Out dated Technology?

[vandec54]

In your opinion....

1. Is Plasma an out dated technology?

2. If I'm going to buy a 42 or a 46 inch TV, which one is better and why?

I am partial to plasmas, but need some ammo to either defeat my thinking or support it. Thank you

[JohnA]

No. Great blacks, smooth motion, newer versions give off less heat.

[michael hurd]

I own a plasma and spent a lot of time actually watching LCD and Plasma side by side.... if you have a decent 240 hz LCD and a high def signal, they look good. On standard definition, any LCD is painful for me to watch... it's like someone slowly turning picture pages.

I would opt for a 50" over a 42, you have much more viewing area for not a lot more money.

[Jakeg123]

In your opinion....

1. Is Plasma an out dated technology?

2. If I'm going to buy a 42 or a 46 inch TV, which one is better and why?

I am partial to plasmas, but need some ammo to either defeat my thinking or support it. Thank you

Everyone says plasmas are the older technology and that they are "going out" but the newer one's do not use as much electricity and they don't get as hot. To me, a lcd's picture could never compare to a plasma.

[99PanozAIV]

See if there is a new LED [sic] display in the size you're after

[Cal Blacksmith]

I must say that I spent quite a long time standing in front of a LED 50 something inch screen in the store a few weeks ago. It had a stunning picture, better than any Plasma I have ever seen with twice the contrast of the best Plasma I had ever seen and the price was only about $1700 while using a LOT less power, generating a LOT less heat.

I know there are lots here who love their plasma sets but the new LED backed sets are the first ones that I would consider buying to replace a still working just fine 50" RPJ set that I have in my TV room. If you know how skimpy I am with my money when it comes to replacing a perfectly fine, working great item with a "more modern, latest and greatest" unit, that says a lot.

[Youthman]

the price was only about $1700 while using a LOT less power

Well, if you are "skimpy" with your money, it would take many years of saving money on electricity to pay for the price of the LED. []

[Cal Blacksmith]

Indeed it would, but the sets are so nice that it would ALMOST be reasonable to "upgrade"[]

[Chris A]

1. Is Plasma an out dated technology?

I'd go with what your eyes tell you, then make your choice on price. I assume that you aren't going to resell your flat screen TV within the next year or two, so resale value really doesn't mean much. Plasma TVs are not going to become "obsolete" (...unless you live in California...) but they may, on average, have a shorter operational life than typical LCDs.

2. If I'm going to buy a 42 or a 46 inch TV, which one is better and why?

Ditto. If you drive a gas hog, then I'd guess that you'd not worry about energy usage. If, however, you drive a Prius, the story may be different...

Chris

[Rich_Guy]

Plasma is by far the better picture with a much more realistic life like picture. Get a good plasma and you will love it and definitely no longer want an LCD. Sometimes in a store LCD appear brighter and to some this at first seems better mostly because of the overly bright store lighting. While LCD is brighter it is a very false picture and not very natural at all, it is some what cartoonish actually and in fact it does excellent in producing cartoon and animated pictures but for movies where you want the picture to be as realistic as possible plasma is by far superior when set up properly.

Also the picture is seldom set up properly in the store or right out of the box, the picture is usally set to an overly bright mode which is intended to look bright in store lighting and this is definitely not the best settings for a beautiful natural picture.

Plasma is not an outdated technology it is the display of choice of those who demand the best picture quality available today, while LCD is being pushed onto the masses. I guess you could say LCD is like the Bose of HDTV, many consumers are being told it is the best so they believe it.

You should look into either a Panasonic or Pioneer Plasma display (Pioneer is no longer making TV's). Personally I would highly recommend the Panasonic Professional model line of plasma displays as these are excellent. I own a 50 inch Panasonic Professional model TH-50PH9UK, it's nearly three years old it's still like new and still has over 2 years on the original 5 year warranty I received from Panasonic the picture quality is still among the best I have seen and I could not be any happier.The 5 year warranty I received was a promo offer by Panasonic at that time, these displays normally have a 2 year warranty.

[Rich_Guy]

but they may, on average, have a shorter operational life than typical LCDs.

Absolutely not! I would say plasma displays being made today probably have the longest operational life expectancy of any TV and a longer life than LCD.

[Chris A]

[...Must've hit a nerve...]

[Rich_Guy]

[...Must've hit a nerve...]

Not at all, just don't like these sort of false rumors to spread. A plasma display should have a longer operational lifetime than an LCD. Plasma displays are capable of an exceptionally long operational lifetime.

[Chris A]

Rich_Guy:

Lets try this: http://www.flatpaneltv.org/article/flat-panel-tv-shopping-and-tips/the-lifespan-of-plasma-lcd-and-other-flat-panel-tvs.html

Not that I doubt that you might be correct...but I'd like to see something in addition to "...true because I said it...", such as a link...

Cheers,

Chris

[Rich_Guy]

Current plasma displays have an estimated 100,000 hours half life. LCDs have backlights which cannot last nearly this long. Some LCD backlights can be replaced while others cannot, however when the backlight on an LCD burns out you may as well replace your display.

With 100,000 hours of half life plasma displays offer the potential to last longer than any other TV which has been in production. Of course other problems could shorten the life to less than the expected panel half life such as a bad power supply these problems also affect any form of TV.

[skonopa]

No, I don't think Plasma is obsolete at all.

Just the week leading up to Thanksgiving and that Friday after Thanksgiving, helped a co-worker and friend to shop out and install a brand-new Panasonic 50-inch Viera plasma display (as well as a new Panasonic Blu-Ray player and a new Yamaha reciever - he did end up reusing his old Bose Acoustimass 6 set (ugh). However, I don't blame him, as it was a perfectly good set that they had for a number of years, which they did not pay that much for, compared how much simliar Bose setups typically goes for these days. Not only that, it actually sounded pretty good in his particular room once we got it properly rigged up, although it does not even compare to my Klipsch rig. But I digress....).

Anyway, once we got it setup (as well as adjusted down to "normal" levels, not in "torch mode"), everybody in his family was quite blown away at just how awesome that picture looked. The only Blu-Ray disk we had on hand was that sampler disk that I brought up that came with my PS/3. Thus, we checked out some of the movie trailer on there. The Harry Potter one was really awesome on there! We then tried a couple of "regular" DVDs in the Blu-Ray player, and they really did look impressive. At least to us, they really looked good, and seems that Panasonic unit does a very good job in upconverting DVDs. After seeing this, his daughter now really wanted to watch The Polar Express on there.

That being said, I did get a chance to check out and evaluate one of these new LED sets. I was really quite impressed with how good those looked. However, I don't plan to replace my perfectly good 55-inch Mitsubishi Diamond Series CRT RPJ anytime soon (although only 1080i, the thing does still have an excellent picture).

Also, this whole issue of longevity is getting overblown these days. I've read that linked article that I saw, but it is a good three years old and the technology has improved quite a bit since then. Really, how much TV does one really watch these days anyway? With the current technology, most of these sets now-a-days should last a good 30 years with normal usage (assuming the set is not abused or subjected to bad power, as was already alluded to).

I typically tell people to check out several sets and pick the one they find the most pleasent to view and that they can afford. Once properly setup and adjusted, it should provide many years of viewing pleasure.

Shopping out for a TV sure has gotten complicated over the past few years. In the past, at least for me, it used to be just simply "What is the largest Zenith that we could afford?" when it came to shopping for a TV.

And speaking of Zenith (and this is getting somewhat off topic), I wonder how many people still got one of those old console TVs, on which they went and got one of these fancy new flat-panel TVs setup on top of?

[Oblio]

And speaking of Zenith (and this is getting somewhat off topic), I wonder how many people still got one of those old console TVs, on which they went and got one of these fancy new flat-panel TVs setup on top of?

My parents still have one (Zenith), pretty good picture, I'm guessing it is about 30 years old. Can't get them to replace it, it is a bit of a family 'heirloom'.

[Chris A]

Current plasma displays have an estimated 100,000 hours half life. LCDs have backlights which cannot last nearly this long.

So this is a better article? http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/plasma-vs-lcd.html

[skonopa]

My parents still have one (Zenith), pretty good picture, I'm guessing it is about 30 years old. Can't get them to replace it, it is a bit of a family 'heirloom'.

I still got a perfectly good 20-inch Zenith down in the basement. I went and got one of those government hand-out DTV tuner boxes for it (as I still get the local channels from the huge roof antenna that I still have), and the picture on that old set really does look quite good.

I guess your parents don't really watch or care for HDTV or the like (if they are still using it, I assume they also got one of those DTV tuners for it). Figure if they are happy with it, why "fix" something that isn't broken.

BTW, check this out! Apparently, Zenith was still making console TVs right up until just fairly recently, as evidenced by this that I found on Amazon!