LCD or Plasma???

[sarcher1]

Look at Samsung or Sharp LCDs. Mitsubishi and Sony have a couple of nice new LCD's that hold promise as well. Plasma is going bye bye. I am a G.M. for a very large Electronics store and can tell you our product mix is almost entirely LCDs. Why? Because everyone, with the exception of Pioneer and Panasonic (Panasonic is starting to do a huge LCD push right before the holidays if they stay on schedule) are serverely shrinking their plasma line to just a couple of offerings. LCD is offering a better picture, longer burn life, less energy, and considerably less warranty exposure. DLP's are nice, but they have a lot of moving parts. I have 41 broken DLP's in my stock room waiting for light engines, Bulbs, etc... Last year I had to crush $12,700 at cost of DLP's that could not be repaired because a certain company no longer made parts or could service them. Be wary of no name brands. They tend to not have any repair systems to get parts out or many authorized servicers in place and can lead to long repair times.

[dercody]

actually, a DLP projector is better, get some spandex, stretch it over the wall nice and big, (10'X14') and your set, and you dont have to worry about burn in or damage to an expensive screen. you mount the projector to the ceiling, and connect to your cable box and off you go.

[mrnecsteve]

I read that article. I sensed a bias toward plasma by that writer. Also the date is april of 07 yet the comments go back to 05??
Based upon what I wanted from a HiDef set I went with a sony bravia ,back in early spring as it was one of a few that had full 1080I. The sources of 1080i
are growing rapidly..including discovery channel on directv and hidef camcorders.Even 7 months later i am still astounded at the picture of 1080i which i recommend as a minimum requirement.(as opposed to 720p up to 1080p
I believe if you approach it as "what will x amount of dollars buy me?" I think you will still find that dollars spent on plazma will get you size advantage.....dollars spent on lcd will get you picture quality and longevity of that quality. (lcd backlights are replaceable....plazma pixels are not)
A very important thing to realise when you start examining tvs in person:the videos displayed at your typical large store are pretty lousy for evaluation.They are intended to capture your interest. They are ususally not still enough to allow you to compare sharpness and color. The tvs are often not optimised with their settings either.Once you get it down to a couple tvs of interest,try setting the various adjustments.
A couple months after getting my lcd ,i went to best buy to check out the overpriced hidef dvds. As i was standing there thinking what a wasted trip, I noticed a guy checking out the model which i had purchased. I said to him..wanna see something? he said yep. I changed the default factory brightness and color settings . He was very impressed. I suggested he do that with both sets..then buy it from a reputable online dealer and save about 500 dollars. (they really zinged me on the price)
If size is your priority for a large viewing area like a bar..go with plasma.
If whiter whites are your priorty as in a typical sized living room , i preferred the look of an LCD with full HD. Also remember that it will probably be obsolete in a two-three years but hopefully still working as good as the day you bought it. To see many models and compare checkout LCD Televisions @ Abe's

[F-350MAN]

good info thanks!!!!!!!!!

[gcop]

I just bought a Toshiba 50" plasma about 3 months ago. I looked at some of the LCD's and I have to say, that in general, the LCD pictures were brighter, not EVERY LCD picture was brighter, but if we were scoring on points, the LCD's would have won. I did look at DLP's as a bang for the buck buy, but they seemed way too bright, and the colors were not quite right. I went around and adjusted colors and contrast, brightness etc. on 5-4 models I was interested in, and I just could not get the DLP's to come close to plasma or LCD's

So why did I get a plasma? There were no 50" LCD's I have to say, I am more than satisfied with my purchase. The TV has an image shift feature to prevent burn in, and the picture is exceptional, the blacks are, well, black, in fact, I'm looking at it now, typing on it. I use for my satellite, my PS3, Xbox 360, local air, and the PC. all flawless. There has been some mention of plasma longevity here, and I did some research before plopping down my money. What I found was the early to market plasmas did indeed have a serious issues with burn-in and bulb life, but it would seem that most major manufactures have all but done away with those issues. Toshiba told me that I should expect around 12,000 hours of bulb life from the TV. If I watch TV 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, that gives me 6.5934065 years of plasma enriched couch time. By that point, would TV would have been for sale for about 2.5 years, give or take.

Don't be afraid of good brand name plasma, but if you are after the absolute best quality picture, LCD is the way to go.

[Rwalker]

i have heard good things about both. unfortunately i dont own either, but i think i would go with the LCD. i have heard that the Plasma screens run real hot, and they will need a recharge of the inert gas the is inside after a year or two of operation. i have also heard that you arent supposed to lay them flat, like if you move, you have to keep them upright or they can be ruined. now i cant confirm these but i would definately ask before making your purchase.

[Halla2]

Yea I would go with DLP.

[vitalidle]

Just want to add if you don't have any HD programming don't buy the lcd or plasma because standard def tv or digital tv the picture isn't all that good in fact a regular tube tv is better, but if you have HD programming the tv rocks

[mrnecsteve]

Originally Posted by vitalidle

Just want to add if you don't have any HD programming don't buy the lcd or plasma because standard def tv or digital tv the picture isn't all that good in fact a regular tube tv is better, but if you have HD programming the tv rocks

Yep ,but the hd-tv's are capable of recieving hd-tv air signals which are quite good . All broadcasters are required to cease regular broadcasts in early 08.

[vitalidle]

True but make sure you buy the tv with HDTV ready tuner built in, or you can't get the over the air free signals without it.