Plasma vs LCD

duderoo

duderoo

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I am looking to buy a Sony Plasma or LCD and have noticed they have other options like LCD, Grand Wega and Bravia. Can anyone offer any advice on what is the best to go for?
Budget = R20 000 but possibly more if it is worth the money.
 
I'd say LCD. But don't overlook rear projection TV's, they bulky but they still the best for you if you working with only 20k. Think you can get a 157cm
 
Rear projection I would not want......quality ain't there......ok lets say maybe R30 000.
 
42" Grand Wega = less than R20K. HD ready. Brilliant image.

This is rear projection but higher quality than Plasma or LCD in the same price range.
 
My boss owns both a plasma and an lcd; he says the lcd is better; although I am not convinced.

But then don't listen to me, I own a 54cm JVC curved screen from HiFi corp.
 
it all depends on what you want to use it for, but things are leaning more toward LCD, except pricewise

LCD has some issues with producing decent blacks, which can be a problem if you have a proper tv room, which is completely dark. On the other hand LCD doesn't reflect light at all, which makes it brilliant choice for well lit rooms, you can see the screen perfectly even if direct sunlight shines at it. Also LCD has usually higher resolution making it suitable for PC screen as well, the new LCDs go up to 1920x1200 or something like that.

LCD can reproduce worse image than plasmas with SDTV, you might need to buy a decent video processor to work around this. This is not deficiency of the LCD but rather deficiency of the source.

Overal LCD can potentially produce higher quality picture with no reflections, plasmas suffer from reflections almost like the normal TVs, they have lower resolution which makes them unusable for PC (for work, not for movies), quality tends to be somewhat better with SDTV sources, although that is a bit questionable.

stay away from rear projection crap, they are useless, absolute waste of money, don't understand why people buying it, just to show up probably, when the tv is off

[EDIT] LCD do not suffer from permanent burn in at all, you can leave the same picture for a week, no problem, while plasmas do suffer big time. LCD can catch some ghosting if you have a static picture for a while, but the ghosting disappears a little while after you change the image (minutes), in other words it is not permanent, like on plasmas
 
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swordfish1 said:
stay away from rear projection crap, they are useless, absolute waste of money, don't understand why people buying it, just to show up probably, when the tv is off
Click to expand...

complete cr@p... sorry swordfish1, but you don't know what you are talking about. A R20K Sony Grand Wega will outperform a Plasma of the same price and an LCD costing 50% more. The only real disadvantage of these sets is the cost of lamp replacement. They take up the same amount of space as a Plasma on a stand, contast is better than LCD panel, refresh rate is higher, and brightness is much higher.
 
arf9999 said:
complete cr@p... sorry swordfish1, but you don't know what you are talking about. A R20K Sony Grand Wega will outperform a Plasma of the same price and an LCD costing 50% more. The only real disadvantage of these sets is the cost of lamp replacement. They take up the same amount of space as a Plasma on a stand, contast is better than LCD panel, refresh rate is higher, and brightness is much higher.
Click to expand...
not sure what are you talking about, but I am yet to see a rear projection tv that is worth seeing, if you are talking about LCD projection TV that is a different story, although I will still prefer normal LCD compared to that, because of its size (you can hang it on the wall) and because it is maintenance free.
 
swordfish1 said:
not sure what are you talking about, but I am yet to see a rear projection tv that is worth seeing, if you are talking about LCD projection TV that is a different story, although I will still prefer normal LCD compared to that, because of its size (you can hang it on the wall) and because it is maintenance free.
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most rpj tvs are LCD or DLP based nowdays.
 
arf9999 said:
most rpj tvs are LCD or DLP based nowdays.
Click to expand...
right, maybe in USA yes, I hardly see any LCD or DLP based projection tvs in the ordinary shops, like makro, stax, game, hifi, or they just look as bad as the old projection tvs, so I have just ignored them
 
swordfish1 said:
right, maybe in USA yes, I hardly see any LCD or DLP based projection tvs in the ordinary shops, like makro, stax, game, hifi, or they just look as bad as the old projection tvs, so I have just ignored them
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hence my statement that you don't know what you are taliking about;)

Seriously tho' the old CRT based projectors are being phased out and are only found in places where the merchandisers know f#ckall about technology and only look at price..."makro, stax, game, hifi"...
 
arf9999 said:
hence my statement that you don't know what you are taliking about;)

Seriously tho' the old CRT based projectors are being phased out and are only found in places where the merchandisers know f#ckall about technology and only look at price..."makro, stax, game, hifi"...
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so do you order it from USA? Go to hifi and you will see dozens of those "old" projection TVs and none of the new ones ...

what's the point looking at models that are not available in SA to begin with?
 
Go to Hirsch's, Digital Experience, Sounds Great, Cat's Digital, New World, Sound and Image, Electrovision (maybe), etc...

LCD projectors are available from Samsung, Sony, LG (I think). DLP from Toshiba and Samsung.

Sony has a range from 42" to 60" of Grand Wega... Probably the best available ATM. For the price of a 40" LCD panel, you can get a 50" or even a 60" LCD projector.

http://www.sony.co.za/cas.asp?DTID=1&CID=49&SID=219
http://www.samsung.com/za/products/television/dlpprojectiontv/sp_61l3hr.asp
http://za.lge.com/md/product/prodca...00000003&categoryLevel=3&productId=1100000052
 
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arf9999 said:
Go to Hirsch's, Digital Experience, Sounds Great, Cat's Digital, New World, Sound and Image, Electrovision (maybe), etc...

LCD projectors are available from Samsung, Sony, LG (I think). DLP from Toshiba and Samsung.

Sony has a range from 42" to 60" of Grand Wega... Probably the best available ATM. For the price of a 40" LCD panel, you can get a 50" or even a 60" LCD projector.

http://www.sony.co.za/cas.asp?DTID=1&CID=49&SID=219
http://www.samsung.com/za/products/television/dlpprojectiontv/sp_61l3hr.asp
http://za.lge.com/md/product/prodca...00000003&categoryLevel=3&productId=1100000052
Click to expand...
thanks for the info, but do they actually have them in stock, so I can go there and see 10+ different LCD/DLP projection TVs on the floor lined up in a row so I can compare them, like in hifi corp for example? Or they just pretend that they can get them for me if I order ...
 
duderoo said:
I am looking to buy a Sony Plasma or LCD and have noticed they have other options like LCD, Grand Wega and Bravia. Can anyone offer any advice on what is the best to go for?
Budget = R20 000 but possibly more if it is worth the money.
Click to expand...

As an owner of the Hitachi PMA400E HD plasma, I can tell you to stick to a plasma set if you want anything bigger than 32 inches. The colours on my set are superior to any LCD I've seen anywhere.

Secondly, if you want an HD set you're gonna have to pay more than R20K.
FYI, a 60 Inch HD Panasonic, retails for R120.000 at present and boasts a
resolution of 1920by1080. Most sub R25K plasma sets are Extended Definition sets - ie a little over DVD resolution.

Furthermore look for an HDCP 1.2 HDMI port on your set. Although studios have said they will probably allow HD output over component cables for the new generation HD-DVD players - your best bet is to buy a plasma with
such an input. A res of 1024 at least is necessary for HD, but a true HD
plasma will have a native resolution of 1920x1080. So far I haven't seen a single set like this in SA, except one which retailed for R120K.

Your other bet is to import from a place like B&H Photo Video, sure you'll pay tax and DHL but the overall price will be less than what's charged here, significantly and you'll get a newer model, maybe even full HD, or at least 720p.

LCDs are nice but only for sub 32 inch sets. For anything bigger go for plasma and in case you want HD and have a large room, distances over 4meters for
42/32 inch plasma/LCD HD sets do not make a significant difference between HD and ED.

If you're on a smaller budget and are willing to wait, that's probably better, plasma sets should drop in price very soon, as HD-DVD becomes more
mainstream.

Oh and beware of the Philips Ambilight, they're being withdrawn from the States because of fire hazard issues.
 
PeterCH said:
Your other bet is to import from a place like B&H Photo Video, sure you'll pay tax and DHL but the overall price will be less than what's charged here, significantly and you'll get a newer model, maybe even full HD, or at least 720p.
Click to expand...
But remember that Duty + Excise on televisions = 39% of FOB price, and then you pay 14% on the total. Also shipping a 30-40 kg panel from the US is going to cost plenty. And if it is faulty, you have no local warranty. (Just some things to keep in mind). caveat emptor

LCDs are nice but only for sub 32 inch sets. For anything bigger go for plasma and in case you want HD and have a large room, distances over 4meters for
42/32 inch plasma/LCD HD sets do not make a significant difference between HD and ED.
Click to expand...
By ED I suppose you mean 1366 x 768 pixels. For most people this going to be ok, even for "High definition". HDMI input is nice to have, but it looks like both HD-DVD and Blu-ray will support HD over analogue component, so it isn't really going to cause a problem in future.

I don't entirely agree with you about LCD tho', 7th generation LCDs (the latest from Samsung, Sony, and Sharp), are just as good in terms of colour reproduction and offer better resolution than equivalent Plasma screens up to 40/42" (and shortly there will be 50"+ models that offer the same quality). The main disadvantage is their pricing - about 30% more expensive.
Full HD Plasmas (1920 x 1080 resolution) are very rare at sizes less than 50", purely because it is extremely difficult to make the plasma cells small enough to enable the resolution in smaller panels. Most 42" and 50" "HD-ready" plasma panels are effectively XGA resolution - with around 1024x768 pixels and an internal scaling system.
 
I would recommend going for a LG plasma tv. I got the 51" 10000:1 contrast monitor, and it really is nice. Hung it on the wall with a glass wall directly behind you when you watch, but glare has never been a problem. This is also due to the fact that the mounting bracket has a tilt function that can direct the monitor away from the glare.

Picture qualtiy is excellent. Especially local content like DSTV, which i was very surprised abt, produces very good quality images. It's got almost exact HD compatibility, so no upgrading come 2010 :D...

As for price, the 41" gives you really good value for money, retailing at ard R16-18g these days, while the 51" could set you back anywhere from 30g to 36g
 
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