Question for the techno geeks. What exactly is the difference between a plasma HDTV and a LCD HDTV and which one is better? Thx...
I don't have firsthand knowledge but I'm told that if sports are a big part of your viewing then plasma is the way to go. LCD apparently leaves a training effect behind all the motion.
I just bought a 46 inch Sony Bravia LCD for a very bright 4 seasons room which I just added on to my house. The Bravia has the highest rating in Consumers. Im told that Plasma sometimes "burns in the images". Im also told that Plasma will give you a light "glare". The plasma is supposed to be a better pic..but I could not be happier with my LCD HD Sony. jif
JO'Co, Both are excellent in different ways. You might also consider DLP technology. Pros and Cons: Plasma gives the best all around picture but is estimated to be the technology that will need to be replaced the soonest due to the display going belly up plus, it is the most expensive. DLP was a project with which I was involved in 1994 at Texas Instruments before moving to Intel. We had a hard time with defects back then. Have you seen a laptop LCD display with a pixel that is dead? I had two of them in my last laptop. They appear as a single dot that does not change color. DLP uses "moving mirrors" that back in 94 had a bad habit of "sticking" which gave the same look as a dead pixel in a LCD screen. I think they have overcome this issue but it still weighs heavy in my buying decision. Though less expensive than plasma, DLP is more expensive than LCD. LCD, usually the lowest cost may also be the best value. Although there is the dead pixel issue, this is a relatively rare occurrence. They are reliable and have a very long life expectancy. The quality of the picture is lower than plasma but my 49 year old eyes can't see enough difference for me to justify the cost difference and lower life expectancy of plasma.
JO'Co.. <t>I second Jif's post as my Aggie son-in-law just got the same set and I have a 42" Sony as well. Nothing like HD and if these Sat dish folks keep to their promises there will be close to a 100 HD channels by years end. I've become so spoiled watching HD I hate when I have to look at the old one.</t>
JIF debuts the Sony Bravia watching his favorite show, "Dancing with the Stars". He cranks back the LaZBoy and.....
I recently bought a 37" Sharp Aquos LCD and am very happy with it. I did a lot of research on plasma vs. LCD and decided that for the size I wanted (under 42"), LCD was my best bet. I have 1080p technology but I have no idea why - or if - it's better than 720 or 1080i.
I have two Sony LCD televisions; one a 42" Sony Wega that I've had for four years, and a 40" Sony Bravia that I've had for one year. I haven't had a problem with either and am constantly complimented on the picture quality. The DLPs have a nice picture too but they have bulbs that require changing every few years that I'm told run into the hundreds. Plasma has the best picture but from what I read it doesn't last as long as the LCD will. The Aquos is a good picture too but the Bravia was on sale when I was looking so I bought that instead. Sid: the 1080 is the amount of resolution. 1080 is the highest, 480 is the lowest. If you're watching something in high definition you're watching 1080. You did the right thing by buying high def vs. enhanced def. You're set for many years to come.
Tom, I have a 65" Mitsubishi projection. Is this what you call DLP? My old HD encountered a chronic audio problem so Best Bye recalled it. I like the picture. Would recommed always buying an extended warranty as this saved me a ton with the old one. Also given to understand that the projection bulb may need replacing in 3 years and this would be covered by the extension. I recently acquired a 22 " LCD monitor and a 256 mb graphics card which Dell tells me is the latest. What does the mb rating mean?
Victor, My work with DLP was at the chip component level back in 1994. I am not certain of what they did to the technology after that. As far as the mb rating of a video card, that is the amount of onboard memory that the card uses. More memory means better grapics and faster video. Back when I was into gaming in the mid 1990's, I had the fastest video card in our group at Texas Instruments. I was running a 486 processor at 66 MHz with a Viper video card sporting 2 MB of memory. Boy have times changed!
Jim I'm told that the ambient lighting in the room is important. In darker rooms plasma is recommended. In brighter rooms go with LCD. Also, I hear that the technology in the 50in and above is ahead of the smaller sets.
Cindy and I just retired the 53" Sony projection TV that we bought about 7 years ago. I wanted the Sony LCD but couldn't pass up the price and picture quality of the Toshiba 52" LCD 1080P. We were shopping for TVs most of the day today and just got home about 45 minutes ago to find that we are both perfect in in our contest picks... perfectly wrong that is. Both of us, as well as most of the other participants, are 0 - 2 so far. :?
I'm really not too educated in it, but one big difference is LCD's picture quality changes as you view it from side angles as opposed to straight on. From what I've heard, plasma's don't have that effect.