psg Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Hi all, The 60-inch displays are out of price reach, and 52" is quite a bit bigger than 50" (8% more surface area). While I hear that plasma is better for movies than LCD, they tend to come in a 50" size while LCDs tend to come in a 52" size, giving them a clear advantage. Why is a plasma better than a 120Hz LCD? Better constrast, better whtes, better blacks? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Peter: That's a loaded question. Almost like solid state vs. tubes or SET vs. push-pull or Cornwalls v. Lascalas. It does come down to personal preference, viewing-wise, as you alluded to. I'm a plasma person. I bought one of the first plasmas about seven years ago (still going strong), and recently bought a 50 inch Panny plasma. To my eyes, the good plasmas do blacks better than LCDs (darker), and there is less denegration in picture when you move to the side. I also like the contrast better with plasmas although I think that some LCDs do brillant colours better. Also, doing my research last year, there were more "claimed" horror stories on the various sites about color problems with some high end LCDs vs. plasmas - but who knows how many people are accurate in that respect........ Many plasmas now have anti-glare screens to combat a clear advantage that LCDs have in sunlit rooms. (Not a concern for me). Both are great - comes down to your eyes. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 Thanks for the input Carl. I surely don't want to start a flame-war! Sunlight won't be a problem. There are no windows in the HT room. But I suppose reflection of lamps could be an issue (although we tend to turn them completely off during movies). I was thinking to go with 50-inch plasma initially, but saw a Sharp 1080p 52 inch LCD for C$1500 yesterday; seems like a very good deal. It got me thinking about the extra 2 inches that I would be getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo1 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Dedicated, light controlled room, I'd try and swing a projector and a fixed screen, but that's just me. Now that the '09 model projectors are out, you'll be seeing HUGE price drops on the '08 models, and the "gotta have the newest & coolest" crowd will be selling low hour PJ's for quite a bit less than they paid.. A fixed-frame screen can be had for just a few hundred, so for ~$1800, you can have a 100, 110, 120" screen - THAT's a home theater... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 A great plasma beats a great LCD by a wide and very obvious visible margin. A great plasma combines the color rendition qualities of a CRT tube with teh precision of an LCD. An LCD is not even close to matching a plasma's color gamut. When it comes to a natural window on the world,ne it fiction or Discovery channel HD...the plasma beats the LCD each time. I have now a Pioneer KURO 50" and a Sharp AQUOS 46" ,the Pioneer KURO puts to shame all LCD's and beats all competing plasmas(these do alot better than LCD's). And I have both sets adjusted properly,calibrated. A calibrated plasma is simply gorgeous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Speed as well. An LCD might not live up to your expectations if you watch a lot of sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 All depends on use. As said, two different camps, use your eyes, decide for your self. I agree with the projector though if you have a light controled room, hard to beat the feeling of a 120" screen for movies and sports. I have never had a problem with speed on our LCD projector, large crisp and great to watch and it is only 720, a 1080 would look fantastic. Size of room has a lot to do with it also. Good luck in your quest and oh yes HD audio is AWESOME if you have the speakers and decoders to handle it. The HD image is pretty nice to look at also[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 I almost overlooked rear projection DLP. I suggest you take a look. Samsung makes several LED light engine DLP sets which eliminate the color wheel (and its sometimes resulting rainbow effect). The RGB LED light source has a 60K to 100K estimated life. No arc lamp. No fan for cooling the arc lamp. These sets are now only about 14" deep max at the base (I believe they even have a "flat" model now too). The color saturation and range is fantastic. Non of the glare or reflection problems of even the best LCD or plasma. Black contrast and gray scale is superior, very similar to the best CRT because when the DLP chip cell is "off", its literally off ~ no light. In a brightly sunlit room my 61" is plenty bright and required no additional adjustment in contrast or brightness (55%-default setting) even with full sun coming into the rooms. So unless you really, really need and must have a wall-mounted flat panel you should consider one of these. Bigger screen for less price, and IMHO a better picture now, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 Gotta have a flat screen that I can hang to accomodate my center speaker. I will (after another year or so) add a projector on a screen that will drop in front of the flatscreen. I watch a movie maybe once a week and will be using the room to watch TV other evenings, so a projector is overkill for that. Ok, so I'm leaning to plasma again. It's unfortunate that I could get a bigger LCD for the same price, but I guess that size isn't everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 plasma beats a 120hz lcd because plasma is 180hz. it doesn't have blur problems. the Ear has the best plama you can buy. i have been to star power and the 768p and 1080p tvs look identical. in fact they play a game and let you guess which one is which, i got it wrong. i purchased the LG 50pg20 because it was $1500 compared to the kuro 768p @ $3000. they had those 3 tv's side by side, and i couldn't see much of any difference, so i chose the cheaper one. there are also quite a few setting on that lg. one has something to do with the black level. now with that setting it looks as black as the kuro. there was also another setting that had to do with the energy level of the screen, i turned it all the way down and that too gave me a much better picture. i couldn't justify the extra $1500 so like i stated i bought the cheaper one. in fact i found it on Frys.com for $1100. it was stated before, that now plasmas have anti-glare so thats not an issue. other other major factor is plasma has burn in problems. the lg model i have has elimited that problem. every 2-3 seconds the pixels change, it has it's own built in screen saver. it also has a duel XD engine. pretty spiffy. you can also look at the newer lg models, some of which have the THX logo. any how....thats my 2cents..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 Panasonic 42" VIERA Plasma HDTV (PAN TH42PX80U) Product information $799.99 After $200.00 savingsSee savings AT CIRCUIT CITY..................! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Circuit City is going out of business And its no wonder. I spent about a grand there one week and went back to get some more. The service and purchase experiences during that week were amongst the worst I've ever encountered. Both they and myself wound up calling the police because they wanted to kick me out of the store ~ without a refund, without my merchandise, and without a receipt. I refused. Eventually the operations manager who was at the store came out and with several other employees to keep me confined in the pickup area & he tells me he never wants to see me in any of their stores again. Imagine that!! That was 2.5 years ago. It looks to me like they've been treating a lot of customers the same way. I wouldn't buy anything CC ever again, online or otherwise. They definitely don't want my business, and I doubt they want yours either. They have some of the most incompetent and unresponsive staff I've ever encountered. I give them five poops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I saw the writing on the wall when CC downsized/layed off there Senior,better paid Employees. They turned around and hired young Kids, paid them alot less. Now they wonder what went wrong..............Duh ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I saw the writing on the wall when CC downsized/layed off there Senior,better paid Employees. They turned around and hired young Kids, paid them alot less. Now they wonder what went wrong..............Duh ! Yeah, that's funny Bill. At the time, I WAS, going to write the chief operations officer a letter, but the guy resigned before I sent it out. At least he saved me the postage! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Circuit City is going out of business And its no wonder. I spent about a grand there one week and went back to get some more. The service and purchase experiences during that week were amongst the worst I've ever encountered. Both they and myself wound up calling the police because they wanted to kick me out of the store ~ without a refund, without my merchandise, and without a receipt. I refused. Eventually the operations manager who was at the store came out and with several other employees to keep me confined in the pickup area & he tells me he never wants to see me in any of their stores again. Imagine that!! That was 2.5 years ago. It looks to me like they've been treating a lot of customers the same way. I wouldn't buy anything CC ever again, online or otherwise. They definitely don't want my business, and I doubt they want yours either. They have some of the most incompetent and unresponsive staff I've ever encountered. I give them five poops. I must have been prophetic yesterday. Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Circuit City Stores Inc. filed for bankruptcy amid rising competition from Best Buy Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and online electronics retailers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted November 10, 2008 Moderators Share Posted November 10, 2008 According to Yahoo, they filed for Chapter 11 Protection. From what I can see, they are trying to stay afloat. At first, I thought they just were throwing in the towel but now it appears they are just beaten up and bloody. Who knows what the final round will bring. "Let's get it on!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 When I brought my screen I said to the sales guy “I don’t know what I want but I know what I don’t want and that is Plasma” The sales guy ended up convincing me to buy plasma, I ended up with a Panasonic 1080P and have never looked back. We have all heard the horror stories about pixels burning, I have never experienced this and don’t know anyone who has. I also am a believer that a good Plasma has much better colour than LCD screens IMHO. Well that my 2 cents. I’ll go to sleep now. Oh yes.. good luck with the purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Panasonic VIERA TH-50PX80U 50 inch Plasma HDTV (720p) $895 Free Shipping, Nov. 10 12 PM if (showPics()) document.write('') Adorama has the Panasonic VIERA TH-50PX80U 50" Widescreen Plasma HDTV for a low $895.00 Free Shipping. Tax in NJ, NY. 1366x768 @ 720p; 3 x HDMI; HD tuner Compare Prices |Email Deal |TV Deals |Adorama Coupons |Comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Don't torture me with deals that I can't get in Canada! [:'(] Also, I think I'll go with 1080p instead of 720p. Yes, it' more expensive. True, I likely can't see the difference seated at 10 feet. But won't I want the best possible picture for blueray? And how will I feel in another year when 1080p is the only thing on the market at this size? [*-)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Good points. Sorry I forgot your in Canada...............Good Luck with the search, and your right to buy the best you can get ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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