1. Price-to-size ratio
40- and 42-inch flat-panel TVs such as the Samsung LA40R71B became mainstream in 2007.
While neither LCD nor plasma TVs are a budget bargain, on a price-per-square-inch basis, plasmas currently have a slight edge. Look at it this way: Technically, a 42-inch plasma gives you approximately 30 percent extra screen real estate as a 37-inch LCD panel, but they both go for about AU$2000. Prices have almost halved in the last twelve months, but larger versions (50 inches or more) won't cost the same as their plasma equivalents for quite a while.
The reason my friend was looking at a 20-inch TV for his bedroom is that prices for smaller LCD panels at the time were dropping the fastest, with a 20-incher coming in at a little more than AU$1,200. Today, 26 inches are about the smallest the mainstream manufacturers sell and they are available for about the same price. Plasmas aren't available in that size; 32 inches is their lower limit. Just remember that a 20-inch screen is pretty small, and you'll have to sit rather close to it. It may be fine for viewing the news and sitcoms in bed, but it's obviously less than ideal for enjoying movies. And a 17-inch model should be reserved for use as a kitchen television or a computer monitor in a home office; while you work, you can watch TV in a little picture-in-picture box in a corner of the display.
Bottom line: 32-inch LCDs offer the greatest value among bedroom sets, and your best bet for the living room is a 40-inch or larger LCD or plasma.
Sony's 70-inch Bravia X-series LCD TV is going for a whopping AU$69,999.
2. Performance
A general rule of thumb is that plasmas deliver better home theatre performance than LCDs. Our video guru, David Katzmaier, says the difference is due mostly to the fact that backlighting-based LCD TVs typically can't display black as well as plasmas; it ends up closer to dark grey. That shortcoming decreases the amount of detail you can see in the shadows and ultimately leaves the picture looking -- as videophiles would say -- less three-dimensional.
The picture quality of both LCD and plasma panels is improving each year, but it can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer, so check our lists of top products. We're nitpicky about performance in our reviews -- it's our job -- and you should seriously consider our evaluations if you plan on using your set for home theatre viewing. But if you're buying a smaller LCD (26 inches or less) for the kitchen or the bedroom, don't agonise too much over performance.
3. Lifespan
Lifespan, the number of viewing hours a television provides before dimming to half brightness, used to be one of the biggest advantages LCD has over plasma. Though the numbers vary among the different brands, they now generally last up to around 60,000 hours regardless of the technology.
Most modern plasma TVs, such as this Panasonic VIERA come with an anti-burn-in function.
4. Burning issues
One of plasma technology's known issues is something called burn-in. It happens when your television shows a still image or an icon for so long that its "ghost" remains on the screen. For example, if a stock ticker or a news crawl continuously runs along the bottom of your display, that strip may be burned into your set. The same applies to watching an excessive amount of standard TV (4:3) on a widescreen (16:9) model; the vertical bars to either side of the picture could become permanent. Manufacturers have taken steps to prevent burn-in, building in screensavers and other technologies. And you can virtually eliminate the danger by not leaving still images on the screen and reducing your contrast setting below 50 percent for the first 100 hours of usage.
To their credit, LCDs don't suffer from burn-in, nor do they have troubles at high altitudes where the air pressure differential causes plasmas to emit an irritating buzzing sound. So, if you live in mountainous regions, we don't recommend that you get a plasma, though some manufacturers are selling special sets they claim are immune to the problem.
5. Viewing HDTV
Most plasmas and LCDs can display a high-def signal. However, you'll need a model with a resolution of at least 1,280 x 720-pixel to enjoy the full effects of HD. Most 50-inch plasmas and nearly all 32-inch and larger LCDs offer this resolution. Several new 42-inch plasmas now do, but when you're watching HD feeds on a lower-resolution television of that size or smaller, you'll have to sit much closer to notice much of a difference between HD and what you're seeing. Take Pioneer's PDP-427XG. Even though the set provides only XGA resolution (1,024 x 768), HDTV looks really good on it.
6. Computers and video games
Most plasma and LCD TVs can double as computer monitors; some even offer a DVI or D-Sub port for optimal video quality. They'll also hook up to a game console without any problems. So which technology is better for these purposes? From a performance standpoint, it's hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma's burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming.
John loves his tv
24/01/2007 10:08 PM
I'd like to hear what you think of flat screen tv's, the old fashioned type. We bought a BASE flat screen 71cm for just A$250 two years ago and had no problems with it. I can't understand why LCD tv's are replacing these,CRT tv's have far better contrast ratio (black to white contrast as you mention) giving far better picture quality for a much better price. Not all that glitters is gold...but compare them for us once more please.
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Michael from Bribie
26/01/2007 02:02 PM
Also whilst I'm on this page: my daughter and husband also have a Base Cathode Ray TV which they bought recently and quite cheaply, as you point out. The picture quality is ok, but only standard definition, it is not wide screen, so is rapidly becoming obsolete, and it has the horrible annoying flicker of most cheap CRT televisions that refresh 50 times per second. Admittedly the colours are nice, but if you are used to a CRT it's fuzzy and grainy, and it's a simple case of you get what you pay for. I'm buying them a Digital set top box which should help the picture somewhat.
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sneakymik
27/01/2007 03:06 AM
Best advice EVER!! Wait till SED TV's and Laser TV's come out hopefully by the end of the year and you will forget about CRT TV's. Personally I think high range LCD TV's offer the best quality at the moment because of Full-HD resolutions. Full-HD is a resolution of 1920x1080 progressive scan. Most 42 inch Plasmas are 840x480 resolution which sucks completely. NExt time your at a TV shop , ask for a comparison between DVD and Full-HD, You'll never look at DVD being good quality again. AGAIN!!!
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monkeyman
21/05/2007 01:33 AM
Are you mad? A 20" tv is generally fine for most people in the bedroom, try to remember that most people don't live in mansions.
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HaiLey
30/06/2007 03:18 AM
for me ill just rather go to plasma tv rather than an lcd definitely bcoz ican maximize my viewing capabilities ryt!!!!!
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Lethel
16/07/2007 05:15 PM
I am a Technician of some 26 years and an Audiophile. I also sub-contract lease supply and maintenance of big screens Plasma and LCD to both the retail (hotels, clubs) and domestic arenas. I was recently forced to part with my 42" CRT Grundig, which I prefer to any flat panel. I had to embark on research into buying a flat panel. I spent almost three months on and off researching. I found the answer for value versus quality to be without ANY doubt in the Toshiba Regza. I bought a 42" HD TUNER model 42WLT66A. My only regret is noy buying the 47". The only real close runner up was the new LG with built in hardrive. As for Plasma, forget it. I am supplied with them for my home as part of my contract and each one of the 100+ cm sets are in other rooms than the lounge / entertainment ares. I gave one to my six year old to use for his game consoles and my technicians watch the news etc on one in my workshop. They are rubbish and I cannot give you one single good reason to buy them. You get a bigger screen for less dollars yes, but whats the point when its garbage. We buy them in bulk and lease them, fix them while they are in warranty and the next time they blow we send them to auction or the dump. Why do you think we supply them ? Because they are big and cheap! I liken them to a BIC disposable lighter. This 'black colour' with LCD Backlighting problem people speak of. is 99.9% eliminated in the Toshiba Regza. If you want to buy a cheap reliable LCD screen then look at what TECO are selling. The use a 1st class screen. No whistles and bells but what do you expect for the $. My money for a Flat Panel LCD TV set is the Regza. The proof is always in the pudding and I am yet to find fault or error with the Regza unit. Oh for those who dont know the word "REGZA" means "BRILLIANT". I found this out after I bought the set. "HOW IRONIC"!! All this will not be relevant soon as the sets we are talking about are 100hz and manufacture of 120hz plus is underway. They are only 'holding back' on release and sales because of existing stock. 120hz sets have passed the test bench 'bencmark'. One company has a set plan for 200hz that has passed design stage but not been 'benched' yet. You should see 120hz sets later this year 2007 or early to mid 2008. Enquiries to: leeweb@optusnet.com.au
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cockfosters
10/08/2007 02:20 PM
leeweb@optusnet.com.au Have you seen the picture quality of a pioneer 50 inch plasma? So you sell re-furbished plasma tv's and you base your opinions on these... I think you work for Toshiba Australia..
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Vinay
17/08/2007 04:23 AM
Lethel: Perhaps you have not seen Panasonic Viera range of Plasma's. It is not for nothing that Panasonic has a worldwide open demos comparing LCD's to Plasma's - And Plasma's have won many hearts in these demos. Of course the REGZA brand is something I think is worth checking out.
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holywell
22/08/2007 04:52 PM
Hey what about the other burning issue, power consumption!! I heard that plasma TVs use as much electricity pm standby as old CRT sets. So this is an important financial question as well as a greenhouse one. I believe CRTs use heaps less power.
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DubSix
23/08/2007 11:12 AM
Lethel you are a tool, no wonder people get confused about TVs when people like you spin BS like this.
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Tim
13/09/2007 08:20 PM
My Girlfriends dad owns a Panasonic Viera Plasma, it is around six months old and the picture is horrible. I plugged my PS3 into it via HDMI and watched hitchhickers guide to the galaxy on Blu-ray disc. The picture was grainy, it wasnt noticable from far away but as soon as you got about five meters away you could notice it. The dark space scenes were pixelised and grey with a lot of picture noise interference. I expected a lot more. I then plugged it into my brothers cheap 1+years old LG 32" LCD with the same HDMI cable and was blown away. The size of the two tv's were different, the plasma being a 106cm but the picture was so clear and bright, the only downside was the narrow viewing angle, which i've seen is a lot better in the newer ones. I thought a better brand like panasonic would win out over a cheaper korean company.
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skeptiq
05/10/2007 12:46 AM
With so many "cheaper" brands out there, I am having a very difficult time comparing sets. I would like to see cnet review some of the lower priced / newer brands (Vizio, Olieva, Element, etc.). Spec wise they compare to the higher end models. I spend about two hours in a store tinkering with the settings on the floor models and got the picture on a Vizio and LG to look identical to the raved about Sony Bravia, so what gives??? I am not concerned with sound as that will be going through my home theatre system, so the audio components of any flat panel are not relevant to me. To me, 1366x768 is the same regardless of brand, right?
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Sam
18/10/2007 09:14 PM
The people paying out plasma on here have to be biased. even one person here said they preferred a lg lcd to a panasonic viera! thats worse than blasphemy! we had 3 lcd's in our house, 2 sony and one samsung. we then went out and bought the new panasonic viera HD. for my money, this is the best tv i have EVER seen, the clarity, sharpness, detail and vibrant colours are amazing. my mate has the new sony x series bravia which is HD and while its a nice looking set the picture is nowhere near the quality of the panasonics. motion blur, dull colours. no thanks if your in the market folks PANASONIC VIERA!
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emsiem
25/10/2007 05:12 AM
100Hz on LCD is one BIG bag of **** It is useless. Technician, you obviously don't know anything about LCD technology... I have perfect picture with 60 Hz on my samsung 226BW. 100 or more Hz is usefull only for CRT because phosphor fading between ray scans. You dont have that kind of problem on LCD where you can turn on/off transistors whenever you want. It's just marketing trick. LCDs are much cheaper for production because more mass production and that's the reason for all that propaganda. I think only worthy judging is to look both plasma and LCD side by side in some shop.... but it's your money....
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plasma girl
29/11/2007 04:15 PM
id rather plasma ANY DAY, LCD's are crap! my panasonic viera is the best thing i ever bought
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leonidas
03/12/2007 01:59 PM
100hz CRT are far still better for analog or terrestrial signal resolution.LCD are the future in HD signal,but when this become mass available,TV sets will be different in response time,colors etc
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dont have one
14/12/2007 06:00 AM
can anybody tell me if www.eleshopping.com is a legit website. pretty good deals on tvs ete etc
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StewBot
16/12/2007 03:32 AM
I'm currently looking at upgrading to a flat panel TV. I have a friend with a Viera about 12mths old (so in all fairness vintage may be relevant here) and the picture is very ordinary indeed. This, and power consumption/heat, was swaying me toward LCD until I saw my other friend's new Samsung 42" unit. Absolutely beautiful, everything I expected to see from (near) HDTV. Yet another friend has a new 81cm Hitachi LCD set which, whilst nice, frankly isn't even in the race when it comes to image quality! I'm not parochial about either technology, but I've gotta say, Plasma is looking way better at this stage, pending of course a thorough side-by-side comparison at a few reputable dealers when time permits. The reviews I have read of the Toshiba Regza really have been glowing, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against Plasma sets! ;-)
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confusedbyfar
28/12/2007 12:37 PM
Gosh, I came to this site as a CRT user looking to change to LCD or Plasma, I more confused now more than ever!! I was on the Samsung bandwagon, but no mention here?? No good? I'm looking at a 40" no bigger. The guy in the shop told me that if we're not "gamers" then don't even bother with LCD, plasma all the way? Oh man.
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confusedbyfar
28/12/2007 12:38 PM
Gosh, I came to this site as a CRT user looking to change to LCD or Plasma, I more confused now more than ever!! I was on the Samsung bandwagon, but no mention here?? No good? I'm looking at a 40" no bigger. The guy in the shop told me that if we're not "gamers" then don't even bother with LCD, plasma all the way? Oh man.
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Paul Davis
30/12/2007 07:02 AM
my wife and i just bought a panasonic vierra 50" a few days ago mostly for hd movie viewing. Absolutlely stunning! We were drawn to it right away. Also, read the reviews on amazon, nearly 5 star. We exclusively use the new HDMI cable for all viewing. We only paid $1300 us for the 50", the prices mentioned above seem to be from another year. Cheers!
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cheeky
30/12/2007 07:27 AM
We are trying to decide between the Panasonic Plasma or Sony LCD. The big thing mentioned to us was the fact if the plasma was hit in anyway the pixels would break and the TV finished. This was why the LCD was recommended but no one has mentioned this feature. Is it a problem????
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Paul Davis
30/12/2007 07:50 AM
my wife and i just bought a panasonic vierra 50" a few days ago mostly for hd movie viewing. Absolutlely stunning! We were drawn to it right away. Also, read the reviews on amazon, nearly 5 star. We exclusively use the new HDMI cable for all viewing. We only paid $1300 us for the 50", the prices mentioned above seem to be from another year. Cheers!
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Chucky110
03/01/2008 12:51 PM
i would prefer an LCD over Plasma any day, i have both and the plasma picture quality is no where near as good as lcd, plus gaming sucks on plasmas as you can't have a still image for to long and all this stuff about LCD black levels are crap pffft my one has brilliant black levels, sometimes to black
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Chucky110
03/01/2008 12:58 PM
i would prefer an LCD over Plasma any day, i have both and the plasma picture quality is no where near as good as lcd, plus gaming sucks on plasmas as you can't have a still image for to long and all this stuff about LCD black levels are crap pffft my one has brilliant black levels, sometimes to black
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pottsy65
06/01/2008 03:49 PM
Yes well I do agree with a comment earlier from 'confusedbyfar'...! I wont even attempt even commenting on 100Hz vs 60 or even 120, to be honest I got some advice a couple of years ago re Plasma downfalls v's wait for LCD's in the larger sizes (6 months away at the time...!) if a plasma is bumped knocked accidently and you lose pixels, short of claiming the new panel under warranty 12 months usually (some of the more discerning manufacturers like Toshiba 3 yrs, Pioneer 5 years, offer alot better value as the product ages... (upfront price is usually taken into account, although are Pioneer still offering delivery & Install.? again I will be challenged on this now Jan 2008 my comments were discussed 2 yrs ago... Lets all agree on one thing.....? the speed by which Technology is changing continues to press the minds and imaginations around the world... regardless weather one decides on LCD or Plasma... truth is... 2 things to keep in mind and for practical reasons only, think about if you have children, toddles especially, from what I heard and read, plasma do not like being poked or prodded, where as the LCD as a family unit would be safer more than likely.? didn't CNet review the new gen Pioneer recently... and gave it the thumbs up...?
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alphajaphy
09/01/2008 09:45 PM
I have a 42" plasma JVC and the only problem I find with it is when watching sport the players look like that are carrying electricity around with them- i.e shadowing- This only happens with the digital signal as it is ok with the analog one. I have got the signal boosted with little effect. Is this a known issue with Plasma TVs?
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scoot
12/01/2008 07:45 PM
God am I confused now or what? Ive been shopping for tvs today. Plasma Lcd Hd Sharp Toshiba sony and a whole lot of other brands that Ive never heard of. After reading all of this I guess my decision will now be made on warranty and price. I notice that although the sony tvs seem to be of a better quality so is the price, yet the only offer a 1 year warranty , whereas most of the others offer three, Is this a reflection of how long they will last?
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Michael from Bribie
24/03/2008 09:57 PM
The article is now out of date and needs updating for the following reason: Over the last year, full high definition 1080 plasma tvs have become available. In order to achieve this it was necessary to manufacture smaller pixels . Until now the plasma pixel size limited the production of plasma panels to around 40 inches. Now with smaller pixels available it is possible to manufacture Standard definition plasma panels at 32 inches. Over the last few months many 32 inch plasmas have appeared on the market, at very low prices. For example ALDI offers a TEVION brand for around $500. These new plasmas are an excellent CRT replacement. This puts the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons when recommending plasma for large screens and LCD for smaller, as this no longer applies.
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nj
07/04/2008 11:13 AM
Have you ever watched the big game on Plasma? It is great ! Watch it on a LCD and you will see the difference. Action does not look good on LCD. Watch some thing move in fast action and see it be blurred.
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ilovefooty
08/04/2008 02:07 PM
Kuro all the way baby!!
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Slam
08/04/2008 04:00 PM
Best advice I have seen (and I give) is for people to go into a shop that has a huge range and just see for yourself. Try to pick a shop that has similar lighting conditions to your home or how you want TV. The only thing that I would suggest is to go full HD (1080p) so you take advantage of HD at the maximum resolution. I myself spent many months looking and ended up with Panasonic's 42" plasma (TH-42PZ700A). If you take into account the "shortcomings" you can counter the impact. For example turn the tv off when not in use to save the power consumption. Although it is far from pristine perfect it certainly more than meets my demanding needs of a primary viewing device (net, ps3/bray, pc etc).
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Blah
08/04/2008 05:53 PM
perhaps it would be nice for editors/authors to disregard 720 hd; most people don't consider it hd at all. With the tv thing, i would keep a close eye at the development of oled tvs
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KaylieJoy
11/04/2008 09:53 AM
Hey there I'm keen to purchase a new flat screen but have been put off by a friend of mine mentioning that there may be new tele technologies coming out soon due to the short life span of the LCD and Plasma can any one confirm or deny this for me?
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J
23/04/2008 12:25 PM
"It's not what's happening behind the screen that's important - it's how the screen performs as a television that matters the most." - From the 'Plasma vs LCD: Which is right for you?' article. That is, it matters most how it performs as a television FOR YOU. There is no point in saying one technology is crap and the other is better because when buying one or the other it all comes down to where and when it is being viewed and what it is being used for. Which is often why you can notice differences between sets seen at different friends' houses (as some people have mentioned here for example) or even between ones seen in the store. The best thing you can do is work out exactly what the use is going to be for your new tv and the environment that it will be used in, before you buy it, so you can buy the one that suits your needs best.
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Richard. Devon
03/05/2008 06:40 PM
The big problem with LCD at the moment is that they are not toddler proof! As far as I can tell, only plasma have glass fronted screens, which means unless you are mounting the lcd on the wall, the screen is proned to scratches / damage by small fingers! Manufacturers of LCD seem oblivious to this problem.
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