o/t What is best? LCD OR PLASMA

[paddy247]

Thinking about a new Tv this year as the 32" widescreen looks so out of date now and its only a couple of years old.

Any opinions or advice would be gratefully recieved.

Cheers in advance.

[p1ggm]

i have a 42 plasma in the livingroom and an lcd in the bedroom

 

plasma gets my vote[] great for my special dvd colection

[drb5]

I have a Panny Plasma, but i think if i were to do it again, i'd try a good LCD.

 

Only thing being, you start to get used to their little "problems". There isn't anything WRONG with it, but plasma's just don't get good black's and if there's a lot of small fast moving things, like smoke for instance, it gets a bit blocky. You don't notice it till you look for it, but i think the end scenes of Predator show it up worst....and it one of my fav films. []

 

Other than that, i can still walk into Dixons etc and tell myself, i still have the best picture compared to most in the shop! []

 

[p1ggm]

i find with the LCD if your playing playstation etc the colours can drag on fast moving things, plasma doesnt seem to do that

drb never noticed anything like that on mine, but its gonna make me look more now[] mine is a hitachi

[bigdavie]

digital light projector !!!!

[drb5]

I did see that, when i was lookin at the LCD's, yer.

 

Projector is ace, but i think i would never have it as good as i'd want it. Huge room, comfy chairs........enough beer..... []

[p1ggm]

i am plannign a projector in the loft...with a bar, and the other half said yes to it...so the scooby bar will be open asap and screenings of all the greats will be shown too

[drb5]

[H]

[ed-209]

As some of you know I have just transfared from pc repairs to deal only with Plasma's and LCD's. All digital panels (Both plasma and LCD) suffer from colour drag and trail effects, caused by the speed of the processor on the signal board - can make it seem worse on certain panels. the blocking effect in smoke is also caused by that. only 3 companies make the Plasma display panel (PDP) that being LG, Samsung and Fujitsu. everyone uses one of these panels and only supply there own signal board. the following cheap makes use LG panels, Techwood 4210 (4205 used samsung) Matsui, Hyundai, Hitachi. if buying make sure it has true HD panel 1000*760 and above not a 800*400 as it has to downsize the picture (more delays).

LCD are mode by loads of companies some sony's use the samsung DLP (digital light processor) which is just a fancy LCD projector (goes faulty after about 2000hrs use).

All plasma and LCD suffer from the following - jagged edge's this is not a fault it's caused by the picture being made up of pixels (like a computer screen) where as TV's use fired electrons which blur hence no jagged edge. Lip sync problems caused by lots of processing of signal ie LG XD screens when lots of movement in background and someone speaks will always be less than 45ms delay but some people can notice it whereas other willnot.

Any of these big screens 37" and up must be view from the correct distance otherwise most people think the picture is worse than normal CRT Tv's - the correct distance for CRT TV's (glass screens) is 3-4 time the diagonal size whereas plasma and LCD is at least 5 times.

Also remember to take extented warranty on any of them, a new signal board is over £400 and on LG it's over £700 and PDP start at £800.

Best way to decide is go to a few shops ask the sales guy to drop the brightness to 60% and the contrast to 50% and then compare the screens (shops will increase the brightness and contrast to make one screen look better than another). also ask them to show you it playing a real dvd film (or take one with you) as the signal in the shops is sometimes crap.

Hope this helps a little bit (prob just confused you more).

Ed.

Oh one other thing.. be wary of anyone saying about plasma needing regassed every 5-6 years. it's a sealed unit with a live expect of 60,000 hours this is 21years at 8hrs per day and that is only to get to half orginal brightness. LCD are expect to last about  20,000 to 30,000 but pixels can and will die during that time.

 

Sorry about any spelling mistakes.

[andy_tregarthen]

Take into account what your gonna use it for, be it PC (gaming possibly and has to be good res), TV (HD ?), DVD, Games console.

Looked at both Plasma and LCD but ended up with DLP ! old style rear projects are a thing of the past now.

 

[paddy247]

I like your set up there david, very neat.

Gordon give us a shout when the bar is open, and ed your a fountain of knowledge cheers.

[dougster]

Nice post ed.

I use www.avforums.com for some similar discussion and looking to upgrade my Sony wega TV soon.

[4Hero]

I spent ages going round shops looking at different models and ended up in the Sony Center. The 32" wega lcd one I got blew away all the plasmas in the store at the time. This was a year ago though and it's not hd ready [] Still great all rounder though!

My father in law has since bought a nice sony wega hd ready one and it's very nice indeed..

[slo2]

Deffinetly agree with Big davie a projector is best. Ive got a Hitachi one which puts out 786432pixels which is displayed on to my screen at a size of approx6'x4' and its really good. Colour is sharp but not brilliant in strong sunlight . The unit has 2 number RGB inputs, Standard scart input, component video, S video etc. Ive got mine wire up to a Sony surround system/DVD with the TV signal being picked up by a old video unit (not yet plugged in the digital) . Because of all the inputs lots of things can be plugged in and left in . Also supports computer signals . The biggest advantage is that the projector hides in a cupboard and the screen hides up behind the curtain pelmet and therefore the room is devoid clutter. Plasma screens are great but all your chairs end up facing a wall or corner, mine all look out at the view when I watch telly just pull down the screen.

The real reason I went for this system was my wife said "no great big tv was going to mess up her house" so I did as I was told.(thats ok isin it?)

[bigdavie]

LCD are mode by loads of companies some sony's use the samsung DLP (digital light processor) which is just a fancy LCD projector (goes faulty after about 2000hrs use).

ed ive got a samsung dlp !! say it aint so mate !!??

what exactly goes wrong wi them mate ??

[ed-209]

On the DLP's projector tv's (Sagem, Sony, Samsung any that basically say DLP rear projection)

and normal projectors (epson, sharp ect)  it's the projector bulb that normally goes and it costs about £200 not covered by any warranty inc coverplan, what ever happens ect, ment to last 3000-4000hr but usally only lasts 2000hr due to switching off and on of the bulb.

On LCD TV's the pixels start to die after about 1000hrs but the back lights have been know to fail before this, even a heavy thud can damage the backlight (very thin Fluorescent tube) and also the invertor that drives the backlights can overheat and stop working.

LCD TV also suffer badly from screen burn also called image retension and thats not covered either.

If you go to currys website and pick projectors some will tell you the life of bulb.

Ed.. sorry more doom and gloom.

[ed-209]

Just checked on partmaster's website a spare bulb for the samsung DLP is... are you sitting down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

correction lying down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

£369.99 plus p&p

Check out http://www.partmaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/catalo...l?section=45455

Ed.

 

[wrxmania]

I'll stick to my normal 28" widescreen tele then []

[bigdavie]

ffs man thats daylight f***** robbery *******s !! aye well guess whats going to have an unfortunate accident when the bulb pops !! haahha  insurance claim here i come !!

[ed-209]

Don't take it to bad, you could be one of the lucky ones and it lasts longer than the 4000hr remember it's just an average.

Look at me I have a Techwood 4210 (3 years old ) which has never gave any problems (touching wood) and gives a picture that puts more expensive ones to shame. But the workshop if full of them that packed up within 12 months of purchase.

Ed

 

[bigdavie]

aye but ed i only bought the samsung as i thought they had bullet proof reliability !!lol its takin a header !!! onto the hard hard floor pmsl !

[drb5]

Deffinetly agree with Big davie a projector is best. Ive got a Hitachi one which puts out 786432pixels which is displayed on to my screen at a size of approx6'x4' and its really good. Colour is sharp but not brilliant in strong sunlight . The unit has 2 number RGB inputs, Standard scart input, component video, S video etc. Ive got mine wire up to a Sony surround system/DVD with the TV signal being picked up by a old video unit (not yet plugged in the digital) . Because of all the inputs lots of things can be plugged in and left in . Also supports computer signals . The biggest advantage is that the projector hides in a cupboard and the screen hides up behind the curtain pelmet and therefore the room is devoid clutter. Plasma screens are great but all your chairs end up facing a wall or corner, mine all look out at the view when I watch telly just pull down the screen.

The real reason I went for this system was my wife said "no great big tv was going to mess up her house" so I did as I was told.(thats ok isin it?)

What do you mean about the chairs, facing the wall??

[slo2]

Well where do u hang the plasma? If it aint switched on it aint very pretty

[chris_c201]

Was in Costco today and they had a 50" Samsung DLP for £1799, picture looked outstanding.... hmmmm

I currently have a 32" Loewe TV, its big (casing) but its a lovely picture and with the built in Linn Speakers sounds lovely....

[bigdavie]

mmmmmmmmmmm 50 " mmmmmmmmmmmmmm and only £1800 ?? is it including vat ??