Buying a new TV (Plasma v. LCD, probably not the first time, I know)

Romantic Undead

Hey PAers,

So I'm in the market for fancy new TV and and I'm here for your advice.

Right now my top prospect appears to be the 40" Sony Bravia S series LCD.
Up here in Canadia it retails for around 900-1100 depending where you shop.

As far as I'm concerned, it's practically a done deal, however, I am not completely swayed by the arguments against Plasma.

Near the Sony I spotted a 50" Samsung Plasma for about the same price. Now I've heard the arguments against plasma, which mainly seem to be that the lights burn out and require regular servicing as well as heating issues.

I realize this, but part of me just can't shake the great value of paying the same price for 10 more inches. Furthermore, ever since the flat screens have come to prominence, I've always kind of preferred the image offered by plasma. Despite everyone's advice to go for LCD, I'm still tempted by the value and size of the plasma models.

Can anyone give me further advice, or even better, anectodes as to why buying a 10" bigger plasma screen is a really really bad idea?

RUNN1NGMAN

The only legitimate complaint about plasmas at this point in time is that they are heavier than LCDs, so that may be an issue if you plan on mounting it (although not really as long as you know what you're doing).

The second valid complaint is that if you are putting it in a room that gets a lot of sun or is generally bright, you will get a lot of glare. Even if you get one with a anti-glare filter, there will still be noticeable glare.

Image retention isn't really an issue any more. Permanent burn-in hasn't been a problem for years. Heat is also much less of a problem than it was in early plasmas. I've never heard the thing about lights burning out—I think you might have this one confused with DLPs. Plasmas don't have a light that would burn out.

Is space an issue? For a 50" screen you should be sitting about 8' away. If you're going to be closer than that then 50" will likely be overkill.

Alchemist449

Replacing the bulb is a pain, if only because its 70-ish dollars a pop, and, depending how long you plan to use this TV, it will be hard to get replacement bulbs for that model in 5-10 years. But yeah that's DLP.

Sentry

I'm almost positive the bulb is an issue for DLP, not Plasma.

That being said, I have a 50" Samsung Plasma and I absolutely love it.

Rikushix

It's funny that as Plasmas lose the disadvantages they once had in comparison to LCDs, they're slowly fading from production.

Dunadan019

go with a 42" samsung LN650A. i think it sells for around 12-1400.

you can't go wrong.

Shadowfire

Heat can still be a pain with plasmas. We have ours sitting under our thermostat, and it tends to throw our home heating situation out of whack in the winter time (the other two walls have the actual heaters, so they're out).

That said, the only other issue I have with plasma is power consumption. They really do eat up quite a bit more power than LCDs. Don't get me wrong, our current 42" plasma uses less power than our old 30" digital tube TV, but it is still a lot.

With all of that though... the picture is hot shit. We absolutely love ours, and liked it better than any LCDs available in store (though the Bravias are sexy as hell).

Romantic Undead

Shit guys, you're not doing too good a job dissuading me from bying plasma...

In my current set up, I'd be sitting about 10-12 feet away from the TV. This may be subject to change in the future, but that's how it is at this time.

Romantic Undead

Dunadan019 wrote: »

go with a 42" samsung LN650A. i think it sells for around 12-1400.

you can't go wrong.

One thing my girlfriend and I noticed about Samsung sets as compared to Sony is that they really do seem pretty glare-y. One of the stores we went to had a Sony and a Samsung side-by-side and the glare difference was really quite striking. You could see all the ceiling lights in the Samsung set quite clearly, while there was virtually no problem with the Sony one.

eternalbl

Apparently plasmas are even up to par with LCDs for longevity. Hell, with all the good news about plasmas coming out my next TV will be one.

However, I've never seen a plasma without a gloss finish on the screen. If you have any large windows or other sources of light that may be a factor.

Currently I'm using a bravia 52w4100 and if you go LCD, its not a bad choice by any means.

vonPoonBurGer

If you don't like the glare coming off the Samsung 650, try to look for a 630. The only difference between the two, to my knowledge, is that the 650 has a high-gloss screen coating while the 630 has a matte screen coating. The 630 picture will be slightly less sharp, but you'll get a lot less glare. Also note that looking at a 650 under the fluorescent lights of a big box store might not give you the best sense of how it'll look in your home. Unless you've got windows (for daytime watching) or lamps or other light sources (for nighttime watching) in a 90 degree arc in front of the TV, the glare might not be an issue for you in your viewing environment.

With all the being said, I bought a 42" plasma last week and it's being delivered this week. I spent a bunch of time researching this issue, and plasma does have some downsides but none that I felt would affect me. Plasmas aren't as bright as LCDs usually, so LCD does better in brightly lit / sunlit rooms; I do most of my TV watching at night, so not really a concern for me. Plasma used to have burn-in / retention issues but they're no longer a problem in current-generation unit. Plasmas are heavier, but I'm moving away from a 34" HD CRT that weighs over 200 lbs., so for me it still represents a huge step forward in terms of being able to move it if I need to. It uses more power than an LCD, but damn it I just love the way plasma looks and I'm willing to pay a little extra on the electrical bill. And again, compared to the juice my monster CRT sucks down, I'm sure it'll be a step forward.

Oh, one other thing you may see in a plasma is phosphor lag. All plasma panels have this to some degree, it's inherent in the underling technology. In newly manufactures plasma panels, the gases used to create the color green are the slowest to go dark when voltage is no longer applied. As a result, if your eyes are really sensitive you may see green after-images trailing a frame behind any brightly-lit moving object on the display. Looks like this:

Not everyone can see them, but some people have "faster" vision than others. If you're one of those people that used to have to run a CRT monitor monitor at 90 Hz vertical refresh or higher in order to avoid seeing flickering, your vision is sensitive enough that you might notice phosphor lag. The good news is that as the TV is used, the gases used for blue and red literally slow down, such that they more closely match the decay rates of the green. Once that happens, there is no more lag and after images disappear. If it's something that would really bug you, you might want to go LCD instead.

Folken Fanel

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=86179