LED VS PLASMA

[rennoc442]

I love plasma TV's, but 50" looks tiny against my big wall @ 25 ft away. Upgrading to 73" DLP this weekend. I have pretty narrow viewing angles and decent light control - I'd rather go full on projector, but the wife is wary about those for every day use.

I plan on going full on projector as well. But this unit I buy now will be for everyday use, and keep the projector for movie use. BTW, I think a 73 DLP would be awesome!

[Utard]

I wasn't saying that was a bad thing. I thought it looked much better than other 120hz TV's. And yes I think the yellow pixels make the picture much better. Its been a year and I am still very happy with it.

[wuzzzer]

I love plasma TV's, but 50" looks tiny against my big wall @ 25 ft away. Upgrading to 73" DLP this weekend. I have pretty narrow viewing angles and decent light control - I'd rather go full on projector, but the wife is wary about those for every day use.

The picture quality of my Sharp is many, many times better than the Mitsubishi DLP I had a couple years ago. Absolutely no comparison.

[Thaddeus Smith]

I love plasma TV's, but 50" looks tiny against my big wall @ 25 ft away. Upgrading to 73" DLP this weekend. I have pretty narrow viewing angles and decent light control - I'd rather go full on projector, but the wife is wary about those for every day use.

The picture quality of my Sharp is many, many times better than the Mitsubishi DLP I had a couple years ago. Absolutely no comparison.

I won't argue that point at all - but i want BIG and a 70" LED is way outside of my budget when compared to other priorities. Ultimately I want to go with a full-on projector and screen and use this TV as a stop gap to convince the wife.

[Islander]

I've been watching my Panasonic VT-30 (65") for a year now, and I'm still very impressed with the picture quality every time I turn it on. News anchors look almost like you're seeing them directly through a window, and landscape flyovers in shows like Hawaii 5-0 are really beautiful. The sound is adequate for watching news programs and the like, but I turn on the sound system most of the time.

As a 2011 model, it has Panasonic's YouTube app, which lets me hear any YouTube music clips through the JubScalas, which is great. It really beats listening on the little computer speakers. Some days I don't even bother with cable and just watch videos of music and overseas TV shows. The new Panasonic models can also access the Web, so you could view even more content with them.

The 2011 model I have uses a dongle to access Wi-Fi, but the new models have built-in Wi-Fi receivers, which is even simpler. Web access does not come through from the PVR, so using Wi-Fi meant that I didn't need to run yet another cable to the TV.

As a sidenote, for best picture with any 1080p TV, make sure your cable service box or PVR is putting out 1080 signals. The default HD setting is usually 720, so you might want to go into the box's settings to make sure it's putting out 1080, so you can get the best image quality your TV can display.

[rennoc442]

I love my plasma and would buy it again in a heart beat. Outstanding PQ and has all the bells and whistles I'll ever need. If you want to save a little cash I recommend the model below the one I have, it's the ST50 from Panasonic. It's got the same screen the GT and the VT have and the improved black filter as well. And if you go into BB to take a look make sure to ask for the remote so you can adjust the brightness, a lot of the time the plasmas are turned down to make the LEDs next to them pop out at you more.

Between the ST and GT, the price is only $300. And it seems like both models are not in stores here in Orlando, weird.

[Shodrewken]

I love my plasma and would buy it again in a heart beat. Outstanding PQ and has all the bells and whistles I'll ever need. If you want to save a little cash I recommend the model below the one I have, it's the ST50 from Panasonic. It's got the same screen the GT and the VT have and the improved black filter as well. And if you go into BB to take a look make sure to ask for the remote so you can adjust the brightness, a lot of the time the plasmas are turned down to make the LEDs next to them pop out at you more.

Between the ST and GT, the price is only $300. And it seems like both models are not in stores here in Orlando, weird.

That's too bad, it really is a nice screen to view. I didn't realize the price difference is so small now.

[jacksonbart]

Let your eyes be the judge under equal settings, but if all things being equal take the LED. Its a much better technology in my opinion.

[rpampt]

LED's are aa little brighter, Plasma's darker blacks. You'd need a pretty high refresh rate to do movement as well as the Plasma IMHO. I went shopping for something to replace my Sony CRT widescreen. One of the last of the good ones. I needed something larger. I was planning on buying an LED and could not pass up the Panasonic Plasma 60". My only concern was if it would be bright enough in my LR which has lots of windows. Absolutely no problem, and the picture is spectacular. My sister bought a 55" LED with a 240 refresh rate and my Plasma still is better with motion.

Brands and results can certainly vary with price and models, but my experience says dollar for dollar, plasma is the way to go. Now performance of a super high refresh rate model, I can't say, but they are big, big $$$

[rennoc442]

On a connection setup question, I see that there is an digital audio output I could use to send the signal to my pre. Currently I have it setup as to where the PS3 has the audio sent out to the digital out, that goes to the pre. Now that leaves the HDMI with just the video, and also leaves the TV with no audio. It would be nice to have the TV play the sound at times when I don't want to use my pre. So would the sound quality be affected by not using the direct way I have been, by way of using the TV's digital out to the pre, or should I just keep it from the PS3 to the pre?

[Audio Android]

Look in your TV's audio menu to see if you can turn the TV speakers on and off. Most TV's have to be manually switched when they recognize an audio out connection. It may make a difference if you change the signal path but it's really up to you if it sounds better....Try it!!....[Y]

[Islander]

I've got HDMI from the PVR to the TV (for picture and sound), and fibre optic cable (for audio only) from the PVR to the receiver. The receiver can play sound from the PVR even when the TV is not switched on, and the TV speakers work normally, so I can listen to them when not using the sound system.. I just leave them turned all the way down when the sound system is on.

As for YouTube listening, I had to run a separate fibre optic cable from the TV to the receiver, since my 2005 model receiver has no HDMI inputs, just RCA and optical.

[rennoc442]

Look in your TV's audio menu to see if you can turn the TV speakers on and off. Most TV's have to be manually switched when they recognize an audio out connection. It may make a difference if you change the signal path but it's really up to you if it sounds better....Try it!!....

I do not think it will sound better by any means, its just another connection (resistance) in the signal. I just hope that when I do use that way, that I can still somehow turn on/off the TV speakers. Will try and see!

[rennoc442]

I've got HDMI from the PVR to the TV (for picture and sound), and fibre optic cable (for audio only) from the PVR to the receiver. The receiver can play sound from the PVR even when the TV is not switched on, and the TV speakers work normally, so I can listen to them when not using the sound system.. I just leave them turned all the way down when the sound system is on.

As for YouTube listening, I had to run a separate fibre optic cable from the TV to the receiver, since my 2005 model receiver has no HDMI inputs, just RCA and optical.

Nice! On the PS3 it can not send audio out both cables, either one or the other . Also my pre does not have HDMI inputs, which when I picked it up was not a big deal.

[MechMan]

rennoc

On my old Fat PS3 I can tell it to output both analog and digital at the same time, does yours not have that setting?

[rennoc442]

I will have to check the fat old PS3 out and see if that can be done! Thanks for the info!

[Gilbert]

My question is I guess, LED or Plasma?

The LED screens are and have been getting better and better. There is nothing wrong with them, but I'm picky when it comes to watching my HTS. ANd as you already noted, REFRESH RATE matters, so to does color presentation. We had 1 LED screen, and I promptly took it to Grandmaws house after getting my Pioneer Plasma's.

IMHO, Plasma is KING. Purchased 3 - 60" Pioneer KURO's when they were still available, and love'em dearly. Too bad I only get to enjoy them on a weekend, when I'm home, and the kids let me watch TV.

[jjennings2510]

Both TVs are great. As others have stated turn off that clear motion and other picture enchancement features and that will get ridof that "fake" look. Also if you don't already have one then go to amazon and buy a couple of calibration blu-rays. Spears & Munsil and DVE Essentials. Spears doesn't have sound calibration at all (thats where DVE comes in) but has a ton of video tests. DVE does sound and video so you can start off with Spears....then check your video settings with DVE....then calibrate your speakers. Thats what I did and I managed to get a great picture on all of my tvs and my projector. IMO once calibrated the picture the picture on both LEDs and Plasmas are pretty even. True Plasma will have the blackest blacks but the quality is very close. If you want to make blacks appear darker on your LED or any tv for that matter then you can buy some of those ambient lighting led strips that attach to the back of the tv.....that actually makes the tv look even better! Plasmas do use more energy if you're energy conscious but IMO you can't go wrong with either. But before you take that LED back calibrate it with those discs and see how it turns out....or if you're really couragious then you can get a CalMAN set. LOL. But seriously take your time with those discs....get everything adjusted and if you feel comfortble make a few minor adjustments to the color biases to get the best greys possible on the grey tests....then check the color and everything should look more natural! But it will probably be dimmer than you're accustomed too!

[Utard]

buy a couple of calibration blu-rays

+2 for some of these

I have not purchased one yet my self But I did do a download one that someone from this site recommend.

It was an easy download then burn to DVD. Worked just fine.

It was very beneficial. I was able to figure out that I had a bunch of settings wrong in my PS3.

And did however figure out that the sharp set up on automatic picture looked better to me than it did with the picture calibration settings done through DVD.

[jjennings2510]

really? I'm glad it helped you out though. Be careful though using standard def tests to calibrate a hd tv....I had a hard time giving up my Avia II DVD but I was able to get a way better picture with the blu-rays....not sure why (i think it has to do with the way colors are processed) but my settings were way different when I switched to blu ray discs. Both blu-rays confirmed it.....while the picture looked good (and better than factory settings) the settings were wrong with Avia (after being fine with sd) and hd calibration gave me an even better picture. Nonetheless its all about what looks good to you. So I'm glad you experimented and found what works for you....At least you know now that automatic is better in your case instead of wondering. [] And yes while the calibration discs will help you get a picture thats close to "standard" set by the industry so that you can see things the way directors of movies, shows, etc want you to see them it also helps to add your own personal touch with small tweaks sometimes. I've gotten used to the darker film like picture on my tvs because it looks good, natural, and colors still have enough pop to look good but not so much that it looks unnatural. But my dad (like most other people) always comments that my tvs look dark because he is used to that bright punchy picture. Likewise my gf who spends a lot of time there as well loves the picture as I do....it does take some getting used to but it does look better imo. Lol. I guess my point in my long winded response is to calibrate to get a baseline.....give it a few days....if you don't get used to it then tweak to get a picture you like. The baseline has been set so as long as you don't drastically change things your picture will still be better and a cool side effect is that it will always use less energy. (confirmed by my avr) Happy watching to you though. I'm about to go fire up the projector....get some food and watch some movies!