Author Topic: Plasma vs. LCD (Read 1553 times)

Bloodwake · « **on:** July 30, 2008, 09:27:42 PM »

So, anyone here ready to give me the pros/cons of both?

There's a 32" plasma I'm looking at... not the best brand name ever, but it's reviewed decently enough, and I can go get it at Wal-Mart as soon as Friday. It's Visio. I know.

Opinions?

y2kev · « **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2008, 09:29:00 PM »

Visio...hmmm I dunno. I didn't even know they made plasmas as small as 32".

Plasma is definitely better than LCD though.

abrader · « **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2008, 09:31:54 PM »

Im absolutely drooling over this $4,000 60in Samsung plasma with mega refresh rates...

TV buyin season cant come soon enough!

GilloD · « **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2008, 09:32:48 PM »

I had 42" Samsung LCD that was great, but I just grabbed a 42" Samsung Plasma (999$!) and vastly prefer it. Brighter, prettier, "cleaner" somehow.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2008, 09:36:19 PM »

Quote from: y2kev on July 30, 2008, 09:29:00 PM

Visio...hmmm I dunno. I didn't even know they made plasmas as small as 32".

Plasma is definitely better than LCD though.

Yeah, the only company doing it is Vizio, or I would shop around. I know Vizio's LCD's are shit, and larger plasmas usually destroy Vizio's contrast ratios, but it's better than the LCD contrast ratio at that size.

I am disappointed at the lack of 1080p, but it's 32", so I don't think that will matter considering the size.

abrader · « **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2008, 10:20:00 PM »

wait till black friday and spear a fat momma over a deal!

Grecco · « **Reply #6 on:** July 30, 2008, 11:21:17 PM »

Plasmas dont get burnout anymore?

Bildi · « **Reply #7 on:** July 30, 2008, 11:32:57 PM »

Some plasmas are more susceptible to image retention than others, but overall they're pretty good nowadays. Any image retention would be very slight and would go away after a few minutes at worst. I have a Sammy plasma and haven't had a problem and I'm about to get a 8G Pioneer which apparently are extremely image-retention resistant.

Burn-in is a different thing. If you watched letterbox movies exclusively you'd get uneven phosphor wear or burn-in - the fundamental technology hasn't changed.

drohne · « **Reply #8 on:** July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM »

i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

duckman2000 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 31, 2008, 12:48:54 AM »

My TV (LCD) has developed this weird ass line on the right side, about 6" in from side. The whole screen image from there on seems a bit brighter too, but the line is really. Now, that line is exactly where the black vertical bar is when viewing SD content, but I thought LCDs weren't susceptible to burn-in?

Smooth Groove · « **Reply #10 on:** July 31, 2008, 12:55:31 AM »

Definitely go with a plasma. I had a 50" 720P Panny plasma but I got sucked in by 1080P hype and switched to a 1st gen 46" 1080P Sony LCD. It was a terrible mistake.

Despite the higher resolution, the Sony LCD put out a far inferior picture. It's only advantage over the Panny was a less reflective screen.

I've since switched back to a Samsung 58" 1080P plasma and it's the best TV I've ever owned.

CajoleJuice · « **Reply #11 on:** July 31, 2008, 01:01:49 AM »

Aren't you a med school STUDENT? Where is this money coming from?

laesperanzapaz · « **Reply #12 on:** July 31, 2008, 02:00:07 AM »

i'm always so money conscious, i would never buy plasma for a looong time

:'(

TVC15 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2008, 02:04:31 AM »

Quote from: drohne on July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM

i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

This is what keeps me from going plasma. I watch a lot of movies at a lot of different aspect ratios. For that very reason, I am thinking projector for m next TV, though I have not begun research and I will not make a buy until 1080p projectors are affordable.

Beezy · « **Reply #14 on:** July 31, 2008, 03:54:34 AM »

Quote from: drohne on July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM

i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

This is why I don't play Ikaruga or Mr. Driller Online too often. Vertical shooters are the worst for plasmas.

Watching movies with different aspect ratios isn't a problem, unless you're gonna watch a bunch of them back to back.

Mupepe · « **Reply #15 on:** July 31, 2008, 04:10:06 AM »

Quote from: TVC 15 on July 31, 2008, 02:04:31 AM

Quote from: drohne on July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM
i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

This is what keeps me from going plasma. I watch a lot of movies at a lot of different aspect ratios. For that very reason, I am thinking projector for m next TV, though I have not begun research and I will not make a buy until 1080p projectors are affordable.

if we move in together, they'll be pretty affordable.

demi · « **Reply #16 on:** July 31, 2008, 05:39:44 AM »

Vizio is wack, my Sharp Aquos has done pretty well, but I think it has overscan issues... apparently everyone's Wii games are widescreen and mine aren't

Bloodwake · « **Reply #17 on:** July 31, 2008, 05:49:28 AM »

Quote from: TVC 15 on July 31, 2008, 02:04:31 AM

Quote from: drohne on July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM
i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

This is what keeps me from going plasma. I watch a lot of movies at a lot of different aspect ratios. For that very reason, I am thinking projector for m next TV, though I have not begun research and I will not make a buy until 1080p projectors are affordable.

This will be my problem. But: don't plasma's have grey boxes instead of black for different aspect ratios? Isn't that supposed to be better for the TV?

cloudwalking · « **Reply #18 on:** July 31, 2008, 06:40:45 AM »

Quote from: jarosh on July 31, 2008, 06:38:25 AM

Quote from: TVC 15 on July 31, 2008, 02:04:31 AM
Quote from: drohne on July 31, 2008, 12:02:37 AM
i really want one of those panny plasmas, but i don't think a plasma will ever agree with my habit of playing emulated 2d shooters with huge black pillarboxes for hours on end. my 32" bravia is getting pretty old, but it looks good enough, it has very little input lag, and i sometimes wonder if the search for better image quality isn't somewhat moronic -- when i was younger and perfectly happy with a 13" tv i thought those dvd reviews that lingered on the minuteae of picture quality instead of the fucking movie were too stupid for words, and i may have been right

This is what keeps me from going plasma. I watch a lot of movies at a lot of different aspect ratios. For that very reason, I am thinking projector for m next TV, though I have not begun research and I will not make a buy until 1080p projectors are affordable.
if you're mostly about watching movies (like me) i'd definitely go with a projector. as long as you can darken the room, nothing compares to the experience of a big ass movie theatre like screen in your living room. i started with an sd projector many years ago and switched to a sanyo plv-z4 (720p) in 2006. watching movies and tv shows on a ~100 inch screen is fucking amazing.

and playing video games!

BlueTsunami · « **Reply #19 on:** July 31, 2008, 06:42:20 AM »

What about DLP? :'(

65"s of Blue Dragon cock ftw

tiesto · « **Reply #20 on:** July 31, 2008, 09:42:04 AM »

I own a Pioneer Plasma and I like it very much, although I definitely see image retention (namely, game HUDs)... but the image retention is only really noticeable if you have an all white screen. Plasmas also give off a TON of heat, which is a bitch in the summertime. I went with plasma because I play a lot of low-res content (oldskool games, Wii, etc) and plasmas do a much better job of upscaling low-res content. Also, plasmas seem to have a 'sharper' picture with a much greater viewing angle.

Surprised to not see dark10x in this thread...

Bacon · « **Reply #21 on:** July 31, 2008, 10:09:39 AM »

Quote from: demi on July 31, 2008, 05:39:44 AM

Vizio is wack, my Sharp Aquos has done pretty well, but I think it has overscan issues... apparently everyone's Wii games are widescreen and mine aren't

That wouldn't have anything to do with overscan.

With Wii, you have to set the console to widescreen and set your TV to "stretch" or "full" since the console doesn't flag the 16:9 signal.

DJ_Tet · « **Reply #22 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:17:01 AM »

Projectors are nice but unless you have a basement I wouldn't want it as my 'main tv' in the living room. I watch too much stuff during the day and while, yes, you can see it during bright light, it's nothing compared to watching a crt/plasma/lcd. LCD in fact shines best during the day, others (especially projectors) will suffer. Plasmas have a very reflective screen that can be a problem at times, and projectors will wash out details (in which case why go 1080p?)

For movie screenings done mostly at night, or gaming sessions projectors are unbeatable if you have the space. I'd just use it as my 'second' tv or bring it out for parties. The bulbs are also a cost factor you must bring into it.

LCDs have the bonus ability of being a really good PC monitor, although both plasma and projectors can fulfill this role as well to a lesser extent. For my money, I went plasma. For most of the same reasons that Smooth Groove dictated.

Quote

Definitely go with a plasma. I had a 50" 720P Panny plasma but I got sucked in by 1080P hype and switched to a 1st gen 46" 1080P Sony LCD. It was a terrible mistake.

Despite the higher resolution, the Sony LCD put out a far inferior picture. It's only advantage over the Panny was a less reflective screen.

I've since switched back to a Samsung 58" 1080P plasma and it's the best TV I've ever owned.

That said, if all you can afford is a really cheap plasma, I'd probably go for LCD, especially if you still watch a lot of SD stuff (like wii.) Plasmas need a really good scaler as everything is scaled to their display ratio. Pioneer was the leader in this area, but both Panasonic and Samsung make good plasma panels as well. I'd save my money for that.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #23 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:31:12 AM »

If I had a room to watch it in, I would buy a projector immediately.

How often do the bulbs burn out on the projectors (if they do at all?) I don't know too much about them besides the fact that they kick my ass. I've definitely watched films on a 1080p projector and it kicked my ass.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #24 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:34:18 AM »

Quote from: DJ_Tet on July 31, 2008, 11:17:01 AM

Projectors are nice but unless you have a basement I wouldn't want it as my 'main tv' in the living room. I watch too much stuff during the day and while, yes, you can see it during bright light, it's nothing compared to watching a crt/plasma/lcd. LCD in fact shines best during the day, others (especially projectors) will suffer. Plasmas have a very reflective screen that can be a problem at times, and projectors will wash out details (in which case why go 1080p?)

For movie screenings done mostly at night, or gaming sessions projectors are unbeatable if you have the space. I'd just use it as my 'second' tv or bring it out for parties. The bulbs are also a cost factor you must bring into it.

LCDs have the bonus ability of being a really good PC monitor, although both plasma and projectors can fulfill this role as well to a lesser extent. For my money, I went plasma. For most of the same reasons that Smooth Groove dictated.

Quote
Definitely go with a plasma. I had a 50" 720P Panny plasma but I got sucked in by 1080P hype and switched to a 1st gen 46" 1080P Sony LCD. It was a terrible mistake.

Despite the higher resolution, the Sony LCD put out a far inferior picture. It's only advantage over the Panny was a less reflective screen.

I've since switched back to a Samsung 58" 1080P plasma and it's the best TV I've ever owned.

That said, if all you can afford is a really cheap plasma, I'd probably go for LCD, especially if you still watch a lot of SD stuff (like wii.) Plasmas need a really good scaler as everything is scaled to their display ratio. Pioneer was the leader in this area, but both Panasonic and Samsung make good plasma panels as well. I'd save my money for that.

Most of the SD stuff I still play are DVDs. The Wii barely is used. Mostly the screen will be for Blu-ray and PS3 use.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #25 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:47:39 AM »

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/vizio-vp322-review-1623.shtml

The review of the TV I'm most likely getting. I'm looking for more reviews at the moment. There's an image retention problem, but fuck, this is 500 less than what I was going to pay and if I find more reviews like this, it's mine as of 3 PM tomorrow.

Mupepe · « **Reply #26 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:52:24 AM »

yeah that's a bit confusing tet. lcd needs to be scaled to it's native resolution as well and do it very poorly most of the time. AFAIK, only CRT handles non-native resolutions well.

DJ_Tet · « **Reply #27 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:53:14 AM »

I specifically said 'cheap plasma.' I did leave out a big part of my reasoning for getting plasma, though, and that is that a GOOD plasma is vastly superior for SD stuff. Anyway, I guess my post wasn't clear enough. I'd hold out until I could afford a sammy/panny/pio plasma. That's really the best way to go.

Some people don't want to hear that, though. So in that case, I'd go with a visio LCD over a visio plasma. At least save the cash, a plasma with a shit scaler is going to make the sd stuff look like shit anyway, so might as well save the money and get a cheap lcd.

edit: yeah my post was pretty garbled, my bad

I got bored halfway through and didn't really finish my thoughts.

Short version: Get a nice plasma

Alternate: Get a shit lcd to hold you over until you can get a nice plasma

Mupepe · « **Reply #28 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:54:07 AM »

oh ok. sorry

DJ_Tet · « **Reply #29 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:55:46 AM »

it's all good, I didn't realize my thoughts were so incomplete, it's my bad

I think we're mostly on the same page, though.

Jarosh, how does your projector hold up during the day? I've had experiences with them and they are awesome for gaming, and actually they look much better during the day than I anticipated.

DJ_Tet · « **Reply #30 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:57:28 AM »

That said, if the cheap lcd and cheap plasma are around the same price, might as well get the plasma.

I'm a plasma fanboy at heart, I'm like Jarosh I don't really see ANY reason to get an LCD at this point except for price.

Draft · « **Reply #31 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:57:43 AM »

I went with LCD. It seemed like the better buy. Most of the reviews I read indicated that newer LCDs (like the Samsung A650s) had largely caught up to Plasmas in terms of blacks. I also saw a lot of LCD love on AV forums. And of course the whole thing with LCD seemingly destroying Plasma in the market.

Ever since I bought it though, it seems like I can't turn around in a forum thread on GAF or OA or here with people just jerking off hard on their Plasmas. So I dunno.

I was real worried about image retention $:-\$

Bloodwake · « **Reply #32 on:** July 31, 2008, 11:58:45 AM »

To my knowledge this is the only plasma available at this size.

Other than that, I wanted that other LCD I posted on here, but gas is a fucking bitch to buy, and this is in my price range. Plus I will be lucky to have more than $100 a month worth of spending money for shit by the time September rolls around due to my damned work study college.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #33 on:** July 31, 2008, 12:00:39 PM »

Quote from: DJ_Tet on July 31, 2008, 11:57:28 AM

That said, if the cheap lcd and cheap plasma are around the same price, might as well get the plasma.

I'm a plasma fanboy at heart, I'm like Jarosh I don't really see ANY reason to get an LCD at this point except for price.

Honestly, other than burn-in, I've always been a fan too. Plus, this fucking TV is CHEAPER, yes, CHEAPER than most of the LCDs at this size at Wal-Mart. What the fuck? I'm not big on buying shit from Wal-Mart either, but it's the only retailer that sells it for this fucking cheap. It's like the fucking deal of the century.

T234 · « **Reply #34 on:** July 31, 2008, 12:46:28 PM »

I can buy this TV for 53 bux less than retail, at $475-ish. I'm looking at the 42-inch version of it ($660~) at the end of this month with my student loan money.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #35 on:** July 31, 2008, 03:28:39 PM »

Quote from: jarosh on July 31, 2008, 12:29:46 PM

oh i didn't realize we were talking about super cheap no-name plasmas. but honestly, the smaller panasonic plasmas are alread really cheap anyway, especially in the US. and apart from the kuros you can't do much better than those.

how much ARE you going to pay for that vizio thing exactly? i didn't see any mention of an exact price in this thread so far...

$525.

Link me some of these Panasonics.

Bloodwake · « **Reply #36 on:** July 31, 2008, 05:42:04 PM »

I'd get a 37", but in all honesty, I'm still in college. 32" is too big as it is, but I want a decent sized monitor for when I move into an apartment or something. I'm going to go ahead and get the Vizio plasma tomorrow... most of the reviews say it's better than most of the LCDs at the same size.

News:

Author Topic: Plasma vs. LCD (Read 1553 times)