LCD or Plasma TV for HTPC

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outbreakm

Weaksauce
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I’m in the market for a new 1080P TV and was wondering if LCD or Plasma was preferred and why? Not going to be doing any gaming just Blu Ray/HD play back. I have a HD4550 vid card.
 
LCD. From what little I've seen of plasma they tend to have horrible (almost instantaneous) burn in. It seems to fade every time, but can take quite a while, and worries me.

LCDs with selective LED based backlighting get very close to the black levels of the highest quality plasmas anymore, and last longer to boot -- plasmas have a "half life" after which they can only produce half their initial brightness, whereas LED backlit LCDs last as long as the backlight... in other words, a very very long time.
 
silent-circuit said:
LCD. From what little I've seen of plasma they tend to have horrible (almost instantaneous) burn in. It seems to fade every time, but can take quite a while, and worries me.

LCDs with selective LED based backlighting get very close to the black levels of the highest quality plasmas anymore, and last longer to boot -- plasmas have a "half life" after which they can only produce half their initial brightness, whereas LED backlit LCDs last as long as the backlight... in other words, a very very long time.
Click to expand...

Plasmas really haven't had that burn in problem for some time now.

Burn in or image persistence can still occur on LCDs.

Really comes down to your HT environment. If your room isn't bright then Plasma can be used very efficiently. Panasonic or Pioneer make a very nice Plasma. For the viewing real estate and price, it's hard to beat plasma. The blacks levels are nice too.

I personally have an LCD. Due to a HT with lots of windows:mad:
 
persisting1 said:
Plasmas really haven't had that burn in problem for some time now.

Burn in or image persistence can still occur on LCDs.

Really comes down to your HT environment. If your room isn't bright then Plasma can be used very efficiently. Panasonic or Pioneer make a very nice Plasma. For the viewing real estate and price, it's hard to beat plasma. The blacks levels are nice too.

I personally have an LCD. Due to a HT with lots of windows:mad:
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Light is not an issue in my HT. I’m looking hard at the TH42PZ85U model made by Panasonic. I want something that has good black levels and can best reproduce the "Cinema" experience.

From what I have been told plasma is best to accomplish this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889187084
 
silent-circuit said:
From what little I've seen of plasma they tend to have horrible (almost instantaneous) burn in.
Click to expand...

You must have seen only a tiny amount

were you using a microscope or something?

:rolleyes:

If they had "almost instantaneous burn in" they wouldn't even be on the market because their poor reputation would have only suckered in one seasons worth of buyers
 
needmorecarnitine said:
If they had "almost instantaneous burn in" they wouldn't even be on the market because their poor reputation would have only suckered in one seasons worth of buyers
Click to expand...

I'm basing this off a friend's 50-60" LG (not certain of the model, or even the size -- never asked -- but it's huge and one of their highest end models) and a 42" Sony (again, not certain of the model). Both were purchased about a year to a year and a half ago, so they're not ancient by any stretch.

No microscope necessary -- with his PS3 playing Rock Band on the LG the logo stays on screen (gray burn in) for well over a minute after you get out of the menus, during normal usage just waiting for people to be ready to play. It always goes away, but it worries he and I both.
 
Go with the Plasma.
I use my Panasonic TH-42PZ80U for movies mainly, but I will game on it occasionally.
I was playing Destroy All Humans 3 last night for about 4 hours, didn't notice any Image Retention.

You can check over at AVS Forums, they have a lot of knowledgeable home theater people there.
here is the Panasonic PZ80/85 owners thread,
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1000479

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netflix-03.jpg
 
I have watched both movies on plasma and LCD. I see no real difference in picture quality between the two. There might be a small slight difference, the kind you would only notice if you put the two side by side. ...but if you walk from one room to another, which at my dads house is exactly what we do. We see no difference. Sometimes we go in the theatre to watch Nascar (plasma) sometimes we go out to the living room to watch football (LCD).

The only big issue I see, is that Plasma works better in low light conditions then the LCD. I would narrow down to a few tv's both LCD's and Plasma's and buy the one that looks best to your eyes.
 
silent-circuit said:
I'm basing this off a friend's 50-60" LG (not certain of the model, or even the size -- never asked -- but it's huge and one of their highest end models) and a 42" Sony (again, not certain of the model). Both were purchased about a year to a year and a half ago, so they're not ancient by any stretch.

No microscope necessary -- with his PS3 playing Rock Band on the LG the logo stays on screen (gray burn in) for well over a minute after you get out of the menus, during normal usage just waiting for people to be ready to play. It always goes away, but it worries he and I both.
Click to expand...

This is image retention, not burn in. IR is common but usually harmless, and goes away in minutes. Most new sets have a program you can run (usually white sweeps) to remove it quickly.

True burn in is much less prevalent in new sets. You can still get it, but it's harder than you think.
 
SatTech said:
This is image retention, not burn in. IR is common but usually harmless, and goes away in minutes. Most new sets have a program you can run (usually white sweeps) to remove it quickly.

True burn in is much less prevalent in new sets. You can still get it, but it's harder than you think.
Click to expand...

Image retention, then. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead anyone. That said, it's annoying as /hell/ and I personally wouldn't buy a plasma for that reason alone. I've yet to see a LCD based set do anything like that.

needmorecarnitine said:
tell him to turn down his brightness
Click to expand...

Shouldn't have to -- and it isn't cranked all the way anyway, it's at about half.
 
I have both. Love them both but regarding picture quality plasma has the edge.
 
Plasma unless you have a lot of sunlight in the room. They are priced better at the larger sizes and the newer ones don't have burn in issues. I went with a LG 60PG70 and I absolutely love it.
 
LCDs don's suffer from IR or burn in because they aren't phospor based like plasmas and CRTs are. Both have their plusses and minuses. If I was buying an HDTV that would mostly be used for gaming, I'd get an LCD for sure.

IMHO a good plasma beats a good LCD for movies/TV any day. But that's MY opinion.
 
silent-circuit said:
Image retention, then. Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead anyone. That said, it's annoying as /hell/ and I personally wouldn't buy a plasma for that reason alone. I've yet to see a LCD based set do anything like that.
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My parents have owned a 50" Panasonic plasma for over a year. My youngest brother plays Xbox and Wii on it all the time and often pauses the game while he goes and does something else for half an hour or more (grrrr.....). I have not seen image retention on it yet.

I myself own a 42" Panasonic plasma. I haven't seen any image retention on it either.

From what I've read, image retention should not be a big problem for plasmas anymore.
 
About 1.5 years ago, I went with Plasma for my HT because it looks so dang good and you could not get an LCD in the same size for the money. I still think Plasmas have a slightly higher picture quality, though LCD is rapidly catching up.

Today, it would be a harder decision to make. You can get large LCDs for nearly the same price as the Plasmas so cost is not that much of a factor any more.

Now, the room I have it in is 15 x 15. With plasma, the room heats up fairly quickly due to the heat coming from the TV. While it's winter, that is not such a bad thing (other than electric bill), but most of the year it is not such a good thing. Summer months make watching TV in that room a little uncomfortable. I did add a ceiling fan and that helps. But I don't think I would have this problem if I were running an LCD.

Brighness in the room can be a drawback for Plasmas. Lots of windows can create lots of reflections off the glass...not really an issue for LCD.

However, again, plasmas look wicked awesome. Therefore, if heat/electricity are not an issue and you have a darkened room, plasma can be way cool. If you are in a smaller room with a lot of ambient light, LCD might be the better choice.
 
supposedly it is harder to read text in plasmas.

cinema experience top priority? nothing beats plasma blacks. lcds even with led lighting can have local clouding type effects. lcds are supposed to have better shadow detail though.. if you are going high end LED (check reviews of the samsung a950)

from whay i've seen, plasmas are still cheaper. also, the lag is slightly better. i went with lcd for gaming / windows use (no IR, text), weight (hung on wall), brightness (used during day with windows open), and power consumption (around half of plasma). the color and everything is amazing and on par with plasma, but cinema blacks in dark scenes with no lights could be better
 
It's a tie now these days, Samsung's best LCD ranks pretty close to the Pioneer Kuro line...if I were to chose again today I would choose the Samsung brand LCDs..I own a Panasonic TH50PZ700U plasma TV.
 
For Games/Internet go with LCD
1. No image retention
2. Lower Heat/Power Consumption than Plasma.

Plasma's can be cheaper for same size and for movie/tv watching I think most people agree they have better image quality.
 
Just me 2 Cents,

Panasonic's 42" plasmas have been seen as low as $649 (AKA Amazon yesterday). I promise you that finding a 42" LCD that will even come close to the PQ black levels and whites of the panny will be impossible, its not going to happen. I owned a sammy 330 Series, and while the picture was great, I want deeper blacks. The difference is night and day in my opinion. Burn in, NOT an issue these days. The plasmas have different technologies built right in, one of them being what they call a "pixel orbitor", which shifts the pixels ever so slightly.

Plasmas kick total ass dude, the decision isnt hard especially since you are going to be watching alot of movies/tv.
 
I've been using a Panasonic TH42PZ80B 1080p 42" Plasma for over 6 months now.
It gets about 8 hrs TV, 8hrs PC use a day (average) with some extremely long gaming sessions and has zero burnin problems.
An awesome quality picture TV/monitor!!
 
Nenu said:
I've been using a Panasonic TH42PZ80B 1080p 42" Plasma for over 6 months now.
It gets about 8 hrs TV, 8hrs PC use a day (average) with some extremely long gaming sessions and has zero burnin problems.
An awesome quality picture TV/monitor!!
Click to expand...

You watch 8hrs of TV a day Nenu?
 
I have a Pioneer Elite 50 inch...internet, game, movies, tv....never had any problem with image retention or burn in....looks great!
 
Ok, this is what I do for a living...
If you're in the market for an LCD, but a high end one, 120hz etc etc...

Other than that, buy plasma...
ALL the myths about plasmas are exactly that...myths.

The Panasonic is a great panel (without getting into the Pioneers). You'll be happy for years to come.

Take some advice though....get one size bigger than you need. You won't regret it!
 
Watching movies on a LCD makes my eyes puke...especially dark scenes.
PQ difference between LCD and Plasma is huge, imho.
 
I don't think the difference is huge but it is noticeable. It was posted (and I read several times) that LED backlight LCDs were comparable to plasmas. The cheapest models are over $2500 I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong, thats for Samsung's 46") while I have seen Panasonic 42" 1080P for under $800 before.

I know there is a size difference but I used those two examples because they are the cheapest ("respectable name" brands) examples I could find.
 
I have a 42" Panasonic plasma and it's really fantastic. I gave it a 100 hour "break-in" period and have yet to have a single image-retention issue. If you're a "plug and play" type, you may be better off with an LCD. But if you're willing to do the research and take the time to break the set in, you'll be very happy with a plasma. Hopefully someday soon my 42" will make it's way into my bedroom and a new Kuro will take it's place in the living room. :D
 
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