The Death Of Plasma TV/Buying Advice

[yeahhh]

Wow. As someone previously mentioned I continue to be blown away about the mis-information regarding plasmas. I work in the industry and actually distribute both LCD & Plasma TV's to all of the major retail chains. Not all chains are direct with the mfg's by the way.

I own both technologies..each has its purpose. As a main viewing TV for sports, movies and even regular TV...plasma is the way to go. One real advantage of the LCD is they are less reflective...so if your room has LOTS of direct sunlight an LCD might be the better case. My suggestion, get some blinds!

1) Plasmas are far superior in regards to image quality & motion.
2) LCD's have poor response times. Have you ever seen a plasma TV advertise the response rate? No, thats because its like .003ms. The best LCD's are 4ms! Also, LCD's talk about 60, 120 and now even 240htz. Do you know what plasmas are? 460htz!
3) Burn in?? Please. It is not impossible, but highly unlikely. You would have to leave the TV on with a static image for like 48hrs+ straight. I play video games on my 50" plasma all the time. No problems.
4) Cost. Not sure where anyone got the idea that LCD's are cheaper. Inch for inch a plasma is generally always less expensive than LCD. Compare any 50" plasma from Panasonic, Samsung or Pioneer with an equivalent size LCD and 9 out of 10 times the plasma will be less money.
5) Heat. Yes plasma runs a touch warm. But nowhere as warm as I have heard advertised. I can stand next to mine and dont really notice any "heat" coming off of it. Is it warm yes...but compared to my Yamaha amp..now that puts out some heat.
6) Energy. Yes plasmas draw more power. However, each new generation of plasma has dramatically decreased the power consumption. In fact the next generation of Panasonic plasmas draw as much power as current model LCD's from Sharp. Also, for you eco freaks out there. Plasma TV's from Panasonic (not sure about the others off the top of my head) contain ZERO lead or mercury. LCD's can not claim that.

Man, I must sound like a plasma homer. I'm really not, I just get going when I hear the trash about plasma. Again, I do own a couple of LCD's, they are just not my main viewing TV's.

For those that remember the Beta vs. VHS days. Remember which was the better technology?? Beta was. Which format won? VHS. The superior technology does not always win the battle.

Lastly, as a previous poster mentioned. 720p is AWESOME when connected properly and viewing HD content..even blu-ray. If you are sitting 8 to 10 feet away you will never be able to tell the difference between 720p or 1080p. I see them all the time side by side. It is extremely difficult to tell the difference even close up. When you get back to a normal viewing distance it is next to impossible. Also, have you ever considered what is available in 1080p? The only programing available in 1080p is blu ray DVD. The current cable or even satellite providers do not have enough bandwidth to broadcast 1080p. If you're going larger than 50" I might consider 1080p more...but again...You can only take advantage of that with blu ray DVD's. 720p content displayed on a 1080p panel is exactly the same as 720p content displayed on a 720p panel.

 

[chris7777]

I am by no means an expert, as I am still debating on a set myself, but my parents had an issue with a vertical line on their 32" LG LCD, they bought last jan. Well they took it under warranty in Dec, and upgraded for less to a 42" plasma also LG . And If I cant find a better deal for $600 myself I may get one.

I went with them to keep them from getting took, at brandsmart. and I don't know what the deal was, but they had the unit they bought, a 720 plasma, next to a 40" 1080i pioneer lcd, both connected to a blueray of iron man. and the title screen looked sharper than the pioneer. I even tried to adjust the settings and unless there was something else going on, the plasma kicked its tail.

I didn't intend to influence them like that, but my questions to the sales rep got them hooked.

The more I see it the more I like it myself, but I am so cheap, I am trying to wait it out a bit more, but if they are being phased out, I would definitely buy on clearance, myself. Right now it is my gold standard on price and performance, If I cant find a better deal, when I get ready to buy, I'll just get one myself., but this is opinion. I still do not like the lack of a hard standard for resolution, especially given the "mandate" that has already been pushed back. I also put fourth that both their set, and the set they gave my daughter (19" sharp) both had failures in less than a year, so I am still gunshy about buying, at least w/o a warantee of some sort.

 

[danimals]

agree w/ the comments regarding 720p. unless you're sitting close to a big tv, you're not going to be able to tell the difference - of course, in your heart of hearts you'll always know. but if you're planning on using the tv as a computer monitor than i think the extra-res of 1080p (1920x1080) could be useful. and if you're planning on watching 1080p content (bluray or otherwise) up close, than 1080p would make sense. there are seating charts around the intertubes that help determine if you'll be able to tell the difference btwn 720 and 1080p based on screen size and viewing distance.

regarding the future price of current pioneers - i don't think they'll be moving much. given your budget, i think you should limit your selection to panasonics, particularly the current pz/px/80U/85U models, or the upcoming S1 and X1 lines (the latter of which looks to have just hit the shelves).

 

[phrehdd]

So i saw this link to an article on yahoo about how plasma is (almost) dead. Whats the deal? I have been looking for a new HDTV. Would this new "downfall" of plasma present an opertune time for me to get one?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
thanks

There are several good posts here and I can only throw peanuts in this gallery...

I have a 720p LCD 37" , 1080p Plasma 50" and various computer monitors including a Wacom Cinteq for my work.

Being rather sensitive to images, I can tell you that it really depends on what you are watching. Candidly, the size as well matters.

If you want to watch mostly hi def movies (Blu Ray and the late HD DVD) then Plasma hands down will give you truly the best image you can get. If you are watching just television with the squashed mutilated HD, then a good LCD should suffice. As for size - plasma owners will tell you <GRIN> that "bigger is better" and there is some truth to that if* you are watching something from a quality source as mentioned above.

Things to consider

Upscaling - if you watch DVD's you may have a choice between your DVD player upscaling (if you have one that does it) and possibly the TV itself. Some LCDs do a fair job and so do not. Nearly all Plasmas tend to do an excellent job from Samsung, Pioneer and Panasonic.

Blu Ray - Assuming you get a plasma I would suggest a Panasonic even though I own a Pioneer Kuro (not the Elite model). Seems that from time to time Pioneers have a "hum" and that is discussed in multiple sites related to AV equipment. My screen has this hum and its something I find unforgivable though the image is outstanding. If you opt for an LCD, it gets tricky as you will give up some of delicate values found in plasma screens but, at times it does look a bit sharper (depending on the particular blu ray).

Size - if you are buying a screen under 40" you pretty much are going to have to get an LCD. The choices of LCD's are staggering. I don't find Sony's top of the line LCDs to be worth the asking price. Samsung's line and pricing seems a bit more in order if you go with their 550 or 650 models. The 4000 series Sony is an excellent screen and while not their top model...its fair priced.

Probably the most overlooked item is power. It would be wise to make sure you provide reasonably clean power to either LCD or plasma. A typical power strip is not a good choice but then again you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars either. Fair units (skip Monster for being over priced like crazy) and check into some of the APS units, Furman, and others. Some folks swear they see the difference. I have yet to see a difference but then again, having gone thru a power outage with three false returns of powers (rapid on of on off on off)...I felt a bit more secure.

Bottom line for me - I watch more cable shows/Tivo on the 37" LCD and all of the DVD and Blu Ray on the 50" plasma.

Last mention - lots of great deals over the net. The real caveat is when you get an item that appears okay then either something happens or you notice a flaw days later. It is not an easy thing to deal with as opposed to a local store such as BB.

Enjoy.

- Phrehdd