Plasma vs LCD

If you have one, what made you choose one over the other?

We're looking at both - nothing too huge, 40"-42" - and am leaning towards the LCD b/c of the weight (plasmas are twice as heavy) and energy (plasmas use way more energy than LCDs). Also, our room - while we will be putting up curtains/drapes - is pretty bright so another reason we're leaning towards the LCD (the glass on the plasma is supposed to be very glare-y).

I'm open to personal experiences though...tell me why you chose your plasma over the LCD (or vice versa).

TIA!

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We have a DLP (its the mirrors) LOVE it, I cant tell you anything about your 2 choices JMO on the DLP and it kicks some major bootay. oh its a Samsung 42in. DH's Baby.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We chose LCD.
We loved everything about it vs a Plasma - energy, size, weight, etc etc

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We have an LCD.

We heard Plasma's don't last very long because they tend to blow out after a short time.


LCD gives such an amazing picture, especially with the HD channels. It's as if your there, it really is unbelievable!

Re: Plasma vs LCD

My 42" plasma has been going strong for well over three years. I would strongly recommend you go in the store and look at an lcd without a hd picture on it. My father in law has a 42" Sony LCD. A very expensive one..may I add and it doesn't looks the greatest with a non HD picture. If you ask the salesman they can explain it in detail. We were looking at plasmas and lcds for him. In the end he went with an LCD but I enjoy my plasma. So go in there and take a good look at the pictures in hd and not in hd.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

I would recommend an LCD - HD...you definitely want an HD TV now because all channels are going to change over to HD in the next few years.
As far as Plasma vs. LCD - definitely LCD. Plasmas have a limited life expectancy and tend to have picture imaging, so if you or DH play video games the screen will hold the image afterwards.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Plasma is a dying technology. LCD is way better!

Re: Plasma vs LCD

I am an avid gamer. No problems with screen burn for three years. As for the non HD the picture on a lcd is a bit grainer(sp?) than on a plasma. I used to work at circuit city and have a few friends from the home entertainment department. The next thing you are going to have to decide is whether you want a 720p or 1080p. Have you even ventured into that aspect yet?

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We got a DLP, we liked it better then the LCD becuase you can see it from the sides of the tv and we preferred it over the plasma becuase we didn't want to have to deal with getting it recharched since the picture quality is never the same after that. DLP you just replace a light bulb.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We saw both 720 & 1080 and were told the differences (neither of us are "fast sport" watchers)...so that will come down to more research and whichever looks better. Based on the sets we were comparing, the 1080 looked crisper.

Again, based on the sets we were comparing, the higher the contrast ration, the better the picture.

Neither of us play video games.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Posted by ~Colleen~

Posted by Michelle

We got a DLP, we liked it better then the LCD becuase you can see it from the sides of the tv and we preferred it over the plasma becuase we didn't want to have to deal with getting it recharched since the picture quality is never the same after that. DLP you just replace a light bulb.

Didn't even consider the DLP - thanks for the wrench

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Message edited 8/1/2007 2:15:56 PM.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

i liked the technology better in the LCD. 1080p is the way to go. There's also Blu ray which I can't even get my mind around.

We have two Sonys. I've always liked Sonys and I think they are the king of monitors.

eta: we have a 40 in the bedroom and a 48 in the living room I think. I think...hmm..I have to check.

Message edited 7/30/2007 6:07:47 PM.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We have both a plasma and an LCD.. I think the picture on the LCD is better.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

We have both sets, LCD and Plasma. Both are Panasonic. The LCD is more vivid and has more brightness. I do not like the vivid aspect because it makes the picture look less natural. The LCD is in our bedroom and we tend to watch it more at night so the brightness is adjusted low for this reason. We also modified our settings on the LCD so that it’s less vivid. The picture quality is the same as the plasma to me. Neither has an issue with displaying SD. We purchased the Plasma first. If we had to do it again we would most likely go LCD due to cost, weight and power consumption. 50” LCD’s did not exist at the time we purchased our 50” Plasma which we wanted to hang on the wall. I'm not sure they have 50" flat screen LCD's today. Also, some Plasma’s are subject to the glare factor due to the displays but many today are made with special screens to reduce the glare. Panasonic has a set with this new technology. Bottom line, you have to see the picture for each set type in your home in the room you’ll do your watching in. It’s really based on your preference. I hope this helps.

Re: Plasma vs LCD

too many false things said in this thread..
i will try to answer the varies concerns

yes, the weight (plasmas are heavier then lcd) is different however, once it in place, i don't see you moving it that often ...

brands don't make a huge difference as all major companies use the same parts. more expensive doesn't mean more better....i do see some difference in higher end tv's but i don't see paying an couple thousand more for it.

yes, go to the store, and see for yourself and compare. this is a major investment so don't just look at it, you need to tweak with the color, tint, tones, black levels to get a true sense of what your tv can do. some stores dont even have an HD signal going to the TV depending where you go.

dlp are nice tv and the overall projection style tv has come a long way. the only negative i see is replaceing the bulb every 2 years on average.

once you go with HD, SD (standard defination) channels may appear weak compared to watching a tube style tv. once you get use to it, it on your tv, it will be a non issue

There are two different things when you talk about burn in on plasmas. There is Burn-in and ten there is Image Retention.
Burn-in and when a screen permentaly burns in, say a cnn logo on the bottom of the screen when the tv play the image non stop all day for several days straight. It takes a long time for that to happen. You will find this in business when they leave up the finiance channel
Image Retention (more common) is when you see like a ghost or lines of what you see in video games and tv (like the scoreboard on the bottom, etc..) These go away next time you turn the channel...(Most people see it and get mad cause they turn off the tv)

Plasmas would only die if LCD were to get better brightness and contrast ratios where the Plasma out shines LCD. They will be around for a while...

there are different resolutions, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p... 1080p is the better picture discribe as "Full HD"
These are different ways a picture is displayed on the TV. Remeber folks, the only way to take advatage of your resolutions is to have something that output's that resoultion. Cableboxes only do 1080i. Your only technology that can do 1080p include Blu Ray and HD DVD formats. TV's will "Upscale" images to make it seem like a better resolution. This can be bad as its converting the signal on the fly. Sometimes it works good, others, it looks like crap.

I think i commented on peoples post...now for my take...
I own both technologys, Plasma in Living Room, LCD is the bedrooms.
I prefer both at different times as some shows look x10 better on 1 tv and vice versa. My big tv was also cost dependent which Plasma is cheapier.
Plasmas don't come in small sizes so that was our only choice for the bedroom.
I play tons of Wii, Xbox, PS3, Scene It on the big TV and never have burn in. I hook up the computer to the tv and love every second of it.

1080 is a nice picture but just remember you need the proper eqipement to take use of the 1080p. Prices are dropping on this gear so now may be a good time to invest.

Any questions, feel free to FM me

Hope this helps

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

we have a 52 inch DLP and we love it....we had a Plasma but our DVD logo got burned into the screen within a few days of us having it.
So i would recommend either an LCD or a DLP

Re: Plasma vs LCD

Re: Plasma vs LCD

DLP does look good when veiwing it straight on but when viewing from a slight angle it lacks the quality of a plasma or LCD.

Also, weight could be a factor for transporting and installing the TV. I would buy a lighter set if the final decision came down to a few options, including weight.

Message edited 7/30/2007 8:11:54 PM.

Re: Plasma vs LCD