The best display
for you depends on
your viewing environment.
It is not as simple as saying "get plasma" or "get LCD". There are strengths and weaknesses of individual displays. The underlying technology isn't the same regardless of the exact model.
There are four major things to consider that will help determine the best display
for you:
1) your lighting conditions.
It matters a lot whether you are watching in a dark room, a dim room, a well-lit room or a bright room.
Again, it isn't as simple as "plasma is better in a dim or dark room; LCD is better in a bright room". The truth is that you need to consider how reflective the screen surface is - some LCDs have very glossy screens, making them a bad choice for a well-lit or bright room - some plasmas have good anti-reflective screens, so they are ok in a bright room.
You also want to consider how well the display retains its black levels in a lit room. Some plasmas "wash out" in bright lighting so that their blacks look grey. Some LCDs do the same thing.
Peak brightness is another concern. Usually, this only comes up if your room is very bright, but some displays are capable of producing a brighter image than others. And again, it isn't as simple as just LCD vs. LED vs. plasma. It's a model by model thing.
2) Your viewing distance.
The distance from your eyes to the screen determines the screen size that you should be after. In order to see the benefits of HD and avoid seeing individual pixels, your field of view should be no smaller than 24 degrees and no larger than 40 degrees. The "ideal" field of view is about 30-32 degrees.
So figure out the exact distance (in inches) from where your eyes will be in your primary seat to where the screen surface will be. Remember to consider things like whether the display will be mounted on a wall or sitting on a stand. You want the actual distance from eyes to screen because it makes a big difference!
Take your distance from eyes to screen and divide it by 2.05 to get the minimum screen size that you should consider.
Divide the distance by 1.2 to get the absolute maximum screen size (which is too large for my tastes, but some people like it
)
Divide the distance by 1.626 to get the "ideal" 30 degree field of view screen size or divide the distance by 1.52 to get the 32 degree field of view (which is my own personal favorite).
So, as examples, if you have a distance of 10 feet from eyes to screen.
120 inches is your distance. Minimum screen size to consider would be 58". Maximum would be 100". And your "ideal" screen size would be about 74" - 79"
Keep in mind though that if you move a flat panel from a wall mount to a table-top stand mount, you could easily bring the screen 1-2 feet closer to your eyes. If the distance from eyes to screen drops from 10 feet to 8 feet, suddenly, your "ideal" screen size range drops from 74" - 79" to just 59" - 63"
3) Your viewing angle (all seats considered)
Virtually all displays look their best when viewed straight on. But many setups have seats that are off to the sides. As such, those seats are viewing the display at an angle. And not all displays continue to show a good image when viewed from "off-axis".
In this case, virtually all plasmas continue to show a uniform image, even when viewed from an angle off to the side. Some LCDs shift in colour, drop in brightness and drop in contrast when viewed from an angle. But some LCDs are not too bad and maintain a good image. Virtually all LED backlit LCDs (at the moment) have very poor off-axis viewing.
4) Your budget.
After all of that explanation, my point is this: try not to make your decision based upon "plasma vs. LCD vs. LED". Instead, try to consider your viewing environment. You lighting conditions, viewing distance and viewing angles will determine the best display for you. If it happens to be a plasma, that doesn't mean that ALL plasmas will be your best choice. If it happens to be an LCD, that doesn't mean that ALL LCDs will be your best choice. It's going to be model specific depending on your unique situation
So, if you would like a personalized recommendation, please provide the details of your viewing environment. We already have your budget. You have said that you cannot spend more than $2200. If that is a "hard cap" we can certainly work within it. If there is ANY "wiggle" room, please let us know
You also mentioned wanting 120Hz. This is something that requires a bit of clarification.
Do you want 120Hz because you want "frame interpolation"?
If you are not familiar with the term, here is a quick break down:
Virtually all movies and most TV shows are shot either on film or using an HD Video camera. Either way, the images are captured at a rate of 24 frames per second. Almost all sports and some TV shows (such as soap operas) are captured on video at a rate of 30 or 60 frames per second.
Until very recently, virtually all displays (in North America) refreshed at a rate of 60 Hz (60 times a second). For most movies and TV shows, this created a problem because 24 frames do not evenly fit into 60. The "solution" was to create a 2:3 cadence pattern by showing frame 1 of 24 two times, then frame 2 of 24 three times, then frame 3 of 24 two times, then frame 4 of 24 three times, and so on. This "2:3 pulldown" created a slight "stutter" in the motion of the images, which is called "judder".
More recently, we can now purchase displays that offer refresh rates other than 60 Hz. 120 Hz is a good choice because 30, 60 and 24 all fit evenly into 120. So with a 120 Hz display, we can eliminate "judder" and simply show every frame of a 24 fps source five times each. Another solution is to have a 72 Hz or 96 Hz mode that is specifically for 24 fps content, while a second 60 Hz mode is for 30 or 60 fps content.
But that is only if you want to eliminate judder. Almost all 120 Hz or 240 Hz LCDs also offer something called "frame interpolation". Frame interpolation comes under many different Trademark names such as: MotionFlow, SmoothMotion, Auto Motion Plus, TruMotion, and others. But regardless of the name, they all do the same basic thing, which is to create "new" frames that never existed in the original recording.
So a 120 Hz LCD that has some brand of frame interpolation will do the following:
the processor will "look" at frames 1 of 24 and 2 of 24. It will analyze the differences between those two frames and then it will create "new" frames and insert those "new" frames in between the original frames. Most displays with frame interpolation offer a few different "levels" of the feature, which typically correlates to the number of "new" frames that the display "makes up" and inserts in between the original frames of the source.
The result that your eyes see can look very different, depending on the processing. Sometimes, the images will look more smooth and clear. But sometimes, artifacts (mistakes) will appear. Many people describe a sensation that movies and TV shows now look like a soap opera or home video. Some people like that sensation, and some people do not.
So what is your goal with the 120 Hz request? Do you simply want to eliminate judder? Or are you after frame interpolation? There is no "right" or "wrong" answer, but it makes a large difference because some displays offer modes that eliminate judder, but they do not offer frame interpolation.
If your primary concern is eliminating "blur", that is a totally different matter. Sadly, marketing has led people to believe that "120 Hz" has something to do with reducing "blur" or motion artifacts. In reality, it has almost nothing to do with "blur". Blur is a matter of pixel response time and motion resolution and the quality of either of those metrics is not indicated at all by the "120 Hz" spec
Anywho, get back to us with the details of your viewing environment and we can help you to buy the best display
for you.
As one, final thought, you will not be getting a recommendation for an LED backlit LCD. That is because there is not a single LED backlit LCD - whether edge-lit or local dimming - that provides good image quality IMO. That doesn't mean some LED backlit LCD in the future might not be great. But right now, every LED backlit LCD on the market has problems with uneven illumination, fluctuations in background brightness levels, terrible off-axis viewing and (depending on the exact model) things like "halos" around bright objects on a dark background or shifts in colour depending upon the luminance level. If you are going to spend the kind of money that LED backlit LCD displays cost, you might as well get an accurate, good display, yes?
So no LED recommendations from me. But I might certainly recommend either a certain plasma or LCD model, depending on your viewing conditions.
