hi there I cant decide on wether to purchase a LCD or Plasma tv i am looking at getting a minimum size of 40" and ive looked at this Samsung LE40R74BDX 40inch Widescreen tv which ive found online , ive heard some stories about plasma's being prone to burn's on the screens and this puts me off also i want to get the best possible picture from a new tv even thou they are HD ready so not to sure what to go for , if anyone can give me some basic advice or an opinion i would apprecitate it greatly look forward to some responses many thanks from the UK
an lcd is great, i have a panasonic wide lcd tv (model: TX-26LXD600A) BUT IF i had the money i'd get a plasma, much better quality. only my opinion
LCD for games, plasma for movies. However, there is always that burn in risk on the plasmas. Unless they're got a new way of combating it that I'm not aware of.
@zeiram At over 40" plasmas are cheaper than their LCD counterparts. I've decided on the Samsung plasma myself, just haven't been able to get the price I want yet locally. CompUSA said that Samsung was not shipping any new sets to them. Don't know the reason? Sounds funny with the Super Bowl this weekend! Poor timing on their part.
I just bought this TV its the best Bang for your err pound? TV out there i did alot of research and chose this in the end. It looks great on my NTL box and even better on DVD. Cant wait to get my PS3 on it!!!! Also the internet price is the same as the store price so you can just walk in and get one. Trust me its a good TV. http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~SHA-LC42XD1E.htm
the main thing is brightness if the room is darker get a plasma and if has light get a lcd...also look at the quality too.
I would go for an LCD. Plasma do have exceptional qualities but the burn risk ruins everything. I have a plasma in the living room right now with the logo ABC burn on the bottom right corner...pity...
Due to the fact Plasma have burn-in issue, very hot heat & short life span i'll be happy with my LCD.
I'm also trying to decide between plasma and lcd. Right now I have it narrowed down to the Sharp LCD52D62U lcd or the Pioneer PDP-5070HD plasma. I will be watching mostly movies and tv shows on it and the room is mostly dark. I hear the Pioneer is a great set. I also hear the Sharp has a great picture but many of the sets have banding problems, where there is vertical bands of light and dark. Is it really true that plasmas don't last as long?
If it's a quality LCD it shouldn't suffer from terrible banding. And I think in the last couple years the life of plasmas has increased substantially. Here is Panasonic's view on Plasma VS LCD. Although they make Plasma sound a little better than it might actually be. Their official site almost seems biased. Because I've seen a ton of LCD's and they look equally as amazing as the same sized plasmas. Their "LCD's aren't very good for fast motion" comment is a little exaggerated. As long as your LCD has a fast response time, blurry images are not an issue. As well as their "LCD's don't look as good from angles" comment. While it's true that if it is a Rear Projection LCD TV it won't look as bright or clear from the sides. But, a direct view LCD looks just as good from the sides, top or bottom as a plasma. And finally, the black levels in most good LCD's is dark and rich. As long as the TV has an average or high contrast ratio. So I'd certainly say their site has a little biased in favor of plasma. http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/plasma_central/plasma_vs_lcd.asp
Yes, unfortunately there are trade offs for any type of TV technology. LCD's can have back light bleeding, dead pixels, and blacks that look gray. On the other hand Plasmas still have burn in issues, regardless of the measures they've taken to counter this. Plasmas are typically double the weight of an equal sized LCD making them not as easy to move around or mount on a wall. They also require about 100-200 hours of "break in" time where they are more prone to their burn in problems. DLP's can often have bulbs burn out prematurely, color wheels that squeal, whine or break. They are also a little bigger than either type of flat panel. CRT's weigh a ton and don't display 720p or 1080p. You just have to look at which problems bother you the least and which features you want the most. I think most people are happy with whatever TV they pick. You just really have to look at the pros and cons and decide what works best for your situation and preference.
My chief concern is the burn-in problem. Even with the new technology that Samsung is using to prevent it, does it work? Cause I want the Samsung 42" plasma @$1499.
I have read several places that quote "If you wouldn't worry about your Rear Projection CRT, you shouldn't worry about a newer plasma." While this is somewhat true, a plasma is still a little more to worry about when it comes to burn-in. It cannot be ignored. And if the burn-in factor makes you paranoid enough that you think about it on a regular basis then plasma is probably not for you. While most of the newer ones will probably work fine without burn-in, the risk is still very much there, more so than any other TV type. With anti burn-in features or not, the fact still is, if you like to watch wide aspect movies, you're going to have black letterbox bars on the top and bottom of your screen. If you watch enough movies in that format, eventually your plasma will likely show visible burn-in. The anti burn-in features cannot shift the pixels far enough back and forth to make sure that the TV wears evenly when dealing with letterbox bars. However, some people get lucky and claim their plasmas never show burn-in. But, a lot of others will tell you differently. Bottom line, if burn-in is in the back of your mind you may want to consider LCD, or DLP.
I have already made up my mind. It will be an LCD! I have just come back from BB,CC and CompUSA and I could not at my viewing distance tell much difference between plasma and LCDs in the 42" versions. The blacks on the LCD looked fine to me. I don't do gaming, so rapid action shouldn't be a problem. It's just a shame you can't actually get anyone in the store to actually show you what a picture looks like the way most people will use it with Cable and over the air HD stations. They all look great with the "elevator video" they send over their network. @TooBokoo: thanks you're last post sealed my decision, since the reason I'm going to HD is I'm watching all my widescreen movies on a 26" TV and that's mainly what I watch on TV.
As long as the TV you picked has a fast response time and I'd imagine it does. 8ms is pretty much the LCD standard now days, you shouldn't experience ghosting on fast motion in games or movies for that matter. If you do decide to game in the future you should be set there as well.
