In This Section
TV Guide Spotlight
Also on TVGuide.com
|
« Gadget Guide
Plasma vs. LCD: Life's Full of Choices, Especially When Buying a TV
The question plaguing everyone who is thinking about stepping up their TV game from the old-school CRT (cathode-ray tube) technology television to something current is all about what flat-panel to get: "LCD vs. Plasma?" So, what to do?
To answer that query, I trekked over to have a little conversation with the very savvy Best Buy BlueShirt home theater expert Andre Sam. He was really engaging and proved his expertise in dealing with dumb questions. Perfect for me.
Since everything is pretty much HDTV — sorry, poorly aging newscasters! — we’re just talking HD here, so I’ll stop repeating that term.
The TVs look a lot alike at first glance, but you should know that choosing between LCD and plasma is actually choosing between two different technologies.
LCD, aka liquid crystal display, is best known as the stuff of computer monitors. Thanks to advances in technology, those screens have gotten bigger. LCD technology works by having two glass sheets on either side of the liquid-crystal stuff, which is composed of a lot of pixels. When an electric current goes though it, the crystals work like a shutter. From that we get the images on screen.
Plasma-screen technology is a bit different. With a plasma, a picture appears because the hundreds of thousands of tiny gas plasma cells react to the electric pulses.
Below are some factors to consider:
VIEWING If you’re buying it to watch sports, then plasma is better, says Sam. The pixels on the LCD may not be able to reflect the actual speed of, say, the baseball being thrown. So a lag might be created. The plasma has a better reaction time.
The black levels and contrast ratios — how black and white contrast — are better on the plasma. Generally, color is better in a plasma, too, but the best way to judge how a particular TV will look is to go to the store and seeing how the colors come through. That’s why retailers have TVs all on the same show, so the consumers can compare. The different televisions all have different "definitions" of how various colors look.
If glare is a factor in your viewing area at home, then consider the LCD. Plasma has glass over the screen, which can up the glare. So if the room is too bright already, having an LCD is better.
Also, consider size in picking a TV. You don’t want the room to be engulfed by a TV and you need to be far enough away from a big screen to see the picture well.
SIZE If you want to go for a bigger TV, then plasma is your choice because LCDs have been hamstrung by their technology to come in the smaller sizes. That’s changing, though. Right now, says Sam, the most popular size is the 42-inch for the plasmas and the 40-inch for the LCDs. The LCD gives the most variable size options as plasma just comes in bigger sizes. LCD runs from about 15 to 56 inches.
If big — in terms of TV size and wallet — is your thing, take note: There’s a 142-inch plasma coming up that’ll only be a few hundred thousand dollars.
USES For multimedia, LCD is a better bet. The gas technology of the plasma generates more heat. That’s not good for gaming, for example, or for use as a PC monitor, which already would make things hotter than a normal TV. The heat is a factor because with plasmas it literally makes the static images, of, say, the icon, etch into the screen; this is called “burn-in.” However, the plasma TV makers are quickly moving to improve this.
OTHER STUFF The plasma TV is much heavier than the LCD. So if you’re going to hang it, the plasma will require extra supports.
PRICES Costs are about the same, but it looks like if you buy around Thanksgiving there will some significant savings. This New York Times piece quotes Colin McGranahan, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference, saying that prices for LCD sets should be about 15 to 19 percent lower than a year ago, and plasma sets will drop in price by 25 percent. The article included the speculation that a 42-inch plasma set will go for less than $600 on Black Friday. My purse is poised!
I hope that this has been helpful. Happy viewing!
— Caroline, Team Gadget
|
|
|
|
Nov 2, 2007 11:02 AM
|
|
What about the mirrors? I have heard that other technology (mirrors, DLP, etc.) far surpase either LCD or PLASMA for length of service and quality of picture!
|
|
Nov 2, 2007 4:27 PM
|
|
A pretty decent overview of just LCD vs. Plasma. Enough for novices. Probably the best Team Gadget post yet.
|
|
Nov 2, 2007 4:53 PM
|
Just to add a small something to this: I've got a long-distance friend who recently wrote me and complained that his Plasma TV - which he's had for quite some time (I don't know exactly how long) - is starting to gradually lose brightness. Apparently the phosphors can lose their "oomph" over time. He regularly shoots videos of his kids at play in the family room, with the TV on in the background, and he says comparing three different videos shot with the same camera over various historic times demonstrates the decline.
After noticing this while editing together some of these videos for an upcoming holiday-related family project, he called tech support for the company that made the TV. They stated that this is a "known" characteristic of plasma TVs. Well, *I've* never known this before, and neither did my friend, and so I thought it was worth bringing up here.
I have known that both LCDs and Plasma could suffer from "bad pixels", but I didn't know that Plasma pixels would progressively decline over time. Combined with the fact that Plasma screens can suffer from screen burn-in (just like CRTs can; where a faded "ghost image" remains permanently on-screen because you left it there too long with no screen saver), but LCDs cannot, I think I'm leaning toward LCD technology here whenever I make my next HDTV purchase. There's an LCD on the market that's 108" that I'd love, but that probably is way outa my price range. 
They also mentioned to him that he should be careful of how hot the room gets (he has a fireplace nearby), because Plasma TVs run hotter than other technologies (as Caroline mentions), and so he should keep it well-ventilated, too.
- Dave L.
|
|
Nov 3, 2007 5:59 AM
|
|
I just bought an LCD - mainly based on the technology and lighter weight. And I love it! TV has never looked so good!
|
|
Nov 3, 2007 7:23 PM
|
|
Plasma screens have a 5-8 year shelf life and can not be fixed. If I remember correctly you can fix a LCD. We have a 60 inch DLP and with the new HD channels the picture is beautiful. Technology is soething else.
|
|
Nov 4, 2007 8:45 PM
|
|
Can someone give me a comparison between DLP and LCD? I have heard that DLP lasts longer, and runs cooler. Anyone help me out here?
|
|
Nov 5, 2007 2:44 PM
|
|
Funny timing with this blog! I'm just now starting to think about purchasing a HDTV and did a little research here on the BestBuy/Cnet site. You can find a comparison among DLP/LCD/LCoS here. They also do a little write-up of each, including pros and cons. Good luck with your decision making, Ranger. Let me know how it goes.
|
|
Nov 15, 2007 9:47 AM
|
|
|
