LCD or Plasma?

[cr!spy]

I always thought LCD was superior to Plasma, but after reading some of the posts on here it looks like the majority prefer plasma.

I was just about to order a SAMSUNG Series 6 UE46EH6030 which can be had for £630 now, so thought I would check to see if there were any reviews on here and noticed a lot of people recommending plasma's instead.

TV will mainly be used for watching Blu-ray movies and the odd bit of Xbox. I'm not bothered about 3D or Smart functionality. Would I be better off going with a Plasma? Only thing that puts me off plasma is the picture never looks as sharp as LCD, I can see the pixels quite clearly on a plasma screen.

 

[hawker1986]

Basically you should get whatever you prefer the look of, go to youre local Hifi shop and test a couple in the demo room. Some people prefer LCD some prefer plasma.

Personally im in the LCD corner, also to consider is the lighting you watch TV in, if you have a lot of light falling on the screen from being in a light room then LCD will probably suit you better than a plasma.

No doubt various people will come and tell you one or the other is better, just try some different sets and buy what you prefer the look of.

Hawker

 

[413x]

Consider the room the tv is going into.
Lots of unavoidable light.. LCD

I prefer plasma but I have blackout curtains and don't watch daytime tv.

Don't judge by how they look on the shop floor, it flatters lcd

 

[jaybee]

Generally speaking for me I summarize it as:

Plasma = generally can offer better pictures in terms of blacker blacks, accuracy of colour representation and better/smoother motion.

So you would normally buy Plasma due to the above but it depends how much you care about;

Potential for Plasma buzz, some people see the rainbow effect, some plasmas have image retention issues to be aware of, some have ghosting and/or that linear tearing thing I read about on the pannys, they often run hotter and use more power, they don't tend to look as sharp for gaming. etc. There are various reasons I couldn't be bothered to go down the Plasma lottery route.


On the other hand, LCD/LED tend to have hideous backlight bleed and non uniform edge lighting on a lot of them. This seems to have got even worse since they become even more obsessed about reducing the thickness down from a few centimeters to milimeters (like it matters). Depending on the set, some lack smoothness in panning/motion shots, and the blacks don't often look as black as plasmas (it's impossible to be blacker than plasma blacks due to the way LCD/LED works).

I own an LCD from a few years ago and it's overall I am happy with it, although I am aware of it's weaknesses, which is mainly backlight bleed and dynamic range under darker film scenes.

Just try a load out. You can get some stunning examples of either. Also agree about room lighting. Check where it will go in your room as this might affect the type of screen (Matt or glossy reflective) reflecting light from a window/light.

 

[cr!spy]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll just stick to LCD then in that case.

 

[FeFiDoh]

Looking at tv's myself and considering plasma, have narrowed it down to the TXP42ST50 for £800ish or the TXP42VT30 from last year I believe which you can get £600 refurb'd with a 5 year guarantee still.

Might be worth considering.

 

[mame]

I have a plasma but to be honest, the only reason I bought it was because it was the only practical way (at the time) of having a 50+ inch TV from a price point of view. There's very few LCD that size and LED (again, at the time) were well over £1200 for that size.

I'm really happy with it. If you have all the settings right, the picture can look amazing but I have to say, it's much harder to set up than the LCD I owned before which was pretty much a case of setting brightness and contrast. In terms of gaming, it's great but again, it can take a bit of tinkering when you first get it. Playing Dead Space 2 on it meant I HAD to get it set up pretty much perfect else it was unplayable because it's such a dark game but the end result was better than it would have looked on LCD.

If you do get a plasma, don't be disappointed if it looks pretty bad when you first switch it on with default settings

 

[DeathStorm]

If you do get a plasma, don't be disappointed if it looks pretty bad when you first switch it on with default settings

It's funny but I had the exact opposite experience, the Plasma looked good with next to no effort but the LCD requires me to bend over backwards to get it looking correct.

Hate the useless viewing angles on a LCD too but I really do not miss the noise from a Plasma.

 

[Defunkt]

Once you go plasma there is no going back

 

[imginy]

plasma is far better for picture qaulity but lcd are much easier for day to day life.

I just bought my self a £1000 panasonic plasma 50" st50 for gaming

 

[413x]

If I could take a pic of my plasma displaying my Htpc wallpaper you would see why Ihave a pplasma. Unfortunately you would be viewing it on a lcd so no point

Its a false pic of a galaxy in a sea of stars. On lcd you can't see as many stars!
It's like looking at a night sky in the countryside (plasma) compared to a city (lcd)

 

[chaparral]

If I could take a pic of my plasma displaying my Htpc wallpaper you would see why Ihave a pplasma. Unfortunately you would be viewing it on a lcd so no point

Its a false pic of a galaxy in a sea of stars. On lcd you can't see as many stars!
It's like looking at a night sky in the countryside (plasma) compared to a city (lcd)

Can you post a link to your HTPC wallpaper or upload it please ??


PS.. i also be looking at it on a plasma screen

 

[413x]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j07k2lp6btdkdjh/Galaxy.jpg

and my aliens one
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vmsemlkaeabdbvm/bgd-aliens_alien.jpg

 

[DeathStorm]

If I could take a pic of my plasma displaying my Htpc wallpaper you would see why Ihave a pplasma. Unfortunately you would be viewing it on a lcd so no point

Its a false pic of a galaxy in a sea of stars. On lcd you can't see as many stars!
It's like looking at a night sky in the countryside (plasma) compared to a city (lcd)

Plasma's have plenty of strong points, you don't need to make stuff up.

 

[woppy101]

Generally speaking for me I summarize it as, some people see the rainbow effect

Your thinking of totally the wrong thing ,rainbow affect does not happen on plasmas or LCD tvs it happens on DLP projectors due to the spinning colour wheel

 

[Defunkt]

Just to have a look I put those 2 images al4x posted on a usb stick and tried them on my Panasonic ST50. Have to say I was rather mesmerized by the stars and they do look staggeringly good with the lights down low. So much so i'm using them as sub menu backgrounds on my Dune player now. Cheers al4x

 

[Freefaller]

Once you go plasma there is no going back

Agreed. I'm just waiting for my LCD to be defunct and then I shall go back to a Plasma.

 

[eatcustard]

Plasma uses more electricity than LCD/LED