LCD or Plasma?

[keith_henson]

Afternoon all,

I am on the hunt for a 1080p resolution tv, at least 2 HDMI slots, DVI, RGB, and the such like, I have a good idea as to what brand to go for, but, someone please bottom out teh arguement that the office are having - what are the advantages of LCD of plasma and vice versa, and what are the disadvantages? Any experiences of YD'ers with these new fangled tv's would be grand

Any help would be excellent as I dont want to feck up spending a wadge of cash on something that im not going to be impressed with (i am a self confessed geek - but never got into the plasma/LCD battles)

Thanks

Keith

[tootricky]

LCD is pretty good up to 37", Plasma above that. My housemate just got given a 52" LCD and it looks a little blocky to me. That said, he downloaded an HD version of 300 on his XBox 360 and it looked pretty good.

All this will be superseded () soon any way with OLED and new CRT technology. The new CRT technology is pretty exciting - contrast ratios far in excess of LCD and plasma, practically unlimited size and only a few centimetres thick

[Scuttler]

My understanding is like Too Tricky said. LCD <=37" Plasma>37".

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by tootricky

All this will be superseded () soon any way with OLED and new CRT technology.

How soon is that? I have been contemplating the same question as Keith and thought I might have a little look after Xmas ..... perhaps I should wait a little longer.

Mal

[Scuttler]

Originally Posted by tootricky

The new CRT technology is pretty exciting - , only a few centimetres thick

What's happened to the tube then?

[lloydwatkin]

Originally Posted by tootricky

All this will be superseded () soon any way with OLED and new CRT technology. The new CRT technology is pretty exciting - contrast ratios far in excess of LCD and plasma, practically unlimited size and only a few centimetres thick

We had a talk in the department about the new CRT TVs from a guy from toshiba, looks awesome. Although they've been promised for years and still haven't made it to the shops yet!

[tootricky]

Originally Posted by Mal Bridgeman

How soon is that? I have been contemplating the same question as Keith and thought I might have a little look after Xmas ..... perhaps I should wait a little longer.

Mal

Not really sure. The first models are starting to filter through but are probably ridiculously expensive!

Originally Posted by Scuttler

What's happened to the tube then?

An electron gun for each pixel. Search for Samsung Ultra-Thin CRT.

(SED) (Surface-Conduction Electron-Emitter Display) A thin CRT technology developed by Canon and Toshiba that is based on field emission technology (FED). Announced in 2002, SED TVs only a few centimeters thick are expected in the 2007-2008 time frame.

Using millions of low voltage surface-conduction electron-emitters (one for each pixel) on the cathode plate and regular CRT-like phosphors on the glass anode plate, the SED display uses a third of the power of plasma displays. SED prototypes at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas demonstrated remarkable clarity; however, LCD and plasma technologies are also improving. Due to legalities over sharing licensed technology relating to carbon nanotube emitters, Canon announced in early 2007 that it would buy out Toshiba's stake in the SED venture

[Scuttler]

Ooh...so Canon own the patent in its' entirety now.......Ouch....those babies are gonna be mega megabucks!!!!

[tootricky]

Originally Posted by Scuttler

Ooh...so Canon own the patent in its' entirety now.......Ouch....those babies are gonna be mega megabucks!!!!

It's interesting, especially as, from my investigations, it seems that Samsung are leading the market with this.

[Justin Owen]

Having just gone through four High Def TV's in the last three weeks you have to ask yourself a load of questions!

Firstly, what hi-def content are you looking at using?

If you're primarily into gaming you might want to consider an LCD as they give a slightly sharper image and have less screen burn/image retention issues...

If you're after something around 42" for general use i.e. a bit of everything, then I wouldn't touch an LCD and you should be looking at a plasma, but you still have a load of things to consider...

Unless you're sitting on top of the set, you don't need a 1080p set. Sky HD uses 1080i and most 360/PS3 games use 720p for the games themselves. The best plasma you can buy at 42" is the Pioneer 428XD and its a 1024*768 set.

I got what's considered the next best, the Panasonic PZ70 which is 1080p Full HD. Pioneer are bringing out full HD next year, and that, combined with the Pioneer costing around £400 more pushed me to the Panasonic.

Plasma gives a much better picture on standard def sources, almost the same as a standard def screen - put an SD source into a 42" LCD and most people are in for a shock! Looks awful!

Another thing to consider - and this one really makes me laugh where HD is concerned - most people will be buying HD for Bluray/HD-DVD...

HD movies are encoded in 24fps. Apart from the latest LCD's (Sharp XL2 range, I had two knackered ones and there's no more stock till next year) and the Pioneer Plasmas, most TV's can't handle this and upscale the frequency to 60Hz. Result is dropped frames and jerky motion when films pan slowly. Commonly referred to as judder-vision. It doesn't bother some people, other people it drives up the wall... (PS - The PZ70 handles 24fps very well but its not true 24fps).

All in all, and sorry for the novel, if I'd have known the trouble I was going to have with three faulty LCD's and know what I know now about the 24fps issue, I wouldn't have bothered upgrading... Or I'd have got a cheap 37" LCD just for the 360.

Hope that helps!?

PS - It's also rumoured Toshiba are dropping the flat screen CRT technology... One day LCD will probably do a good job, but it isn't there yet by a long shot!