LCD vs Plasma? - Which Brand's Best?

[soggybottoms]

Had interesting debate with a pal on way back from the bike show in that london last week.

I said I was interested in getting a humungous LCD and that the Sony's were getting towards a reasonable price.

He responded that afficondo's should target Plasma for the black handling and action, and that Sony's were famous for pixelation and drop out. He recommended Panasonic Plasma's as being the best on the market.

I should say that he's the sort of chap who does tremendous research before making most any purchase

Anyway, I popped into the MK Sony Centre earlier - and he was right.
All around the shop they had Shrek showing. It looked stunning on the big 1080p's - really impressive. However; one telly had a film on it and when objects moved quickly along the screen they blurred and pixelated.
I remembered what my mate said about blacks so I looked for that and I couldn't see any detail in shadows or backlit subjects - even black clothes had no detail.

So, if I hadn't seen that one screen and had just looked at the Shrek telly's I'd have thought my mate was talking bollox.

Any views?

[throttlemeister]

Plasma's are often cheaper and have lower resolutions and are typically slower (refresh - ghosting with high speed movements). It's old tech. LCD is typically better. If you want to be able to view full HD in the future, definately LCD as I have yet to see plasma screens supporting that resolution.

[Boxered]

There is also the issue of ""Burn in" images from tv channels who broadcast their logo permanantly on screen.

Steve

[winger]

Well i'm in the plasma camp,but their always loads dearer than an LCD,our TV went bang just before christmas and we set out to buy a plasma,bought a DMTech LCD instead,technically better or worse i haven't a clue but the picture was just as good.

[bikemad99]

Just had a new Panasonic LCD,it is brilliant so far. Checked out various websites ,Which magazine etc. Most of the best buys were Panasonic.

Reg.

[Dog Tyred]

Everybody's gonna have an opinion on this one. Like Reg, my mother recently replaced her 23 year old CRT box with a Panosonic Vierra LCD (32 in). The picture quality is really good off an ariel and probably better than my Sony Bravia, which is about a year old. The picture quality in the shop with an HD feed was truly awesome. Can't wait for them to start transmitting in HD as I refuse to pay for SKY. Here's waiting

With regard to the plasma/lcd question I remember reading some time ago that LCD is a better option for smaller screens, say up to 38in but anything over that, Plasma is better.
Can't say I can comment on that theory though as I only have 32 in


At the end of the day you pays your money.............

[bigblackfalco]

We have a panasonic LXD70 32 inch. The colour rendition is fantastic.... makes Sony Bravia look very clumsy.
If you're going for a plasma, Pioneer screens are the dogs wotsits.
Bailey.

[pbikerharry]

I used to work at a place that did the repairs for all Phillips plasma tv's we got loads back they are really crap. Sony are very good all the tech chaps said they are the best, you pay's your money and all that Sh** Brfore you buy, go onto Play .com just got a 42 inch Tosh Regza all singing and dancing model for 639 nicker including Del it was with me within 3 days very pleased with it,they have all makes and size's

[jivebiker]

Having worked in the Broadcast Television industry for 20 years, specifically in the area of technical quality, I am of the opinion that both plasma and LCD are a long way off the picture quality of CRT screens.

I remember seeing a HD CRT many years ago (about 1990) and the images were truly mindblowing. A week ago I saw the latest the industry has to offer (including a prototype Philips 3D LCD that needs no glasses to view), and was massively underwhelmed.

Of major concern to me is the amount of processing lag and motion blurr on most of the bigger screens. On many there is an associated lip sync error of up to 4 frames!

I would dismiss plasma out of hand due to the limited life span of the screens, and the aforementioned "burn" issues.

Of the LCDs I have seen, only a Panasonic with a glossy screen I saw on holiday last year (about a 27incher) was even remotely acceptable.

Personally, I'm staying with boring old PAL 625 line CRTs as long as I possibly can.

[box-doctor]

I'm not an expert at all - but I bought an LG 42" plasma just over a year ago - it's still going strong & I never get tired of the quality - to me it's great...

Regards from the 'square eyed chubby one' Neil.

[overipe&keen]

And to think it was just me feeling like a Luddite when I thought our new Toshiba 32" LCD was poorer quality than our 24 year old B&O CRT set!!! No one else in the family agrees so I just keep stum now.

[pbikerharry]

Very

[pbikerharry]

Very ture how can you forget the sony Triny screens

[cc mac]

Hear hear, I am with Jivebiker on this one. I looked into buying an LCD before Christmas and I didn't see any lcd or plasma show a good picture on normal transmission. That's why they are usually showing an HD film, to try to give the impression that it is a good picture. They are definately inferior when it comes to handling fast moving images. A step backwards in some respects. I will hang on to my CRT untill I see something which is an improvement on what I already have. I just couldn't con myself into thinking a new LCD would be acceptable.

[f90x]

OK, here is where I upset the applecart. Especially I think with throttlemiester…

Some of this is personal opinion and some of this is professional knowledge. I am a professional audio visual engineer running my own company and also working for the two largest commercial A/V installation companies in the UK.

Plasma, certainly over 37” is the better screen for moving pictures. i.e. transmitted programmes and films on your regular DVD player. While it is true that very few plasmas currently support 1080p (the real hi-def) and those that do are very expensive (4k-ish I think) the fact remains that you shall only be able to experience it with your blue-ray DVD player as that is the only source that will send true 1080p to your screen. Sky intend only to transmit 720p (this is what all the plasma/lcd manufacturers call HD ready) and I think it highly unlikely that that any other broadcast provider will go with the full 1080p either.

LCD, although getting better has a backlit system that does give problems with blacks and any definition within those blacks. You can get 1080p LCD’s right now but again, you can only experience it when watching blue-ray movies on your blue-ray DVD player. Also, in my personal experience (and don’t forget I install literally hundreds of both lcd’s and plasma’s every year and have done for the past 10 year’s…) despite what the technical specs say about refresh rate, LCD shows more ghosting and has a harder time keeping up with fast moving images than plasma does, especially when you start to look at the larger (37 and up) screens. It also has a grainier picture overall compared to plasma.


So… what you will find is that lcd’s being sold as 1080p do have the 1920x1080 resolution panels but are only receiving 720p and 1080i (not to be confused with 1080p) broadcasts and then having to boost the signal to proposed 1080p quality.

In addition, don’t forget that your shiny 1080p lcd TV is currently forced to take the existing lower quality 720p broadcast and try and fill the 1920x1080 panel and unless your set has a quality processor to upgrade the actual image you could end up with a picture of dubious quality. If you stick with a known high street brand you should be ok.

However, having said all that a lot of your satisfaction is purely down to personal taste. Ultimately, if you are happy with the picture you are looking at, no-one can argue with that. We all have different viewing tolerances and so what appears good to one person may appear rubbish to the next.

Personally if I were to buy a new set and there weren't any CRT's available I would have the most expensive Pioneer plasma that I could afford, but when I bought a new TV 18 months ago I purchased a 32” Philips CRT. Why? Because CRT still blows all the other formats into the water and I can’t stand looking at (what I perceive to be) a rubbish picture.

For the record, I do think Pioneer have the best plasmas at the moment but that is not to say the others are not any good. Panasonic are highly recommended and Sony probably makes the best LCD right now. But don’t forget, you might look at them all and come to a completely different conclusion. Also try and get to view your prospective purchase with a transmitted signal and not just some amazingly well produced DVD supplied by the manufacture just to make their product look incredible when set up on an expensive blue-ray machine.

P.S. screen burn on plasmas used to be a major problem but has got a LOT better in recent years. The stupid little icons telling you what channel you watching shouldn’t have any effect these days unless you happen to watch only one channel and leave you TV on 24hrs a day every day. Just don’t leave you pc hooked up to it for hours on end.

Have fun
Steve

Flame away…