Hardware Forum - Difference: Plasma, LCD, LED, Tv`s - Page 1

Before this turns into another debacle search the forums Dave.
Plenty of threads on it including a very recent one digressing from a question about buying a TV from John Lewis!

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

I've trawled through the forums, i just wanted a basic difference between them thats all

I can't wait for this to kick off! 

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can't wait for this to kick off!

PaulII v Bowfer

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PaulII v Bowfer

Shut up, meathead.
Plasma v LCD is pretty much Paull v everyone else.
So don't single me out.

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I've trawled through the forums, i just wanted a basic difference between them thats all

Dave - are you looking for the technical differences?
Because I think that's all you really can get from most people (without some bias seeping in).

As a lot of other conversations have shown, people have many different requirements and views when it comes to TVs. Some like Plasmas, some like LCDs, some hate all the new TVs.

If you're looking to buy a new TV, you really need to do a lot of reading in various magazines, and then go and look for yourself to decide which you prefer. Or just take the plunge on something that catches your eye!

Note that some manufacturers produce 'better' (depending on whose view it is) models than others. It all can also depend on how the TV is set up.

Personally I'd tend to read a wide range of reviews of a set that catches my eye. If they all reach a similar conclusion then that's good enough (after I've seen it for myself of course).

Hi-

I just want the 'cleanest' picture, I heard plasma screens are unreliable and you have to take an insurance out on them? When I saw some models in currys the picture on a few was truly aweful, very 'smudgy' I guess just going for the best picture on display models is best

I been looking at sammys and LG's 50" is the size.

Cheers!

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When I saw some models in currys the picture on a few was truly aweful, very 'smudgy' I guess just going for the best picture on display models is best

If you went in another day, you could find the plasmas were set up properly, and the LCDs not. I've been in Comet and Currys near me, and seen a Panasonic in a prominent display looking great, following week, it's relegated to the rows with the others, and looks poor, which a different tv is where the Panasonic was and looks great. My wife even asked me how they managed to get the picture to looks so bad for a DVD on a display TV!

At least in my local Comet a lot of the tvs are in rows so you can see the feed, unfortunately for most it's regular coaxial rf leads

John Lewis and Richer Sounds may do a better job of setting them up properly, but near me, my local Euronics independent shop is the only shop where almost every LCD and plasma are set up with HD, and those showing SD are tuned in really well with signs up so you know it's deliberate so you can compare! My local Cash Converters does a better job then Currys and Comet of displaying HD TVs!

MilesR has pretty much hit the nail on the head, use magazines reviews etc then go to different shops and see which you like the picture on the most.

Plasma TVs seem to have a lot of urban myths about their reliabilty etc. Some ppl still swear they're better than LCD, others say LCD has come on leaps and bounds recently, so the difference is more negligible, or as already said, down to personal taste, so try and look at the pictures without seeing what kind of display it is.

I have taken the plunge and bought an HDTV so I keep looking at them in shops. One week I see a Sony I like the look of, another week, a Panasonic, or a Samsung etc.

This item was edited on Monday, 7th June 2010, 19:29

Plasma reliability is a myth.
They are as reliable as any other TV technology.
The old rumours were they needed "regassed" every so often, we used to laugh about how an engineer would visit the house, take the back off the telly and bring out a cannister like a can of lighter gas and start pressing it into the pixels, which would all need to have a valve on the back (plasma is a sealed unit, there's no such thing as regassing)

I personally prefer plasma as I can see artifacts on LCD screens and varying other picture flaws which others can't.
These aren't as prevalaint to me on Plasma.
Using an actual HD source (especially bluray players) will make it much more of a negligable difference.

Main points are:
Plasma are heavier, prone to screen burn (or image retention) on sources with fixed display (Sky Sports logo for example), usually have faster response times, go to bigger sizes than LCD and cost more to run.
I'd also say, especially in larger screen sizes, display a better picture.

LCD are lighter, can wall mount where plasma can't due to weight, use less power consumption in general, can be used as display monitors for PC images/Games/Logos etc with virtually no chance of any image retention, newer sets are available with LED backlighting which improve the set again.

You might also want to consider a projector if you're going into the larger screen sizes.
A good DLP projector is about £800 plus, with the lamp costing about £250 inside it when it burns out, but on normal, 8 hours a day use, you should get around 2 to 3 years life out of the bulb (if not more) and can have a screen size to suit yourself.
If you do go for one of them you'll get great image quality if you have a good screen, but might need to dim the room lighting to get the full effects.

And before anyone goes off on one... IN MY OPINION! <sigh>

Right, I'm outta this one too... not gonna get dragged in like I usually do....



Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"