LCD or Plasma

[Noddy]

Have convinced my GF that we need a new HD tellie for the house we just bought. Anybody got an informed opinion on which is best for gaming?

[Uncle_Darth]

I hate this debate. Everyone will have a different opinion and the salesman always just want to sell you somenthing.

a full HD LCD TV is great (1920x1080) - will give you a great picture and is good for games. That being said Plasma's have much darker darks (good for games) but run really hot - almost no nead for a heater in a small room.

There are pros and cons for both but they will both do what you want as long as there is a connection into the TV that will take the computer connection.

Not much help sorry but i think it comes down to personal preference.

And dont get conned but the power consumption bull with LCD's vs Plasma's
On average they use the roughly the same amount. It depends on what you are watching. Ie LCD has to power the whole screen all the time to make the colours.
Plasma only turns on the parts that need to be lit to change it from black.
Therefore - a plasma will use more than an LCD if showing a white screen and less if black.

[daveee]

Plasma's use more energy Darth. The current range are being phased out due to this. They were meant to be not able to be for sale at christmas this year, but I think it has been extended a while.

There aren't many big names that do Plasma's anymore, all the big names are moving to LCD (Sony, Samsung).

LCD's black levels are getting better and better with every release too, so not much to worry about there.

At the end of the day its better to go into a store and pick what looks best to you, I would go with a Samsung LCD (the F8 is a very very impressive TV) though, currently they have a rebate going on - if you buy a certain model you either get a free 19", or a free 26" (F8 comes with the 26"). You can get the F8 for around 3k.

[Tubby]

As Darth said this is the same as debating Holden/Ford, AMD/Intel.
Do your own research as I did and you will come to a decision thats right for you.
I bought a Pioneer 50inch Plasma and couldn't be happier (except that its a bit small)

A couple of things to remember

1)You CANNOT distinguish the difference between HD and Full HD at a viewing distance of more than 3m on a 50inch panel (less for smaller panels)

2)Your Panel can never ever be too big. What ever size you buy will be too small within a month.

3)Keep in mind that all the panels in the stores are wound up as far as brightness and colour goes. Its quite easy to get a cheap arse panel to look 'better' than a quality panel with a quick fiddle of the settings.

4)After 100 or so hours of viewing, the best money you will ever spend on a panel is to get it calibrated.
Cost you $250 and will make a huge difference. There's only a handful of guys in the country that have the equipment and the talent to do it properly. The difference will be chalk and cheese


The Best place to find all the info you need is
www.dvtforum.info (http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum= 6)
You can also participate in group buys which may take a bit of time but save you bucketloads of cash.
There are also threads on where to get the best prices

[Wokeye]

http://www.comparison.com.a u/

Seems to have info on energy efficiency/use over time for a decent range of models.

[bishos30]

I sell TV's for a living and get asked this everyday.
It mainly comes down to what your using it for and what type of room it's going into.

For gaming and sport plasma is the best, full stop.
You can pick up a panasonic full 1080p screen for under $3k.

The 2 things you have to worry about with plasma is screen burning, which is only a problem during the first 100 hours of use and light reflection. Plasma panels have a glass sheet on the front and screen glare is a major problem. To get the best out of it you do need a darker room.

That said if you have a light room (no curtains) or do most of your tv watching during the day get an LCD.

A full HD LCD won't look as good because of the refresh rate on the screen and subsequent motion blur. You can get screens that are better than others but be prepared to pay big bucks for them (the X series Sony Bravias are VERY nice).

PS. Big screen TV's have always consumed heaps of power. There's only a ruckus about it now cos every man and his dog has a 100+ cm screen. They aren't phasing out plasmas. They're just bringing in an energy rating for them like fridges and air cons are required to. Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung already meet the requirments on their units so stick with one of those.

PPS. I'm a gamer and there's a 42" Panasonic Plasma in my living room.

[Wokeye]

Do you play PC games with your 42" panasonic Bish?

[VisOne]

Thanks for putting this up noddy I've be thinking on this issue ever since I brought my Xbox 360 now I feel better informed to buy what I need. Looks like I will end up with a LCD due to the position of windows in relation to the TV.

[daveee]

PS. Big screen TV's have always consumed heaps of power. There's only a ruckus about it now cos every man and his dog has a 100+ cm screen. They aren't phasing out plasmas. They're just bringing in an energy rating for them like fridges and air cons are required to. Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung already meet the requirments on their units so stick with one of those.


I swear I read something where they said energy inefficient plasmas were going to be banned or something similar. It was a while back, so anything could have happened between now and then

[Wokeye]

I thought they were looking at it, but will now let market forces 'encourage' more efficient design instead, buy requiring display of energy consumption stickers like cars and some other appliances.

[GruAncH]

Thanks for putting this up noddy I've be thinking on this issue ever since I brought my Xbox 360 now I feel better informed to buy what I need. Looks like I will end up with a LCD due to the position of windows in relation to the TV.


Just board up ya windows Vis problem solved ahaha nice sheet of 3ply will do the trick...

Or get a white curtain for the front (looks good from outside) then a thick good quality blind and hanging curtains for the edges. that way you can control the light.

[VisOne]

I have rather expensive Venusians blinds on them but there light grey stop virtually no real light and I have a window in my kitchen that shines right on the screen. I'm trying to play oblivion right now and its hard as crawling through dark dungeons with this much light on the screen.

[AintWarHeLL(hehe)]

1080p plasma , LCDs don't have true 1080 yet, even if they call what they got 1080. you need to look at the last www.dl.tv (http://www.dl.tv) Episode 206, they talk about what now is the best right now, well in the USA. Robert Heron (http://dl.tv/2005/08/meet_your_hosts_1.ph p) is the KING of HD TVs. I have been watching dl.tv for along time, it it by far the best pod/vid/cast / TV show on the net its a must watch.

other good links you need to look at

http://dl.tv/2007/08/hdtv_tip_calibrate_y our_hdtv.php

http://dl.tv/2005/11/download_dltvs_hdtv_ special.php

[bishos30]

Do you play PC games with your 42" panasonic Bish?

Tried to play PR with it once but couldn't get the widescreen to work properly. Have since worked out how but haven't tried again. I do watch Youtube on it and browse the internet through the PS3. Looks a heck of alot better than my Pc's screen.

And Davee, your right, they are banning innefficient plasmas. Well, they're putting a MEPs criteria on them anyways. The same as they do for most electrical gear (the star rating you see on fridges). It's just that most decent plasmas already meet the required standard. The ones that don't won't be able to be sold in Australia until the manufacturer redesigns it. Which is good for the consumer and the retail store. Most of the cheap brands will go out the window like the Conias and Palsonics, which is awesome.

Also, if your local retailer is shoddy enough to change the settings on the TV's on display (which is an annoying and pointless practice) the easiest and most accurate way of telling how good a screen is is to look at what shade black is and what shade white is. Most stores will be running HD demo discs at the moment which will have ample shots of both shades. No matter how much tinkering you do to a TV, white will be white and black will be black. The blacker the black and whiter the white, the better the TV. In the picture look for people with white shirts or shoes on and open doorways and shadows for the blacks.

If a salesman starts talking about the benefits of HD or True HD smack him. Simple story is, if you can afford full HD get it without question. Otherwise don't bother. War is right in that we don't get true 1080p stuff but Blu ray running at 720p is still mindblowingly stuff.

Oh and brand wise, stick to the names you've heard of. There are very few little known brands that do these things well and of those you need to pick one you can actually get some backup service from in your area.

[daveee]

What do you mean we don't get true HD stuff?


If your TV does 1080p, and you have a blu ray player...you have true hd?

Is there something missing?

[Captain_Wolf]

I agree with everything Bishos has posted.

If you have the money buy an LCD with a small refresh rate interval which will eliminate the motion blur on fast moving images (the main problem with LCD tech).

I played PR on my 55" plasma a few times... ohhhhhh yeah. :fans:

[AintWarHeLL(hehe)]

LCDs don't have 1080 lines of vertical resolution, count them, They simply downscale the image, as needed. its close. but not 1080. I will have a look over all the dl.tvs I got to see if I can fine the one where robert says about it.

[daveee]

LA46F81BDX Resolution 1920 x 1080

As taken from the Samsung website...

Correct me if I am wrong, but that is 1080 vertical pixels?

[Psyrus]

As taken from the Samsung website...

Correct me if I am wrong, but that is 1080 vertical pixels?

Yeah I think antiwar might be a bit confused... there are definitely LCD TVs (42 inches and above) that have 1080p (and "i" I think), all it requires is 1080 vertical resolution which they have. 40 inches and below have 1366x768 I believe, which is good for 720p/i.

APCMAG also wrote up a little article about it... check it out:

http://apcmag.com/hdtv

[Ablack77]

For gaming and sport plasma is the best, full stop.


Are you sure about that Bish?

I'm sure you know your stuff, But I was told the opposite:

LCD is better for movement ie gaming and sport.

WTF ?

:O please don't tell me someone has lied to me......Do people lie? :O

[GruAncH]

They sure do Ablack especially if it will get them a bigger sales margin.. hahahaha.

[ACC1]

I prefer plasma for tv, dvd's etc. If its gaming, 20-26" lcd.

You can spend days, or weeks going through all this. It all comes down to price, and what you need it for.

And if they wont bargin with you and drop 10% or so go else where.
Price around then get them to compete againts each other.

[daveee]

Blacky you got the tv (one of anyway) I recommended to you, don't worry, its the goods I tell ya!

And Samsung do a 40" that does 1080p too (blacky has one :P)

[bishos30]

Are you sure about that Bish?

I'm sure you know your stuff, But I was told the opposite:

LCD is better for movement ie gaming and sport.

WTF ?

:O please don't tell me someone has lied to me......Do people lie? :O

They probably didn't lie to you, but they're wrong. In the end LCD isn't bad for gaming and as you've got a 40" Samsung LCD you've got nothing to worry about. Samsung and Sony make the best LCD TV's and Samsung are incredibly reliable.

War may have been talking about the difference between 1080i and 1080p but I was refering to the fact that not alot of the HD stuff we get is true HD. Almost none of the digital TV is true HD (Saturday night AFL next year on 10 will be though!) and not many Blu Ray movies out now were actually filmed with HD film they've just been remastered so to speak.

[AintWarHeLL(hehe)]

lol I will find it one day hehe,

[Shotgun]

I hate this debate over LCD and Plasma, I personnaly have a plasma, great TV bought it 3 years ago. Now I Do have A very
IMPORTANT Tip: Make sure you get good warrenty on it (at least 1 year) because when i got my Plasma about 6months in it just blew up. After calling the shop i was refered to the TV compony. Now the problem turned out to be this little transformer in the TV that always blows after the TV is moved and shaken around a bit.

Just a nice little tip for ya

[bishos30]

LG plasma shotty?

[ACC1]

Go for the longest warranty possible, I got 6yrs on the 1 I got for the grand parents.

[Ablack77]

1yr Shotty ?? Ewwww!!!!!

I went for 7yrs

$220 for 7yrs parts and labour and call outs incl.

Small price to pay for a lot of piece of mind.

[Tubby]

Pioneer come std with a 5year full warranty and they have been known to give you a loaner if they need to fix yours. Thats a company thats confident in their product.

Oh and watch out for those extended warranties that you buy from Harvey Normans/Bing Lee/Good Guys. What they cover, varies quite a bit, from full warranty to panel only to the little red light on the front only....you get the drift. They are not factory warranties.

[Noddy]

for anybody interested ended up with a Samsung 50” PS50P91FDX. Manufacturer will also send out a 22" LCD too :)

[Ablack77]

Nice one! I got the samsung 40" and manufacturer will send out a free 19" ;)

[+SiN+ solo60]

i have a 42" panasonic plasma.. i reckon it has a better picture than my mates 40" sony bravia HD LCD. A much better picture.

I have a dark room, and watch lots of tv and will do some gaming on it in the future.. very happy with it.

[daveee]

for anybody interested ended up with a Samsung 50” PS50P91FDX. Manufacturer will also send out a 22" LCD too :)

I thought they were 26"?

[Noddy]

you may be right..actually just registering now....

[Bammo]

If anyone in Perth is interested I have a dealership for Samsung panels - Just ordering one of the new 46" full HD LCD's for Noompsi now as a matter of fact.

I have a 1366x768 Samsung plasma myself and whilst it has superb picture quality the PC image (for everything except movies) is a bit average. I had to do heaps of stuffing around with the HTPC to get the image right and it is still not perfect. If I was going to use the TV for a lot of gaming I would go the HD LCD.

I can get all the Samsung and Panasonic stuff no problems, prices are usually about 5% less than a good price from JB. Not great, but the margins in this stuff are so small that I only do it for mates anyway.

[Ablack77]

-SNIP-

Well Bammo, since you mentioned tweaking, My Samsung 40" 1080p LCD seems to have some weird arse looking picture on some programs,
It looks sort of surreal sometimes, no no I'm not bragging that it looks 'SUPER FANTASTIC" but looks sorta unreal,
like for instance I watched a old movie the other night and it didn't look like an old movie, it sort of lost that 'old movie' feel.
Is this just because the picture is so clear?
Someone said that it depends on how they make the program or movie?
(whether used making film or digitally recorded)
Is my TV rooted or is that just FULL high def TV's?

Not that it looks horrible or anything but just different.

[Psyrus]

If anyone in Perth is interested I have a dealership for Samsung panels - Just ordering one of the new 46" full HD LCD's for Noompsi now as a matter of fact.
I can get all the Samsung and Panasonic stuff no problems, prices are usually about 5% less than a good price from JB. Not great, but the margins in this stuff are so small that I only do it for mates anyway.

Hmmmmmmm I've been considering and LCD TV for ages now... and this is sounding even better... we'll see :D

I just have to figure out if I "need" one yet... I don't watch a whole lot of TV.

[Bammo]

Blacky - I tell you what I do. I go deep into the menu and turn off just about every single "improvement" option that there is. All the "movie mode" "picture enhancement" "auto-contrast" crapola. That improves things a lot and gets rid of 90% of the weird edge effects. No one in the know uses *any* of those enhancements!

Then go to the DTV forums (http://www.dtvforum.info/) and search for "Samsung Settings" and use those. The settings for colour temperature, contrast and brightness will seem really dull and lifeless at first, and then you will very quickly come to appreciate how much more lifelike it is. The great thing about the Samsung (and I assume other sets as well) is that the TV remembers the settings for each HDMI input so you can set your TV to a "normal" mode, your DVD to a very black mode and your PC input to a super bright mode.

[Bammo]

Hmmmmmmm I've been considering and LCD TV for ages now... and this is sounding even better... we'll see :D

I just have to figure out if I "need" one yet... I don't watch a whole lot of TV.

Well, I'm going to order another one in the next 48 hours and if you come in now it drops the freight considerably. The 40" LCD with 1920x1080 and a contrast ratio of 15000:1 is about $2000 or so. There is a similar model with a lower 5000:1 contrast ratio that is about $150 cheaper or you can spend as much as you like!

Look over the Samsung website and let me know what you like...

Oh - and if the orders are placed and paid for in the next 3 days or so there is a free HD 19" Samsung LCD TV included as well!

[Ablack77]

Blacky - I tell you what I do. I go deep into the menu and turn off just about every single "improvement" option that there is. All the "movie mode" "picture enhancement" "auto-contrast" crapola. That improves things a lot and gets rid of 90% of the weird edge effects. No one in the know uses *any* of those enhancements!

Then go to the DTV forums (http://www.dtvforum.info/) and search for "Samsung Settings" and use those. The settings for colour temperature, contrast and brightness will seem really dull and lifeless at first, and then you will very quickly come to appreciate how much more lifelike it is. The great thing about the Samsung (and I assume other sets as well) is that the TV remembers the settings for each HDMI input so you can set your TV to a "normal" mode, your DVD to a very black mode and your PC input to a super bright mode.

Thanks Bam ;)

[Fallen.]

For anyone considering an big lcd tv/monitor. I play on a 1360 x 768 res 32" lcd and its not to bad
Well worth the $1200 at the time. A 1920 x 1200 would have been soooo much better but too many $ at the time.
At 32 37 40" the gaming becomes really immersive.

If your thinking of doing it then "Just do it" !


:hi:

[1rankman]

i would say lcd and ive got a 30inch plazma
it just get sooooo hot in my room

[bishos30]

Where'd you get a 30" Plas from?

[1rankman]

harvey normen i think
only cost me $1000nz