait until the prices come down", and then more new technology will come along and you'll be forever be "going to buy" one! Analysis Paralysis.

Grab a coffee, and sit down in front of this forum for an hour or two.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?s=a2 ... howforum=6

IMHO, lcd vs plasma is a difficult one to answer. The average Joe will struggle to know the difference when viewing. A pro might. It was once said that small screens are better as lcd and large better with plasma. Technology has moved on and it very difficult to tell. It's important to not rely on the viewing in the shop, unless you're comparing side to side and YOU HAVE set the settings to be equal. It's easy enough to do.

Fwiw, I bought a Panasonic Viera plasma 42" 2 years ago, and it has been an excellent tv. A friend has a Hitachi..not so good, and a couple of other friends have Goldstar( I think it was), now known as LG. The LG 42" tellys had a habit of going kaput just out of warranty, but they might've fixed that by now.

Multiple hdmi inputs are a must, as if FULL HD. SDTV's are dirt cheap if all you want is a tv screen.
Avoid anything that requires 2 remotes ie needs a set top box. They should be integrated by now.

Unless you're a technocrat, check out Kogan, via google.

Oh yeah, buy the size one up from what you think you want!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've been to three different shops now checking stuff out (and getting more info than my poor old brain could handle) and I'm now tending towards a plasma. I'm keen on a Pioneer so if anyone has one, or can relate info about them, I'd appreciate it.

When I was looking the big 3 that seemed to get the best reviews were the Fujitsu, Pioneer and Panasonic, all in 42".

Pioneer and Fujitsu were rather more expensive and I couldn't justify them in the context of minimal differences.

Pioneer had a standard 5 year warranty and it was delivered and set up in your house as part of the deal. They have an excellent reputation, but that comes with an extra price. Delivery and set up weren't worth over $1000 at the time.

swoodley wrote:Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've been to three different shops now checking stuff out (and getting more info than my poor old brain could handle) and I'm now tending towards a plasma. I'm keen on a Pioneer so if anyone has one, or can relate info about them, I'd appreciate it.

My parents gave in to the insatiable urge to get a massive plasma a few years ago (might even be 3 years now), and have got a 42" Pioneer. It goes very well. Can't help you with any technical stuff apart from saying that we haven't had any problems since we got it, but yeah, it looks good.

Only reason(s) not to go for the plasma are burn in, and power consumption. If you are on gaming consoles a fair bit, you can get burn in, although it will generally disappear. You don't get the burn in with the LCD panel. The Plasma TV's also consume more energy that their LCD counterparts. Also, in a bright room they can refelct quite a bit of light due to the glossy screen coating.

I have a 50" Hitachi, which was selected after a huge amount of research. They have stopped selling TV's in Aus though, not making enough $$. One of the only manufacturers to still produce the stuff in Japan.

I find that the colours in a plasma television are more vibrant. Also, black is black, not a dark blue. Don't need to worry about ghosting also. Also cheaper to purchase.

As mentioned, go for the largest size you can get. Even with a 50", I sort of wish I had held out for another couple of months to get the 60.

swoodley wrote:Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've been to three different shops now checking stuff out (and getting more info than my poor old brain could handle) and I'm now tending towards a plasma. I'm keen on a Pioneer so if anyone has one, or can relate info about them, I'd appreciate it.

Pioneer is definitely the best for Plasma. It comes at a price premium over Panasonic but if you can afford it it has a very good, very clean picture. I have one and it's very good.

LCD are cheaper but do not have as good blacks (getting better though), Sony Bravia XBR is best but pricey. Samsung is good, Chinese brands like Visio are best value for the money. Compared to a good Plasma LCD is always a bit oversharpened.

Only buy FULL HD 1920x1080.

spikefan wrote:

swoodley wrote:Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've been to three different shops now checking stuff out (and getting more info than my poor old brain could handle) and I'm now tending towards a plasma. I'm keen on a Pioneer so if anyone has one, or can relate info about them, I'd appreciate it.

Pioneer is definitely the best for Plasma. It comes at a price premium over Panasonic but if you can afford it it has a very good, very clean picture. I have one and it's very good.

Yep, definitely the best TV's, but you pay the premium for it. Better get them while they are still Pioneer. During next year they will be outsourcing their plasma panels to Matsushita (Panasonic) in an effort to save costs. I guess most just can't justify the $100's more for the Pioneer panels.

When I was researching the telly's the only manufacturer that made their own bits was Panasonic. Just about everyone else outsourced at least some of their parts.

Pana have since started making their tellys in China, verses Japan apparently. I guess the question of quality control is worth asking, but I have no idea as to the reality. I would've thought the Chinese build to specs that are agreed upon, and that Pana would still monitor the quality.

Hi All

Thanks for your help and valuable input over the past week or so.

I've taken it all in and finally decided to go with the Pioneer LX508 50 inch Plasma. Packaged it with a Pioneer LX Receiver, Surround Sound and Pioneer DVD Recorder.

It should all be up and running in a few weeks time.

Noice!

When in Perth, the GF replays are on at Swoodleys place!

F111 wrote:Noice!

When in Perth, the GF replays are on at Swoodleys place!

Sounds like a plan

F111 wrote:When I was researching the telly's the only manufacturer that made their own bits was Panasonic. Just about everyone else outsourced at least some of their parts.

Pana have since started making their tellys in China, verses Japan apparently. I guess the question of quality control is worth asking, but I have no idea as to the reality. I would've thought the Chinese build to specs that are agreed upon, and that Pana would still monitor the quality.

Think it might be limited to the 42" panels. I faintly remember reading somewhere that the costs of setting up a new 50" panel factory were prohibitive, perhaps due to the lower numbers. My 50" is made in Japan.

It was all delivered and installed yesterday...I took the day off so that I could play once it was all set up.

It's f****** fantastic.

I watched "Pulse" the Pink Floyd DVD and the sound and picture were awesome. Many wasted hours of watchong TV / DVD's coming up

My daughter can't wait to get her hands on it today when she gets home from school (while I'm still at work)

Even my wife was impressed

Sweeeeet. =D>