Samsung Plasma or LCD - Which one?

superplay · 21 Feb 2006 at 19:27

Hi Folks

I am looking at Samsung TVs and have narrowed the selection down to either a

Samsung 40" LE40R51B LCD TV
Samsung 42" PS42S5HX Plasma TV

All the reviews ETC rate the LCD, however I have been to Dixons and two Curry’s stores today to take a look at the sets. The TV/DVD which was playing on the LCD set was poor, the picture on the Plasma was clear.

I intend to connect my Media Centre PC for TV/DVD Etc and consoles such as my PS2.

Any pointers, recommendations etc?

When spending 1100ish on a TV I want to get it right ;-)

Regards

SuperPlay

Abyss · 21 Feb 2006 at 19:36

Personally I'd try and find a store that sells both televisions, then ask them to play the same source through each, its the only fair way of comparing it really.

I personally prefer LCD, as its inability to produce true black doesn't bother me, but I like the depth of colour it produces. However some of the recent plasma panels are absolutely excellent.

Shimmyhill · 21 Feb 2006 at 19:48

Abyss said:
Personally I'd try and find a store that sells both televisions, then ask them to play the same source through each, its the only fair way of comparing it really.

I personally prefer LCD, as its inability to produce true black doesn't bother me, but I like the depth of colour it produces. However some of the recent plasma panels are absolutely excellent.

As you say its personal.

However depth is is a byproduct of black levels. The best plasma are better than the best LCD's and i dont think anyone will disagree there.

However Samsung plasma's are not particually good in the plasma world, Panasonic, Pioneer + Fujitsu being the best. You then have the better Hitachi's and Samsung are a step down from them.

In LCD terms Samsung are above average but not as good as Tosh, Philips + Sony.

With that in mind the Samsung LCD is higher up its field if you see my meaning.

Your comparing a bottom end plasma with a midrange LCD.

martynsimo · 22 Feb 2006 at 00:03

Shimmyhill said:
In LCD terms Samsung are above average but not as good as Tosh, Philips + Sony.

After looking at this.....

http://www.eisa-awards.org/history/2005-2006/video.html

.....wouldnt that put Samsung at the top or top end in LCD terms, perhaps above Tosh, Philips and sony?

Shimmyhill · 22 Feb 2006 at 18:14

martynsimo said:
After looking at this.....

http://www.eisa-awards.org/history/2005-2006/video.html

.....wouldnt that put Samsung at the top or top end in LCD terms, perhaps above Tosh, Philips and sony?

Nope thats based on who gives them the most money

The Sammy is a mid range screen, the panel is the same in the Sony but the Sony has a far better scaler and electronics etc.

pinkaardvark · 22 Feb 2006 at 22:58

The milano2 is a pretty new set and unless you own one I doubt you're qualified to comment as your unlikely to see too many in stores at the moment. I do and compared it to the majority of currently available sets I could test on the high street including the Sony's and came away firmly believing it performed the best of the lot and I'd say it deserves that eisa award. Oh and it wasn't a price thing either for the 2k I paid for it I could have easily bought a sony instead.

I really hate it when people make off hand statements based on brand and not product performance.

But then the thread isn't about the 61M in the eisa award as that has an 8ms response time, a 5000:1 contrast ratio and a host of other features that put it far ahead of the 51B. If that had been all that was available I still may have picked that over the plasma but only because the higher resolution is better suited to the xbox 360 use. I wouldn't pick it for TV or DVD.

Shimmyhill · 23 Feb 2006 at 09:18

Ive seen more Samsung LCD's than anyone should have to in a lifetime, ive probably seen more screens than most on here. An arm of the company i work for has a major contract to fix all the Samsungs (dodgy caps and power boards) before they die.

I dont belive you have as much experience with the products or you would realise that a top end plasma looks significantly better with a 360 connected, resolution is not everything (but i agree with the pc comment - if you want to use it as a screen than the res helps)

The Sony you saw must have been terribly setup as they are better than the Samsung - remember its the same panel and the reason the Sanmsung looks so poor on SD tv is the scaler - the Sony has a better scaler and thats why its a better TV - it also has a better screen coating and higher quality electronics.

At the end of the day its personal preference, the Samsung is a lower spec screen but if you thought it looked better then thats the best reason to buy it. I think Panasonic Plasmas look better than Pioneer - its personal preference as they are both excellent screens.

XD-3 · 23 Feb 2006 at 10:05

so you guys would say the LCD is better then the plasma ? as i have just bought the 51B and saw on a site you could get that plasma for the same price i think superPLAY might be on about the same site to.

Thanks
XD-3

pinkaardvark · 23 Feb 2006 at 11:04

XD-3 said:
so you guys would say the LCD is better then the plasma ? as i have just bought the 51B and saw on a site you could get that plasma for the same price i think superPLAY might be on about the same site to.

Thanks
XD-3

The LCD has a higher Resolution so although aHDTV plasma will be fine for 720p on the 360, if you ever want to connect a PC and browse the web etc you'll be glad you went for the TFT.

martynsimo · 23 Feb 2006 at 18:42

pinkaardvark said:
The milano2 is a pretty new set and unless you own one I doubt you're qualified to comment as your unlikely to see too many in stores at the moment. I do and compared it to the majority of currently available sets I could test on the high street including the Sony's and came away firmly believing it performed the best of the lot and I'd say it deserves that eisa award. Oh and it wasn't a price thing either for the 2k I paid for it I could have easily bought a sony instead.

I really hate it when people make off hand statements based on brand and not product performance.

But then the thread isn't about the 61M in the eisa award as that has an 8ms response time, a 5000:1 contrast ratio and a host of other features that put it far ahead of the 51B. If that had been all that was available I still may have picked that over the plasma but only because the higher resolution is better suited to the xbox 360 use. I wouldn't pick it for TV or DVD.

I do own one and got it for the same reasons as yourself. If you read how i wrote what i did i think you will realise it had a question mark at the end dictating a question not a statement. It wasnt ment to come accross as sarcastic or 'off hand'. I`m sorry if thats how it came accross.

superplay · 23 Feb 2006 at 22:35

I have been looking in the shops again today and saw an LG 42PX5D with a very impressive demo runnig on it. However looking at the specs the recommended PC resolution is 640*480 via RGB or the HDMI connector.

I intend to connect a PC (Windows Media Centre 2005 runnign a freeview tuner) and consoles such as PS2.

Is LCD the way to go? the LG plasma looked great compared to the quality of the Samsung LCD in the store? Is anyone running media centre on a LG?

Thanks again

SuperPlay

pinkaardvark · 24 Feb 2006 at 02:16

martynsimo said:
I do own one and got it for the same reasons as yourself. If you read how i wrote what i did i think you will realise it had a question mark at the end dictating a question not a statement. It wasnt ment to come accross as sarcastic or 'off hand'. I`m sorry if thats how it came accross.

My reply was to shimmyhill not yourself. So I didn't take anything the wrong way by your post. I'm sure you'll agree that the M6 is a fantastic TV and well deserving of the award mentioned.