Plasma or Lcd for a 40-50 inch?

Question

thinking about purchasing a tv. i'll be playing video games and watching satellite. i want something that will last. i heard that plasma's don't last that long so what would the life span on a plasma be compared to a lcd? i'll probably be sitting around 4-5 feet away. are there any suggestions? my budget is around 1200$

Answer 1

I Highly reccommend the New Sony Bravia KDL-40V4100 LCD tv..... Check it out!

Answer 2

Because you play video games like that you shouldn't get a plasma---when you play games for long period of time--it can burn a image into the screen--so when you turn it off u'll see an outline of a image on ur tv--so go with a LCD.

More more info on the difference of LCD and PLASMA, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vCiGz3UN...

go here:http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6361...

to answer ur question about 1080p and 1080i.

Answer 3

This is going to be personal preference, the only thing I can do is maybe explain some things regarding the technology.

The lifespan of a plasma depends on the manufacturer and the quality of the panel.  For the most part, new plasmas have a half-life of 60,000 to 100,000 hours - meaning that's when they reach half of their original brightness.  You can increase it's lifespan by using one of the color modes that keeps the picture a bit darker.  The only time it is necessary to increase this is when there is a lot of light reflected off of the screen.  Since the intensity of the phosphors has to be higher, the TV will have a tendency to dull sooner.  Also, having the brightness and contrast set too high for your viewing conditions increases power consumption as well.

With LCD TVs, the backlight is always on - so once the TV goes, it's gone for good.  But, the backlight in the LCD TVs is set to a static light output (unless you have LED backlighting), so the contrast ratio is lower - meaning less detail in black and white.  This is why most LCD manufacturers only list the dynamic contrast ratio rather than the native/static contrast ratio - because the number is higher and comparable to some plasmas - although LCD (again, unless it's LED backlit) cannot come close to matching the contrast ratio of a plasma.

Newer LCD TVs have about the same half-life, but you have to also watch for dead pixels.  If you have a dead pixel, you will see it when the screen goes black between commercials and such there will be one small spot that is just green, blue, or red all the time.  This pretty much happens regardless of the age of the set and can be present on brand new TVs.  There's no correlation with age and nothing in particular that causes it.

This is usually compared to burn-in on plasma TVs - which is called so incorrectly.  The actual term is image retention - meaning an image that has been on the screen for a long time is permanently displayed.  With newer plasma televisions, this only happens if you, for one, don't follow the break-in period - which usually is putting the TV in Standard or Cinema color mode for the first 100-150 hours, or have a static image on-screen for more than 15% of the viewing week - and the viewing week is averaged at 7 hour per day.  so 15% of 50 hours is 7.5 hours one image (or logo) would have to be on the screen continuously in order to retain.  Unless you actually have screen burn, image retention is usually alleviated simply by regular viewing of a moving image on the screen for a few minutes.

Another benefit of plasma over LCD is the response time.  LCDs w/o the 120Hz framerate have a response time ranging from 5ms (which is pretty good) to about 8 or more.  The response time is the time it takes for the pixel to open or close to display the appropriate amount of light output for a particlar part of the picture.  This causes blur during fast motion and is generally frowned upon by gamers (though, I've never had an issue playing games on any of my LCDs either from the PS2, PS3, or PC).  In fact, when I purchased my first LCD flat-panel monitor for my PC, the sales guy warned me that for gaming I may want to stick with CRT.  But, I got it anyway and was not disappointed w/ gaming performance.

Of course, whether or not 720p or 1080p gives you a better picture depends on the source.  Lets say the source of a broadcast was recorder in 480i standard definition.  Between the two, 720p would give you the better picture because the small SD 480 resolution image doesn't have to be scaled very high in order to display it in 720p.  If it had to scale it to 1080, it would look worse.  This is why many people set their cable boxes to output 720p instead of 1080i.

Now, if the picture is coming from a blu-ray that is recorded in 1080p, the picture looks better displayed in 1080p rather than scaling down to 720p - which will cause you to lose resolution and picture detail.  However, at 4 or 5 feet away, the difference is minimal between 720p and 1080p unless your screen is over 50 inches - because a pixel that small cannot be seen by the human eye from that far away, anyway - so the detail is irrelevant for most viewers.  Also, there are other factors that affect picture quality than just resolution.

For example, you can side-by-side compare a 1080p Vizio or some other cheap brand next to a Panasonic or a Pioneer 720p of the same size, both equally calibrated and the Panasonic/Pioneer would look much better even though the resolution is lower.

As far as the difference between 1080i and 1080p, there is a difference but there isn't.  The i and the p mean that the picture is scanned differently coming from the source.  the i is interlace, meaning that all of the odd numbered lines in the picture are scanned every 1/60th of a second, then the even numbered lines.  We rely on persistent vision to see the entire picture and it scans so fast that we don't notice, but it creates interlaced artifacts as the image moves causing "jaggies" and blocking.  Progressive means all the lines are scanned sequentially, this eliminates some motion blur and artifacting.  However, one thing to note is that all flat panels inherently scan progressively, anway.  So, an incoming interlaced signal will be converted to progressive using frame memory, regardless.  Therefore, whenever you see a flat panel comparing 1080p and 1080i, this is simply listing the quality of the video processor's ability to process an incoming signal.  One that can process a 1080p signal is higher-end and can carry more bandwidth.  The difference, however, is generally not noticeable to the naked eye.

with a $1200 budget at 4 to 5 feet away you probably want to go with a 32 or maybe a 37 inch.  You can find a 37 inch plasma but anything below that for the time being is probably going to have to be LCD.  Your viewing distance doesn't justify anything larger.

Using a cross reference chart, for 720p to benefit at 5 feet away you would only need a 25 or 26 inch screen, a 27 or 28 inch for 768p (if the TV has a native of 768 horizontal pixels).  For 1080p at 5 feet, 37 inches exactly.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Answer 4

Well a 720 plasma wouldnt because if you watch a certian channel like the news and the symbol of the news channel you are watching would get stuck on the screen because you watch that certian channel for a long time.

An LCD Would robubly be the best choice but its your choice your tv.

Answer 5

I purchased a Sony Bravia 50" 3LCD for $1050 in March

it's 1080P

For your price range I would highly suggest this TV

It's better to get the 1080 over the 760.  No sense in buying the bottom of the technology as fast as it becomes outdated.

Answer 6

Plasma.

Alright heere the deal.

If you get an LCD that is 32Inch's it most like will be 1080x1480 pixels or somethig like that. which is very good for that size. But if you look at a 50inch LCD its the same pixels which means you now have larger pixels to cover the additional inchs, But its the same amount of little dots. So you lose clearity, and crispness with a large LCD.

If you go over 36 inchs you really should go plasma, Plasma has pixels but they don't work the same way as LCDs, Plasma is a Gas that makes up the image, the gas flows through the pixels make them alot more clear and change quickly.

1080i vs 1080p  

I means Interlaced

P means progressive

1080I will be clearer then 720p if the picture is stand still. If it is moving you want 720p

(so if your playing video games you want 720p)

so under that law, 1080P is WAY better, and I mean WAY better for games. You can tell the deference no matter what size of tv it is.

The downsides of Plasma, is that they leave burn in effect which can sometimes be anooying, but its not permanent.

the worst is when you pause a movie and the little bar on the top comes up to show its paused, and what chapter your on, and how long the movie has been playing. if that stays on for a minute you will be able to see burned it on very dark scenes when you resume the movie.

Plasmas do not last as long as LCD (thats what I hear but im not sure)

If your plasma breaks, its because of the bulb, and they are rather cheap to replace (a few 100 bucks)

If an LCD goes out your screwed, you might as well by a new one, it aint cheap to fix it.

i would say avg life for Plasma is 5yrs,

lcd is 10 yrs.(but you will want a new one by then)

so heres my reccomendation.

If you go large then 36 inchs go plasma, less then that go LCD. 1080p is a must for video games.

get the extended warranty no matter what you do.

Answer 7

LCDs are the all around better set. They don't come as big as Plasmas but have longer lives. Its better to invest in an LCD.