LCD versus Plasma TV pricing

[Kosmik]

My next tv will be a LED one

Got me a 32" LCD as part of a cell contract 2 years ago. Nice upgrade from the 54cm tube. Not keen yet to purchase another.

 

[titeroper]

I want Panasonic back



From a plasma perspective, I wish Panasonic would get their act together to bringing us their latest 2009 plasma models with some major fanfare - at this moment the resellers are relegated to bringing in the entry level models in from Europe,Japan, and charging a premium for what should be an excellent plasma tv at a relatively reasonable price.

I think their 37 and 42 inch plasma models would make quite a killing here for the average joe who does not want to spend over 10k for a tv that won't leave them gasping at how bad their dstv now looks...

SD performance is great compared to LCD, great for sports - motion resolution on their NEO pdp panels is over 1000 lines, 100 000 hour panel life, certified for high altitude use, great reviews overseas. Great real ANSI contrast ratio's, great black levels and very little lag for gamers.
IR can be well managed if people take their sets out of "torch-mode".

A read through the major US and UK AV forums do a great job of explaining all these particulars and its useful for us in SA to research our TV purchases using those forums and our own eyes

Just makes me mad that they have lost so much brand presence over the last couple of years...

 

[Nuro]

I would like to know how much more power a plasma tv consumes. With Eskom's planned tariff hikes, I'm much more concerned about power usage than i used to be.

 

[Chunkyfeather]

Geez these arguments are a useful as the whole windows versus Linux arguments, pointless. Both technologies have their place in the world.

 

[SaiyanZ]

I plan on upgrading to a 50"ish Full HD LCD or plasma in the next couple of months. The main use will be PC gaming plus a bit of normal PC use, movies, browsing etc etc. I have floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows in my lounge though so will probably stick to LCD unless I can be convinced otherwise. Have a 32" HD Ready LCD which has served me well for the last 2 years.

 

[titeroper]

I would like to know how much more power a plasma tv consumes. With Eskom's planned tariff hikes, I'm much more concerned about power usage than i used to be.

New 2009 plasma panels consume around 200w, but this depends on how much white is displayed on-screen at the time. Panel size also factors in...

LED and new lcd's etc also vary the backlight using dimming so around 80-120w.

As for power usage per hour use the forums and specs and calculate I guess...

Best advice is to look at reviews of the particular model you wish to find out about - I recommend www.avforums.com: a great UK resource and their reviews are excellent, technical and not shy to decry missing features, poor performance. Their models are more in-line with our tv models.

Some new models also have a sensor that switches off the tv if no-one is in front of it ---dont ask me how, but its there.

 

[NightTimeHornets]

From what I've seen, a plasmas picture seems be a bit duller than an LCD's picture, especially when the TV is in a brightly lit area. So how can it be clearer, have greater contrast, truer blacks and greater colour depth when it looks dull compared to an LCD?

For PC use, which would be better? 50" Full HD plasma or LCD?

Being in a brightly lit area is not the best for Plasma TVs. LCDs perform better in such conditions. I'm sure each TV set will produce a different picture, so these are only general guidlelines.

For PC use i'd recommend an LCD as they display static images better, generally come in higher native resolutions, and wont fall victim to screen burn if you absent mindedly step away for an hour with some questionable website displaying.

 

[Rouxenator]

I got a 48" full HD LCD for less than R10,000 and it is awesome ! The trick is to look beyond the brand crazy bargains. In my case I bought a Logik (house brand of Game) and since my 86cm Logik CRT is still going strong after 3 years I think the LCD was a wise investment.

My advice - go LCD - it is not only better looking and less power hungry than plasma but also cheaper if you shop around.

 

[zamicro]

Why still debate something that will go off the market very soon? The EU has already banned new plasma screens.

 

[die_skim]

I got a 48" full HD LCD for less than R10,000 and it is awesome ! The trick is to look beyond the brand crazy bargains. In my case I bought a Logik (house brand of Game) and since my 86cm Logik CRT is still going strong after 3 years I think the LCD was a wise investment.

My advice - go LCD - it is not only better looking and less power hungry than plasma but also cheaper if you shop around.

Err....I would agree with your statement if I wasn't an enthusiast. Whilst a lot of people will try and get the biggest screen for the least amount of money and be perfectly happy with their purchase for years later, I've found out that the old saying rings true for large panel TVs.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

 

[milomak]

Why still debate something that will go off the market very soon? The EU has already banned new plasma screens.

because you can still get them today?

 

[RanzB]

My first non-CRT TV was a 32" Samsung LCD, and while I was happy with it, when I decided to go bigger, the plasmas seemed to be the way to go. I bought an LG 42" plasma. Awesome quality in pic, only problem is when there's excess light. The glass cover on the TV reflects it a bit too much, but it doesn't happen often, so I don't mind.

 

[Rouxenator]

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Yeah, I probably would not have bought the Logik if it was not for the flawless track record of my 86cm Logik CRT. But I feel that the price is pretty much what LCD prices should be. R9950 got me a 1.2m screen, 3 HDMI inputs, 1 VGA and a couple of composite ones.

I would not go as far as yo say it beats all other panels in terms of display quality, it is after all made in China, but still it has a very impressive picture both for SD TV or HD PC. This is pretty much what most people want in an flat panel.

 

[Kalvaer]

My advice - go LCD - it is not only better looking and less power hungry than plasma but also cheaper if you shop around.

And getting cheaper now that LED is out. 3 weeks ago I bought a 40" Sony Bravia HD LCD for 9K.

When I asked the salesman WTF was up with it. He said that Sony was one of the sponsors for the 2010. In a survey that Sony had done, they found out that while they were the top rated TV, their sales were down because of their pricing. So they have decided on making a 60% cut in pricing to lift their ratings by the time the 2010 WC comes around. How true that story is I don't know but it was an awesome bargain, and the quality is incredible. It blows my Dads Samsung out the water and I am samsung fan

 

[Rouxenator]

Those Bravia screens are unbeatable - I will agree to that. When buying the Logik, the display unit was standing next to a Sony Bravia and you could see the difference in quality. But it was not enough to persuade me otherwise I like alternative and not going with mainstream stuff.

My old and new Logiks :

 

[Kalvaer]

But it was not enough to persuade me otherwise I like alternative and not going with mainstream stuff.

I usually do the same and I was nearly about to get one of the other brands. My wife convinced me to go for it though even though it was smaller in size for the same price, and I am not disappointed. The SD quality with the Bravia 3 engine is awesome. Since we don't have DSTV I'm really happy. Of course using the XBOX on full HD is also a bonus and streaming video through media centre is just as good. The up-scaling (I think that's what its called) on it is lovely.

HEHE over all I'm a very happy chappy

 

[Rouxenator]

DSTV SD looks a bit crappy on a 1.2m screen... I have a LG DVD recorder that does the upscaling to 1080p but still, some content on DSTV seems to be of a lower bitrate than others.

Another thing tat annoys me is when you switch your DSTV to 16:9 ration very few programs actually fill up the screen. In most cases you get black bars all round as they adapt the content on their side to fit from 16:9 inside 4:3 and then my decoder adds black bars on the sides to fit the 4:3 picture on a 16:9 screen !!!

I refuse to pay more of DSTV HD. I am already paying for the content - it is their responsibility to deliver it to me in the highest quality possible.

 

[kenironside]

...And if you have a Full HD LCD, did you know that your motion resolution(the resolution at which a moving object appears) is actually less than that of a HD Ready Plasma. Yes, you have been conned for forking out that extra hard earned cash, for a display that can only display a Full HD image if it is a still image.

Please explain this in more detail?

 

[Tobi-5520]

Before I bought my 50” TV, I was sure that it would be an LCD. But I was surprised (this was early this year) when I started reading and doing research that the “conventional wisdom” that LCDs were far better than plasma was in fact not wisdom at all. I ended up buying a plasma.

+1 Same here - really did my homework and ended up buying the plasma. The biggest negative of the plasma is the power consumption

 

[I am Penguin]

Please explain this in more detail?

Sarcasm dude! Sarcasm. All these fundi's swearing by it that you waste your money if you buy any TRUE HD tv instead of a HD ready TV version (they posibly already own). As if it's their money you spend.