Should I get a Plasma or LCD?

[erwin1978]

I'm ready to get a new ~50" television. I don't care for projection TVs because I don't want to be bothered replacing the bulb. Should I go with Plasma or LCD? Why is it that Plasmas only do around 720p while LCDs can go 1080p?

 

[Kaido]

Plasma for anything bigger than 42".

 

[erwin1978]

Why?

 

[Finns14]

Just the way the technology works as it is, if your getting a 50 incher makes sure its HD and DLP. LCD's are making strides in the larger tvs but still not on par with plasma.

 

[MasterOfKtulu109]

unless you are buying HD dvds or playing xbox/ps3, 1080p is a waste of money. nobody broadcasts in it (and probably never will), and you pay A LOT more.

get a plasma. better picture quality and viewing angle. i'd look at panasonics. ive heard they are the best for the money (pioneer is the best overall, but you pay a premium and the difference isn't worth it, from what ive heard).

 

[Pabster]

It's a personal preference. I prefer LCD; The best bet is to take a gander at several sets from each technology and decide.

Also, you have to think about viewing distance and angle(s), light intake of the room (Do you watch a lot of daytime TV? If so, Plasma is a bad choice.)

In the end each technology has its strengths and weaknesses. Plasma tends to have darker darks and more vivid color; LCD uses less energy, produces less heat, is much better for daytime viewing, etc.

So there really isn't a simple answer :laugh:

 

[OFFascist]

LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

 

[gerwen]

Go to a reputable showroom, and have a really good look. No big box stores, they rarely have any clue how to set up a tv to show its best picture, and will likely have the white level cranked.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: MasterOfKtulu109
unless you are buying HD dvds or playing xbox/ps3, 1080p is a waste of money. nobody broadcasts in it (and probably never will), and you pay A LOT more.

get a plasma. better picture quality and viewing angle. i'd look at panasonics. ive heard they are the best for the money (pioneer is the best overall, but you pay a premium and the difference isn't worth it, from what ive heard).

OK, try to buy a 1080i TV that isn't CRT. Just because your 1366x768 LCD says it's "1080i" doesn't mean it is 1920x1080 (OBVIOUSLY). A 1080p LCD will deinterlace to make a 1920x1080 image.

 

[RossMAN]

Plasma if you're not going to connect it to a computer.

Personally I prefer LCD's.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

I'd go with an LCD. I can't stand the screen door effect on plasmas.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

No they do not. Flat LCD has always used less electricity then plasma. Look up the specs of flat screens and you will see LCD uses much less.


Me and my wife prefer LCD, thats what we have and will get next as well.

 

[pmoa]

All subjective if you ask me. I chose LCD because I do a lot of gaming and occassionally put my display out from my PC into the TV. I dont watch much television outside the HD and digital channels and HD DVD looks fantastic. Black levels on an LCD are getting better and they aren't too badly priced. About 2K for a 46" Sammy.....1080p

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

No they do not. Flat LCD has always used less electricity then plasma. Look up the specs of flat screens and you will see LCD uses much less.


Me and my wife prefer LCD, thats what we have and will get next as well.

Specs mean nothing. It's actual energy use that counts. LCD's have a back light which is always on, therefore the electrical draw is near constant. A Plasma lights it individual pixels as needed, therefore the electrical draw varies. In general, a plasma uses about half its stated max wattage. This is also what helps Plasma to maintain better blacks than an LCD.

People have tested this. Plasmas do not use more electricity.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

No they do not. Flat LCD has always used less electricity then plasma. Look up the specs of flat screens and you will see LCD uses much less.


Me and my wife prefer LCD, thats what we have and will get next as well.

Specs mean nothing. It's actual energy use that counts. LCD's have a back light which is always on, therefore the electrical draw is near constant. A Plasma lights it individual pixels as needed, therefore the electrical draw varies. In general, a plasma uses about half its stated max wattage. This is also what helps Plasma to maintain better blacks than an LCD.

People have tested this. Plasmas do not use more electricity.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Because LCDs use florescent backlighting to produce images, they require substantially less power to operate than plasmas do. LCD TVs consume about half the power that plasma displays consume. The reason: Plasmas use a lot of electricity to light each and every pixel you see on a screen - even the dark ones. Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.



Power Requirements ADVANTAGE:

LCD TV Sets consume less electricity. Comparing the power requirements of plasma vs LCD TVs would soon show that an LCD panel consumes typically 30% to 40% less power than an equivalent size plasma display.


Call for Help, a TV show that covers technology, conducted a test that measured the electricity consumed by similar-sized plasma and LCD TVs. It found that most of the time LCD screens did, in fact, consume less power.

Energy Conservation - Because of how LCD TV sets work, they will enable you to save more on electricity costs than plasma TV sets.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

No they do not. Flat LCD has always used less electricity then plasma. Look up the specs of flat screens and you will see LCD uses much less.


Me and my wife prefer LCD, thats what we have and will get next as well.

Specs mean nothing. It's actual energy use that counts. LCD's have a back light which is always on, therefore the electrical draw is near constant. A Plasma lights it individual pixels as needed, therefore the electrical draw varies. In general, a plasma uses about half its stated max wattage. This is also what helps Plasma to maintain better blacks than an LCD.

People have tested this. Plasmas do not use more electricity.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Because LCDs use florescent backlighting to produce images, they require substantially less power to operate than plasmas do. LCD TVs consume about half the power that plasma displays consume. The reason: Plasmas use a lot of electricity to light each and every pixel you see on a screen - even the dark ones. Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.

Your're wrong. Its LCD which use power to light every pixel on the screen regardless of wether it is black or some other color.

People have taken Kill-a-watt meters to both technologies and they use about the same amount of electricity. Although, now you are claiming only 1/3 more electricity consumed by a plasma, whereas if you went by specs as you mentioned in your first post, you would assume a plasma uses 2x the electricity.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: OFFascist
LCD.

Uses less electricity, produces less waste heat, lighter.

This is a common misconception. LCD and Plasma use nearly the same amount of electricity.

Personally, if I was looking for a 50" now, I'd be looking at the new 1080p Panasonic hitting the shelves as we speak.

No they do not. Flat LCD has always used less electricity then plasma. Look up the specs of flat screens and you will see LCD uses much less.


Me and my wife prefer LCD, thats what we have and will get next as well.

Specs mean nothing. It's actual energy use that counts. LCD's have a back light which is always on, therefore the electrical draw is near constant. A Plasma lights it individual pixels as needed, therefore the electrical draw varies. In general, a plasma uses about half its stated max wattage. This is also what helps Plasma to maintain better blacks than an LCD.

People have tested this. Plasmas do not use more electricity.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Because LCDs use florescent backlighting to produce images, they require substantially less power to operate than plasmas do. LCD TVs consume about half the power that plasma displays consume. The reason: Plasmas use a lot of electricity to light each and every pixel you see on a screen - even the dark ones. Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.

Your're wrong. Its LCD which use power to light every pixel on the screen regardless of wether it is black or some other color.

People have taken Kill-a-watt meters to both technologies and they use about the same amount of electricity. Although, now you are claiming only 1/3 more electricity consumed by a plasma, whereas if you went by specs as you mentioned in your first post, you would assume a plasma uses 2x the electricity.

The 4 quotes I posted are from other sites and reviews. I have found none to back up your claims. So you have some links?

And did you even read what it said?

Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.


In lamen terms for you. It was worse but they are now not as bad.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
The 4 quotes I posted are from other sites and reviews. I have found none to back up your claims. So you have some links?

And did you even read what it said?

Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.


In lamen terms for you. It was worse but they are now not as bad.

There is plenty of info. The problem is that the "LCD uses less electricity" has become so entrenched that it has not been tested thoroughly in real world situations until recently. But there is plenty of information out there if you take the time to search.

Power!
AVS Thread

BTW, you links don't really provide any real data. They just regurgitate the popular misconception, probably put forth by LCD manufacturers.

 

[torpid]

Will the room with the TV be exposed to daylight frequently? Will you be using a PS3 or XBox 360 or PC with it? If the answer to both is no, I'd maybe go with plasma.

 

[rml]

http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,239035250,240036500,00.htm

 

[davestar]

Originally posted by: MasterOfKtulu109
unless you are buying HD dvds or playing xbox/ps3, 1080p is a waste of money. nobody broadcasts in it (and probably never will), and you pay A LOT more.

describing a TV based on what broadcast format(s) it will accept is an intentionally confusing marketing ploy.

your TV purchase should be determined by resolution, deinterlacer/scaler quality, and contrast/color performance. a 1080p TV with a good deinterlacer essentially takes a 1080i signal and produces a 1080p picture. it IS worth it to buy a good 1080p TV, because what you're really buying is a 1920x1080 screen that produces identical images from 1080p and 1080i sources.

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: MasterOfKtulu109
(pioneer is the best overall, but you pay a premium and the difference isn't worth it, from what ive heard).

Lots of people will argue that Fujitsu makes the best plasmas on the market nowdays.

 

[mitaiwan82]

LCD +1

 

[ivol07]

Plasma +1

Better picture, viewing angle, color. At least to my eyes.