Which Should I Get? Plasma or LCD?

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Panny or Pioneer if you decide plasma.

And screen size should be determined by how far you'll be sitting from the set.

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.c...alculator.html

[boutons_]

plasma and RP burn-in, LCD doesn't

[tlongII]

Plasma is less expensive currently I believe.

[Walter Craparita]

avsforum.com

[Jimcs50]

Get LCD!!!

I have both and LCD>>>>>Plasma, plus if you are going to hang it on wall, you want LCD even moreso, because it weighs about 1/3 what a plasma weighs as well.


Sanyo is the best LCD by far for the money.

[tlongII]

I saw a 46" Sony LCD that was the best I've seen so far. Of course the best price I saw for it was $3,400.00.

[thispego]

42" LG Plasma, dah, its baaaaaaaaad.


The only reason i would want an LCD is to reduce or eliminate the glare factor. Is this true or is that an uuuuuurban legend?

[mrsmaalox]

I got a beautiful 42" Panasonic plasma, love it! Burn in is non-existent. Most likely time for this to occur is within the first 100 hours of operations, but if it does happen just put on a white screen and it will fix the burn in.

To enhance picture quality, lower power consumption and extended the life of the TV (both plasma and LCD), get the TV calibrated by a professional after purchase.

If you look at Vizio (or if you have one), here are some things you should know:
(http://hdguru.com/?p=107)

Next up, Vizio HDTVs. Here is what appears on its website, with bold added by the HD Guru.

”Service Labor
During the one (1) year warranty period, VIZIO will provide, when needed, service labor to repair a manufacturing defect at its designated service center. To obtain warranty service in the United States, you must first contact VIZIO Technical Support via email at [email protected] or via phone at (949) 428-2525. The determination of service will be made by VIZIO. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR UNIT TO VIZIO WITHOUT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION.

Service
During the one (1) year warranty period, VIZIO will, at its option and sole discretion, repair or replace defective parts, which may be new or remanufactured, including replacement of the entire unit. The Customer will be required to ship the product to the service center indicated by VIZIO when the return authorization is provided. The Customer is responsible for all transportation charges to the service center. VIZIO is not responsible for the de-installation or re-installation of the product.

Packaging and Shipping Instruction
When shipping the product to an authorized VIZIO service facility, the original carton box and packing material, or an equivalent as designated by VIZIO, must be utilized.”

According to Vizio, all TVs 37” and larger must go by truck to California. Fed Ex Ground from NY to Vizio in Irvine, CA is $88.95 for its 42” LCD TV and $108.95 for its 50” plasma. You threw out the TVs packing carton? If you are in the warranty period, it’s no problem, Vizio will ship you a new cardboard box at no charge (according to its CS rep).

If the Vizio flat screen breaks after the one-year warranty expires is where it gets expensive. The prices are shocking.

For any Visio 42” LCD, the carton and packing material with shipping is $300. Its out of warranty service is at a “Flat Rate” of $300 parts + $140 labor. Outbound shipping (FED EX ground) to Vizio cost $89. For return freight, Vizio charges $250 bringing the total cost of an out of warranty repair cost a staggering $1079. The current cost of a new Visio 42” LCD at Circuit City is $1099. Think of it, twenty bucks more and you get a brand new disposable TV with a new one-year warranty. What a deal!

Just buy it from Costco; they will exchange it (not repair it) for as long as you are a member.

[Vinnie_Johnson]

Plasma do not last 10 yrs max. LCD for tons of reasons just better.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Less than 10 years? Sure, if you keep your TV on 20 hours a day.

Plus, the plasma does not explode. It simply loses brightness. I believe nowadays they can recharge plasmas as well. Research and decide which looks better to you, in your price range, in your living room, in your set-up. And then research again.

I have a Mitsu DLP and, IMO, it looks better than most of the newer sets out there. And that's through component, which looks better than HDMI on my set.

[missmyzte]

Just buy it from Costco; they will exchange it (not repair it) for as long as you are a member.

You're a little behind the game, that's not true anymore.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350641/

The new policy, which the company quietly noted on its Web site, will give customers only 90 days to return televisions, computers, cameras, camcorders, portable music players and cell phones.

[exstatic]

You're a little behind the game, that's not true anymore.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350641/

I think that's for flat out "returns" for refund. The exchange policy is limited now, though. Costco extends all TV and computer warranties to 2 years.

[leemajors]

Plasma do not last 10 yrs max. LCD for tons of reasons just better.

surely there would be something out there you would want/could afford in the next ten years. i'm sure most people keep their tvs for far less than that these days. i've had mine for 9 and have been itching for something new for a couple years.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I got a LCD because they are better for fast movements (Sports & Video Games). Plus Plasma has a timetable for life and has the burn-it factor. LCD is the way to go.

Actually plasmas are better for sports as they have an instantaneous refresh rate, compared with anything from 4 to 8 ms for LCDs.

The 'time table' for plasmas is that they (speaking of modern plasmas that you could buy new in stores) have a half life of 30,000 hours, at which time they will reach half their original brightness. Keep in mind no one runs their plasmas at 100% brightness anyway, and you can see they'd last a long time (I've got mine set at about 45 out of 100, and it's plenty bright enough).

To get to 30,000 hours you'd have to watch TV for eight hours a day, 365 days a year, for 10 years and 3 months.

By then, newer technologies will be out anyway.

At that time you could adjust your brightness to 100% and get another 10 years out of it.

LCDs have similar lifetimes for their bulbs, but the difference is where you make a menu brightness change on your plasma, you'd have to hope you could actually track down a replacement bulb for your LCD, and when you do you're looking at a couple hundred dollars.

Burn in isn't a problem on plasmas unless you leave a static display on for a long period of time. Alter your viewing, and you won't have a problem.

Oh, by the way:

<--------- owns a 42" Philips plasma, and a 32" Olevia LCD.

LCD is less 'care' required, but it's stupid to argue sports or whatever being better on LCD. It's not contest, the plasma is better and has richer colors.

[Vinnie_Johnson]

Less than 10 years? Sure, if you keep your TV on 20 hours a day.

Plus, the plasma does not explode. It simply loses brightness. I believe nowadays they can recharge plasmas as well. Research and decide which looks better to you, in your price range, in your living room, in your set-up. And then research again.

I have a Mitsu DLP and, IMO, it looks better than most of the newer sets out there. And that's through component, which looks better than HDMI on my set.

Lets just say that the place I work is on plasma number three in four years. Yes it is on 12 hours a day. They will be finally getting a large LCD next.

[Fabbs]

Geeks, thanks for all the input.
Should not also everyone be told:

1. Do not go by the picture you see in the stores. Many-most have not been calibrated and set up correctly. Thus the picture does not reflect the true quality > or < .

2. Which is better, 1080P or 1080i ?

3. Should any considering holding off for Blu-Ray or does that have nothing to do with tv's?

[missmyzte]

Geeks, thanks for all the input.
Should not also everyone be told:

1. Do not go by the picture you see in the stores. Many-most have not been calibrated and set up correctly. Thus the picture does not reflect the true quality > or < .

2. Which is better, 1080P or 1080i ?

3. Should any considering holding off for Blu-Ray or does that have nothing to do with tv's?

1. Do not go by picture quality in the store because they don't have a true HD signal, the quality will be higher at home. Plus, they are calibrated to be a very bright picture with high contrast, which attracts the attention of the customer but isn't necessarily what you want at home.

2. 1080p

3. Don't delay your TV purchase for the Blu-Ray/HDDVD war, but do buy an up-convert DVD player so you can really enjoy your high picture quality.

Don't forget to buy the HDMI cables.

[Twisted_Dawg]

Some stores have a true HD signal. Recently, Circuit City had some HD TV's on one side of the store which had ty pictures which the manager said was due to problems with their HD signal. BUT, on the other side of the store, on a different loop, they had perfect HD signal and beautiful pictures.

BEWARE of this.....Circuit City has this other piece of hardware which "cleans up" the electricity and makes the picture better. Their better sets are plugged into this. This hardware cost $300.00. Even after they showed me the demo, I thought it was bull about "dirty electricity" until an electrical engineer told me about it wasn't.

[Twisted_Dawg]

Actually plasmas are better for sports as they have an instantaneous refresh rate, compared with anything from 4 to 8 ms for LCDs.

The 'time table' for plasmas is that they (speaking of modern plasmas that you could buy new in stores) have a half life of 30,000 hours, at which time they will reach half their original brightness. Keep in mind no one runs their plasmas at 100% brightness anyway, and you can see they'd last a long time (I've got mine set at about 45 out of 100, and it's plenty bright enough).

To get to 30,000 hours you'd have to watch TV for eight hours a day, 365 days a year, for 10 years and 3 months.

By then, newer technologies will be out anyway.

At that time you could adjust your brightness to 100% and get another 10 years out of it.

LCDs have similar lifetimes for their bulbs, but the difference is where you make a menu brightness change on your plasma, you'd have to hope you could actually track down a replacement bulb for your LCD, and when you do you're looking at a couple hundred dollars.

Burn in isn't a problem on plasmas unless you leave a static display on for a long period of time. Alter your viewing, and you won't have a problem.

Oh, by the way:

<--------- owns a 42" Philips plasma, and a 32" Olevia LCD.

LCD is less 'care' required, but it's stupid to argue sports or whatever being better on LCD. It's not contest, the plasma is better and has richer colors.

Thank you for the best thread on this topic. Especially regarding plasmas being better for sports. That is why I bought mine...to enjoy football this fall.

[Twisted_Dawg]

1. Do not go by picture quality in the store because they don't have a true HD signal, the quality will be higher at home. Plus, they are calibrated to be a very bright picture with high contrast, which attracts the attention of the customer but isn't necessarily what you want at home.

2. 1080p

3. Don't delay your TV purchase for the Blu-Ray/HDDVD war, but do buy an up-convert DVD player so you can really enjoy your high picture quality.

Don't forget to buy the HDMI cables.

Currently 1080P is $1000 more than a 1080i set. And if you currently have a 1080P, they only way you will get 1080P performance if you have a Sony Blue Ray, or run an X Box.

No networks broadcast in 1080P yet...supposedly 2 years away. Two years is like 10 years in the technology world.

Time Warner gives out the HDMI cables now.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Just don't do something stupid and leave your plasma on CNN with their little ticker for a day straight, and you should be ok.

* If you have to buy HDMI cables, get them from monoprice.com. $4.99 for a 6' cable that is just as good as Worst Buy's $100 monster cable.

* 1080p is the top of the line, but no one broadcasts in it and it's not worth the cost. 1080i is fine.

The dirty electricity thing is kind of lame. You shouldn't have a flat panel plugged into a wall outlet anyway. Buy a good battery backup/surge protector and plug it in between the wall and your unit. You don't need the $300 electricity cleaner , that's all hype.

Circuit's tvs often look like because they are running the signal through a 36 port splitter. If the amplifier on that doesn't have enough gain to offset the loss from splitting the signal, you get the crap picture on a whole section of their displays.

[BigBeezie]

I have a 42" Samsung plasma in my living room. The speakers mount on the sides of the TV, so it looks larger than 42". I really like the Samsung brand and I haven't had any problems with my TV over the last 3 years. I would get a Samsung again if I had to choose...

[dimsah]

My 42" Philips ambilight just crapped the bed a couple of days ago. The picture started going black over 1/2 of the screen, but would eventually correct. Then, all of a sudden, the whole shebang turned in to these glowing red vertical lines across the whole picture. Sucks! It's just over 2 years old and I paid about 3k for it.

[blizz]

plasma sucks...lcd rules!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

My 42" Philips ambilight just crapped the bed a couple of days ago. The picture started going black over 1/2 of the screen, but would eventually correct. Then, all of a sudden, the whole shebang turned in to these glowing red vertical lines across the whole picture. Sucks! It's just over 2 years old and I paid about 3k for it.

Damn, that sucks. And that's my model too, maybe. I've got a pf9630a.