Plasma or LCD?

[mowgli77]

Which is the best value for money and the most sensible option please? My brother is buying a new TV to play his PS3 on but he wants a Panasonic 32in LCD for about £500. I have seen 40in LCD for the same price but the makes are not so well known suxh as Onn and Technika at the local Tescos and Asda. Is it a case of you get what you pay for and are the cheaper ones worth getting or ones to avoid? Also what are the main differences between plasma and LCD and if the price range he is looking at is between £500 - £700 what would be your choice?
Thanks in advance.

[AJ]

LCD looks good in the bright store conditions, but not so good in the normal home light.

Depends on size, under 36" for a bedroom LCD is the way to go, but for a main living room TV at 42" or thereabouts, Plasma every time

[robert99]

LCDs are improving all the time.
It used to be that above 32inch the plasma gave an increasing difference in improved picture quality - LCDs have a problem with black and a problem of reacting to fast action eg sports, gaming where blurring can occur. On the more expensive LCDs these issues have been largely overcome. Plasma is fine for all sizes but its practical problem is fragility - any knocks and the whole thing could be kaput. Today the differences are becoming minimal. Actually, it is quite difficult to tell the difference unless you have two different sets tuned in correctly at home

[PAULM03]

Look at running costs too. From what I hear (not actually certain, but a girl at work reckons her bill has gone through the roof) but plasmas eat electricity for fun.

Not sure if it's true but I did hear that if you use a Plasma for gaming and leave the game on pause for a while it can cause a problem with burning some of the pixels

Probably total bull$hit tho

I went for an LCD (well pleased with it )

[AJ]

It used to be an issue, but these days plasmas have anti burn software that moves stationary pictures in a way undetectable to the human eye.

http://plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasm...ma-vs-lcd.html

[DJ]

Originally Posted by gazza271

Not sure if it's true but I did hear that if you use a Plasma for gaming and leave the game on pause for a while it can cause a problem with burning some of the pixels

Probably total bull$hit tho

I went for an LCD (well pleased with it )

That's what I think I had with my tv but thought I had LCD instead of Plasma. I left Pro Evo on one of the standard menus and totally forgot I'd left the tv on. As it was on Xbox it didnt do the screen saving thing and so when I switched the tv off I was bit worried about the writing which seemed to be etched on to the screen. Luckily it gradually faded by the time the folks got back from their holiday as was their tv!

[chala]

Someone told me the other day that the plasma screen will need recharging or something every 3 years? Does anyone know if this is true, or are they talking b0llocks?

[DJ]

Originally Posted by chala

Someone told me the other day that the plasma screen will need recharging or something every 3 years? Does anyone know if this is true, or are they talking b0llocks?

How the hell do you charge one?

[chala]

Originally Posted by Djlion

How the hell do you charge one?

No idea, think they said recharge, might have been replace. Something that would need doing every 3 years or so anyway. Probably a load of crap though.

[Carl]

Originally Posted by chala

Someone told me the other day that the plasma screen will need recharging or something every 3 years? Does anyone know if this is true, or are they talking b0llocks?

Originally Posted by Djlion

How the hell do you charge one?

Originally Posted by chala

No idea, think they said recharge, might have been replace. Something that would need doing every 3 years or so anyway. Probably a load of crap though.

Its bullshit,
it was an old myth back 10 years ago when they first came out.
Samsungs range of Plasmas are guaranteed to last 60,000 hours. the latest ones would last probably more.

another thing with Plasmas is when the life-time is up it will start to 'darken the image' but with a LCD it will just not turn on again.

so your looking at 20 years for a plasma and thats 8 hours per day everyday


If your going for LCD then stick to under 37" and thing else ie 40" 50" go for Plasma.

and they dont image burn again new plasmas have a anti image burn screen built in, but as with the xbox 360 ( not sure about the PS3 yet as I cant stop playing Assasin Creed) they have a screensaver option

[Carl]

Just make sure what ever set you buy is 1080p (not 'i') although SKY HD and BBC HD dont broadcast in 1080p they broad cast in 1080i , thats why DVD's (blu-ray-and HD Dvd) will always be slightly better and get as many HDMI as you can.

[lemonjon]

I got a 32in Lcd for chrimbo, my ps3 games with the HDMI look fecken awesome, u really can c the difference.

COD4 looks even better

[Valiant23]

I used this place when I was looking for a new TV.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php

[lemonjon]

Got my New Philips 32in LCD about an hour ago, easy to setup, plug it in, auto scan and u get all the stations (freeview aswell which i couldn't get with a set -top box.

Playstation 3 with HD looks fecken nice.


well happy with my chrimbo prezzie

got it at currys in the sale 449.00

[PAULM03]

Forgot to add to this, when you do buy you should always check out richer sounds if you have one near you. They are unfathomably cheap.

[happygooner]

Not much to add but my mate who is a telly guru always recommends Samsung as a cheap and reliable make more than any other in the same price range.

[mowgli77]

Originally Posted by PAULM03

Forgot to add to this, when you do buy you should always check out richer sounds if you have one near you. They are unfathomably cheap.

That's where my brother ended up getting his - Phillips 37in LDC 1080p HD with freeview, 2 scart ports, 2 HD ports etc -£700. They also have a Phillips 42in LCD for £600 but the 37in is supposed to be better picture. Staff are pretty decent in there, good advice rather than pressuring you into buying the most expensive like they tried to do in Currys. It was a bit dodgy walking back to the car park with a huge fcuking tv box though, I expected us to get mugged.

[lemonjon]

Originally Posted by mowgli77

That's where my brother ended up getting his - Phillips 37in LDC 1080p HD with freeview, 2 scart ports, 2 HD ports etc -£700. They also have a Phillips 42in LCD for £600 but the 37in is supposed to be better picture. Staff are pretty decent in there, good advice rather than pressuring you into buying the most expensive like they tried to do in Currys. It was a bit dodgy walking back to the car park with a huge fcuking tv box though, I expected us to get mugged.

all shops r the same, the best thing to do, is research want u want, find out who is doing the best deal (in my case currys) then go and get it, dont listen to the sales guy, dont get talked round, go for what u researched. Every shop will obviously try and sell u a more expensive module.

[FleetFanatic]

Originally Posted by happygooner

Not much to add but my mate who is a telly guru always recommends Samsung as a cheap and reliable make more than any other in the same price range.

Well I've had my 40" Samsung LCD for over a year now & I like it.