I am shopping a 42inch or bigger flat screen TV. As long as the picture looks good to the naked eye, I will be happy. Aside from the pixel quality, is there a reason not to buy a plasma over a LCD? Abner
Get a projector and turn a wall into a 120" TV. For a flat panel, though, I would lean to a LCD, personally. Plasma's have been known to have color problems over time, as well as burn-in issues like CRT's. Plus, the newest LCD's with LED backlights look amazing, but they are expensive. If you have a Best Buy near you that has LCD's and Plasma's all near each other playing the same HD source, that's another great way to decide. You don't need to buy one there, but you can at least compare them side by side. But seriously, if you have a room at your place that you can spare a wall for a projector, you will from then on be ruined for life. A 42" TV will from then on seem tiny to you. I bought a $900 720P HD projector about a year ago and have been ruined ever since. Good luck on your decision!
here's a good comparison: LCD vs Plasma The newer LCDs are getting very close to the clarity of a plasma. I own 3, the smallest a 32". Two of mine are 1080p and these are great with a Blu-ray, but also work well with upconverted pictures from standard dvds through the Blu-ray. I like that LCDs use less energy. If you are going to go high end get one with a 120hz refresh rate. A couple of things that have annoyed me. Some models have really bright power buttons. I switched to a Samsung because the power button does not glow on the model I have when it is on. Several of the matching components I have could light up a room with the brightness of the led power light. If you are going for a theater type setting (or bedroom tv) pay attention to the color/finish on the case, bright piano black cases reflect and glare more than the matte or satin finish ones. One of my 1080s is an RCA and it has a nice feature that will auto adjust to the ambient light of the room. Pay attention to the number of HDMI connections, get at least two so that you can feed one to a player and the other to your surround sound in the event you want better sound from your system. You will also need an HDMI if you intend to use Hi-Def cable. Holler back,
Also - don't sacrifice size for quality. Pioneer and Panny are the leading plasma producers - both with a rock solid rep. I have a Panny 42" Plasma (viera) and have had it for 2 1/2 years - still love it.. though I paid $1500 then (regular price was $2300 but I got a bargain). Plasma TV's will give you darker blacks and more vivid colors...when I watch movies, I want the best experience I can get, so I would still go for a Plasma (especially with Blu-Ray!) Here are a few other links to help you out: http://digitaltrends.technology.sympatico.msn.ca/guide/144/LCD+or+Plasma+HDTVs:+Which+to+Choose%3F.html http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/plasma-vs-lcd-TV.html http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.ca/S-BCc0tLHNmv1/learningcenter/home/tv_flatpanel.html
The newer technology Plasma's don't have the same burn issues like the older ones. Here is the jist of my many months of research on the differences. Anything less than a 46" TV (LCD or Plasma) does NOT need to be 1080p. The picture quality for anything lower than a 46" is so negligible that you are really throwing your money away and 720p is perfect for 46" and below. If you are a gamer then go with an LCD. Hands down LCD's are better for gaming. If you are a heavy movie watcher then go with a Plasma. I have both of them and I love both types but those small differences are why I have one on my office for gaming and the one in my living room for watching movies.
Thanks for all the suggestions everybody. I am getting ready to have the house repiped (copper) and the bathrooms remodeled. I also want to give the living room a makeover. A dude told me Costco has a bulletproof return and warranty policy. He said most of the time, an item can be past the warranty, and they will still replace it. it appears they bend over backwards for the customer. My brother recently bought a flat screen from them and it turned out to be defective. He returned it, they apologized, and gave him a bigger better TV! He wasn't even complaining. Thanks, Abner
Yep - never had any problems with Costco. Though keep your eyes open for deals, I believe Costco has a flat % that they add to their products so some things are cheaper and others more expensive. Not to mention, buy it from a Dept. store on your credit card and most credit cards automatically add a years worth of warranty as well. Let us know how you make out!
We have a 50in LG that we love. When we purchaed it abut 2-3 years ago it was the only one that had the white screen utility that would allow you to get rid of burn in. Part of the reason we went with Plasma was due to the glare issue from the huge window we have at the back of our living room. This was greatly reduced when we had an av company come in and mount it on the wall. If it has only one HDMI port you can use a HDMI switch to solve the problem. Our current reciever doesn't do HDMI but does have optical and fiber optic inputs. Fortunately our HD DVR and our dvd player have these as options
From what I hear is that the crystals can burn through the screen it has a white cast of the words imprinted, but all you have to do is cut it off for a while if it has been running a long time. I still say plasma is the best!
i bought an LG 42" plasma 2 years ago, and its already finished.. A panel failure and some other bs failure. Not under warranty and company wants $3000 to fix it, bought the damn thing for $4200
I'll give another vote for the projector idea. I didn't want to spend a ton, and anticipate moving in the next year so didn't want an enormous flatscreen to cart around. I lucked into a sale that Fry's was having on a normal resolution (1024x768) projector for $299. It turned out to be an incredible deal, picture quality, while not hi-def, is still excellent, it goes up to about 9 feet diagonally, and I had a roll of white photo backdrop paper around which works perfectly as a projector screen. If I were going with a flatscreen, I've been told by several people to avoid the 42" models because most are specifically marketed as the lowest end models and tend to not be made with long-term durability in mind. I don't know if that's still true, but there are some incredible deals on 46 and 50" units now so I'd probably be inclined to go that route.
Hmm. This projector idea is kind of intriguing. How does the projector work? Is it like one of those projectors they use in an office for a presentation? I am not super picky about picture quality. After I am done having the house repiped and the bathrooms remodeled, I want to look into having the living room expanded. This projector idea may work. Right now, I am just cringing at the idea of the repipe and bath remodel. I know it is going to get messy!!!! Ay dios mio!!!!! My only motivation is to think of how nice it will be when the projects are done. Abner
In my case, I mounted a small shelf, about 12x12, on one wall, put the projector on that, and aimed it at the other wall, where I made a large wooden frame for the screen, covered the frame with black muslin, and mounted the white backdrop material in the frame. The whole thing (projector + frame + mount) cost about $350. I then ran a 25' SVGA cable ($10 at Fry's) from the A/V receiver up in front by the screen to back where the projector is. So the DVD player and tuner and all is still up front by the screen, but the actual projector is behind where we sit. If you're remodeling and tearing into walls, you could run cables for SVGA and so forth inside the walls and just have a small opening (covered by a plate) where they come out to plug into your A/V center and the projector.
The projector is bright enough that it's quite viewable in daylight (assuming there isn't sun directly on the screen), but it does look better with the lights dimmed (also gives a little more of the "theater" experience). But... that varies a lot with different projectors. The one I have is about 1800 lumens which is pretty bright, there are others out there that are only 1000 lumens or even less and those you'd probably need a pretty dark room to have an acceptable picture.
