45" LCD or 50" Plasma

[Sleestack]

Looking at putting a TV in my audio room. I'm looking at 2 TVs:

Pioneer PRO1130HD plasma TV and the Sharp Aquos LC45GD7U.

I already have a 30" Aquos and love it.

The size difference is close enough that I am willing to go with the smaller LCD. I am aslo leanning toward the LCD b/c it can do 1080P.

Any thoughts on picking one over the other (other than because of size)?

 

[Duffinator]

A friend of mine has the 45" Sharp and loves it. He has two complaints about it though. First he claims to see some slight blurring with fast moving action sequences and second is the viewing from the side. I have not sat and watched a whole movie or football game on the set and have not noticed any blurring from my limited viewing. The black levels can be an issue as well but not an issue with me. I'm sure you are already familiar with this criticisms with your current Sharp so that should not be a problem for you. The positives are stunningly sharp images and color. You should be able to get the Sharp for $4k or less at Fry's or Onecall. I've always favored LCD over Plasma because of some bad experiences with Plasma's and burn in for NEC sets in our trade room at work. Probably not an issue at home but those images are BURNED into my memory.

 

[Sleestack]

A friend of mine has the 45" Sharp and loves it. He has two complaints about it though. First he claims to see some slight blurring with fast moving action sequences and second is the viewing from the side. I have not sat and watched a whole movie or football game on the set and have not noticed any blurring from my limited viewing. The black levels can be an issue as well but not an issue with me. I'm sure you are already familiar with this criticisms with your current Sharp so that should not be a problem for you. The positives are stunningly sharp images and color. You should be able to get the Sharp for $4k or less at Fry's or Onecall. I've always favored LCD over Plasma because of some bad experiences with Plasma's and burn in for NEC sets in our trade room at work. Probably not an issue at home but those images are BURNED into my memory.

I think you may be referring to the 6U Aquos. It is avaible for about $4K. The 7u is abit pricer, but I'm not sure it has better specs. I haven't seen the blurring on my 30" 6U, even when I use it for video games. I'm not sold on plasma b/c it has a lower native resolution and can't do 1080P. It also seems ato blur more with motion than LCDs, but that may just be my limited experience.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Time after time, in shootouts, plasma bests LCD. The image from a plasma simply seems to be better. This is especially true with any off-axis viewing that is done. You move to the side a bit, and whatever is going on with LCD seems to deteriorate the image.

While I love LCD technology, I still think that unless you are going to be using your display for some seriously harmful viewing (lots of video games) then plasma is the better choice.

Especially considering that the Pioneer Elite is, in my opinion, the best looking plasma on the market at any size. They simply have a phenomenal image that will blow everything else away, plasma or LCD.

 

[edwelly]

this may or may not help...
I was dead set on a Hitachi LCD 50". I was going to get it on a Friday night. On the Wed. night prior, I stopped by a local Hi-Fi shop and went home with a Samsung 56" DLP. For me, there was no comparsion. the DLP has a much quicker refresh rate and the blacks are awesome.
Regardless, good luck!

 

[Sleestack]

How about the fact that the current Plasmas have a lower native resolution and don't do 1080p?

 

[Sheep]

How about the fact that the current Plasmas have a lower native resolution and don't do 1080p?

It seems as if you have already made up your mind?

Buy it for the features you want.


Sheep

 

[Sleestack]

It seems as if you have already made up your mind?

Buy it for the features you want.


Sheep

I haven't. I'm asking for input on whether people thnk these are important features. The 1080Pseems important, but this won't be a main TV anyway. It will act as a monitor in my audio room and be used for the occasional music DVD or ESPN.

 

[Duffinator]

How about the fact that the current Plasmas have a lower native resolution and don't do 1080p?

If it was my primary display for movies that would be a deal breaker. But for a secondary display not as big a deal for me. It won't accept a 1080P signal, only 1080i and then deinterlace it to 1080P.

 

[Sleestack]

It won't accept a 1080P signal, only 1080i and then deinterlace it to 1080P.

What won't? Thanks in advance.

 

[Duffinator]

The Sharp 45". Bmxtrix and I have discussed this issue several times. It will only accept a 1080i signal. So if you are going to connect a PC to the Sharp your video card will either have to output a 1080i or 720P (768P or whatever as well) signal. There are some projectors and video scalers that will accept a 1080P input but no monitors that I know of.

 

[Sleestack]

The Sharp 45". Bmxtrix and I have discussed this issue several times. It will only accept a 1080i signal. So if you are going to connect a PC to the Sharp your video card will either have to output a 1080i or 720P (768P or whatever as well) signal. There are some projectors and video scalers that will accept a 1080P input but no monitors that I know of.

Hmmm. So it won't benefit from future HD formats that are 1080P?

 

[Duffinator]

Hmmm. So it won't benefit from future HD formats that are 1080P?

Correct. But from what I've read initial HD formats will probably only output 1080i. Now if you want to get clever you can find an original Sharp 45" with the AVC and put a splitter in between the AVC and monitor. The panel on that model will accept a 1080P input because that's what the AVC outputs. I posted some info on that a few months ago and there is a huge thread on avsforum about that option on the Sharp 45".

 

[Sleestack]

Thanks.

I'm still a bit confused. Ultimately, will the 1080p on the Sharp look like a true 1080p signal? All things being equal, how much better will it look than a 1080i signal?

 

[Duffinator]

All LCD panels, at least that I know of, only display a progressive scan image. The trick I just mentioned is only available because Sharp has the external box that gives you a direct input to the panel. I think a direct source of 1080P will probably look better than 1080i but that really remains to be seen. In all devices you have a scaler and deinterlacer and the quality of them can vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. The Sharp has a good deinterlacer and I've heard no complaints about it yet. But ideally you want your display to accept a 1080P input so you have options of the deinterlacing instead of being stuck with what the display manufacturer gives you. One comment I read why they are not making displays that accept a 1080P input is because there are no input devices that output 1080P. So you get the chicken/egg dilema.

 

[Duffinator]

1080P will almost always look better than 1080i. The Sharp is a terrific monitor, go for it. Or you could wait another month or so and get the 65".

 

[Sleestack]

Thanks for all the help. Last questions.

The plasma does 720p and 1080i right?

With future HD formats still have 720p and 1080i formats available? I guess I'm wondering how long it will be before 1080p is widely used? If its 6 months, 1080p is important to me. If its 2 years, its not.

What about the XBOX360?

Are plasmas ok for the occasional video game?

Right now, I'm thinking that the Pioneer plasma will be the better choice b/c the TV will primarily be used to run ESPN and the occasional movie. I just want to avoid buying something that will be obsolete in the very near future or not allow me to watch future HD broadcasting.

 

[Lincoln]

I have a Sharp 37" LCD (6U series) and I like it but if I had to do it all over again I'd go Plasma (Pioneer or Panasonic). What I don't like about the LCD is the black levels are horrible (mine ISF calibrated and this helped), the motion artifacts are almost unbearable on sports, the off angle viewing is terrible. Once properly calibrated the picture is not vivid due to an attempt to make the blacks as good as they can get, now the picture is pretty awesome and has depth that really draws you into the scenes but it doesn't "pop" like a plasma or CRT can.

 

[BMXTRIX]

The plasma does 720p and 1080i right?

With future HD formats still have 720p and 1080i formats available? I guess I'm wondering how long it will be before 1080p is widely used? If its 6 months, 1080p is important to me. If its 2 years, its not.

What about the XBOX360?

Are plasmas ok for the occasional video game?

Yes, all plasmas that I know of, accept 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i except for a few cheap models that may not accept 720p. By cheap, I mean, sub $2K models.

It is very important that you understand the just because a display IS 1080p native, does not ensure that it accepts a 1080p input! As crazy as it sounds, most 1080p displays do not actually accept 1080p input resolution which means that when HD discs come along with 1080p capability, the display will NOT be able to accept it.

Go figure.

For that matter, just because a display isn't 1080p doesn't mean that it won't accept a 1080p input into it. It really depends on the manufacturer and the processing they put on board.

BOTTOM LINE: There is not much in the way of 1080p content right now and while HD discs MAY offer some films at 1080/24p, those players will likely have internal conversion to 1080i or 720p. We are likely to have only 1080i and 720p broadcast television for the next 10+ years and I consider 1080p to be nice, but not nearly as important as a quality display with an excellent image.

Keep in mind that most front projection systems with a 10 foot image use 1280x720 displays, not 1920x1080. That's over twice the size of what you are talking about, and it is enough to make them very happy.

Video gaming is fine on a plasma as long as you are aware of burn-in issues. You just don't want to leave a stagnant image up on the screen for extensive periods. A couple hours? Fine! All day? Not a good idea. Many games these days are designed with lower contrast areas for score or areas that don't stay on screen all the time. It helps to prevent burn-in for sure.

For the first hundred hours or so of use you really want to put the plasma through a 'break-in' period as well which will help to eliminate burn-in issues.

Personally? I think plasma simply delivers a better image for the money. That's what is really important to me.

 

[Sleestack]

Thanks. That really helped. I think I'm set on the Pioneer.

Yes, all plasmas that I know of, accept 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i except for a few cheap models that may not accept 720p. By cheap, I mean, sub $2K models.

It is very important that you understand the just because a display IS 1080p native, does not ensure that it accepts a 1080p input! As crazy as it sounds, most 1080p displays do not actually accept 1080p input resolution which means that when HD discs come along with 1080p capability, the display will NOT be able to accept it.

Go figure.

For that matter, just because a display isn't 1080p doesn't mean that it won't accept a 1080p input into it. It really depends on the manufacturer and the processing they put on board.

BOTTOM LINE: There is not much in the way of 1080p content right now and while HD discs MAY offer some films at 1080/24p, those players will likely have internal conversion to 1080i or 720p. We are likely to have only 1080i and 720p broadcast television for the next 10+ years and I consider 1080p to be nice, but not nearly as important as a quality display with an excellent image.

Keep in mind that most front projection systems with a 10 foot image use 1280x720 displays, not 1920x1080. That's over twice the size of what you are talking about, and it is enough to make them very happy.

Video gaming is fine on a plasma as long as you are aware of burn-in issues. You just don't want to leave a stagnant image up on the screen for extensive periods. A couple hours? Fine! All day? Not a good idea. Many games these days are designed with lower contrast areas for score or areas that don't stay on screen all the time. It helps to prevent burn-in for sure.

For the first hundred hours or so of use you really want to put the plasma through a 'break-in' period as well which will help to eliminate burn-in issues.

Personally? I think plasma simply delivers a better image for the money. That's what is really important to me.