LCD and plasma help...

[Platon]

I have been thinking lately that after christmas to get an HDTV. Now that broadcasts are going digital and the flat screen TV technology seems to have matured quite a bit I though it might be time.

For some reason the obvious choice seemed to be an 720p LCD at the size of 32", from a 28" SDTV that is quite an upgrade, atleast in size and resolution. I didn't think of plasma at all until I just checked for fun at a store and saw that for approximately the price of a good 32"LCD i could get a 720p plasma at 42", so I started looking into it more.

So it seems that the plasma has much better contrast and colours and quicker responce time but might burned out quicker and have burn in problems although with new sets those things don't seem to be so problematic anymore. LCD from what I have seen though seems to have a more clear and crisp image, but it is difficult to evaluate them in stores were both lighting and the TV signal suck.

So I would like to hear from people here which kind of display would be better for TV viewing and gamming? Which of the two does a better job showing SDTV resolutions? I have seen that some LCDs have something called dynamic constrast, but haven't really found out what it is, any ideas? The problems I have always had with atlest LCDs has been the blacks, it is as if there are no dark shades, everything that is darker than a certain point just becomes black, it this still a problem even in newer sets?

Help greatly appreciated, cheers...

 

[jb]

The general rule of thumb had been something like this:

If your primary viewing enviroment will be dark and you will watch mainly movies, then Palsma is "better".

If you have windows or other light sources near where the TV is and will be watching many different things (TV, Games, ect) then LCDs are "better".

But there is no always right answer in these cases. Both usally suck at displaying SDTV as they are both fixed resolution displays and SDTV is just gonna to look bad on them.

I have a 42" 1080P LCD that I have in the main room near a window. I use it for everything and so far it does a great job. I have not noticed any ghosting in any sports or other fast action type of content.

Does the place your going to buy it have a good return policy? If so maybe try the LCD first and see if it looks good where you will be watching all your stuff on it (ie your home). If you dont like it see if the store will allow you to trade it in for the Plasma....

 

[Randell]

screen burn can be an issue for gaming.

What distance will you set from it? 42" may be too big if clsoer than ~10 feet

 

[London Geezer]

Where r u? US?

If you're in the UK i can give you some models to have a look at, as lots of companies change models numbers for Euro versions.

EDIT: Oh, just noticed u're in Sweden...



Will you be buying into HDDVD or Bluray?

And at what distance will you be watching the TV?

Both of those will have an influence over whether you should go 1080p or not.

Personally i will go a bit more future proof and eventually buy a 1080p TV, when i get the cash.

 

[wishiknew]

If one waits long enough, blacks and angle problems will be solved on lcds completely.

But for ones that want it now, there are some very positive comments from avsforum about Sharps new 52D62U and 46D62U. But only those sizes/models have theeir latest panel with 2000:1 contrast(dymanic 10000:1) and 'Multi-Pixel' for better angles.

Oh they are US models. Not sure what they would be called in other countries.

 

[Mize]

laser TV for those willing to "wait long enough" see other thread

 

[Randell]

Will you be buying into HDDVD or Bluray?

And at what distance will you be watching the TV?

Both of those will have an influence over whether you should go 1080p or not.

Personally i will go a bit more future proof and eventually buy a 1080p TV, when i get the cash.

What has HD-DVD/Blu-ray got to do with 1080P? Both are stored in 1080P.

Personally as I set ~2M from my screen, I have a 32" JVC LCD 1366x768 and don't care about 1080P as the viewing distance and screen size all make it a non-issue for me.

 

[Platon]

Thanks guys for the opinions, greatly appreciated.

The viewing distance right now is around 8.5 feet so maybe a 42" set would be too big, I mean even the 28" SDTV I have now is big enough so 32" might be better.

The other thing is that the TV is in the living room which does have one huge window and hence can be quite bright atleast during the day, of course here in the nordic countries during the winter time we don't really have to worry to much about these kind of things, catching only a couple of hours of sun a day:smile: . But I thought that plasmas were brighter? So if there is risk for the room being bright the LCDs are better?

london-boy I will most probably not be bying into neither HDDVD or BR, atleast for a very long time, I hardly watch DVDs anymore and it will depend of course quite a bit depending on which format will be "winning", and are there 32" 1080p sets? Then of course the price is an issue, it feels as if it will be almost as cheap to buy a "good enough" TV now and then 5 years down the line buy something "good enough" again, which most probably will be spanking anything that is out today anyway.

wishiknew, thanks for the suggestions, those screens really look great but the price, ouch. And they mention dynamic contrast, what is that? Does all the LCDs have that?

It seems to be a jungle out there, buying a TV is almost like trying to buy a graphics card, there is something a bit better comming soon. The LED-LCD hybrid thing seems to be the next big thing and I do believe that that tech will bring the LCD to the next step, but the price I am sure will be beyond mortals...

 

[pascal]

With bright light in the day the best is a good LCD.
edited: and with LCDs is better find one with a good contrast. The Sony v-series is one of the preferreds by consumers.

See this viewing distance calculator: http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html
At 8.5 feet is beyond the visual acuity for 1080i with a 42" TV (5.5 feet).
No need to buy one at this distance.

And the choice of TV size depends on your choice of viewing angle and budget.
If you like cinema size screen with THX or SMTPE recomendations you will need a 70" TV
Other people will prefer less eyes/head movment in a daily base then a 20 degree will be more comfortable. Maybe you should visit stores demo rooms and decide about it.

 

[jb]

Planton,

given that your room has some light via the window, and LCDs do better "typically" in those types of setups, then your probably better off trying an LCD first...

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks guys for the opinions, greatly appreciated.

The viewing distance right now is around 8.5 feet so maybe a 42" set would be too big, I mean even the 28" SDTV I have now is big enough so 32" might be better.

The other thing is that the TV is in the living room which does have one huge window and hence can be quite bright atleast during the day, of course here in the nordic countries during the winter time we don't really have to worry to much about these kind of things, catching only a couple of hours of sun a day:smile: . But I thought that plasmas were brighter? So if there is risk for the room being bright the LCDs are better?

london-boy I will most probably not be bying into neither HDDVD or BR, atleast for a very long time, I hardly watch DVDs anymore and it will depend of course quite a bit depending on which format will be "winning", and are there 32" 1080p sets? Then of course the price is an issue, it feels as if it will be almost as cheap to buy a "good enough" TV now and then 5 years down the line buy something "good enough" again, which most probably will be spanking anything that is out today anyway.

wishiknew, thanks for the suggestions, those screens really look great but the price, ouch. And they mention dynamic contrast, what is that? Does all the LCDs have that?

It seems to be a jungle out there, buying a TV is almost like trying to buy a graphics card, there is something a bit better comming soon. The LED-LCD hybrid thing seems to be the next big thing and I do believe that that tech will bring the LCD to the next step, but the price I am sure will be beyond mortals...

If majority of your viewing with be broadcast TV, 720p/1080i will last you as long as needed. Especially taking into consideration your veiwing distance and size requirement your benefits from 1080p will be minimal.

I have a Plasma and a DLP myself but then again, I can make both room really dark. The Plasma however is much more sensitive to light than the DLP. My 2405 which is a LCD have a very narrow veiwing range and gets an even bigger "washout" effect when hit with sunlight. Much more so than the plasma. This might not be indicative of LCD TV however since they have a anti glare/reflection screen. As always, try before you buy

 

[wishiknew]

Platon. Are you going to actually displaying any wide screen content? A 32 wide screen displaying normal tv isn't all that much bigger than a 28 crt.

Dynamic contrast. Most of the higher end tvs have it. I thought I read the defination in a LG monitor review at behardware but couldn't find it nor a explanation of it. Short form-it analysis the next frame and determines how bright the back light needs to be in order to keep blacks as black as possible while keeping it bright enough to display the brightest shade of color in the frame. (I probably got it all wrong)

led back light lcds. I once thought we were going to get this big leap but now I wonder how much more it gives over the newer wide gamut conventional back lights. But this also isn't a feature standard on smaller tvs yet.

If you can wait a bit for the prices to come down, u can get a larger panel which tends to have the newer techs. And if 1080P is your thing, u really need 37s and up to find it.

One day.

 

[RobertR1]

OP, test like this are what you should look for also:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1106hook/

Most can be found on enthusiast sites around the web.