Which of plasma or LCD HDTVs have more potential to develop screen burn when gaming?

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Before anyone says "google ->" or "search these forums already", I have tried and have seen conflicting information. I ask because I'm going to make the jump (and a significant investment) to HDTV up from my 26" CRT traditional set.

I plan to get something around £750 and really liked the look of the Panasonic Viera TH42PZ80B plasma for watching DVD's etc, but worried about gaming screen burn - when not watching freeview, I'd be using it for equal parts DVDs and gaming with my PS3. I would be spending maybe up to 3 hours at a time gaming on a weeknight, and possibly more on a weekend. Would an LCD suit me better even though the blacks are not "as black as the heart of a dragon" like with the panasonic plasma mentioned?

Any and all info or pointers appreciated - especially recommendations for a set to buy at £750.

 
I wouldn't worry about screen burn with a modern plasma. As long as you don't leave the TV switched on over night displaying a static image it will be fine.

The 42px80 is considerd a fantastic value 1080p plasma screen and will likely serve you very well. I doubt if you would be better off with an LCD to be honest but it can't hurt to have a look... The blacks are indeed quite good on the Panasonic screens... as long as you've never set eyes on a Pioneer :)
 
Blacks on a Pansonic plasma are not much better than a top end LCD, one bloke went from a Samsung M86 to Panasonic plasma and said similar black levels. I'm not suprised as I had a Samsung Plasma and black levels on that were rubbish also. Only slightly deeper than my LCD.

As for screenburn plasma has a higher chance, so for gaming I'd get a LCD. But for movies get a plasma.

Have owned a few LCD's and a couple of plasmas.
 
Just got hold of the PZ80B and it's brilliant. We're having a few problems with sky right now, but the inbuilt freeview tuner really puts out a good picture.

X360 is brilliant, and DVDs are really good through HDMI from it. With the quality of the picture on Batman Begins, I really do wonder if I actually need to rush out and buy a blu ray player.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the TV, a lot of people recommended it to me, and I'd agree.
 
The blacks are indeed quite good on the Panasonic screens... as long as you've never set eyes on a Pioneer :)

I did see the panasonic near a £500ish (maybe a 37") pioneer, and thought the panasonic plasma looked better, but perhaps some of their (pioneer) range is better than others - budget vs. premium versions? There's certainly a marked gap between the cheaper LG's and the much better picture quality on the more high-price end LG's that I noticed, and I'm a relative HDTV n00b. :D

I can't afford anything around £1k or higher, and tbh lack the inclination to purchase anything more expensive. I've set my budget and I'll stick to it.

...probably.
 
To answer chimps question. LCD's don't develop screen burn, only plasmas do. Plasma's do have better contrast ratios inherently thanks to the technology, but apparently some LCDs are now catching up in that department.
 

Before anyone says "google ->" or "search these forums already", I have tried and have seen conflicting information. I ask because I'm going to make the jump (and a significant investment) to HDTV up from my 26" CRT traditional set.

I plan to get something around £750 and really liked the look of the Panasonic Viera TH42PZ80B plasma for watching DVD's etc, but worried about gaming screen burn - when not watching freeview, I'd be using it for equal parts DVDs and gaming with my PS3. I would be spending maybe up to 3 hours at a time gaming on a weeknight, and possibly more on a weekend. Would an LCD suit me better even though the blacks are not "as black as the heart of a dragon" like with the panasonic plasma mentioned?

Any and all info or pointers appreciated - especially recommendations for a set to buy at £750.


Ive left my pz85 playing one game with dials for a couple of hours and go no burning, you sometimes get a bit of retention, but its not permenant.
 
I've played GT5 prologue for 3 house straight with constant white HUD and only seen a bit of retention when looking up close. That goes in a couple of mins. This is on my PX80. And gaming looks superb!
To burn a panasonic plasma you'd have to be really irresponsible with it
 
Thanks for all the answers guys! I think I've settled on the plasma then. I just think the panasonic plasma screen look way better than all other 42" sets in that price range. And it seems that screen burn shouldnt be a problem if Im careful. The only disappointment for me is that there's no Picture-in-Picture (not that I'd ever use it), and minor wee features that could have easily been included, but have not. Some shops seemed to think the PZ80B didnt have 24p, some did - so I've confirmed from the panasonic website that it does. S'all good.

The next step is, Mission: Aquisition!

Not available from OCUK though. :)
 
I'm choosing between a PZ80 and Sony W4000/4500 at the moment....I'm a bit wary of screenburn since I'll likely end up using the screen as a monitor and, of course, for lots of gaming. That said, we've never had screenburn on the Kuro at home which we game on quite a lot :)
 
My choice for an LCD screen would have been the samsung LE40A656, and it was a close run thing. I never did get a direct side by side comparison of the two. The sony you mentioned never stuck out for me Im afraid. That may have been to do with a bad setup in the shops I looked in - which is worrying...

The panny has slightly bigger screen size though :p
 
I would still stick to lcd personally if your going to be using the tv for monitor use/heavy gaming.

Perhaps if you were considering a Kuro you would be near enough 99% safe but the Panasonic's are a tiny bit more prone to retention/burn compared to the newer Kuro's out.

This is only my opinion and I am not saying the Panasonic's are bad!

If it was not for me wanting some desktop use/heavy gaming I would have ended up getting one of the Panasonic's without hesitation.

The Sony W4000 is a lovely lcd :)

After months of deciding mine should be with me tomorrow so I,ll get some pics up soon after.

The Samsung LE40A656 is a good one too but I preferred the Sony in the end due to none of the typical Samsung firmware nonsense aong with faster response times on the Sony for gaming.

Shop setups generally suck.

All the poor tv's sharing the same feeds etc makes the quality look terrible along with the shop lighting and to top it off they are rarely calibrated.
 
Thanks for the useful post :)

The Sony is upto 60ms faster than the Samsung for gaming - 60ms! :eek:

Will be interested to see what you think of the W4000 - hopefully I can pick one up cheap when the 4500 is out.
 
I have fallen asleep now twice while watching DVDs and the menu has been left on all night. Only one of them left any retention on my Pany screen. An hour of snow removed the retention so i wouldnt be too worried.
 
I can't see the W4000 dropping much more for a good while yet.
They are already well under the rrp already.

The w4500 series will not be replacing the W4000 so that model will not affect the pricing much.

Another good one to consider is the V4000 if money is part of your decision.

Its a little bit cheaper and performs virtually the same as the W4000 series with a few features taken out below.

WCG-CCFL backlight
10bit panel
Live Colour Creation
xv colour
USB picture frame
 
Thats the response of the screen displaying the image, its the processing of the signal to form an image that causes input lag. This is technology independant and dependant on the TV electronics.
 
What did you guys get in the end?

Im considering getting the 32" W4000 LCD (was after a Pana 32LZD85 at first) but tempted by the thought of the new Pioneer LCDs.

Kinda forced to go LCD due to using it as a PC monitor and I doubt you can get small Full HD Plasmas (what is the smallest Full HD plasma?)...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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