My LCD Vs. Plasma Dilema

[Timber]

Hi Guys,

I don`t know if any one will have some input for me here, but here we go. I now have to upgrade my Monitor/Tv and am torn by the age old Plasma or LCD ?`s. I do alot of research before I purchase this stuff, but need some help by people who understand how much making the wrong decission sucks sooooo bad.

I`m torn between 2 42" sets and could use some feedback:

1- LG 42PC3D

2- Toshiba 42HL196

Both of these are 2K & each seem a good choice, I`m primarily watching HD & SD on my Sattelite, have upconv DVD, but love Nascar and Nhl. I hate the drag assoc with LCD but 1080p upconv for the Toshiba didn`t rear the lousy results I almost expected in the showroom. The LG @ 10,000:1 also looked awesome. Help guys, anybody with some time with one of these sets would be "UBER" helpfull !

[ricktate]

Well i have been looking and wishing to, i still sway to the plasma but it does use more power thats the only down side to plasma for me.The LCDs are looking much better except for off angle veiwing.Still on the fence on this but if i had to choose today i would go with plasma i think.Rick

[Timber]

Thanks Rick,

Look into my history for my system, "center channel advice". It had a happy ending, and here`s hoping this will too. Plasma seems to be my sway, but the 1080p Lcd sure looked sweet.

[ricktate]

Yea those new LCDs are looking good to me to,,,thats why im waiting to see what happens things change about every month now it seems,prices to lol.Rick

[Fish]

I had a Toshiba 42"plasma for a trial in my house.It had a pretty nice picture but smoke or fog scenes were kinda blotchy and the burn in issue scared me a little.The upside is it looked close to the old tube type picture.I ended up w/an lcd and am satisfied,I could use it as a computer monitor if I want and notice less artifacts.

[Cal Blacksmith]

It kind of "depends" I was faced with just this dilemma

a week ago. The 32" tube set that was our "daily TV" died and we

needed a replacement.

I looked at flat panel TVs and had just about decided on a 42" LCD but the

"life" of the sets is what was bothering me. Our "TV" needs

to be able to be on for about 18 hours a day. This works out to about 5,500

hours a year. The life of a LCD flat panel TV was rated at (on the box anyway)

60,000 hours or in their words, 22 years (at 8 hours a day) This translates to

about 11 years in our usage. This sounds like a lot but I am of the "make

every penny squeak" type and there is no way to repair a "worn

out" LCD or PLASMA set. You just throw them away. Also, life is rated to

1/2 the starting picture brightness so for most of the time you own the set,

the picture will be of lesser quality than when purchased new.

While I was waiting for "stock check" I was looking at the other sets

and a 50" Sony Grand Wega set was playing. HYMMM, that is a nice picture

also and it is $300 less than the FP 42 set and you can put a new bulb in it

when they go bad. Lets see, the life of a bulb is about 8,000 hours (in the

Sony manual) and at our rate of usage that will work into about 1 1/2 years on

a bulb. The cost of a new bulb is $200 and in 11 years I will need less than 8

of them. One comes with the set so that means I need to buy 7 (with much time

left on the last one) so that is $1400 added to the price of the set which over

the span of time brings the cost of the set to just under $3000. 50" FP screens

in this size start at that price and they will be garbage in 11 years and this

RP set will still be going strong, not to mention I will get many more GOOD

hours of viewing out of the set over the years (every time you buy a new bulb,

you get a "new" set!) . I bought the Sony.

The depth of the set was not a problem at about 13" so there you have it.

Yes it is native 720 resolutions but there is such a little difference between

it and the higher resolution that there is no practical difference.

Look at all of your options before you decide.

Good luck to you!

[erickoegle]

Wow, 18 hrs a day!

I don't think im awake that long in a single day []

[Timber]

Thanks Cal,

I should let you know I was a Asnt. Mgr. of a Sony Store here in Canada for some time. There has never been a larger Sony fan than myself, in fact the set I am replacing is a 46" HD PJ which is now 6 years old. It in fact is a CRT PJ, but when I bought it was state of the art. I have had no complaints as it was the first 46 Sony built, and as with alot of their products the flagships are "overbuilt" and over the nominal buying price. It has been a great set, I have redone the calibration on the guns every 2 years or so, but other than that perfect! Now however at $300 a pop for bulbs( X 3), no way to know if the engine will even put up with the higher output, thats half the cost of a far advanced product.

Bang for the buck, damn straight, but what I need is something a step above the PJ, & I`m not bitching that this set went 6 years, it did me good ! When put beside either the Toshiba or LG even when new, my Sony would look like a dime store special.

I have to make my choice right away as I need a TV for the weekend, & the funny thing I`m having trouble with now is fitting my KLF-C7 into any kind of a decent looking stand.

The Sony LCD PJ`s are great, but I`ve been there and done that. Hopefully, It will be ok with either, just looking for a little input from people with the same dilema. Thanks Cal !

[Timber]

Thanks Fish,

Awesome Cuda` by the way ! I Just seem to be wary of the LCD for some reason. I`m pretty sure I`ll be happy either way, & appreciate your help man !

God, Got to take the plundge, 1080p Vs. 10,000:1 . GRRRRRRR.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Timber;

Hey, it's cool, no problem. For movies and the like we have a 119" PJ in the HT. This is just the day to day, leave it on all day, makes noise in the background TV for the home.

$900 for bulbs would have me thinking along the same lines as you are. I find it interesting that you say that your CRT based TV, on it's best day, is less than the offerings today. CRT based units are some of the sharpest and long lived units made. They do require adjustments and they are indeed larger than what is offered today.

My best buddy has a CRT based TV that is over 15 years old. They have had it rebuilt once and it cost nearly as much as buying a new set to have it done but you can't argue about the life of the unit!

I wish you well in your quest and if it were me, I would go with the 10,000:1 over the higher resoultion. For my aging eyes, I can't tell much if any difference between either HD format. A difference between SD and HD ABSOLUTLY YES but between 720 and 10** not much difference to me.

As to it being on 18 hours a day. There are 3 people in the home and we are all on slightly different schedules. The wife is up at 6:00 to start her day, I am out of the house by 3:30 AM and the son works night shift so the only time that everyone is asleep or gone is from about midnight to 6AM! My day normally runs from 3:00 AM to 8:30 or 9:00PM and I have a 13 hour day under my belt before I get home from work, not counting if I need to go to the store or anything.

[Mikekid]

Hi there. I too was trying to decide plasma/lcd back in March.

I wound up getting the Sony Bravia XBR1 40". This due to my living room being very open and bright due to south facing bay windows etc... I have no glare on this set at all. Also, viewing angle seems fine on this model. A very good picture on standard Directv and OUTSTANDING on dvd and hd channels. I have not test drove ota as I live in the boonies. The "burn in" issue scared me a bit back then too, but I understand that this has been corrected on many plasma sets. I think if you have a relatively bright room, stick with a good LCD. My old crt used to drive me because of the glare. I love this set. Just check out as many plasma/lcd's as you can. There are many pros and cons. check out the net as well.

http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp

Have fun

Mike

[WMcD]

For what it is worth.

The burn in, lifespan, price of plasma made me wary. I read some of those, save price, are at least partially solved. I'm not convinced.

I'd been using an 18" LCD Envisions. It died and I went to BB wanting to buy something right then and put it in the back of a taxi for transport.

The 37 inch HP LCD 720 line was my choice. Price was right and it had Quam for cable.

This is probably a bedroom size and resolution for other people. I have a small viewing space and RCN cable is my source.

It is a good control center with lots of inputs. Something to consider for any unit. Rats, no computer input. Reviews of the unit were a bit mediocre. But I'm happy.

I wondered whether I should have held out for 1020 resolution. There is the thought that one can only see 1020 on a much bigger screen, or by sitting very close to a small screen.

The bottom line is that this is sort of a fill-in until prices come down on very big screen displays and high rez sources are more plentiful. Granted the other way to crank the equation is to buy something expensive which may sustain an appitite for hi-tech, longer.

Gil

P.S. by edit. I thought I was buying less TV than was wise to make an investment in the future; now I don't think so. I don't see drag and contrast is good for me. You should consider inputs, tuners, etc, as much as techncial specs on the picture quality.

[boomer9911]

Plasma for dark\intimate viewing with dark surroundings...lcd looks great in the daytime with light reflection absorbed, where as plasma reflects off somewhat with a reflection of Bob Barker and the Prices is Right....[].

But as someone stated..."ANGLE VIEW"...which looks better from the side at 3ft wide by 7ft back...and on the couch watchin Sunday football and hockey...plasma IMO....traded in my 53" RPTV with 30 days of purchase and back to tube, owning the Toshiba 34HF81C...[]

Panasonic has a nice 50" plasma within reason....

[JJkizak]

In order to see the difference between 720p and 1080p you must have the 1080p Sony demo. Standard Cable or Satellite HD is all 720p or 1080i and when viewed on a 1080p set there is little difference. Most of the big guys (Best Buy, Circuit City) show standard cable HD on all of their units and you have to threaten them to switch to the 1080p demo. Other smaller A/V stores show 1080p demos all the time. At present no TV stations or networks transmit 1080p. 1080p has over twice the amount of pixels in the screen as 720p, 2,100,000 verses 945,000. The visual difference is absolutely staggering on 50" sets between 1080p and 720p as seen by me at Circuit City. The new Bluray and HD-DVD commercial discs will be 1080p with 7.1 sound. I would reccommend nothing less than 1080p. The latest Consumers Reports says that the latest crop of CRT's have dismal performance compared to previous models as they are trying to eliminate them from the market.

JJK

[WMcD]

So, serious question to JJK.

When the image gets displayed on an LCD or Plasma, is it interlaced, or does that depend on the source?

On a separate subject, HP and Samsung are using TI type wobulation, which is a form of interlacing, and they are running seven segment color wheels. Therefore, if my understanding is correct, they're using 14 images to paint a frame. That seems very far from "progressive" and two-frame interlacing. Yet these displays get good reviews!

Smile,

Gil

[JJkizak]

I believe it depends on the source but I can't tell the difference on my Sony 34" CRT weather the TV is set for 720p or 1080i. I can view 720p from my JVC D-VHS or I can view a 1080i m2t file on my other Avelink player and I can't tell the difference. The tv is set for 720p. They both look great. And I can go OTA to a 1080i station and flop the tv menu back and forth from 720p to 1080i and there is no difference. What the hell, I suppose there is but I can't see it.

JJK

[Lascaladan]

Just an observation. My bud recently purchased a 61" Samsung DLP. Picture is quite good from about 12 feet away. He has full control of room lighting. I do not see any of the "problems" that are being stated about the DLP technology. He has already replaced a bulb(somehow it was covered under his warranty). He has an extended service plan,which states the bulbs are not covered. In his bedroom, he recently purchased a 32" LCD. At a closer distance, both are amazing pictures. I have a 36" Toshiba Flat tube tv, which,other than it being small(I listen more to my LS system with music than movies/videos), I am waiting a little longer to see what to move up to next. My ears are much more sensitive, to perfection, than my eyes. When I go to Costco, Circuit City, Best Buy, Sound Advice, or my buddy Victor, it all looks good to me. I am of the belief, however, the bigger the screen, the better.

[boom3]

We just got a 50 inch Samsung 1080 DLP, which was about $1700 at Amazon.. We had a 30 inch Samsung CRT 1080 HDTV. We're feeding the new set via HDMI.

We did a lot of comparisons, and DLP seems to be the best value of current technologies.

[Clarence]

I havent read all of the replies, but I highly suggest from experience that you DO NOT under any circumstance purchase a LG plasma display.

[boomer9911]

just curious, whats wrong with LG and it's mass production and low quality control for us North Americans.....