Monitor Panel Concerns: I want to know what bit depth I'm buying in a 3D TV

[Axonn]

Hi there folks ::- ).

I am thinking of purchasing this LCD TV

[price is in SEK, don't panic ]
http://www.hifiklubben.se/produkter/platt-tv/led-tv/samsung_ue55es6535_led-tv.htm

Or this Plasma:

http://www.hifiklubben.se/produkter/platt-tv/plasma-tv/panasonic_tx-p50st50y_plasma-tv.htm

The problem I'm facing (other than the age-old question of "Plasma or LCD?"), is that I am unsure if the LCD uses an IPS 8 bit / pixel panel. I think it does, right? Do you know of any TVs which use crappy 6 bits / pixel panels?

Plasma does 8 bits by default, right?

Thank you in advance! ::- ).

 

[Axonn]

*cute bump*

 

[sdifox]

That samsung model number seems to be localised to Sweden. The Plasma at least shows up in UK. Unfortunately, I can't find any specs on colour depth though I assume they are at least 8 bit per colour, if not 12.

See if you find description like true colour or deep colour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth

 

[poofyhairguy]

Go for the ST50. I love mine. LCDs just look terrible during motion in comparison.

 

[Axonn]

So am I to assume that the minimum color depth in TVs is 8 bits?

 

[sdifox]

So am I to assume that the minimum color depth in TVs is 8 bits?

Humm, looks like plasmas are not 24bits after all.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/1374256-gradients-panasonic-plasma.html

 

[Axonn]

I find that pretty hard to believe... especially for an expensive TV.

 

[sdifox]

I find that pretty hard to believe... especially for an expensive TV.

So write to Panasonic and ask? It read like a limitation of plasma technology. I have a panny plasma myself.

looking at the panny website, it does seem they have improved the greyscale gradient, thus the colour performance should be up too.

 

[poofyhairguy]

What matters really is how is the color relative to other TVs. Plasmas are often praised for their rich and accurate color. If seems if color depth was a problem major reviewers would be all over the picture quality compromises it would create when the pros go to calibrate the TVs.

As a general rule, no one should be photoshopping on a TV.

 

[dookulooku]

Plasmas inherently have 1-bit color depth. The sub-pixel can only be "on" or "off", and never in between (well it can, but the transition occurs so fast that it doesn't affect what you see).

However, note the following:

1) For a TV, contrast and black levels are more important than color depth. Remember that you're watching video content on a TV.

2) Plasmas use a combination of PWM and temporal dithering to produce >1-bit color depth.

3) At a distance, the effects of PWM and dithering is largely undetectable to most people for most content. Generally speaking plasmas will still exhibit more banding than other display technologies -- however banding in this newest plasmas is significantly reduced compared to the past.

4) Even though dithering is used to produce darker colors (PWM would result in excessive flickering), plasmas still produce superior shadow details. And it's not just because of the black levels.

At the end of the day, despite the native 1-bit color depth of the panel, a plasma still produces arguably superior color than an LCD? How is this possible? Apparently controlling which colors to display, and the duration of when to display a color in 255 different ways can be more effective than trying to align a crystal in 255 positions.

 

[Axonn]

Hm. Interesting information dookkulooku. Thank you! You made me read up a bit more on how plasma displays work. I guess I can say I'm fairly satisfied with what I read. I'm gonna go for Plasma. Dying technology or not, I do prefer Plasma quality.