plasma vs. lcd

[NICKYPOO]

Originally posted by Tige M.D.
73' Hondo drag boat. I'll tell you the 30 year story of that later. Gotta go try to burn some lbs. at the gym right now.

Ahhh, I was wrong on both fronts. Oh well. I for one would love to hear the story. I've got a real hard on for flat bottoms in case you couldn't tell. I'd love to see some more pics as well.

[Domsz06]

lcd can be worked on plasma can't,

[larryueckert]

I have a panasonic 48" plasma and love.

[Domsz06]

i'm looking into a 50+ LCD come summer time.

[Tequilasun]

I'm sort of going through this issue myself. I'm waiting to buy until after the super Bowl though. I'm pretty sure I'll be going with LCD.

[Domsz06]

all I know is that I have a small 420 resolution LCD in my room, and it's just as clear and bright as my friends 1080 plasma. I think I'll stick with LCD

[T*]

42" Panasonic Plasma

I went w/a 42" Panasonic Plasma in Jan '05 - delighted with it. It's a commercial model - no tuner (need cable box or satelite box anyway), no speakers (running through home audio system), can pick the input type (always a bonus ;-) at purchase time - 2 HDMI's, one component, one composite, etc, which means you don't have to pay for or cycle through a bunch of input sources you don't use. It will do PIP and POP as well. Solid no-frills unit w/strong black performance.

[hoopykat]

Hey Greg,

Just keep in mind, whichever format you go with...HD broadcasts are still relatively limited yet out there. And, even with digital cable or satellite, most of your TV viewing will be non-HD right now. Look at different brands out there and compare them side by side if possible. Most places you go in to have their demo TVs playing an HD channel or DVD. Ask them if they can show you what an over-the-air broadcast looks like on the set. HUGE difference, and the differences between plasma and LCD are pretty significant too. Watching over-the-air on an LCD sometimes looks like a computer monitor. Lot of pixelization and blurring, and you may have a 42" screen, but non-HD or non-widescreen broadcasts show in a 4:3 aspect. Square picture with big black bars along the side. We bought 26" and 40" Sony Bravia XBRs and they have a great HD picture, but watching regular cable on them is sometimes crappy. And, no place that we went in to would show us what regular cable looks like on any HD set.

Hope this helps!

Mike

[Domsz06]

good point Hoop

[sparky216]

Has anyone noticed a difference when using a HDMI cable instead of Composite video, I see no advantage for the money I spent on that stupid cable and then I found out that my Dish receiver's software does not allow HDMI even though they have the output for it.

[dogbert]

Has anyone noticed a difference when using a HDMI cable instead of Composite video, I see no advantage for the money I spent on that stupid cable and then I found out that my Dish receiver's software does not allow HDMI even though they have the output for it.

I think it only matters if you want to do 1080p. Right now, I don't have anything that will do that and my A/V receiver doesn't support it. You'd have to have an HD DVD or Blu-Ray player to be able to use it. My cable box does HDMI, but it will only output 1080i anyway, so I'm using composite video. If I get the X-Box with HD DVD, then I might consider doing a direct video connection to the TV for that using HDMI.

[scottcarlye]

Just picked up a 46" LCD from sams club. $1600. Looks great. If you dont plan on putting it on a wall go for a rear projector DLP. more bang for the buck. There are some incredible 63" DLPs for the same cost as a 50" plasma. Plus they have a mat finish on the screen which cuts down on the glare. Most plasmas still have a glossy screen. Experience with plasmas at work has been horrible. We have about 15 in our operations center. One burns out ever 2-3 months and they burn in like crazy. Even the newest ones with anti-screen burn enabled (a white bar that scrolls across the screen every few moments) burn in in a few weeks. Granted, they run 24/7 but we are moving to LCD now that they are available in the larger sizes. Plus if you ever want to look at data... hook up a media center PC, etc. the LCD is much easier on the eyes.

[scottcarlye]

Has anyone noticed a difference when using a HDMI cable instead of Composite video, I see no advantage for the money I spent on that stupid cable and then I found out that my Dish receiver's software does not allow HDMI even though they have the output for it.

I wouldnt sweat the HDMI. Component video provides arguably just as good a picture. The one advantage with HDMI is the embeded audio. If...a big if... you have more than one HDMI capable source and an A/V receiver capable of switching HDMI, you can have one button source changes....assuming the TV is used as only a monitor. Plus, you dont have to run separate audio patch cables. I seem to remember IEEE1394 being sold as a single cable integrated A/V solution as well and what about Interlink. That didnt last very long. New systems using plain old CatV/RJ-45 computer cable and connectors are coming out soon. That may spell the end of HDMI. Digital interfaces for home A/V are still evolving pretty fast. Might not want to jump on the latest and greatest interface just yet. None are mature or fully supported by the marketplace. I spent $120.00 on an HDMI cable for my DirecTV and regret it. Doesnt look any better than the component video.

[Domsz06]

Just picked up a 46" LCD from sams club. $1600. Looks great. If you dont plan on putting it on a wall go for a rear projector DLP. more bang for the buck. There are some incredible 63" DLPs for the same cost as a 50" plasma. Plus they have a mat finish on the screen which cuts down on the glare. Most plasmas still have a glossy screen. Experience with plasmas at work has been horrible. We have about 15 in our operations center. One burns out ever 2-3 months and they burn in like crazy. Even the newest ones with anti-screen burn enabled (a white bar that scrolls across the screen every few moments) burn in in a few weeks. Granted, they run 24/7 but we are moving to LCD now that they are available in the larger sizes. Plus if you ever want to look at data... hook up a media center PC, etc. the LCD is much easier on the eyes.

I think it depends on your plasma, We had them on 20 hours a day at my work, they were pioneers and used them for a year before I left and not one had burn in, and not one went out.

[dogbert]

The combination of of digital audio cable and component video is the way to go. When I bought my 1080p DLP Mitsubishi and A/V from Best Buy, they told me that HDMI was a waste of money.