Plasma and Me - the first 5 days (for those wondering about buying a Plasma)

kennyhkw said:
Oh you forgot to mention that Plasmas generally use a bit more leccy than LCDs. For those if us who are living beyond our means! :D
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Hahah, to be fair most people looking at higher end tvs/equipment of any kind, will usually be the sort of people who can either afford the costs of running the equipment; or enthusiasts who know plasma *can* use more power; dependant on settings!

A lot of larger LCDs also consume a good 300W or so :)

The difference in cost is rather minimal in the long term:

With an average of 10p per unit of electricity, you'd be looking at an additional cost of *2p* per hour, if the Plasma used 200W more than an equivalent LCD.


Giving an average 5 hours of use a day, you would use 70p more per week; or approximately £3 per month.

Even if your cost of electricity was 20p per unit (kWH), that equates to an extra £6 a month; which is virtually nothing.

For reference, the average use of my 42" 1080p screen is rated at 385W, with an average use of 320W according to my manual and the official specs on the website. Going by this figure, I am only using approximately 100W more than a similarly sized LCD; to give another perspective, an Xbox 360 and PS3 on average use about 200W, yet we don't worry about the power costs of running those for hours!
 
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I thought that plasmas use more power when the screen is brightest and that the max power drain is with a white screen.
Overall they're not to far away from LCD's. (Sure I've read it somewhere)
 
I don't think this is an issue anymore, with new plasmas coming out being a lot more eco friendly and using less power.
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Hahah, to be fair most people looking at higher end tvs/equipment of any kind, will usually be the sort of people who can either afford the costs of running the equipment; or enthusiasts who know plasma *can* use more power; dependant on settings!

A lot of larger LCDs also consume a good 300W or so :)

The difference in cost is rather minimal in the long term:

With an average of 10p per unit of electricity, you'd be looking at an additional cost of *2p* per hour, if the Plasma used 200W more than an equivalent LCD.


Giving an average 5 hours of use a day, you would use 70p more per week; or approximately £3 per month.

Even if your cost of electricity was 20p per unit (kWH), that equates to an extra £6 a month; which is virtually nothing.

For reference, the average use of my 42" 1080p screen is rated at 385W, with an average use of 320W according to my manual and the official specs on the website. Going by this figure, I am only using approximately 100W more than a similarly sized LCD; to give another perspective, an Xbox 360 and PS3 on average use about 200W, yet we don't worry about the power costs of running those for hours!
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Now i wish i bought the plasma instead if its only a couple of quid a month extra! My Tosh 42XV555 uses just under 150W, this was me testing it with a power meter!
 
Ofc it depends on how much your unit costs are, but on average (depending on time) they usually seem to be around 5-15p per unit (kilowatt hour), so the maths hold (being approximates anyway), you then also have the power variation of plasma, so sometimes they will be using less than rated or a little more, overall they're not as expensive as it seems. :)
 
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Dave L said:
Sheesh! How much??????? I couldn't use that sheer amount of lekky! :eek:
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Well I do have 2x Plasmas, 2x PS3's, a Wii, a computer which is on the time 24/7, then there's the amp, sub, 5 speakers, another TV in the bedroom, router, modem, sky, virgin media, 4 phones on the house, 3 mobiles pretty much on charge all the time, and lately i've had nephews around gaming for many hours. And then there's all the other eleci appliances in the kitchen and elsewhere in the house.

im a eleci whore

PS. i should mention that my Eleci bill was a combined one for GAS aswell
 
npower are charging me 15.280p for the first 190kWh and the 14.690p for the rest.

Is that good? or is it time to switch?

I'm using an average of 21.52kWh per day.
 
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photoshop said:
Well I do have 2x Plasmas, 2x PS3's, a Wii, a computer which is on the time 24/7, then there's the amp, sub, 5 speakers, another TV in the bedroom, router, modem, sky, virgin media, 4 phones on the house, 3 mobiles pretty much on charge all the time, and lately i've had nephews around gaming for many hours. And then there's all the other eleci appliances in the kitchen and elsewhere in the house.

im a eleci whore

PS. i should mention that my Eleci bill was a combined one for GAS aswell
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But, still, £750/qtr is outrageous!! I don't know anyone with such a bill!!!! :eek: x100
 
photoshop said:
npower are charging me 15.280p for the first 190kWh and the 14.690p for the rest.

Is that good? or is it time to switch?

I'm using an average of 21.52kWh per day.
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Might be worth enquiring around, to see what other rates are being offered, 15p average per unit seems a little high :)

Doesn't hurt in the very least!
 
photoshop said:
npower are charging me 15.280p for the first 190kWh and the 14.690p for the rest.

Is that good? or is it time to switch?

I'm using an average of 21.52kWh per day.
Click to expand...

whoa that seems really expensive photoshop. have a look here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Im on british gas price protection until end 2009 plan which is around the 10p mark iirc (I went price protected as signs pointed to the rates going sky high but seems they have gone down now and so can find it even cheaper elsewhere)
 
To OP, excellent post and very informative to those with questions on Plasma.

Great choice of TV btw. I bought my 42PZ80 last year, then immediately regretted not going for a 46PZ80! Still, a beauty of a set. It is power-hungry, but its worth it (not like we have the TV on more than a few hours a week tbh).
 
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