Plasma or LCD?

I think it is quite clear that LCD for now, in the short to medium term future for flat panel technology, is going to be the clear winner - until OLED or SED comes to market and becomes affordable. If I had to buy a 50" flat panel TV right now, plasma will be my choice because of the good contract and lack of motion blur. Of course, price is also going to determine that too.

The technology of plasmas has evolved a lot and burn-in with plasma isn't as big of an issue as it was so many years ago. Nowadays, the only static image on a screen while watching TV, is channel logo and generally the channel logo is only shown for a maximum length of a movie +- 2 hours which is not nearly enough time for burn-in.

But referring to my opening statement, we are going to see 120Hz LCD TVs coming into the market soon in SA. They will be expensive as in the US right now, but issues like motion blur will a thing of the past because of the high refresh rate. Not to mention that there are 240 and 480Hz LCD TVs in the works as we speak, but it is said that the difference between 120, 240, 480Hz is nearly noticeable.

We are also going to see LED backlit LCDs which will give us better contract - deeper blacks. Again, when we see them in SA, they are also going to come at a price.

So all in all, LCD is the clear winner in the short to medium term, but when OLED comes out, we are all going to be blown away by the contract and picture quality if everything that I've heard is to be believed.

It is a tough decision - Plasma or LCD, but for me, it is quality issue rather than how I am going to use it and for large displays, plasma for me is still the winner. I am just afraid that in a couple of years time when I want to upgrade my TV to OLED, 120Hz LCD, etc, that plasma would not make the best seller vs LCD.

Tough decision indeed.
 
Ivork said:
+1 on that. Also your "motion blurring" is most likely digital artifacts from the poor signal that you are feeding in from one of your analog AV ports and D/A conversion process.

I had a good moan about it here and tried to explain http://www.yellow-mini.co.za/blog

.
Click to expand...

While I agree that loss occurs during D/A and A/D conversion, your explanation is somewhat misleading. You can't compare a square wave to a sinusoid. In this case, they work completely different. If it worked like that, we'd have black and white TV.

Rather, the square wave is interpreted as consecutive binary digits. Every 8 periods, say, we have a byte that is representative of the signal over the last 8 periods. If we were to use 10 periods, or 1024 periods, or 1048576 (shorter) periods, we'd get a much more accurate representation of the signal over the last respective periods.

The issue that causes loss comes from the fact that you can't EXACTLY represent a transcendental number digitally. In other words, 0.18238719879127918239171898979823742etc would be approximated to some accuracy in order to be represented digitally. So the less significant digits get dropped. Then when we convert from digital back to analog, there should not be as much loss, because the analog signal is able to represent more (actually, an infinite number, in theory) values. The problem with digital-to-analog conversion is that digital signals often "jump" in value, whereas analog signals like to be "smooth".

And thus ends today's short lecture on the loss effects of A/D and D/A conversion :D
 
Herm said:
This brings up a question/s I've been meaning to ask.
I heard that you don't get full HD till you reach 42" ???

So I've been in the market for a TV over the last year and i thought 42" but then i also heard about the supposed digital broadcasting that's being rolled out.

But now i'm thinking i just got married, and we need to buy couches and tables and crap. So maybe i should just get a 32" for now?

So what do you think get a 32" now and move it to the bedroom later?

And do any of you know of a 32" with a digital tuner?
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Generally Full HD sets are only value for money at the plus 42" range. You do get smaller Full HD sets but in my experience they are enormously expensive. I'm not sure what it is that you're intending to use the tv for (gaming/blu ray/general dstv) but in terms of value for money and general use I'd definately suggest a 32" - 42" HD Ready LCD for now.

If you're a hardcore HD enthusiast rather save the cash and put 15-20k into a fantastic set later on.
 
Going to use it for tv, maybe the odd dvd. Even if i do go for the hd decoder from dstv thats still not full HD. That why i was thinking to just get a small one (that can later move to the room) and the i'll get the proper thing, maybe think of bluray, or maybe even a HTPC.
 
Herm said:
Going to use it for tv, maybe the odd dvd. Even if i do go for the hd decoder from dstv thats still not full HD. That why i was thinking to just get a small one (that can later move to the room) and the i'll get the proper thing, maybe think of bluray, or maybe even a HTPC.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. DSTV don't broadcast in 1080 at the moment anyway so you're right in that respect. I'd go for a Samsung Series 3/4 32" if I were you. Good value for money and the TV is fantastic. If you do take the Series 3 however make sure you find a newer model with 2 anologue inputs.
 
I think the biggest problem at the moment is the fact that MOST of our broadcasts are SD and due to the digital compression archiving on the low resolution SD signals, LCD looks really bad - especially on a Full HD set....unless you have a REAL good upscaling algorithm in your AV amp. DSTV HD looks great on the LCD and Plasma, and at least on Plasma, at the moment SD channels look better on Plasma than on LCD.

As for the Digital progression from Analogue..... don't worry, I have not seen ONE TV with a compatible digital tuner built in. As long as you have a Digital set top box you will be fine. The outputs will most probably only be a monitor out (yellow RCA) and it will not be HD. I see the biggest problem being the Aerial for these set-top boxes - getting it aligned with the signal. You should see the people in USA struggeling at the moment!:D
 
psynapt1k said:
I think the biggest problem at the moment is the fact that MOST of our broadcasts are SD and due to the digital compression archiving on the low resolution SD signals, LCD looks really bad - especially on a Full HD set....unless you have a REAL good upscaling algorithm in your AV amp. DSTV HD looks great on the LCD and Plasma, and at least on Plasma, at the moment SD channels look better on Plasma than on LCD.

As for the Digital progression from Analogue..... don't worry, I have not seen ONE TV with a compatible digital tuner built in. As long as you have a Digital set top box you will be fine. The outputs will most probably only be a monitor out (yellow RCA) and it will not be HD. I see the biggest problem being the Aerial for these set-top boxes - getting it aligned with the signal. You should see the people in USA struggeling at the moment!:D
Click to expand...

The problem is in our Country is that you might as well buy a LCD screen for a PC, because the tuner will be useless. The DVB-T will have encryption. :(

Of course a TV set will have multiple inputs, one for your DVB-T, DVB-S, blu-Ray, and no wait no more plugs for your HD cam. Oh well now we need to buy HD-splitting hub. Then everybody will complain the quality loss and explain that Pioneer with their philips chipset is better.... Money money money... Then we haven't even talked about the HDCP part that locks you in.
 
sn3rd said:
While I agree that loss occurs during D/A and A/D conversion, your explanation is somewhat misleading.

Bla bla bla

And thus ends today's short lecture on the loss effects of A/D and D/A conversion :D
Click to expand...

Lol, thanks for that sn3rd. You are right of course. It was a bit simplistic. I had to explain in simple terms (which I put in the blog a few posts up) to my wife why this new TV was making the grass all smeared etc, and the new tv picture was worse (sitting 3 meters away) than the old decrepit tv we had before.

I had the compounded problem that been CRT (and native analogue), when in digital mode @100hz it was analog in via AV in from the disgusting multichoice decoder - digital - back to analogue for tube output.

I got an upscaler so I play everything through the hdmi port now and it makes a huge difference. On my tv anyway – but it’s not a LCD or Plasma.
 
avr-rulez said:
Plasma prices are dropping sharply now because the EU is banning the sale of Plasma sets. This is a real problem for videophiles.
Click to expand...

They are NOT banning them. They are restricting the high power consumption ones but the modern plasma sets are all Eco friendly and have low power requirements.

The biggest threat to Plasmas is the Global Financial Crisis. Pioneer will stop producing it's range of HT Plasma sets in 2010 and Hitachi has also discontinued it's panel business, for now Panasonic is making panels for the big 3 Japanese
plasma manufacturers.
 
Ivork said:
Lol, thanks for that sn3rd. You are right of course. It was a bit simplistic. I had to explain in simple terms (which I put in the blog a few posts up) to my wife why this new TV was making the grass all smeared etc, and the new tv picture was worse (sitting 3 meters away) than the old decrepit tv we had before.

I had the compounded problem that been CRT (and native analogue), when in digital mode @100hz it was analog in via AV in from the disgusting multichoice decoder - digital - back to analogue for tube output.

I got an upscaler so I play everything through the hdmi port now and it makes a huge difference. On my tv anyway – but it’s not a LCD or Plasma.
Click to expand...

:D
 
Hmm, my point remains:

Cr@p signal in = cr@p picture full of artifacts blurry out.

Sorry multiscum, not paying R500/month for that crompressed to hell pic (because you won't rent more transponder space) on a digital TV in this house.

No SciFi to boot. Replaced with fashion and CH O. No way hozay.
 
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Ivork said:
Hmm, my point remains:

Cr@p signal in = cr@p picture full of artifacts blurry out.

Sorry multiscum, not paying R500/month for that crompressed to hell pic (because you won't rent more transponder space) on a digital TV in this house.

No SciFi to boot. Replaced with fashion and CH O. No way hozay.
Click to expand...

This much I can agree with :D
 
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