What kind of television should i get?

I want to know wich one is better plasma or lcd?

What are the good and the bad points?

thanks

not sure which one is better, but from what i've seen LCD is generally cheaper than Plasma. also, consider DLP as well. the prices have dropped significantly lately and my brother is planning to buy a 65" Samsung 1080p DLP that is $1500 at best buy.
~~i have a DLP, but IMO the image quality is just as good as long as you adjust the settings properly. LCDs look like they have brighter images in my eyes so you might want to play with the settings while at the store.
www.download.com has awesome product reviews on their site.

Plasma has good color quality and a high contrast making for dark blacks and bright whites. However, they are more expensive. LCD's used have problems with ghosting and lower refresh rates but the high amount of development have largely brought them up to compete with plasma, plus they can be bought very cheaply. DLP can be pretty cheap, but those TV's are pretty big, plus you have to account for bulb replacements.

So really, I'd highly recommend LCD.

But just to say what's around the corner--OLED TV's, with 4x the amount of pixels per inch, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with highly efficient power use (no loss to heat) and uniform lighting (each pixel illuminates without the need of a backlight) and they can be made very thin--about 9mm thick. But that won't be mainstream at the levels of current displays for a while until costs go down and more companies start making them, currently there is only one OLED TV out and it's 11" and costs like $2,000 or something.

OLED will definitely be the way to go, once it does hit mainstream status, but that will likely still be several years off. Sony is rumored to be prepping a 27" OLED set for sale in Japan this fall, but it will still be quite pricey, and there is still no word on larger sets (although, in theory, sets up to 100" are possible based on previous OLED laboratory tests).

If you want to buy a set now, LCD is the better choice for budget-minded consumers, while Plasma still has a slight edge in terms of picture quality. Both technologies used to be plagued by image "burn-in" problems, but advancements have greatly reduced the problem on LCD panels, and all but eliminated it on plasma sets, at least when the sets are properly adjusted. Both also used to have problems with their images when viewed from significant angles, but those problems have also been essentially eliminated.

FWIW, I have 3 HDTVs in my home right now. One is a large DLP rear projector, and the other two are LCDs (a 47" and a 32"). While neither LCD set compares to the quality of my DLP, both of them are remarkably good, and I have no regrets in choosing them.

Whichever you end up choosing, DON'T leave the contrast, brightness and sharpness at their factory default settings. Doing so will increase the chance of "burn-in" problems, and besides, even though it may look "brighter" with these settings, it isn't more realistic.

It must depend on where you live because I went TV shopping a few weeks ago and all the plasmas were two to three hundred $ less than the lcds.
I ended up getting a Toshiba lcd only because it ran cooler than plasma and it was the only one with the screen size I was looking for that fit in my entertainment center.

Cocoboloboy said:

It must depend on where you live because I went TV shopping a few weeks ago and all the plasmas were two to three hundred $ less than the lcds.
I ended up getting a Toshiba lcd only because it ran cooler than plasma and it was the only one with the screen size I was looking for that fit in my entertainment center.

Click to expand...

it's the same here. plasmas are cheap and LCD's are expensive. i thought i heard LCD's have a longer life than plasmas as well. i plan on getting a LCD when i start furnishing my basement.

Really, I wouldn't be worrying about lifespan, it's far more likely for you to replace your TV before it dies.

From what I've seen, LCD's are cheaper, but take a look on Newegg.com and compare prices there.

I think the price drops are because I heard a lot of companies are getting out of the plasma business because the sets arent cost efficient for them to make... Pioneer (probably the best plasma TV maker) said they're going to stop making plasma sets, which makes me very sad... =(

I find the picture quality on plasmas to be a lot better than LCDs... if you have a good eye (even with properly calibrated sets), you'll notice that plasmas have deeper blacks and more natural colors when compared with LCDs... but LCDs are a LOT brighter than plasmas, since plasma brightness fades the more the set is used.

Plasmas also give off a LOT of heat and use more power than LCDs

Newer plasma sets have picture options that reduce/eliminate image retention and burn in, but if you're a big gamer or like to watch TV shows in 4:3, an LCD is your best bet if you dont want to worry about IR/burn in. (I have an older plasma without the fancy options, and no matter how careful I am/was, I still got some very slight, permanent burn in from 4:3 bars and from Final Fantasy XII health bars even after the break in period). So if you're one of those people who falls asleep at night while watching sports/news channels with lots of ticker bars across the screen, go with an LCD. Plasmas require a lot of care.

Sony XBR series w/ 120hz if you have cash, or the new Vizio Black Tie series w/ 120hz if you don't.

LewisD said:

Sony XBR series w/ 120hz if you have cash, or the new Vizio Black Tie series w/ 120hz if you don't.

Click to expand...

I've never liked those 120 hz picture smoothing options... makes the picture wayyyy too artificial

MooMooEgg said:

I've never liked those 120 hz picture smoothing options... makes the picture wayyyy too artificial

Click to expand...

It makes movies look like you are watching them on a camcorder instead of film. It just doesn't look right.

I was told LCD up to 42 inches, Plasma over 42 in.

Plasmas don't get all that small anyways, and I'm sure with LCD technology it costs a lot more for quality at larger sizes so I would agree. In fact, I'm kind of screwed in that with my current display--it's a 28" LCD monitor that was pretty low priced compared to the sizes of monitors available to me at the time in that price range--but there was a reason, it's got the cheapest LCD technology so it really sucks, the backlight is so bright to illuminate the middle of the screen that blacks around the edges look like negatives. And for some reason with the VGA cable from my computer it keeps flickering to a yellow color from time to time.

I thought 120hz only fixes the choppiness you can see on camera shots that pan left or right. The weird artificial smoothing on objects and people's faces is something else.

JustinLuck said:

I thought 120hz only fixes the choppiness you can see on camera shots that pan left or right. The weird artificial smoothing on objects and people's faces is something else.

Click to expand...

You are correct. 120Hz video does not create any artificial smoothing of any image. It was introduced as a way to bridge the video/film frame rate gap that has always existed. It happens to be an even multiplier for both 24 fps film (5x) and 30 fps video (4x), eliminating the need for 2:3 pulldown, and completely eliminating the judder effect it creates (most noticeable in fast pans and film closing credits). So, any video or film source can be displayed on a 120Hz device with no elaborate field/frame rate conversion, and they both are able to preserve the accurate appearance of motion as it was originally captured.

creecher said:

I was told LCD up to 42 inches, Plasma over 42 in.

Click to expand...

That used to be the rule of thumb, but not any longer. There are LCD sets available at surprisingly good prices, at least as large as 65".

That, as much as the cost of manufacturing, is likely a major factor in why LCD is eating away at the plasma market. A 65" LCD would have been unthinkably expensive a few years ago. But advancements in panel design and manufacture have brought the cost way down. It may be that plasma's days are numbered, which would be a real shame, because the image quality of the latest generation of plasma panels is nearly flawless, better even than a comparably sized CRT could possibly deliver (which was the benchmark against which all flat panel technologies have always been measured).

But, in a few years OLED will undoubtedly be king, and from what I've seen of it in action, it is amazing.

Good top 8th since sometime in the next 6 mths i was looking at buying one or the other.

Read quite a few reviews and it seems pretty subjective but basically when it get rights down to it your going to favour the picture that does it for you as well as obviously liking the look of the tele.

Having said that u will often find a store has the tv they want to sell set at the optimum whilst the others are mysteriously set to show an extremely average picture quality.

The more u read doesn't necessarily make it any easier and from the replies u have received so far its like so many other things with it purely coming down to your personal choice/taste.

https://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,239035250,240036500,00.htm

alls I know is I love my 58" plasma.... couldnt be happier with it ....

I like my DLP.

without having read all previous posts, my 52" PIONEER plasma is awesome. Don't believe all the negative press about plasma, it's simply not true with newest models.

LCD is just as good.

I have heard, and this is just going off of memory from previous research (about 2 years ago) that plasma's deliver better blacks (i.e. dark scenes) and are better for "fast" scenes (i.e. sports). But LCD's I think win out in most other categories. Plasmas don't come much smaller than 46" or 50" while LCD's come much smaller.

As far as size, (two years ago) price was comparable for both if talking up to 50". Any larger than that and LCD's got very pricey while plasmas were still somewhat affordable, but I believe tachnologies have changes and larger LCD's are now more affordable in the larger sizes.

720p vs. 1080i vs. 1080p. Depending on your situation, and how much money you have to spend, you can probably get a larger TV if you limit yourself to 720p/1080i. I fyou must have 1080p, expect to pay for it, like in the $3500+ range for anything larger than 52", while you should be able to find a 52" 720p/1080i for $2000-2500 (or less, easily).

I don't know that much about DLP, but they are rear projection, so they will have a larger foot print, and I thought that they also have more moving parts (color wheel, bulb etc.) to break down, but I may be completely wrong on that.

And as far as warranties go, as much as I hate them and think a waste of money, on these newer TV's, once they break, they are BROKE, very little chance of reviving, so for me it was a must. I bought a Best Buy open box (I hate best buy) but made sure they included a free 4 year warranty in the sale.

TV's are like cars, dont' be afraid to haggle.

Good luck.