LCD vs. Plasma TV

[Vassago1]

My current CRT is toast, and I'm evaluating what's out there as far as flat panels. I think I've narrowed it down to the following models:

Sharp 37" Aquos LCD LC-37D5U or LC-37D7U
Panasonic TH-42PX25U
Pioneer PDP-434CMX

Anyone have any experience with these models? The TV / Monitor won't have a lot of video games played on it (that's what my PC is for), and I do watch a fair amount of TV, including sports, news, and plenty of movies, either with VoD or DVD.

All seem like pretty solid models, with the only obvious difference being the technology of the Sharp. I've read up as much as I could and while both camps seem to be full of their respective fanboys, I still can't decide. LCD seems like the better long-term option, but I've read about problems with standard programming and rapid motion / scene changes. Plasma, I'll always be paranoid about burn in, but the size / $ seems a lot better.

Any thoughts?

 

[AbAbber2k]

Look into a Samsung.

 

[MrDudeMan]

i have a 42" plasma and i love it. dont get an LCD TV IMO...they are too expensive for their size compared to other types of TVs. plus, plasma lasts a lot longer at this point and it is brighter if you get a good one. the spec sheets can be found online to confirm this.

 

[Crucial]

2 years and counting for my Panasonic plasma. I love it. I play XBOX and my family leaves stuff paused all the time and I have NO burn in at all. Works awesome as a Windows Media Center PC.

You will not go wrong with the Panasonics.

 

[royaldank]

Visit here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ for info on televisions. Tons of threads about most any tv.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
i have a 42" plasma and i love it. dont get an LCD TV IMO...they are too expensive for their size compared to other types of TVs. plus, plasma lasts a lot longer at this point and it is brighter if you get a good one. the spec sheets can be found online to confirm this.

LOL! plasma last longer? WTH did you hear that?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: blazert40

Originally posted by: Bigsm00th
i have a 42" plasma and i love it. dont get an LCD TV IMO...they are too expensive for their size compared to other types of TVs. plus, plasma lasts a lot longer at this point and it is brighter if you get a good one. the spec sheets can be found online to confirm this.

LOL! plasma last longer? WTH did you hear that?

its all over the place that ive seen. older ones dont last as long, but newer ones last up to 60-70k hours AFAIK.

edit: maybe 60-70k was a bit high...to be honest, i dont remember exactly, but i know for sure the average is well over 30k. at that point it doesnt matter because you will buy a new TV before you use it for 30k hours.

 

[Crucial]

60,000 hours isn't unheard of. Thats still only the half brightness ratings. Thats a lot of tv watching.

 

[MrDudeMan]

oh, and LCDs dont have 100% color representation at the edges/corners. DLP and plasma looks better all around IMO. LCD is superior for a computer monitor, but not as a TV.

 

[777php]

LCD tv lifespans can go as long as 80,000 hours

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Crucial
60,000 hours isn't unheard of. Thats still only the half brightness ratings. Thats a lot of tv watching.

ok, so i wasnt smoking crack then. i knew it was up there pretty high. there is a PDF floating around that shows the technical reasons plasma technology is superior in many ways to LCD technology as a TV. it displays white better, brighter on average and better contrast ratio, etc. plasmas make more heat and weigh more, however, and to some people that matters.

 

[Baked]

Sound & Vision did a write up on the two formats.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: 777php
LCD tv lifespans can go as long as 80,000 hours

is that newer ones or older ones? i didnt think it was that long but i could obviously be wrong. either way, thats way longer than 90% of people will even own that TV. 80k hours is like 8 hours a day for 30 years.

 

[IGBT]

..I've read that over time plasma looses brightness..luminous may drop over 50% after the equivalent of ten years usage. Back lightining on LCD's has an MTBI of 60k hours which works out to aprox. 20 years of service between failures...

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: 777php
LCD tv lifespans can go as long as 80,000 hours

The panels can. However, the CCFL's do not last nearly that long. Go directly to the CCFL manufacturers to see those specs.

In theory, the backlighting is replaceable. In practice, replacing them costs as more than buying an entirely new panel.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: IGBT
..I've read that over time plasma looses brightness..luminous may drop over 50% after the equivalent of ten years usage. Back lightining on LCD's has an MTBI of 60k hours which works out to aprox. 20 years of service between failures...

that happens with LCDs also.

that article posted by baked is well worth the read.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: IGBT
..I've read that over time plasma looses brightness..luminous may drop over 50% after the equivalent of ten years usage. Back lightining on LCD's has an MTBI of 60k hours which works out to aprox. 20 years of service between failures...

Currently, backlighting on LCD's goes about 20k hours before reaching 1/2 brightness. The latest generation of long life CCFL's have just over doubled this. NEC is a pioneer in this field:

http://www.nelt.co.jp/nhe_hp/cfl/cfl.htm

As you can see, they've finally been able to reach the 50k hour mark before reaching 1/2 brightness.

Currently, the vast majority of 1st tier plasmas are rated for 60k hour halflifes (the time it takes to reach 1/2 brightness). Panasonic just announced their new 100k hour panels.

 

[IGBT]

Text


The lifespan of plasma TVs is measured relative to the half-life of its phosphor gases. Half-life is the point at which plasma manufacturers posit that the picture brilliance has diminished enough to make a very noticeable difference in picture quality (and possibly merit replacement). Half-life, then, is the true halfway point in the lifespan of the product. Since these gases decay at a constant rate, the color intensity of your TV picture will decay at a rate equal to that of its phosphors. Think of this as phosphoric dissipation. Beginning the moment you turn your plasma TV on, the phosphors encased within its screen begin to slowly dissipate, so less and less of the total phosphoric content is available for ignition. This affects the display's brightness and color saturation levels. After 1000 hours of use, the plasma monitor should have retained about 94% of its original brightness level. After 15,000 to 20,000 hours, the monitor should measure about 68% of its out-of-the-box brightness. Which is to say, about 68% of the phosphors in the TV will be ignited to produce an image. Much also depends upon the contrast ratio setting used to view the unit. If you want a plasma TV to last longer, simply decrease the CONTRAST option in the menu settings. If you tweak the CONTRAST to 100%, you should expect to burn its phosphors out at an increased rate.

As for the specific life spans of individual plasma display units, most manufacturers contend that their TVs last approximately 30,000 hours before reaching their half-lives under "normal" viewing conditions (i.e., with the CONTRAST set at around 50%). Recently, several manufacturers, most notably Sony and Panasonic, have begun to claim that their newest plasma display panels now have half-lives of 60,000 hours. I, for one, am a bit skeptical of such assertions, if only because this would represent a 100% increase in the life of the product. While I realize that much is being done to increase the life spans of plasma TVs (such as increasing the resiliency of green phosphors), I'll believe these figures when I see them achieved in real life, not just theoretically.

 

[Bassyhead]

Originally posted by: Baked
Sound & Vision did a write up on the two formats.

Good read. I liked this line:

We each brought some of our own reference DVDs and D-VHS tapes to check out, and as a final torture test, we watched a few minutes of analog cable TV.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: IGBT
Text


The lifespan of plasma TVs is measured relative to the half-life of its phosphor gases. Half-life is the point at which plasma manufacturers posit that the picture brilliance has diminished enough to make a very noticeable difference in picture quality (and possibly merit replacement). Half-life, then, is the true halfway point in the lifespan of the product. Since these gases decay at a constant rate, the color intensity of your TV picture will decay at a rate equal to that of its phosphors. Think of this as phosphoric dissipation. Beginning the moment you turn your plasma TV on, the phosphors encased within its screen begin to slowly dissipate, so less and less of the total phosphoric content is available for ignition. This affects the display's brightness and color saturation levels. After 1000 hours of use, the plasma monitor should have retained about 94% of its original brightness level. After 15,000 to 20,000 hours, the monitor should measure about 68% of its out-of-the-box brightness. Which is to say, about 68% of the phosphors in the TV will be ignited to produce an image. Much also depends upon the contrast ratio setting used to view the unit. If you want a plasma TV to last longer, simply decrease the CONTRAST option in the menu settings. If you tweak the CONTRAST to 100%, you should expect to burn its phosphors out at an increased rate.

As for the specific life spans of individual plasma display units, most manufacturers contend that their TVs last approximately 30,000 hours before reaching their half-lives under "normal" viewing conditions (i.e., with the CONTRAST set at around 50%). Recently, several manufacturers, most notably Sony and Panasonic, have begun to claim that their newest plasma display panels now have half-lives of 60,000 hours. I, for one, am a bit skeptical of such assertions, if only because this would represent a 100% increase in the life of the product. While I realize that much is being done to increase the life spans of plasma TVs (such as increasing the resiliency of green phosphors), I'll believe these figures when I see them achieved in real life, not just theoretically.

That is correct, merely out of date.

 

[IGBT]

Text

Energy-Saving and Ecological LCD TV
The power consumption of an LCD TV is less than 2/3 of that of a similar size CRT TV. This contributes to the reduction of CO2 emission when the electricity is generated and as a result helps to limit global warming. LCD TV is the trend for today and tomorrow and helps to reduce CO2 emission produced by the generation of electricity.

LCD TV Provides Long Use
The backlight life of LCD TV is approximately 60,000 hours under Standard Mode (unlike PDP, which has a 20,000 hour backlight life) and so lasts for 20 years when viewed in 8 hours per day. The usable life of LCD TV is longer than CRT TV and Plasma TV. Replacing the backlight brings back the same brightness and continues the life of LCD TV. Thus the ultra-long-term use of LCD panel is almost long-lasting and limitless.

 

[Connoisseur]

Is there an advantage to DLP's when thrown in the mix? I've seen reviews swing both ways so I'm just curious. How is the sharpness/color/contrast as opposed to LCD's and plasmas? how bout price?

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: IGBT
Text

Energy-Saving and Ecological LCD TV
The power consumption of an LCD TV is less than 2/3 of that of a similar size CRT TV. This contributes to the reduction of CO2 emission when the electricity is generated and as a result helps to limit global warming. LCD TV is the trend for today and tomorrow and helps to reduce CO2 emission produced by the generation of electricity.

LCD TV Provides Long Use
The backlight life of LCD TV is approximately 60,000 hours under Standard Mode (unlike PDP, which has a 20,000 hour backlight life) and so lasts for 20 years when viewed in 8 hours per day. The usable life of LCD TV is longer than CRT TV and Plasma TV. Replacing the backlight brings back the same brightness and continues the life of LCD TV. Thus the ultra-long-term use of LCD panel is almost long-lasting and limitless.

Yeah, Sharp's propaganda is pretty clear. Pretty common for LCD manufacturers. You can find plasma propaganda from plasma manufacturers too.

 

[NightCrawler]

I wouldn't buy either, to much money for to few pixels. If your going to spend $1000 just buy a high def CRT which can actually do 1920 x 1080.

If you go big screen get a CRT or DLP rear projector.

For front projector once agian the CRT or DLP is the better choice and the CRT will be cheaper and have awesome black.

 

[ribbon13]

Samsung LT-P468W

Specs