LCD or Plasma?

Hi all,
I'm in the market for a new TV as the picture tube is going in my old one at the moment...

Can any of the massive tell me of their experiences with both LCD and plasma TVs, brand preferences etc?

I'm looking for something at about 40"(101cm), hd , good for xbox and one that can also be used as a computer monitor.

One that has caught my eye so far is a Samsung 101cm 720p LCD, at around about $2k, and an 81cm version for $1300.

Cheers all! 

I have a 1 in 61 chance of winning a plasma 2nite

Ill let ya know how i go 

Got a Panasonic Viera HD Plasma 42"...

I got the Japanese made version (over the Chinese version which is about $500 cheaper) for about 2.5K...

It is the absolute shit, all the mod cons you could want, plus everyone who comes over says it shits all over other comparable tvs that they've seen...

Would recommend spending the extra bucks for the Panasonic over the Samsung...

get a projector mate
for about 2-2.5K you can get an infocus IN72 or IN74. much more interesting than a 'TV' 

and much harder to find a suitable room to fit it!

cool thread, im in the market for a telly too, everyone i ask has differing opinions tho

has anyone had any experience hooking up their computers to an lcd or plasma tv? Does it still look good even at 720p?

Totally agree... for obvious reasons, the size!!! Plus the repair costs are more than reasonable. It cost me $350 to get a new lamp and i average around 2000 hrs each lamp... plasma or LCD may last a bit longer but there ain't no replaceing one part... more like the whole tv!!!

military spec Rear Projection

Everyone has been really helpful on this thread 


Im keen to hear suggestions too...  bezz dont have room for a projector jayar

plasma = bright but fades and dies quickly

LCD = not as bright and gets dead pixels but doesn't fade like a plasma

You can now get 28" LCD computer monitors with 1920x1200 resolution & HDMI input for under a grand. Seems to be the cheapest way to get a 1080p TV.

Plasma = Expensive to run & the screens get hot!

VIEWSONIC 26" HIGH DEF LCD TV BLK
800:1 CONTRAST RATIO, 16:9 ASPECT RATIO,
1366 X 768 PIXELS, 500 CD/M2

I can get for $605 Incl GST

The prices are going down quite nicely indeed

pioneer plasma all the way - only one to come with 5 year warranty standard

love em

LCD is the way to go

we got lcd and its pretty good

Every camp has their fanboys. I got LCD. Need a plasma, if only for an unbiased comparision. Anyone wanna donate to this scientific research? I promise a fair and accurate review.

serious?
you only need a good 2-3m across white wall to fit it!

The only thing you have to worry about is the actual positioning of the projector and getting all the required cables to it.

The first few houses I had it in worked pretty well. I had all the equipment side by side behind the couch and out of the way. At full size it was about 3.5m across from the distance I had it away from the wall. But obviously the closer to the wall it is the smaller the max screen size. It helps if you have a white wall to project onto, as the place we're in now is brick and I have to use the screen. This limited the size and therefore the position of the projector itself.

Still wouldn't swap it for a plasma or LCD!!!

There are definitely sweet spots for each camp depending on what price range / size you are looking at.  It changes from brand to brand too so its best to compare side by side in a store with the same input if you (or better a friends set up).  I recently bought a Panasonic Viera 32" LCD and am very happy with it.  The resulting picture from the Xbox and PC is very good also providing you are using the right connections and your video is coming from a decent source.  The only downside for with this particular screen is that only HD native programs look really good - I think Plasma's might make SD sources look a bit better.  A friend of mine has a white 32" Samsung LCD which is also very good. 

As for the LCD TV / monitor combo's I think they are cheaper as they are missing some of the image processing chips which help minimise traditional LCD problems (blur etc).  Their viewing angles also get warped very quickly.  The same friends also has a 26" Acer which only looks ok when you are sitting directly in line of it - also the specs say 5ms (colour) refresh time but I find that very hard to believe.

As for your budget another friend of mine gave some good advice to come up with a place to start - think of  your total viewing per week and then make an allowance you would be willing to pay for your average viewing per week and then how much on top of on average per week you would be willing to use it for some premium content (sport with mates, movies etc).  Multiply the total by 78 (representing 18 months).

Personally I prefer Plasma to LCD for watching movies, TV and Gaming. The picture quality is far superior. I certanly prefer mine to any LCD i've seen. Oh and I've had mine for 2 years and there is no picture fade or burn-in.

However - if you are wanting to use it as a computer monitor I would say go with LCD. Documents and things with small text look better on LCD.

My personal recommendation would be to go for a brand such as NEC (One of the first companies to make Plasma's and the industry standard for most commercial applications), Toshiba, Hitachi or Sharp. These brands are often overlooked as they don't spend as much on marketing as some of the other brands but have a nicer picture quality and are quality built.

Brands such as Sony, Pioneer and Panasonic spend millions on marketing, are reasonably built and have OK picture quality but you will be paying extra for the brand name! Also, I would stay away from LG - from what i've heard they don't last all that long and I don't think they have a very nice picture anyway.

Best thing to do is to look at them and pick the one that you think has the nicest picture for your price range.

Anyway... that's my  from someone who has both an LCD and a Plasma.

Oh and I wouldn't bother with a projector for your day to day viewing. It's not all that convenient unless you want to sit in a darkened room all the time and replace the lamp every couple of months.

Mitsubishi also have good, cheap plasmas that are not heavily marketed

I heard there were only 3 or so LCD Panel makers in the world... the rest of the product is marketing and casings..

I think there are different grade panels too.. which have to do with pixel quality... as in how many always on or off per inch that is acceptable....

One problem with Plasma TVs is "burn".

If we play games at work for more than a few hours, the UI (health bars, maps, etc) will get burnt into the screen

It goes away eventually, but it's kind of annoying.

Sal and I are also at the same cross-road. The only impression I get is you just have to grab whatever you find the best deal for. I prefer the LCDs, but plasma seems much more financially viable for the size. I can't believe just how nice a TV you can get nowadays for the price, gotta love technology!

samsung lcd all the way, under 2gs will get u something dope now. sony lcd are dope too.

after hunting with my parents for their new tv, they went for the samsung lcd mainly because they don't have such bad reflection issues..  and that was very important considering the only place they could put it was in front of a window!!

my sister has the same one and neither of them have had any problems whatsoever!

I've heard the same. That's why you get those AWA/Palsonic/El Cheapo brand name LCD's at rock bottom prices (close to 1K) because they are using the crappest panels. Apparently most Samsungs use the best quality panels so they are among the best quality TV's. It does vary though, in that one brand may use cheap panels often but every so often a batch comes in where they use the better quality panels because they got a cheap deal on them or something. So it pays to find out what the manufacture date is of these ones in order to pay the least for better quality. The AWA had some great panels in them a couple of years ago at Big W for around 1K, a mate bought two!

I find this website is fantastic for getting the lowdown on TV's as well as people pointing out said bargains around the place...

http://www.dtvforum.info/

sick cheers for the info. Been puttin away a bit each pay towards the new tele.. after sussin stuff out for a while i reckon im gonna go a samsung 40" 720p lcd.

ive seen they goin on about new 100hz plasma/lcd screens.

ive got a 100hz (processor) screen on my loewe (normal tube tele) the pic is so much clearer and the colour looks fat.

normal teles are 50hz

ive got plasma 42".... but i really wanted lcd.
heres the easy breakdown......small go lcd, big go plasma
hope this helps

in the latest jb catalogue,

HD 1080p 42" Samsung LCD: $2299

looks like we have a winner!

now to procure funds...

Dude if you needed cables you should of asked, you should know by now that i can hook you up with all that vision and data distribution shiz!

The damn thing blew last week, now to find $350 for a new lamp
At least Tims got one as well (when he gets it out of hock that is).

I am about to buy a 37" Viewsonic 'HiDef' LCD TV (the Viewsonic N3740WB)
               
                Resolution               1366 x 768
                Display Area       819.6mm(H) X 460.8mm(V)
      Brightness        500 nits
      Contrast Ratio           1200:1
      Viewing Angle           176° horizontal, 176° vertical
      Response Time          8ms
      Aspect Ratio       Wide Screen, 16:9
      Glass Surface       Anti-glare

for $1000

But I found out that it is only 50 Hertz
The response time is 8ms

Is 50 Hertz / 8ms any good?
will high speed motion look shit?

Should I pay an extra $600 to get a Panasonic equivalent that is 100 Hertz?
Will that make much difference anyway?

Dude,
The base refresh rate that we use here at work (i work for a company that sells video switchers, scalers, scan convertors for extremely high end systems, DSTO and the like)
60 Hz is bare minimum for a refresh rate when using a data feed. For Video it might be ok.
Not sure if this helps. Hope it does.

I don’t know much about the finer details but all I know is I love my new LCD hehe its so purdy

I don’t know much about the finer details but all I know is I love my new LCD hehe its so purdy :biggrin:

I think 50hz is what the stand PAL (Aussie) TV runs at and the NTSC (everyone else) runs at 65hz.

Or something along those lines. Obviously 100hz would be better for console gaming and the like, but the diff with TV wouldn't be noticable.

sweet!

that is what I was hoping to hear

my xbox makes my tv run at 60hz and hence looks like arse.. not cool!

Plasma & LCD is just a fad!

 

100hz looks way cleaner and briter/ colour is doper!  the footy looks sick

esp with this digital tv they releasing now, might aswell get the 100hz

crap!

maybe I should wait for Laser TV or Organic CRT TV technology

the laser thing looks very interesting, they reckon it should cost about the same as tvs do now.

The manufacturing of this newer technology is going to be cheaper but when it comes out, provided that only a couple manufacturers have the technology, the consumers price will not be cheaper.

From what I've read amongst other confusions, one of the reasons there is a lot of bad press about LCD tv's is that they are easier for companies to pump out creating more competition hence driving profits down.  So the bigger companies (like Panasonic) push plasma.

 

my old man bought a 42" panasonic plasma around 2 months ago for $2200. the same one is selling now for around $1400, he is spewing!

I'm in the same boat. Bought it for $1600 about a month/month and a half ago and it was a steal then. $1400 is crazy - BUY, BUY, BUY!!

ive got a projector for sale
and a 62" wise screen rear projection tele
both in fantastic nic, just dont have a use for them anymore

http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000344uh7.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ramxf6.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=n6782134482319038739jr1.jpg

projector is an epson emp-74 with 120hrs on the globe 1280x1024 2000lumen $500

tv 62" 100hz ld widescreen 2.5 years old hardly used ( been in storage for 18 months) $750

gskill pc 6400 4-4-3-5 ddr 2 ram 2 months old ( since upgraded ) $80

all work perfectly im just not puttin them to good use any more, lcds and plasmas are cool but nothing beats massive screen

the pc looks excellent through the projector, fuckn shit through the tv
got a couple of 17" inch lcds layin around as well if anyone wants a cheapy

lol while im at it
http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p5150016ir3.jpg

01 zx6r ninja with new helmet and gloves and jacket
30k just serviced. absolute weapon
6k ish

I don't know a great deal about new TVs, but I do know enough to wonder how the companies can market a tv as "HiDef" when the real "HD" resolution is 1920x1080. Anything lower is a type of reduced "HD" in my opinion... If a TV has a resolution lower than that but the signal is of a higher quality then it can't display it the way it's intended, ie. it scales or manipulates the image to "fit" it onto the TV.

well after months of saving i finally went and ordered my new lcd.

ended up with a sony, as the samsung i was after is sold out everywhere for the next few weeks. Should pick it up friday hopefully

40" full hd LCD and a free ps3 via redemption that i'm gonna sell to recoup my bank account. Anyone in need of a new ps3?

new samsung led backlit screens, omg

funky j keeps mentioning he is

way to bring up an old thread!

tim brought up the old thread.

i just didn't bother checking the post before that. carry on.

Yo.

In the market for a new TV. A 32" would fit nicely but perhaps it's a bit small. Just saw one at grandmas place though and it's not too bad, it probably just looks small compared to the others at the shop. About $1000 for a 1024 x 768 LCD.

A 42" plasma is about $1500 for a 1024 x 768.

Would the resolution be a problem for the larger tv?

Does anyone know where to go to get the best price?

Should I just get a small one and upgrade later? I don't actually watch heaps of high quality stuff so that might make a difference.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

yeah, do that, then you can give the smaller one to me!   

Sure about the resolution Leezee? Usually the resolution on the mid range stuff is 1366 x 768 and the high end stuff it's native HD which is 1920 x 1080.

Ok yeah the lcd is 1366 x 768 and the plasma is 1024 x 768.

What does that mean?

Is it time yet to add LED and OLED to the list?

Are these both just a wanky idea or will it be the future of TV's?

It's the number of pixels on the screen (higher the number, more detail on the screen).

I'd avoid the 1024 wide ones. The aspect ratio is completely wrong for any movies or TV since everything is in a widescreen format these days. 1024 divided by 768 is 1.3333 where 1366 divided by 768 is 1.78.

I don't know where the 1366 x 768 number comes from but ideally the aspect ratio of all TVs would be exactly 16:9, but only the highest end LCD screens (1920 x 1080) run at this resolution. 1366 x 768 is much closer to "native" high definition resolution than the others and is perfectly fine for any TVs under about 40" in size in my opinion.

At the end of the day it really depends on where you're going to have the screen relative to where you'll be sitting. If you're sitting 2 metres away then a 32" screen is OK but if you're sitting 5 metres away a 52" would be nicer. Of course a larger display also proves that you have a larger penis. This is an important factor when making purchases like this.

Noddy: are the LED TVs? If so that'd be great. They use less power and are brighter.

I bought a 37" Full HD 100Hz Sharp LCD off of Catch Of The Day.com a few months ago for $1300. I was in the market for something a little bigger, but at that price I couldn't pass it up. However, I just went and bought a Panasonic 42" 600 Hz Full HD Plasma as the 37" ended up being the perfect TV for my mother, so she has now paid me what I paid for it. I'd probably say that the Plasma has the slightly better picture. The colours are more natural than the LCD was and it's better for watching sport. Other than that you couldn't really split the difference. Surprisingly the biggest difference I found was in watching normal divx/xvid tv episodes through the PS3. They seemed to look much better on the plasma for some reason.

If you do decide to go all out on a 42" instead, the Panasonic is currently selling with a free Nintendo Wii via redemption ($25 shipping fee).

I bought mine at Harvey Norman as they currently have a deal going where you get $175 worth of HN gift cards with the tv. I also managed to talk the guy down on a 4 year extension of the 12 month warranty from $400 to $250 because I paid cash. To put the warranty into perspective, Panasonic offer to extend your warranty for a year for $450, or extend it out to a 4 year warranty for $750. The warranty Harvey Norman offered was exactly the same as Panasonic's too. Inclusive of call out fee, parts and labour.

BTW, whatever you buy, don't let these guys talk you into buying a HDMI cord from them. No matter which store you go to in Adelaide they are a huge rip off. Can be picked up on eBay for next to nothing.

The new Samsungs are being marketed as LED's. Don't know much about the technical details but looking at them the other day the picture quality was definitely better than the LCD and plasmas.

  That's not such a bad idea actually (apart from the "give" part), don't really need a huge TV atm...




Ok Oli apparently they have rectangular pixels!

So my choice is the smaller lcd with more pixels or a larger plasma with less pixels (or outspend my budget)...

The furthest couch is 3m away, but the room is really long and I watch tv while cooking/eating dinner too (you've been to my house if you remember back that far Oli).

Thoughts?



Ok just read your post headache, interesting.

The full hd ones just seem to be a bit out of my price range at the moment, although that one on catch would have been perfect. Fuck that is cheap!

i gave you my heater!  and i'll give you my hdmi cord.  i have no use for it!!   

If you don't need a new one right away, it may even be worth keeping the money available (if you can) and see if one pops up on there. They do from time to time and they're always incredibly cheap. Mine was even a Japanese made model, which generally adds a good $500 to the price.

I'd also like to inform everybody that I'm upgrading from a 20" CRT of the "diamond" brand, so the new tv will have to be pretty good to beat that.

 


Yeah maybe, kinda need a new tv soon though because I have to give mine back, and although I'm away for a month soon I can't really sit on the internet checking catch from where I'm going.. Perhaps I'll wait till I return though.


HDMI cords are worth a fortune! Just ask Harvey Norman!

MSY has them for what they're really worth I think.

Yep: $10 for 5 metres and 19$ for 10 metres...

Pay anymore and you're getting shafted.

i posted a pic of the samsung led tv's down the page. basically they are backlit using leds instead of whatever they use atm which allows them to be thinner and use less power.

also on the topic of hdmi cables there was a study released that found no difference in image quality between the cheap and expensive hdmi cables. the cheaper ones just might fuck up sooner, i dunno for sure though...

what ever you get, turn em off at the power. They use the same power whether they are running or on stand by

LED is overpriced crap in my opinion.

Advantages:
Thinner (not really a long lasting advantage)
Less Power
Blacks are actually Black

Against the massive price tag it isn't that much better. Will probably be worth looking at 3 or 4 years down the track.

pretty much the same price as plasma and LCD with slight better image quality

Plasma and LCD dont last that long actually.
I have an oldschool tube TV that dates back 15 years, we have also have had 2 of the top of the range Pioneer plasma's all of which have died within about 3 years of purchase.


IMO new technology fails hard.



;I did hear the other day that there has been a new type of TV that has just hit the market, the image quality is next to perfect, and you can stand real close and not see pixelation.... Ill have to suss that one out though

DLP

google it and do your homework

Projector?

LED is great for computer screens. I held off a bit when I bought my Macbook Pro because I wanted the new (at the time) LED display version. Side by side with the model before the improvement is obvious. I can't see why you'd get any non LED display now, from what I can tell they aren't adding a premium onto the price of TVs because they have LED displays.

What about laser TV being pushed by Mitsubishi, I thought that was due to hit out shores this year.
Was tipped to be the next big thing and from reports was going to turn the market on its head due to affordability (although initial prices were high).
And running costs kill all other TV types.

They most certainly are. A Samsung 40" Full HD 100Hz LCD is about $1000 cheaper than a Samsung 40" Full HD 100Hz LED tv.

Oh, OK. That sucks.

When the LED Macbook Pros came out the prices didn't jump up dramatically at all. Lucky me.

LED's use less power, have greater flexibility with light conditions in your "home cinema room", last longer, the cost is negligible, ( and the other stuff that has been pointed out in this thread). Drop a plasma or dent it's monitor face in any way and it's all over. LCD tv's have the same fragility problem too...The extra money you spend on LED tv's  (and maybe wait until the end of the year when the prices are more comparable ), you'll find you'll make that money back in the amount of electricity you'll save running it in the first place. Wait three of four years as been suggested, ( but i can;t wait I want everything NOWWWWWWW !! ) another style will be available by then...Digital Light Processing, pioneered by Texas Instruments will be around very soon, it's already in use... Or a projector that has decent priced, replaceable and readily available bulbs with a good hour life and lumens and a good aspect ratio with keystone correction etc... you can move it around the house,... ahh decision decisions....

Pondering your suggestion Benny I ran some calcs.  Data was all taken from the Samsung website. 



As you can see it would take a lot of watching to recover the extra cost of an LED (or LCD) TV compared to plasma.   OK, I may be a little bored...

ps I still brought an LCD anyway, i like my appliances efficient. 

My parents recently got a plasma, but they don't watch a huge amount of tv so the electricity doesn't matter too much. Plus an LCD of the equivalent size is the price of about two plasmas. As nice as it would have been to have an LCD wasn't really in their price range I don't think.

Having had both and now having had the plasma long enough to test it out (blu ray, dvd, games etc...), I would definitely rate the plasma higher than the lcd in terms of picture quality. The colours are much more warm and natural.

Of course the colours are "warm"...   plasmas emit up to 200W of waste heat , depending on the monitor's size.
And roost, thanks for that, but consider carbon trading, or a carbon tax, the cost of electricity at 25c or higher per kW... And the fact that I did read that someone's plasma carked it after three years, in this thread. My Dad's CRT TV died last year, we had it for at least 25 years, possibly longer as it was an old "dial-channel" TV, with no remote. So if a LED TV can get to 10 years, which ain't impossible, as LCD's can last around that time, or longer. I'd still say, over 15-20 years, LED TV's might slide just past the mark when it comes to ticking all the boxes...
What you think ?

OK so that will reduce it to 3.25 years of continuous use (@30cents, which is unlikely in the next few years may I add).  Cant argue with the numbers Benny, Plasmas are economically the way to go (ignoring run life, which we probably dont realistically know yet). 

One persons plasma TV died after 3 years therefore all other plasma TV's will do the same. Nice reasoning.

All my computer LCD's have died within 3 years.

Quite, But add the humidity of the room in which plasmas are. Smoke, adverse affects to temperature (as tests like the one roost quoted from are in a controlled/sterile lab environment, much like solar panels and their whacky claims). The voltage of the country that makes the plasma's. Then having to use dodgy components (inferior, not good enough to cope with AC spikes) to make it safe for 240V use in Australia. (unless, YOU know of any that are made here ). Structural or component damage that DOES occur during the logistical process... should i go on? ( please, god no !!  ) Or does your capacity to use your own intuition on this only work before 5pm... ? Read between the lines

 

Indeed.

Save money by not running a heater.

Also you're getting shafted paying 25 cent a kW.


How many LCD's has that been?

I've had one LCD die on me.

My 30" LCD emits a fair bit of heat. It's worth it though. 

Ok so I just got the full HD 42" Viera + Wii.

Yay. Spent a bit more than I wanted but got a Wii and a big, new, full HD TV so don't really mind.

Hahaha, you wont regret it!

I'll be round Thursday then 

Except the part where he purchased a Wii...

They come free with Panasonic Viera's atm.

Ah ok.

Still.. Trade it in for a PS3 IMO

Yeah I wouldn't pay for a Wii but it could be mildly amusing, good idea on the trade in thingy, where, how?

Will strongly consider setting up the PC in the lounge too, could offer a bit more of a gaming experience.......