lcd or plasma....out of my depth.

[stato]

Hi, has anyone got any suggestions on what display to buy?
have been trying to understand all info on this site but is becoming a bit overwhelming. I would like to purchase a screen soon but withal these ''420i,1080p,hd this and that i find it hard to know what i should be looking for. Have been to a few stores and seen 50' pioneer that i liked (plasma) but is lcd better,what resolution should i be looking for? do i need hdmi? what set top box or get one with one built in?..... as you are no doubt aware i am lost in all of this and just want to make a half informed decision when i buy a new screen and hopefully get something that will not be outdated with all the new formats coming. i will be using my new screen for all my tv, dvd viewing and my current system is as follows.....
yamaha dvs657
sony strdb930
rotel rb981
jamo e875
jamo e8 surround
jamo e8 sub
phillips 68ctv (this needs to go)
my budget for a new screen is app. $4-5k.
any help forthcoming on the above would be most appreciated.
thanking you in advance.

 

[3x10^8]

Read this to get a better feel for what all those different numbers mean:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/video_signals.htm

hope this helps.

 

[ruadmaa]

LCD or Plasma

Hi, has anyone got any suggestions on what display to buy?
have been trying to understand all info on this site but is becoming a bit overwhelming. I would like to purchase a screen soon but withal these ''420i,1080p,hd this and that i find it hard to know what i should be looking for. Have been to a few stores and seen 50' pioneer that i liked (plasma) but is lcd better,what resolution should i be looking for? do i need hdmi? what set top box or get one with one built in?..... as you are no doubt aware i am lost in all of this and just want to make a half informed decision when i buy a new screen and hopefully get something that will not be outdated with all the new formats coming. i will be using my new screen for all my tv, dvd viewing and my current system is as follows.....
yamaha dvs657
sony strdb930
rotel rb981
jamo e875
jamo e8 surround
jamo e8 sub
phillips 68ctv (this needs to go)
my budget for a new screen is app. $4-5k.
any help forthcoming on the above would be most appreciated.
thanking you in advance.

If I were purchasing an HDTV today I would most definitely go for the LCD. The main reason being that LCD IS NOT SUBJECT TO BURN IN. If you watch a lot of movies that will not be full screen, i.e. old movies or wide screen movies that will have black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, you would do far better with LCD. If you watch a plasma with the black bars on the side or top of the picture for extended periods, they can permanently burn into the screen. (I have seen numerous complaints on this issue with plasma tvs that were only several months old) You would do very well to go over to www.HDTVoice.com. That is a site that specializes in HDTV. You can gain much information there, this being mainly an audio site.

 

[kleinwl]

It really depends on what you want to do with your screen.

AVSforum is a good source for info... but my basic recommendation today is to spend as little as you can. LCD/plasmas are rapidly becoming commodities. They have been dropping in price an average of 20% per year. For this reason, I would only buy what you need. Ie. figure out the distance between you and the screen and the maxium screen size you want. (THX recommends a 36 degree view in a theator... but many people are content with much less). Once you figure the distance and size of the screen you can see if 1080p (i) will be of use to you (ie. do you sit close enough to make out the resolution of 1080. If not... don't bother purchasing that resolution... stick with 720p.

If you don't want to go thru all that... pick up a panasonic plasma. They are cheap *$2000 for a 42" and good blacks/contrast/etc. They are only 720p... but since blueray/HD DVD isn't even out yet... I wouldn't pay the premium for 1080p.

LCDs are available (SHARP/SONY are the best) but they are expensive ($3000 for 37" 1080p). The burn in issue is over rated unless you expect to leave the tv tuned to one channel all day long. In other words... if you don't worry so much about your crt... don't worry about the plasma.

 

[ruadmaa]

Bur In Over Rated??

It really depends on what you want to do with your screen.

AVSforum is a good source for info... but my basic recommendation today is to spend as little as you can. LCD/plasmas are rapidly becoming commodities. They have been dropping in price an average of 20% per year. For this reason, I would only buy what you need. Ie. figure out the distance between you and the screen and the maxium screen size you want. (THX recommends a 36 degree view in a theator... but many people are content with much less). Once you figure the distance and size of the screen you can see if 1080p (i) will be of use to you (ie. do you sit close enough to make out the resolution of 1080. If not... don't bother purchasing that resolution... stick with 720p.

If you don't want to go thru all that... pick up a panasonic plasma. They are cheap *$2000 for a 42" and good blacks/contrast/etc. They are only 720p... but since blueray/HD DVD isn't even out yet... I wouldn't pay the premium for 1080p.

LCDs are available (SHARP/SONY are the best) but they are expensive ($3000 for 37" 1080p). The burn in issue is over rated unless you expect to leave the tv tuned to one channel all day long. In other words... if you don't worry so much about your crt... don't worry about the plasma.

Tell someone with a plasma tv thats a few months old that the burn in issue is over rated then duck. Burn in is not covered even in a brand new tv. No, it is not over rated. If you check at the HDVoice site you will find more than a few people that had their brand new plasma screens burned in. Burn in is not covered by any warrantys. I would consider it a very serious issue.

 

[Herr D]

Burn in is NOT a serious issue. First of all you will only get burn in after having the same image for at least 12 hours (who would do that?). Secondly, even if you have a burnt in image, modern plasma's will get rid of that image in a matter of minutes when you switch on another channel.

Burn in is NOT permanent. It was permanent a couple of years ago. I've recently purchased the new panasonic 42 inch plasma and there is absolutely no problem whatsoever with burn in.

Currently I think plasma is the way to go, mainly because ALL (yes ALL) LCD's suffer from ghosting. If you have a fast paced DVD on or a football match (soccer for you yanks) it is going to look like crap on an LCD (maybe with the exception of premium LCD's, if you're on a premium budget). And I'm not even talking about viewing angles or contrast ratio's, which are far better on plasma's.

Having said that, there's always going to be poor plasma's and poor LCD's for that matter and I can only vouch for the new generation of panasonics.

The 42 inch panasonic cost me 2000 euro's and it's absolutely top notch on all fronts.

 

[Nick250]

I have had a Sony 37 inch plasma for about and year and a half. It's my everyday display and probably has one about one thousand hours or so of standard definition viewing (with white bars). I was worried about the burn in issue when I first got it, but no problems so far.

 

[ruadmaa]

Burn In

Burn in is NOT a serious issue. First of all you will only get burn in after having the same image for at least 12 hours (who would do that?). Secondly, even if you have a burnt in image, modern plasma's will get rid of that image in a matter of minutes when you switch on another channel.

Burn in is NOT permanent. It was permanent a couple of years ago. I've recently purchased the new panasonic 42 inch plasma and there is absolutely no problem whatsoever with burn in.

Currently I think plasma is the way to go, mainly because ALL (yes ALL) LCD's suffer from ghosting. If you have a fast paced DVD on or a football match (soccer for you yanks) it is going to look like crap on an LCD (maybe with the exception of premium LCD's, if you're on a premium budget). And I'm not even talking about viewing angles or contrast ratio's, which are far better on plasma's.

Having said that, there's always going to be poor plasma's and poor LCD's for that matter and I can only vouch for the new generation of panasonics.

The 42 inch panasonic cost me 2000 euro's and it's absolutely top notch on all fronts.

I borrowed the following information from HDTVoice FAQ:


The order of susceptibility to burn in, from most likely to least likely, is as follows:

Plasma
CRT-based RPTVs
Direct View TVs
LCD-based TVs (it's possible to encounter greyscale degredation under severe service - as in commercial service where the TV is on all day, on the same channel, but it's highly unlikely under normal home service)
LCoS-based TVs (not susceptible at all)
DLP-based TVs (not susceptible at all)

 

[Herr D]

Fair enough, but that's like saying the lifespan of an LCD will typically be twice as long as a plasma. Who gives a **** when the plasma will last for 15-20 years?

Plasma's are most susceptible to burn in, but it's not an issue because:

A. Nobody in their right mind would have the same image protrayed on their screen for longer than 12 hours.
B. Even if you're a freak who likes to look at 1 picture for 12 hours, the burn in effect WILL disappear.

The quality of plasma's is imho far superior to that of an LCD, which is what counts.

 

[ruadmaa]

Hate To Keep Harping But

Fair enough, but that's like saying the lifespan of an LCD will typically be twice as long as a plasma. Who gives a **** when the plasma will last for 15-20 years?

Plasma's are most susceptible to burn in, but it's not an issue because:

A. Nobody in their right mind would have the same image protrayed on their screen for longer than 12 hours.
B. Even if you're a freak who likes to look at 1 picture for 12 hours, the burn in effect WILL disappear.

The quality of plasma's is imho far superior to that of an LCD, which is what counts.

If burn in is such a small issue why is it not covered in any warranty??? It is not covered in the Mfg. warranty or any extended warrantys you can buy. Must not be as small an issue as you seem to think.

Many people watch news programs all day long that have "tickers" on the bottom of the screen, these are highly vulnerable to burn in.

 

[kleinwl]

If burn in is such a small issue why is it not covered in any warranty??? It is not covered in the Mfg. warranty or any extended warrantys you can buy. Must not be as small an issue as you seem to think.

Many people watch news programs all day long that have "tickers" on the bottom of the screen, these are highly vulnerable to burn in.

If you are watching a news programs all day long... this is the definition of non-consumer use. Of this specific application I would agree that LCD is the way to go... however, many airports use plasma displays hour after hour without significant burn in (on newer pannels).