Wondering about using a Plasma as a monitor

A few years ago, I believe I remember reading that it was a bad idea in general to use a Plasma as a monitor (can't really remember the reasons). I'm wondering if this is still the case today?

I'm hoping to try and pick up a 1080p Panasonic or Samsung Plasma on Black Friday. I've never owned one before, or hell never even seen one in person.
But I've been hearing that they improved a lot over the years so it peeked my interest. I'm planning to use it for non-fps gaming, browsing, and media viewing.
If anyone could tell me what the drawbacks are versus a LCD for these purposes I'd appreciate it.

you've decided on going plasma before seeing one?

drawbacks: in the "old days" plasmas were more subject to image retention and burn in (permanent image retention) than LCD. apparently not an issue any more. plasmas consume more power then LCD/LED.

check out AVS Forum. There is a lengthy plasma vs LCD thread.

while Plasma nowadays may not suffer much of the burn in, it can still have image retention, especially when using as desktop monitor.

Its great for gaming and movies. But if you want to use it all day long, then energy bill can be a problem (at least for me).

I use a 42" Panasonic ST30 plasma, as a primary gaming monitor. I also have a 4:3 LCD and a 16:10 LCD (in vertical portrait mode) for web browsing.

Nothing wrong with web browsing on the plasma, just have extra monitors, so no reason not to on the others.

I usually either flip the plasma to a tv channel or just turn it off when im done. Whats important to remember is that you need have as many elements of a UI transparent when it can be. This will prevent image retention. This is mostly only a problem in the first 1000 hours or so.

It's also important to have the space to have the proper viewing distance from such a large display. On a 42" 1080p you want to be about 5 feet away. Text is not a problem for me at all, as long as i have my glasses on.

i think you can just get a good 40" LCD HDTV.
here is a good price for one on tigerdirect:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=869624&CatId=3650

I'd like a link to see why using plasmas as monitors would be a bad idea.

My roommate had one of the flagship Panasonic plasmas a few years ago and he played Half Life and Left 4 Dead on it. It was a lovely TV. Image quality-wise, I still think the Kuro Black is the pinnacle of home theater television today.

I agree; stationary things will definitely retain on teh screen, think the start menu for example.

Even when used for console gaming; if you play a game for 4-8 hours you'll see the HUD on screen afterwards.

TV Viewing, think of the scoreboard on a football game.

The game mode, which alternates pixels helps, but only slightly.

It's very hard to "burn in" today, but IR is very common. Having said that, I own one, I love it... very deep blacks, awesome color reproduction. I'd buy another when I get my next TV.

But what the other posters said, read AVS Forum, and spend some time there; those guys are very smart, and you'll be overwhelmed with information, but it's very good information.

Panasonic consumer plasmas do not support 4:4:4 input, thus will blur PC text a bit.
Commercial models PF30 & high end BT300 do. These are way more resistant to image burn, and have better wobbling/nanostrobe functions to avoid it.
Post production shops use pro Panasonics for grading and showing to customers.
One can use even entry level 42/50 C3 for gaming as it has negligible lag, but needs washout about 30m afterwards, and best practice is to change HUD position each time and set to transparent where possible.

Samsung consumer models accept 4:4:4 but are more prone to IB.

LG consumer plasmas have high black levels, terrible input lag and are very prone to IR.

I use a pioneer lx5090 as my monitor and have done for the last 2 years. I have a crt that I use for cs:s, but I use the plasma for everything else, other games, movies and work.

And it's just like everything else, how much you have to spend will decide the quality of the screen you get.

I have tried a lot of LCD TV's and monitors and never found anything I was happy with. I would highly recommend a plasma for a monitor.

I could never use plasmas as monitors because of how grainy they make the pictures look ESPECIALLY when you're up close. So if you're intolerant of that, I suggest you keep looking. My last plasma was a GT25 btw. Today's S-PVA/S-IPS panels have a lot more to offer imho.

I used my Pioneer Kuro as a gaming monitor for awhile. Amazing contrast... but playing at higher resolutions can't be replaced. PC gaming on my u3011 just looks better.

1080p doesn't cut it. Plasmas have more grain to it... not that noticeable in movies but in games and desktop use, yep.

Wish I could have the kuro performance in a 30 inch monitor format.

Plasma would be sweet to game on. But powerful PCs that can crank higher resolutions... ya need a big PC monitor IMO.

360 and PS3 on a plasma? Sweeeet.

The "grain" is supposedly not nearly as noticeable now days, especially at the proper distance. At least i see no perceivable difference between a monitor and plasma at the same resolution.

My PC is connected to two 23" LCD's and A 50" Kuro plasma, I use the plasma whenever we watch movies and some PC games (PS3 / 360 also connected to the Kuro).

The picture quality on the plasma is in another league vs my LCDs, black levels,contrast and motion clarity are superior but I'm not sure if I'd want to use Plasma as the primary monitor, It puts out a fair amount of heat and if you sit up close you might notice some "graininess" associated with the technology.

Ive never had any problems with burn in or image retention and it's been used heavily for console gaming over the last few years, I basically treat it the same as my previous 34XBR960 CRT, I've read IR varies depending on brand / model so I can't speak for all, however permanent burn-in on current models would take some serious and deliberate abuse to cause.