Plasma TV Q's

Ok, once again I'm turning to the great automotive google search option here. My old TV just died and I really was looking for an excuse. From what I've seen, plasma displays are a very strong contender (vs. LCD). Anybody with any good or bad experiences with newer (maybe 3 year old or so) plasmas? And, is it true that a plasma tv has a "shelf life", i.e. the plasma will wear out or leak?

Not sure of the quality over time, but I can say them suckers are hot.

The way our house is setup, the TV is on the same wall as the thermostat. I had to buy a new thermostat with a remote sensor because the A/C thought it was 85 degrees in the house all the time.

Just keep that in mind on where you place it.

-Rob

2 years on a Panny plasma and going strong. Doesn't seem to run that hot, and the picture quality is excellent. The blacks are great, and there's no ghosting to speak of.

I have the cheapest Wal-Mart Vizio LCD tv on the wall and love it.

Had both the plasma and lcd in the same household the LCD was the hands down winner for fine detail and color balance. The plasma couldn't be put in a smaller room or watched much in the summer due to the heat it puts out.

Long story short all the good shows were watched on the LCD. We drew straws to see who had to watch their shows on the plasma.

I'm told that burn in on the plasmas, while not a thing of the past, are not quite as prevalent.

I have a Phillips 42" plasma. I think the picture is very good. They do put out more heat than an LCD display, and the glossy finish on the screen will pick up reflections from lamps or the sun coming in the window, so take that into account when locating it in your house. They're also a lot heavier, if you're thinking about hanging it on the wall.

I've got a nice 42" Samsung plasma, and I'm quite pleased with it.

I've heard that the bleeding thing was a problem with early ones, but not anymore. Apparently there is a potential issue with burning images onto the screen, but that only occurs at the beginning of their life and takes a lot of work. Most of TVs have image shift features to prevent that too.

Otherwise, I like mine. Definitely can get noticeably warm. Contrast and image are very good. Glare is my biggest frustration, but I just pull the blinds and turn up the brightness for games.

personally I prefer a quality plasma's image to most LCD's i've seen, however the last few years LCD's have come a LONG way. most of the time i find them to be a tad too cold, even with the picture adjusted properly, and somewhat artificially sharp, as well as limited in black detail.

a couple things to think about with plasma are that burn-in is still a possibility any static image left on screen, be it video game images, sports score boxes, news tickers, or even just the channel logos (i had a slightly noticable H left on mine for a bit from a long day on History channel's bright red H logo, but its since gone). pixel shift helps soften burned images, but if its bigger than the pixel's shift it cant do anything about it. plasmas definitely get warmer than LCD, especially compared to the LED backlit models that are prevalent now, which means they almost always use more electricity. theyre usually heavier and thicker too. but in my opinion a quality plasma often has better color rendition and darker blacks, but like i said LCD has come a very long way and its been a while since i critically viewed one. plasma's used to be quite a bit cheaper per inch in larger sizes of equal quality too, again not sure if thats true anymore.

if i were to do it again i'd quite possibly be swayed by LCD, especially a high refresh rate LED backlit model, (well, what i'd really like is a big OLED set...) but right now i'm loving my 3.5 year old 50" samsung plasma.

the gas doesn't leak out either, its ability to become excited and glow degrades over time with use (that's really what burn-in is, just very localized) but any plasma newer than 5 years old has a half-life in hours that's a hell of a lot longer than most people's use for it.

I'm sure the plasma bleeding is not a problem anymore, but Backlit LED HD weather it is 3D or not, look fantastic. Check them out for sure before you make your decision.

Edit: I sold the TVs as they were dropping in price and the best way to find a good TV is look for the highest contrast ratio. LED TVs many times can have the brightest, most vivid picture AKA highest contrast ratio.

Loving my Panny plasma, 2+ years and still going awesome.

I say if you don't NEED to hang it on the wall, save yourself some coin and buy a DLP.

Everyone I know who has an LCD/Plasma, hang the TV on the wall, but then still have an entertainment stand below it that all their stereo/home theater stuff sits on. So if you still have the furniture taking up floor space, why the need for the expensive hangy TV?

I just picked up a 65" Mitsu DLP to replace my 50" Samsung DLP. I think I paid $900 for the TV.

WilberM3 wrote: any plasma newer than 5 years old has a half-life in hours that's a hell of a lot longer than most people's use for it.

My parents got a plasma back when they were super new, like when I was still early in high school. It still looks plenty good and sharp, despite the age and extended use when I was still living there. We never played games on it due to the burn in thing, but it really didn't fade much. Granted, my bro's newer plasma TV is brighter, bigger, sharper, and cheaper, but it has much more to do with the advancement of the technology than the old one 'wearing out'.

This isn't exactly what you asked, but if you have the room and are looking for the largest screen possible the DLP RPTVs offer by far the best bang for the buck. Much more energy efficient than plasma, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

I had a 42" Samsung plasma last year. It was "only" a 720P but the picture was amazing. It made the HD picture from my old rear projection set look like a joke. I'm using a 23" 1080P LCD monitor as my TV now and while the picture is good, it just doesn't seem as vibrant as the plasma did. Plasmas are also dirt cheap these days, I got mine new for $450 at HHgregg.

They do use some juice though, when I sold it and my PS3 my electric bill dropped $25 a month.

I traded my Plasma for an LCD and couldn't be happier. Plasma's are heavy and put out a LOT of heat. The LCD was sharper, too. Less glare also.

Sheldon_Plankton wrote: This isn't exactly what you asked, but if you have the room and are looking for the largest screen possible the DLP RPTVs offer by far the best bang for the buck. Much more energy efficient than plasma, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

Learn me this.....

Javelin wrote: I traded my Plasma for an LCD and couldn't be happier. Plasma's are *heavy* and put out a LOT of heat. The LCD was sharper, too. Less glare also.

You must off had an old one. Our Panasonic 46" plasma is pretty light and doesn't put off that much heat. I think that plasmas have better picture quality then LCDs. The best is LED but they are $$$$.

DrBoost wrote:

Sheldon_Plankton wrote: This isn't exactly what you asked, but if you have the room and are looking for the largest screen possible the DLP RPTVs offer by far the best bang for the buck. Much more energy efficient than plasma, too, if you're into that sort of thing.

Learn me this.....

IMHO picture quality isn't that great.

Go to Sam's or Costco and look at both side to side. Especially find a dark picture and then look at the detail in the dark.

If you aren't already used to looking at HD they'll all look fabulous, but once you get over the awe you'll find there's much more detail in the darks with the LCD. And detail is why you buy an HD tv.

I thought most manufacturers had quit making plasma TVs? I know I read an article a short while ago about several of the top brands that quit simply because the LCD was so much better.

I had a TV repair man tell me you didn't repair plasmas, you threw them away.

I've had my Panasonic 42 inch plasma since 2003, I paid $3300 for it including truck freight and a wall hanger. Back then this was a "really good deal"!!! At the time, Plasma was the only choice if you wanted true blacks and actually cared about viewing at greater then 45degrees from center (I did since I watch it from the computer). Mine is so old that it only has componet inputs for the HD and thus only has 720p res, but it still is as sharp a picture as it ever had, and I'm not in any hurry to replace it. I responded to the post so you guys could get a real life comparison for shelf life on an older plasma. Oh and it is used alot too. If it ever does go up, I'll use the plasma to build a Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range........LOL.

Chris Rummel

I think it all comes down to what you like better. Just go look at a look of TVs. I think both LCD and plasma have their fans and those people which push for one or the other.

The biggest reason I didn't go plasma was the reflection. It was going to be placed in a room with windows on the opposite wall and it would have wreaked havoc on the glass panel plasma TV's have. I also worried about burn in, since I am the type of person who will pause something and walk away for quite awhile...

hmm we're looking to replace the 25 y/o CRT we inherited as our primary TV lol... the DLP sounds promising... will have to keep my eyes open next time i'm at the store to look

anyway... anyone have some input on using a projector?... I know a guy that uses one and it's pretty awesome to see how huge it is but I hung out in the other room with the smaller TV so didn't pay much attention.

How about a LED TV?

I love my 53" Samsung plasma, but friends have LCD sets that look just about as good. Plasma typically is a lot more bang for the buck up front but will cost more to run over time so some math should be done to figure out the financial aspect. I'd say go to a good store and spend some time playing with the sets. When I bought mine the sales guy at Circuit City (yes, it's that old) was pushing the Panny situated right next to the Sammy for about the same price, and sure enough as they looked in "torch mode" aka "Dynamic" or some similar preset the Panny did look better. I spent 1/2 hour playing with the settings and the sales guy came back and agreed that both looked much better but that the Sammy was the one to take home. He was quite surprised, then again he was a sales guy not an enthusiast.

Whatever you decide on get Digital Video Essentials and spend an hour tuning your picture. Proper setup can totally transform a display.