TVs - plasma vs LCD, what's best?

[a11y]

I'm utterly confused about the whole plasma vs LCD thing. We're considering a new TV to upgrade our 8-yr old 28" CRT TV, and looking to spend no more than £500 on a new TV. We're going for a big jump up in size to a 42" but I've heard (and read) a lot of conflicting arguements for and against both plasma and LCD (i'm ignoring LED at the moment as they're well beyond our budget at this size).

Plan would be to use it with an upscaling DVD player, connecting my wife's Blu-Ray laptop to it if possible, and using a normal (not HD) freeview box for the moment - we don't subscribe to Sky or the like and have a good freeview box with built in hard-drive that we don't want to bin.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I'm aware we're at the bottom of the market, spending "only" £500 max on a TV, but these are the two models we're looking at in particular:

LCD: LG 42LH3000 £450
http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/lg/42lh3000/lg-42lh30starstar

Plasma: PANASONIC VIERA TX-P42C2B £399
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/panasonic-viera-tx-p42c2b-42-hd-ready-plasma-tv-05047416-pdt.html?srcid=867&xtor=AL-50

Both appear to be complete bargains, but I'm just unsure on plasma vs LCD... :?

Cheers
Ally

 

[gannet]

The argument used to be that Plasma is better at the bigger sizes but I don't how true that is recently. I believe Plasma is more power hungry ?

We bought 2 32" Toshiba LCD TVs about 2 years ago and have been more than happy with them

What hi-fi tend to do fairly frequent reviews of TV - worth a read - if you havent already.

 

[pvr]

I am a bit of a top end freak, so I have Plasma but my budget was about 20 times the size ...

Plasma does use a lot more power, hence it is being faced out in Europe (don't think you can even buy them over there anymore).

LCD is fine, I have a 38" in the bedroom and that is ok, although being LCD you have to be pretty straight in front of the screen to get the best picture (viewing angle is smaller then with plasma).

Best to go to a hifi place and look at both, I am very, very fussy but you might not be so picky as I am

 

[gannet]

I have no trouble with viewing angles with my LCD TVs...

 

[Lostnfound]

I used to work in the TV Service Department for a well know high street retailer. for My money you can't really beat Panasonic for quality and reliability.

As for difference between Plasma and LCD, Plasma at the £500 price point will give you a better picture quality, but yes they are more power hungry and heavier. But you don't get pixel drop out(LCD) which is quite common and not recognised by the manufacturers as a fault. Its also worth paying a little more and getting a TV from a retailer that offers an extended warranty as standard and somewhere where you can get it repaired/ replaced easily. I've seen plenty of duff TV straight out of the box and its pain to have to send it back via online retailers.

Sorry to waffle, hope this helps.

 

[EdButler]

Plasma image retention/burn in is still a problem no matter how much people play it down - i have mine hooked upto my PC so if im browsing the web for any longer than 30 minutes, you get lines which stay until you refresh the screen. I also watched a 6hr marathon of 24 once with a "FOX HD" network logo in white... That little sod was still visible after 4+ hours of normal use!

The sharpness isnt quite as pixel-perfect as many LCD's at 1920x1080, but i quite like that as it softens the image very slightly.

I love my Sammy 50" plasma though. It has FAR better colours and contrast than any other LCD ive seen (yet to see an OLED though!) and only uses about 20% more power than my old 37" LCD. For movies/tv it wins hands down imo. For PC games and general webbrowsing etc its 50/50. It makes a nice 250W radiator in winter too

Its different for everyone though so goto Richer Sounds/Comet/Currys and start fiddling though id say

 

[Banedome]

Up until 8 months ago I had a 50 inch Plasma TV. Picture was fine and viewing angle ok. I then changed to a 55 inch LCD. Again picture was fine in standard and HD and viewing angle is ok in my lounge. The main difference between them is the amount of power need to fire up the Plasma and the large amout of heat generated when in operation. I think that the picture quality is slightly better on the LCD but that is just a personal judgment. The LCD scores for me in that it is cheaper to run. :worshipbmw:

 

[cj_eds]

Sony will give you money off if you trade in a CRT at the moment. Worth bearing in mind.

 

[pvr]

Mine is running at an economical 850 watt

 

[un1eash]

Ignoring LED. Plasma is best IMO.

Yes they can use more power and generate more heat but newer plasmas are pretty efficient. Plus power usuage on an LCD is constant where as plasma it varys depending on the image so overall there not bad.

If your going 42" then the Panasonic TXP42X10 is excellent (you dont really need Full HD at 42") for the money and is under your budget. Its been replaced by the X20 recently but not much has changed.

I have a Pansonic 50" PZ70 which is about 3 years old now and it still out performs alot of LCD's ive seen and ive seen alot as i use to work in AV.

With your requirements a HD Ready 42" is what i'd go for.

 

[a11y]

Hmmm, thanks folks - but I'm still confused

We've already taken a trip into a couple of shops and in all honesty struggled to see much difference between the plasma and LCD sets at this price point. If anything, the plasma looked more "vivid" (better colour range) compared to the LCD next to it, but that could've been down to the settings on the individual set. I am a bit of a fussy git and like my quality, but we don't watch much TV to justify spending a fortune on one - I prefer my music and would rather not say how much my surround set up (Denon/JM Lab) cost me....

The way I see it at the moment:

LG LCD £500 (inc 5-yr warranty)
+ lower power consumption
+ excellent online reviews
+ 5-yr warranty (Richer Sounds)
- more expensive than the Panasonic I'm looking at

Panasonic Plasma £400
+ great reputation (Panasonic seems to have a good name in plasmas)
+ £100 cheaper than the LG LCD
- no 5-yr warranty
- higher power consumption

Perhaps anyone can advise based on our planned use?
* we don't play ANY games
* don't watch much TV
* watch a couple of DVDs a week
* no plans to use it as a PC monitor

 

[Anonymous]

Go LED Job Done They are reducing and stopping production on plasmas in many cases now. Future proof yourself.

 

[Wondermike]

If your going 42" then the Panasonic TXP42X10 is excellent (you dont really need Full HD at 42") for the money and is under your budget. Its been replaced by the X20 recently but not much has changed.

Yeah good advice I bought one of these a year ago and I'm very happy with it, I'm not big into AV at all, just want to watch a half-decent telly.

 

[a11y]

If your going 42" then the Panasonic TXP42X10 is excellent (you dont really need Full HD at 42") for the money and is under your budget. Its been replaced by the X20 recently but not much has changed.

Thanks, I'll investigate that one as well

Shidevil - LED 42" under £500. Where from?

 

[pvr]

Put an Xtreamer on as well, take the Denon as the source and add a mediaserver and you can play your music controlled by the TV as well

 

[a11y]

Put an Xtreamer on as well, take the Denon as the source and add a mediaserver and you can play your music controlled by the TV as well

^

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ALLY'S HEAD


(just trying to relay that your post just went right over my head )

 

[pvr]

Let me help you there

http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/media_players.html

It also does slide shows of any picture you may have stored on your PC, so as long as you have a network at home you can use your TV to play content of home films, photos, music etc etc.

 

[a11y]

This new TV idea is growing arms and legs...

I like that idea - showing off photos on the TV would be ace and would be something I'd use. However, I don't *think* I have a network at home - do you mean a wireless router network? Or an actual PC network?

 

[pvr]

If you have wireless, it will work fine for photos and SD content. For HD streaming, you need a LAN connection (i.e. cable directly to your router).

I assume you have internet, so that will have a router built in. Your PC is connected to that via a wire I assume, and possible you have a wireless laptop as well.

Basically, it means that you can connect the Xtreamer to your home system, plug it in the Denon via HDMI and it can play iTunes music from your PC direct, fully controllable on the TV via the remote. The same remote can be used to browse any pc in your house and select picture folders, or DVD folders or any type of media. When you play a photo folder, it will do it in presentation mode (i.e. like a power point presentation with fading in / out, or however you want to do it). Makes watching pictures with people around a bit nicer.

 

[pvr]

It also plays Youtube videos directly on the TV as well, or any other web content