Plasma TV Q's

BTW some of the LCDs (and computers) also come with the shiny reflective screen. It does make the picture look a little better to me, but as others have mentioned you need to be careful of glare.

donalson wrote: 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.

i put up a projector with miatame at his house and hung a 100" screen. The projector is 720p so not full current HD, but as long as you're far enough away or really once you get into the movie you dont notice too much. BUT the image quality is HUGELY dependent on ambient light, as in ANY light is too much light. it gets washed out extremely quickly, and though you can turn the bulb up a bit or change between viewing modes it cant make up that much compared to a window or three.

if you think about how a rear projection tv works, the projector is set in the tv cabinet or 'room' and projects onto the screen at a known distance with known dimensional and light variables. with a front projector the room becomes the tv's cabinet with huge dimensional, screen, and lighting variables, so that's why the installed quality varies so much.

you can actually find decent quality projectors for relatively cheap these days, to the point where a quality screen might be more expensive than the projector itself. the darker you can make your room the more rewarding it'll be. and if you can get away with painting the room in matte grey/black colors it'll be even better.

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.

I think it's all relative. I just got a 43" Samsung plasma and I can tell you it's a helluva lot lighter than the 27" CRT that it replaced. LCD's are even lighter? That's swell, but who cares? It's not like I'm planning on carrying it around with me.

Modern plasma sets don't use THAT much more energy than a similar sized LCD. If you look at the power consumption figures, an LCD might draw 60 watts, a plasma might draw 100. That's not an earth-shattering difference as far as I'm concerned.

I think that stores are really pushing the LCD's and the low power thing, but I think the best values today are in plasma sets. Do you want an LCD with a 60 Hz refresh rate or a plasma with a 600 Hz refresh rate? The LCD is fine if all you watch is the Simpsons and Family Guy, but if you like watching sports, plasma kicks LCD's ass.

LED TV's are definitely the nicest current option, but come with a major price premium.

LCD and Plasma both have pros and cons. One thing to note about LCD is the issue of viewable field.

My ultimate decision to get the Plasma TV I did was value for the money. I got a good deal on it through craigslist right after Christmas. If I'd found a better deal on LCD, I would have gone with that. Retail, it seemed like plasma was slightly cheaper, but not by a big margin.

I think Plasma was right for me since I primarily got it for playing XBox. I like the contrast and refresh rate for video games.

Plasmas do not give out nearly as much heat if the brightness is turned down to a sane level. Most of them come out of the box with the brightness jacked for the wow factor, but you can turn it down to half or less and its still plenty bright.

93gsxturbo wrote: Plasmas do not give out nearly as much heat if the brightness is turned down to a sane level. Most of them come out of the box with the brightness jacked for the wow factor, but you can turn it down to half or less and its still plenty bright.

So why not get an LCD in the first place and maintain the quality?

I've seen contrast mentioned as a plus to a plasma, but there's contrast and then there's definition. All the plasmas I've had or seen in the store trade a high contrast for resolution and you lose all the itty bitty details that you see in an LCD. It's not obvious to you unless you happen to own both or see them side by side in a store.

Get a dark scene and then look at a black person's face. On a plasma it's a smooth, dark surface, but on an LCD you can see the shaving bumps. The detail is the reason to buy an HD.

carguy123 wrote:

93gsxturbo wrote: Plasmas do not give out nearly as much heat if the brightness is turned down to a sane level. Most of them come out of the box with the brightness jacked for the wow factor, but you can turn it down to half or less and its still plenty bright.

So why not get an LCD in the first place and maintain the quality? I've seen contrast mentioned as a plus to a plasma, but there's contrast and then there's definition. All the plasmas I've had or seen in the store trade a high contrast for resolution and you lose all the itty bitty details that you see in an LCD. It's not obvious to you unless you happen to own both or see them side by side in a store. Get a dark scene and then look at a black person's face. On a plasma it's a smooth, dark surface, but on an LCD you can see the shaving bumps. The detail is the reason to buy an HD.

They do make HD Plasmas, you know... that's what i have, and have no problems seeing said "shaving bumps."

I've had both plasma and LCD, and i prefer plasma. Richer colors, looks more "natural," and the blacks are typically better.

In my opinion, of course.

Every Plasma made is HD, but some TVs (LCDs too) are 720 and not 1080.

I'm not talking the diff between 720 and 1080. Plasmas can be brighter, but brighter than what? I don't run my LCD up as bright as it will go.

So the story goes, the plasmas have that capacity so that you can keep turning it up to get an acceptable brightness as the plasma fades over time.

As I've said, I have had both in the same house at the same time and everyone prefers the LCD. It's almost as if you are punishing them to make them watch the plasma rather than the LCD.

I continually monitor the new TVs at Sams and Costco to see if the plasmas will ever catch up, but they don't.

carguy123 wrote: Every Plasma made is HD, but some TVs (LCDs too) are 720 and not 1080. I'm not talking the diff between 720 and 1080. Plasmas can be brighter, but brighter than what? I don't run my LCD up as bright as it will go. So the story goes, the plasmas have that capacity so that you can keep turning it up to get an acceptable brightness as the plasma fades over time. As I've said, I have had both in the same house at the same time and everyone prefers the LCD. It's almost as if you are punishing them to make them watch the plasma rather than the LCD. I continually monitor the new TVs at Sams and Costco to see if the plasmas will ever catch up, but they don't.

The diff between 720 and 1080 won't have much to do with it, that depends more on size and viewing distance.

This is obviously coming down to personal preference. Up until very recently, the best TVs on the market were considered to be the Pioneer Elite series, and they were plasmas.

OP needs to go and check out plasma, LCD, and LED within his price range and see what he likes best, while keeping in mind that the sets are often not calibrated ideally in a showroom environment.