Johnny Awesome
Veteran
I'm looking for a nice 720p/1080i set 50" or so with good contrast mainly for gaming. Does anyone have any recommendations? Plasma? LCD? DLP? I'd like to stay under $3000 if I can...
HDTV Shopping
- Thread starter Johnny Awesome
- Start date
If you're looking at 50" and no more than 3K, I think DLP is probably your best choice as I am not aware of decent 3K LCDs or PDPs.
Before you go for DLP though, do you ever watch or play games down on the floor in front of it? For instance, sometimes I lie down on the floor looking up at my plasma - something I couldn't do with a DLP as their vertical viewing angles are pretty small.
Before you go for DLP though, do you ever watch or play games down on the floor in front of it? For instance, sometimes I lie down on the floor looking up at my plasma - something I couldn't do with a DLP as their vertical viewing angles are pretty small.
Dunno how suitable plasmas are for lots of gaming, but 50"ers are under $3k now. (They also pull a surprising 500W in use. And I thought 300W for the 42"ers was high....) Check Costco.com, to start.
As for decent, I believe Panasonic and Samsung PDPs are considered so.
As for decent, I believe Panasonic and Samsung PDPs are considered so.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Thanks guys. Any other opinions out there about Plasma vs. DLP vs. LCD?
Color me shocked. PDPs at that size have taken a tremendous nosedive in price since the time I got my plasma.
Panasonics are great and if you can get it from Costco, then you have a great return policy.
As for the differences, oy vey, where to start/
I guess you need to ask yourself, what do you intend to do with it? Watch movies/TV programs? HD or mostly SD if so?
Play games?
Surf the internet?
What's your environmental lighting conditions like? Do you have good light control?
Do you prefer natural/neutral colors or ones that "pop" off your screen?
How long do you want it to last?
Plasmas are gorgeous, but as long as I live I have Taken a Mighty Oath to never buy another TV that is subject to "burn in" (our first HD was the older style cabinet RPTV), and that includes plasmas. The compromises aren't worth it to me. I let my DLP and LCD play SD at 4:3 and HD at 16:9 and I am a very happy Geo.
Y'know what, at the end of the day there is no substitute for going down to Best Buy or Ultimate Electronics or Circuit City or Fry's or Good Guys or (etc) or some combination thereof and seeing for yourself what you like.
Plasmas are gorgeous, but as long as I live I have Taken a Mighty Oath to never buy another TV that is subject to "burn in" (our first HD was the older style cabinet RPTV), and that includes plasmas. The compromises aren't worth it to me. I let my DLP and LCD play SD at 4:3 and HD at 16:9 and I am a very happy Geo.
Y'know what, at the end of the day there is no substitute for going down to Best Buy or Ultimate Electronics or Circuit City or Fry's or Good Guys or (etc) or some combination thereof and seeing for yourself what you like.
I think recent generations of PDPs have pretty much resolved those issues though I would still advise caution during the first 100 hours...just in case.
And half brightness lifespan is aroun 60K hours they now say.
Can't argue with that though I would keep in mind that signals and lighting conditions aren't the best there but it's certainly is a good place to start.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
I'm buying mostly for games and HD-DVD movies/programming. I guess that's everything.
I don't have great light control in the room it will be in, but there isn't much direct light on the screen.
My concern's are black level, 1080p?, and screen burn.
For HD DVD's and other HD content, I prefer my plasma but my DLP is heads above the plasma when it comes to standard.
Ofcourse, it's hard to watch standard when you get spoiled by HD
I'm buying mostly for games and HD-DVD movies/programming. I guess that's everything.
I don't have great light control in the room it will be in, but there isn't much direct light on the screen.
My concern's are black level, 1080p?, and screen burn.
Do you think you will "need" to see HDDVD movies at 1080p? Personally i will, when i eventually part with the cash.
If so, 1080p plasma will be a bit too expensive for the forseeable future, especially the size you want! So LCD or DLP are pretty much your only options if you don't want to spend LOADS of money, and LCD and DLP aren't cheap items by any means to begin with!!
My main issue with LCD is the black levels, but it's improving all the time - can still be an issue though.
My main issue with DLP is the viewing angles, like all rear-projection TVs. This for me is an immediate NO cause i hate this effect.
You should really look at properly set up TVs, see what you prefer and buy according to your needs. There is no perfect TV i'm afraid.
You seem interested in screen size, so what do you think of front projectors? You also said there won't be much light in the room so it might work out for you!
I'm buying mostly for games and HD-DVD movies/programming. I guess that's everything.
I don't have great light control in the room it will be in, but there isn't much direct light on the screen.
My concern's are black level, 1080p?, and screen burn.
Right now, I believe Plasmas still have the edge in contrast. They can do deeper, richer colors but quite honestly, I haven't taken a good look at the XBR3 Bravias from Sony nor the latest Sharp Aquos' - the two top consumer brands for LCDs now IMO. I haven't priced Plasmas in awhile so I have no clue if there is a true 1080p Plasma display and what the price might be.
You shouldn't need to worry about Plasma burn-in unless you leave your TV on with some portion of the screen displaying a static image for hours on end. In other words, Burn-in is pretty extinct as long as you're not blatently stupid.
One thing to be aware of is the scaler of your set (or at least some place in your Home Theater chain), regardless of technology (RobertR1 touches upon this below).
That is, your set will show the best quality when displaying an image at the native resolution. But if you end up watching something that isn't encoded in that (for example, Standard Definition TV (SDTV), DVDs, etc.) then something needs to scale that image appropriately. That something could either be your TV or some output device (Cable Box, DVD player, etc.)
Depending on the quality of the scaler, you could be in for a rough shock when you brand spanking new TV looks much worse when you're watching regular SD broadcasts.
So figure out if SD broadcasts are likely to take up a chunk of your viewing time and give appropriate weight to the quality of the scaler you need.
For myself, when I went Plasma shopping, I knew that unfortunately HDTV broadcasts were fairly thin in my location for the programs I was interested in. So I needed to get a high quality scaler.
Oh, and what size of set are you looking for? Do you have a specific need?
As you go up in size the "bad's" get more exaggerated. Keep that in mind. For me, with HD DVD and most of my shows on HD and 360 gaming in HD, standard isn't an issue but I don't have Universal HD so I'm stuck with BSG on standard and Formula 1 on speed.
For that I watch it on my DLP. The Plasma is painful to view it on. The DLP does a much better job at handling standard resolution (not upscaled, just 480).
Even the might Pioneer elites don't handle standard as well as DLP's from my experience. LCD's are no better in this respect, btw.
For that I watch it on my DLP. The Plasma is painful to view it on. The DLP does a much better job at handling standard resolution (not upscaled, just 480).
Even the might Pioneer elites don't handle standard as well as DLP's from my experience. LCD's are no better in this respect, btw.
I don't recall the Pio Elites being noted for their good scaling. Since they bought out NECs Plasma line, they might pick up those scalers which are noted as being quite good.
You could also check out Fujitsu's PDPs with their AVM, that's pretty much considered the benchmark for scalers in PDPs.
Panny's are supposed to be pretty good as well.
standing ovation
Regular
LCD and plasma technology have made strides over the past year or so, addressing weaknesses that detracted from picture quality. LCD TVs, for example, have had difficultly producing true black and natural-looking motion with no blurring. They've also had a narrower viewing angle than plasma sets. The best new LCD models have improved in those areas, contributing to high scores in our latest tests. Similarly, the best plasma TVs have added features to minimize distracting reflections and screen burn-in, two issues for plasma technology.
However, in a showroom it can be hard for shoppers to tell which TVs benefit from those improvements. Store lighting, varying settings on each TV, and the different types of content displayed make it tough to compare picture quality. In our labs, we eliminate variables so that we can see which models really perform best.
Ratings – LCD
Ratings – Plasma
SOURCE: Consumer Reports, November 2006
However, in a showroom it can be hard for shoppers to tell which TVs benefit from those improvements. Store lighting, varying settings on each TV, and the different types of content displayed make it tough to compare picture quality. In our labs, we eliminate variables so that we can see which models really perform best.
Ratings – LCD
- Sony Bravia KDL-V40XBR1 (40-in.)
- JVC LT-40X787 (40-in.)
- Sony Bravia KDL-40S2000 (40-in.)
- Westinghouse LVM-42W2 (42-in.)
- LG 42LB1DR (42-in.)
- Sony Bravia KLV-40U100M (40-in.)
- Sharp Aquos LC-45D40U (45-in.)
Ratings – Plasma
- Fujitsu Plasmavision P50XTA51UB (50-in.)
- LG 50PC1DR (50-in.)
- HP PL5060N (50-in.)
- Panasonic TH-50PX60U (50-in.)
- Zenith Z50PX2D (50-in.)
- Samsung HP-S5053 (50-in.)
- Dell W5001C (50-in.)
SOURCE: Consumer Reports, November 2006
Similar threads
