Plasma or LCD TV's

The old Curtis Mathes finally gave up and I'm looking at TV's. I like the idea of one that will hang on the wall instead of sitting on the floor.

From what I looked at it seems to me that the LCD has a sharper picture than plasma, guess there has to be some reason the price is different on the same size tv.

So whats the pros and cons of each? Whats the life expectancy of these new tv's?

I have not researched it but I have been told the plasma uses a lot more power than an LCD.

I havent heard that, but I would like some comfirmation. I do know they put out some heat it was a very noticeable difference next to that wall of tv's.

Plasmas have sharper pictures but are light sensitive and need to be viewed in dark rooms for best results. I got a LCD, too many windows in this big old house.

There's not a lot of difference any more.Initially the plasma sets were better because the LCD sets had a problem with off-axis viewing...but that's been largely corrected now.Plasma sets still have a slight edge in contrast but it's not a huge difference. They're both priced somewhat comparably now. Go with whatever your gut says

Yes. Plasa displays refresh faster and are brighter than LCD displays but use much more power.

The refresh rate of LCD displays has been improved significantly in recent years.

LED displays are being used in some of the latest TVs.

Dean

I have a Panasonic Viera Plasma 50 inch and am very happy with it. At the time we bought it plasma sets were less expensive than LCD but I think LCD has gotten more competitive in price now.

Plasma sets have deeper blacks so there is more contrast resulting in a better picture especially if its in a room that has lots of light that glares on the screen.

Plasma sets have a faster 'refresh rate' which is the speed that each individual pixel can change color. This results in a sharper picture when watching shows with a lot of motion such as sports.

Plasma sets are a LOT heavier than LCD.

I think I read that the terchnology of the LCD sets are gaining a lot on plasma so the advantages plasma used to have are not so much now. THe article I was reading was saying plasma technology will eventually become outdated and everything will go to LCD.

The biggest suggestion I would give you is make sure you get a 1080p set instead of 720p or 1080i. You WILL notice and be happier with the higher resolution of 1080p. Especially in a bigger set of 40 inch or higher.

I would not hesitate to buy either plasma or LCD now. It would depend on which one we could get the best deal on at the time. You will be happy either way.

Buy the biggest size you can. When we bought our 50 inch it seemed HUGE. My wife insisted on the big screen, I was not convinced we needed it. Now that we have gotten used to it I am glad we did not go with less.

I did not buy the service plan and am glad we didnt. It was expensive ($500 on a $2000 tv set) and we would only ahve gotten the warrantee extended out to three years from the one year standard warrenty. We have had the set 2 and 1/2 years now and had no problems.

It looks as if the plasma uses twice the energy of the LCD. Follow the link below for more info.
Poke Here

We had a LG plasma that went bad in 4 years and was expensive to fix,so we bought a new lCD by lG and i can't tell the difference.The lcd pulls in more channels and i don't have to use the rotor to get channels from both ends of the dial
like i did with the plasma.There even making lCD light bulbs that use less energy than floressents and last a lot longer.

bought a Vizio LED bout 5 months ago, replaced a LCD that got stolen-( whole nuther story), said it uses 60% less electricity, noticably cooler, got it at Sams, check out displays, hold your hand against each one. Color is great,HTH Mark

dont forget the mitsubishi DLP, those are great tv"s and dont use much power and dont get as hot as the plasma or lcd. but if u go lcd go LED-LCD, uses LED lights instead of the regular light LCD"s use.

Personally............and I have been a TV technician for over 15 years, I would probably go with a LCD.
Plasmas use more power, are prone to burn in if you have a static image or from news tickers like CNN or Fox News have at the bottom of the screen, they use more power and are prone to failure if they don't have cooling fans installed.......if they do have cooling fans installed they can be noisy.
There's a LOT going on in a plasma set as opposed to LCD which has been around much longer.
Most of the new LCD sets are pretty much on a par with plasma as far as picture quality. Unless you are using a high definition source (satellite or digital cable) you won't be any further ahead with a plasma at all. In fact with any source that is not high def. you will likely see a worse picture than you did on your old tube set.
Having said that, if you are on an antenna and your local broadcast is in HD then you are in for a treat either way. It will look great with a HD source.

Stick with a name brand you recognize, stay away from bargain brands and too good to be true cheap Wal Mart crap.

Funny that this post appeared today. Wifey and I replaced our 33 year old Zenith today. I guess it couldn't stand the heat wave. Took the old one to TV repair man, but he said he couldn't get part to fix it. We ended up buying a new VIZIO LCD. We were told that they were the best at present by the repair guy and a couple of friends. Hope it will last 33 years like the Made In America Zenith. O well, I was made in America and propably won't last another 33 years either!

I wouldn't expect 33 years out of it unfortunately. For that reason I no longer repair consumer electronics. I still do the occasional repair on older sets and rear projection models just because I hate to see things go to the landfill. Many of the newer plasma sets I've seen don't get much past 4-6 years. LCD seems to hold up a bit better and I'm guessing that if your Zenith was 33 before it died you don't leave it on 24 hours a day like some folks do.
I think you made a good choice. Too bad none of the new stuff was made like your Zenith........."The quality goes in before the name goes on"

Just a few things to add to what OHboy said.

LCD is better in bright rooms than plasma.

The Panasonic Viera is rated tops by Consumer Reports in just about every size made. I am quite happy with the 47" I bought.

It sticks in my mind that LCDs have a life expectancy of 28,000 hours. But take that for what its worth.

Service plan? I"d never touch one. I"ve been keeping track of all the stuff I bought over the years, only had one $99 ditigal camera croak.

Rick

LED LCD. They are getting cheaper due to the new 3D TV's entering the market.
Watch the pdi, there are still some sets around at 740i or 1080i instead of 1080p.
240hz is now considered the standard performance LCD screen. A short time ago the 120hz was premium top end.
Using an antenna or sat/cable? Some set's tuners are much more sensitive and selective than others.
I'm in the market for a new set too as antenna signals are going digital summer 2011 here. Waiting until after Christmas for the next generation on TV's.
Only problem even with an upgraded TV, there is still very little subject matter worth watching.

I got a 50" Panasonic plasma,720 last year. Got it at Sears for $720. I did lots of research and the only advantage LCD's had was the brighter picture. I have it in room that I can control the light so that was a non-issue.

Sears was by far the best place to buy, they really got serious about competing with Best Buy and the rest. I had it set up next to a 52" Sharp LCD, 1080 and the plasma looked better; we were watching a network feed football game and the slight blurring with the LCD was about the only difference I could see. I wouldn't waste money on a 1080 at the 50" size. Get over 65" and then you would see something. They get $250-300 more for the 1080 and then you can't see where the money went.

Don't worry about lifespan, those were issues 5 years ago, not now. If it gets thru the warranty period, odds are it's gonna be around for a while.
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I wouldn't worry about a Panasonic. It is a good make and likely has multiple cooling fans. The ones without cook themselves to death.

LED all the way baby ,. We just got a 55 in samsung . Wow , what a picture ! uses way less power than our LCD lot thinner too . Plasmas and LCD's are dropping in price drasticaly .

That Vizio will not last long,we bought one for our daughter for her birthday,3 months later it was stolen!