Plasma or LCD? Whats the Difference? & Which is Better??

[SuperDanX]

Which is better out of these two? Plasmas always seem more expensive, is it because there better?
Try not to confuse my simple mind with too many specs and tech talk please. Love you all o/\o

[buster_broon]

i'm not into the technical aspects of things - so here it is from somebody who has teh AV fear

LCD's are actually more expensive than Plasma's if you are comparing like for like (ie 42 inch vs 42 inch)

but its moot as they kinda cancel each other out, plasma's are the film fans choice because you can get bigger for your money, but the image at angles can be pretty poor and they still suffer from screen burn, albeit not as much

LCD's seem better for videogames, but you dont get as much value for money because a 32in set is normally the same price as a 42in plasma set, but they dont suffer from screen burn and again image at angles can be a problem

but i'm sure an AV enthusiast will blow me out of the water with the knowledge, but the thread about TV's has all the answers in there

[Len]

Where's Lyris when you need him...?

[SuperDanX]

Thanks buster, a nice simple answer. All much of a muchness unless your an AV enthuiast then. Cheers.

[Rick]

don't just buy one on the net. Go and see the difference for yourself

in my opinion the only good thing about LCD screens is the fact they can be bought in smaller sizes.

I bought a Plasma because none of the LCD's could touch it for image quality.

[Soi]

Both have their plusses and minuses. Unless you are looking at 42" or over, LCD is your only choice as there aren't any plasmas smaller than that on the market.

Plusses for LCD:

:- Non-reflective screens make them good in bright environments
:- Good for PC use (the technology comes from PC monitors)
:- Image retention not a problem
:- Resolution not a problem.

Minuses for LCDs:

:- Cheap screens are awful in every regard.
:- They are lit by a backlight that is always on, and always let some light out. As a result, the colour "black" is often a blue/grey colour.
:- Fast motion can look blurry (try comparing the sharpness of text on your PC monitor when static or when scrolling)
:- LCDs often look poor for SD content

Plusses for Plasma:

:- Great at handling fast motion
:- Blacks generally loads better than LCDs
:- Cheap for large sizes (e.g. a 50" Samsung plasma costs just over a grand)
:- Typically handle SD images better than LCDs

Minuses for Plasma:

:- Reflective screens make them good not so good as LCDs in bright environments. Older plasmas worse for reflections that newer ones.
:- Making the pixels very small is hard, so few 1080p screens out there (whether this is important is another debate –most agree resolution isn’t as important as marketing people say)
:- Some screens suffer from image retention –i.e. where an afterimage is retained. Unless really severe, this goes away on its own accord. Some screens don’t suffer at all, some do fairly badly.

For games, LCDs are often considered “better”, primarily due to not suffering from image retention. However, the best plasmas (e.g. the Pioneer 8G range of 42” or 50” screens, or some Panasonic models) don’t suffer from retention.

[charlesr]

I'd say some of those were pretty insignficant minuses for plasmas. I can turn all the lights on in my lounge or have the sun streaming in through the window and it still looks great. And panasonic do a 37" plasma now.

The biggest minus imo for plasma is the green plasma trails you get when very white areas next to very dark areas move across the screen. Something to look out for when demoing. Some people might prefer to have the universal LCD smear instead of localised picture issues.

[MattyD]

Just to pitch my own question in on this, do plasmas suffer the same delay problems as LCD, and if so, how do they compare in this regard?

[charlesr]

delay? as in screen response time or do you mean audio/visual mismatch?

[EvilBoris]

Yeah they do, as they pass through the exact same kind of scaling and processing chips as an LCD.

[Vestan Pance]

I recently splashed out on one of the new Pioneer plasmas (PDP-428XD) and the picture is stunning. Better than any LCD I've seen. They're quite expensive though.

[EvilBoris]

They are crazy beautiful and they aren't even running 1080p, Can't imagine what the 1080p versions cmoing soon will look like.

[bash]

I bought my panasonic 37" plasma a few months back because it had far better black levels and viewing angles than any LCD, that includes Sony X range stuff. It was only £750 with the pedastal.

I have recently seen the far more expensive Fujitsi 42" and 50" plasmas and they are truly stunning, the best screens I have ever seen so far, I can see what all the fuss is about.

I've never seen an LCD I've actually liked, that includes all the Sony, Toshiba efforts with proper calibrations etc. I think they are hideously over priced for what they are. 1080p is also very over rated, its about what the manufacturer does with the processing rather than the acutal screen resolution. Fujitsu AVMII processing is out of this world and thats seeing a 1366 x 768 display 1080i material. Next year AVMIII comes out and is already reported to be industry leading (again!)

If you have the money I say go for a Fujitsu, if not then a pioneer or Panasonic plasma is 2nd best. LCD is not an option for me.

[Soi]

I recently splashed out on one of the new Pioneer plasmas (PDP-428XD) and the picture is stunning. Better than any LCD I've seen. They're quite expensive though.

Good choice. I'm a very happy owner of a PDP-508DX. Pricey, but it is amazing.

[Soi]

I'd say some of those were pretty insignficant minuses for plasmas. I can turn all the lights on in my lounge or have the sun streaming in through the window and it still looks great. And panasonic do a 37" plasma now.

The biggest minus imo for plasma is the green plasma trails you get when very white areas next to very dark areas move across the screen. Something to look out for when demoing. Some people might prefer to have the universal LCD smear instead of localised picture issues.

I was trying to be impartial and state the issues with both.

Personally, I've owned a 37" Toshiba LCD, still own a 20" Samsung LCD and now own a 50" Pioneer plasma. The 50" plasma is leagues better than either LCD. It was a lot more expensive though...

On my plasma, neither reflections nor retention are an issue. They are for some screens/room configurations though. I'm not had a problem with green trails either -though those who are susceptible to them have noticed them on my set.