i'm starting to shop for a tv.i really want a plasma but am afraid of burn ins.should i be or does it take alot for a burn in?
I looked into this abit because myself was worried about it to. But to my discoveries if you are purchasing a newer model Plasma there are new technologies that cause the screen to not burn-in, im not sure what it is called. But google it and youll find alot of info theres alot of good Plasma vs LCD websites, which explain it fully.
When shopping for a plasma tv you need to look at a couple of things. 1st. make sure it has the white wash technology (burn resistant). 2nd.Make sure it has plenty of High Def. inputs to really make your plasma stand out. All plasma tv's will get image burn.It usually takes about 2 hours for the image to burn in the screen if left without moving picture but be aware that if you watch channels that have icons on the screen that represent what channel you are watching you are more likely to get burn in. 3rd.All plasma tv's last roughly about 8-10 years and after that it's bye bye tv and you have to look for a replacement. I decided after much research to go with a DLP tv because it has much more advantages that a plasma does. 1st.you will never get image burn 2nd.the resolution is the same as plasma if not better 3rd. you will not get pixelazation like plasma's do 4th. and the most important is that they last a heck of a lot longer with the owner simply having to only replace the lamp when it burns out which will only happen after about 2-3 years.It also depends on how often you watch tv and for how long. Now that 1080P DLP tv's are coming out they will simply rule every other tv on the market with the highest possible resolution out there. Hope this helps out.
Yea, I would be sold too if I didn't know what I know. Plasmas can last longer than DLP or LCD. 50,000 - 60,000 hours (18 years at 10 hours a day)! Plus no moving parts (DLP Color wheel) or organic panels that require back lighting (LCD color prism panels). Plasmas have higher contrast ratios and accurate color reproduction than DLP. Plasmas are excellent from all angels unlike projection tvs! Plasmas don't require bulbs unlike projection tvs! and they can be hung on a wall unlike projection tvs. Plus like Dude2099 said, burn-in is over hyped. It takes allot more than 2 hours to achieve permanent burn-in to begin with and there are several mesures that manufactures have taken that make burn-in a mute point. Do some research jeray, from respected sources and trust your eyes! Whatever you do, stay away from the LCD technology, Ced
I own an LCD tv from Sony.Their Grand Wega line and the tv is absolutely brilliant.I have had nothing but problems with plasma tv's and being that I have worked with electronic stores I guess I don't know what I am talking about. I personally did an experiment on my own with a returned plasma tv and left a still image on screen and presto it burned in at about 2 hours and 20 minutes. All I'm saying is that DLP tv's are just as good as plasma tv's with the owner simply having a longer lasting tv than plasma because all you have to replace is the bulb.In plasma once the gas burns out you're screwed. Plus all plasma tv's have a major problem when it comes to HDMI connections.The picture will constantly have a jittery motion and there is always pixelization in plasmas. A very reliable source from CNET states that the best way to go is DLP technology.See for yourself and go to CNET and do a search and compare Plasma with DLP and DLP will win everytime.
diabolos- what do you think of this new 50" dell plasma.some of the specs sounds to good.its a good price though.http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/tvs/topics/en/50plasma?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
Ok, well I work for a major electronics retailer too... And I'm not saying DLP is crappy. Last year the samsung DLPs were my favorite tv type. This year, I started selling the 2nd gen JVC LCos projection and felt that it was better as a sports and gaming television. The kind you buy for everyday use. While DLP is the best for viewing movies. All the LCD tvs I have seen pale in comparison to all other types of tvs except the Sony grand-wega 3-LCD projection, the Sony 3-LCD "XBR" projection, and the 05'-06' Samsung Flat-Panels (Gorgeous!). The Sony grand wega is definitly a great tv but is starting to show its age. I mean rumor has it that a buget "Qualia" based projection is around the corner. Sony has already shifted its high-end projections to LCos from LCD. I believe that next year, all the budget 1080p tvs will be DLP or LCos based! What problems do [bold]all[/bold] Plasmas have with thier HDMI ports? Jitter? @ jeray, Check out this review buy my favorite mag: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=862&page_number=3 I don't have any experience with the Dell plasmas yet, sorry buddy. Ced
great link diabolos.what do you think wait till @christmas?the prices have really went down and look like there still headed that way.my only problem with the dell would be if you had a problem, tech support is horrible.
White-wash on the plasma dosen't prevent burn-in on the TV. It actually sets all the pixels to a very high contrast for a short duration causing an equal burn-in to all pixels virtually reseting everything. The downside is that this causes decreased life of the TV and with excessive use can cause the colors to become a little bland. It has been a little while since I've researched the digital TV's as I used to be a dept. mgr. for a retailer outlet. However, at the time the Hitachi plasmas were some of the best with their technology and some of the most innovative. Sony dosen't even make their own TV's infact they buy most of their parts from Hitachi as do most other major manufacturers. All manufacturers and models will actually be a bit different quality depending on what you plan on watching. For example the Hitachi's at the time (2yrs ago) were the best for watching movies because of the way the pixels were arranged in vertical colums instead of the traditional horizontal blocks which could result in color bleeding over to the next pixel. Panasonic brand typically has the best contrast ratios especially in their black which is arguably the hardest color to reproduce in a plasma set. Most are not actually black but more of a smokey black or faded looking. Panasonic typically is a good solid black. As far as the pixelation between DLP and Plasma it really depends on the source that you're viewing it from i.e. cable, satalite, dvd etc. I've seen some horrible pixelation on the Samnsung DLP when watching comcast digital cable, same could be said for plasma in all fairness. I personally would go with a good high-end plasma. They just simply have a much higher contrast and brightness. Excellent features for glare reduction if you have a living room with lots of open windows. Many are also passivly cooled meaning no noisy fans such as the ones on the Samnsung DLP which can be heard if you listen for it. Plasma can also handle the extremly high resolutions if you plan on using it for a monitor for your computer and again provide that high contrast that you're used to when gaming. They also don't require you to purchase a $200-300 light bulb to keep your tv running every 3yrs or so.
Plasmas also look horrible when watching standard television.Any cable or satellite tv channels look like crap on plasmas.The bulb on DLP and LCD tv last a little longer than that.I have had my Sony LCD Grand Wega for about 3 and a half years and still running like a champ.It seems like peoples minds are already made up in here anyways so oh well.
@ jeray, I think christmas is a good time to buy, but January is better. The super bowl seems to cause people to buy and rent big screens. Retailers know that. Prices are never as low as they are before the super bowl. If you do get a tv after thanksgiving be aware that the more popular ones might be in back order since everyone is trying to get one. With that said, now would be a great time to buy a Plasma for the super bowl. It gives you time to know if you like it. @ poolpro, I'm not trying to make up anyones mind I'm just trying to make sure people know the truth. All fixed pixel based technologies look horrible when fed analog programming. Especially digital wide-screen tvs. Fixed pixel technologies include LCD, DLP, LCos, Plasma, and OLED. Yet technology has improved over the years. Bulb life depends on how much tv you watch and how bright you like your picture. A person that only watches movies and plays videogames bulb will last longer than a person that watches news, sports, cartoons, and sitcoms everyday. A projection/microdisplay bulb is suppose to be replaced when half-life is reached, [bold]not when the bulb dies[/bold]. [bold]Half-life[/bold] is the point where the tv (the bulb or phosphers) is at 50% its original brightness! Half-life is also the number given to discribe the life of plasma tv sets because half-life is the point when a tv is unable to provide entertainment. Thats right, a tv that has a half-life of 60,000 hours will last for 120,000 hours before its completely dead. after doing the math, A bulb that lasts for 8,000 hours has a half-life of 4,000 hours and will reach half-life in approx. 2 years if watched for 5 hours everyday. A tv that lasts 120,000 hours has a half-life of 60,000 hours and will reach half-life in approx. 32 years if watched for 5 hours everyday. It will reach half-life in approx. 16 years if watched for 10 hours everyday. Do the math, if you watch tv 5 hours a day you will replace the bulb 16 times before your plasma needs to be replaced. Since bulbs cost an average of $300 (plus installtion if not under warranty or you do it yourself) thats $4,800 in possible "variable" cost! Now, your probably not going to keep either tv for 30+ years and you might not even notice the diffents in brightness. Also if you keep the brightness set low and contrast in check you might be able to double or triple the life of the bulb! Of course, if you don't watch the tv it won't dim. It all depends on your life style. Ced
Yeah but most people buy the service plan with their TVs so bulbs are free for 4 yrs at which u can renew ur warranty. Also when ur plasma is gone ur tv is gone no replacing parts.
My point: Replacing bulbs is a hassel. With a plasma you can get the same amount of enjoyment as you can from any other display technology bulb or no bulb. Stop perpetuating myths about the plasma technology! And yes, I sell a warranty that covers all bulb replacements for 4yrs (some others don't). But in a 4yr period it is possible that the bulb will only get replaced once. Possibly twice if you replace it for the heck of it and possibly more than twice if you watch tv alot. And like I said, I have nothing against DLP, or LCos. Except DLP does have mirrors that tilt thousands or times a secound and a color while that spins realy fast. I like LCos because it takes DLP and and improves it with LCD concepts. LCos is my favoite microdisplay. Plasma is my favorite flat-panel. Yet, CRT is my favorite technology. _______________________________ So what your saying, is that you would rather pay for the warranty every 4 years. How much does yours cost? Mine cost $399. Thats equivalent to paying for the bulb every time it burns out and installing it yourself for the life of your tv. Yes that is true, but it will LAST just as long as any other technology, which is the point to all my ranting. CRTs are the same way. You can predict the life of a CRT too. But we all know that CRTs can last for a very long time. So long that you will probably hand it down and get a new tv well before it kicks. And when your tube dies you can replace the tube, but why? It would cost more to do that than to just buy a new one, right. ____________________________ The LCD question: I answerd this already but to expand... I dislike LCD as a technology. It has the lowest [bold]fill rate[/bold] and the crappiest [bold]black levels[/bold]. With that said Sony and Samsung make LCD screens that I would buy. But thats it. _____________________________ @ poolpro, What the heck was this suppose to prove? Alright, I only have two questions for ya poolpro. First Lets get away from the mabye and if this then you know I would rather get this because I don't like not having the option too replace this... B.S. (J/K). Lets say you buy a DLP set and a Plasma set. Now they both last for 18 years. Ok, they both die after 18yrs got it? The other thing is that they both cost 3,000 dollars plus the proformance warranty. Who will spend the most money in the long run? Who, in your opinion, will enjoy thier tvs more or less and why? Ced
What I'm trying to say is that DLP or LCD or LCOS is equal to plasma without having to buy another tv in the long run.Also like you said Diabolos is you buy a DLP and a Plasma set and they both die after 18 years which is true but your DLP,LCD, or LCOS will survive for the simply fact that all you replace is the bulb unlike plasma which once it dies it dies like the Russian(Ivan Drago) once said. End of story. Another thing is that you run more of a risk that if your plasma gives out sooner than expected and your warranty does not cover your tv anymore you have to go out and buy another plasma tv which is another $3000 until $200-$300 for a bulb.
Imho, in 18yrs I'll be watching a holographic TV. If not that then movies on a screen that looks like ceran-wrap. Both of which are already prototypes and being further developed. Forget what the actual material is called, but ceran-wrap is best I can describe it.
There's normally a setting called "screen orbiter" (or similar) which shifts the whole picture a few pixels every few minutes to prevent burn-in. You can usually tweak the amount of shift and the frequency yourself. However, in my office, we've got some plasma screens set up to display static images 24/7 (for server monitoring software) and the screen orbiter does nothing for that. Also, after only 2 years of operation, one has developed a pink hue and the other a green hue. Read this article for more info on preventing burn-in: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-burnin.html
Poolpro: How do you know this? Plasma screens haven't been around long enough for this to be proven. Sure, the manufacturers are all saying 60,000 hours, but then they would, wouldn't they? Plasma sales have been on the decline since large LCD screens were possible.
