LCD. LED or PLASMA?

[yankeedoodlepigeon]

Hi all.

I'm looking for a new t.v. Had a lcd LG5010 1080p 50hz and am looking at getting something bigger and better. Maybe around the 50inch was thinking 100hz got to be 1080p not got cable or sky so was thinking freeview HD built in. led's are looking very good at the moment but would like some advice from someone that knows. the guy in currys said sonys are not really that good anymore and panasonic's are the best but LG make all the parts for most screens whatever make? Thanks Lea

[dunganick]

Hi all.

I'm looking for a new t.v. Had a lcd LG5010 1080p 50hz and am looking at getting something bigger and better. Maybe around the 50inch was thinking 100hz got to be 1080p not got cable or sky so was thinking freeview HD built in. led's are looking very good at the moment but would like some advice from someone that knows. the guy in currys said sonys are not really that good anymore and panasonic's are the best but LG make all the parts for most screens whatever make? Thanks Lea

 

 

The chap largely speaks the truth.

 

Sony were pretty unreliable when i last worked in the industry (year ago), Panasonic plasmas were the most reliable, best performing panels in terms of black levels, colour accuracy etc..

 

Largely speaking all of the things you hear about Plasma sets are not true. Panel life is the same or sometimes longer than LCD, they cannot and do not need to be re gassed, they do suffer from image retention and screen burn, however screen burn on modern sets is nearly non existent and takes literally days to set in.

 

The only thing i wouldn't recommend a plasma for is a monitor or if your a hardcore gamer that only plays 1 game constantly (hud displays don't move, so could burn over extended use)

 

Panasonic were always the most reliable sets we sold, and as you may of gathered i am keen on Plasma sets.

 

LED sets dont really out perform plain LCD's. Most are side-backlit so the blacks on the screen are quite inconsistent. - This is based on units a year ago.

[swiss.tony]

Ggot a 50" LG plasma and i cart fault it one bit think it was £549 think there 500 now top tellys mate

[DSPUK]

Have a read of forums on here http://www.avforums.com/

 

Dave

[tinytim38]

just bought a 42'' panasonic plasma £499, went into comet to buy a sony 42'' lcd saw the two side by side the picture on the plasma was far better, cant fault it 9 months ago the same tv was £1000

[jasons gold]

just bought a plasma, free view hd and internet tv and 1080 lg for 600 quid

[hodge911]

i was told when lookin for mine that upto 30/32" lcd were better but larger than that and plasma was a lot better due to "pixel response time" so i ended up with a panasonic viera 42" plasma and its spot on can,t fault it

[vampire]

just bought a 42'' panasonic plasma £499, went into comet to buy a sony 42'' lcd saw the two side by side the picture on the plasma was far better, cant fault it 9 months ago the same tv was £1000

Had one of these (42" panasonic veira) for the past three years and had NO problems at all,its a fantastic picture especially when its quality outdoor wildlife camera,highly recomend it

[Tom&Dexter]

Juat bought A 55inc LED back lit Samsung with built in free view,internet the lot and got to say its fantastic

[Mr Potter]

Juat bought A 55inc LED back lit Samsung with built in free view,internet the lot and got to say its fantastic

So it's all round to your place to watch the royal wedding then, I'll bring a big bag of value crisps

 

Mr P

[Pipmoff]

I have a 50" panasonic plasma and have just bought 2 37" panasonics for the bedrooms with built in HD Freesat. If you go to a panasonic agent you can get a 5 year manufactures warranty on certain models free. I did this and they matched the price the set was for sale on Amazon but with the 5 year warranty.

[margun]

Plasma has a better contrast ratio than LCD (so deeper blacks/more 'real' looking). As already stated, you'll find larger (32"+) LCDs will not look as good as plasma in those sizes (the slower pixel response time of LCD is a pain particularly where fast moving objects such as football are viewed (comet trails). However plasma uses much more power and run much hotter and can lead to screen burn e.g. if you only ever watch sky1 you could end up with a shadow of the logo permanantly burned in the corner.

 

One thing to note: if you after 1080p full HD LCD (for bluray etc) look for something with variable refresh rate (100Hz not necessary). IIRC Samsungs do this. The reason being is that bluray is rendered at 24Hz (the actual filming speed), so a 100Hz refresh rate means you are effectively showing each frame 4 times. This will cause a blurred effect.

 

I personally prefer plasma for now (until OLED tvs come out big time).

[AVB]

HDAV is your man to answer this. He does it for a living.

[Raja Clavata]

The chap largely speaks the truth.

 

Sony were pretty unreliable when i last worked in the industry (year ago), Panasonic plasmas were the most reliable, best performing panels in terms of black levels, colour accuracy etc..

 

Largely speaking all of the things you hear about Plasma sets are not true. Panel life is the same or sometimes longer than LCD, they cannot and do not need to be re gassed, they do suffer from image retention and screen burn, however screen burn on modern sets is nearly non existent and takes literally days to set in.

 

The only thing i wouldn't recommend a plasma for is a monitor or if your a hardcore gamer that only plays 1 game constantly (hud displays don't move, so could burn over extended use)

 

Panasonic were always the most reliable sets we sold, and as you may of gathered i am keen on Plasma sets.

 

LED sets dont really out perform plain LCD's. Most are side-backlit so the blacks on the screen are quite inconsistent. - This is based on units a year ago.

 

Did you sell Pioneer plasma sets too? When I looked they were superior to everything else I reviewed; Panasonic came second.

[Dunkield]

When I looked, and bought, Panasonic Plasma were tops in the size I wanted (37") Pioneer were better in 42" and 50"(?)

[dunganick]

Did you sell Pioneer plasma sets too? When I looked they were superior to everything else I reviewed; Panasonic came second.

 

Pioneer stopped making TV's while i was working. The Pioneer sets i saw were certainly good.

 

I did hear a rumour that during efforts to keep producing TV's, Pioneer and Panasonic wanted to share a panel production factory. It never came about afaik. But speaks volume (if its true) for the quality of their panels.

[agusta]

I've had all three, I would rate them as follows:

 

1: Plasma

2: LED

3: LCD

 

I just bought a Sony Bravia 40" LED (KDL40EX713) and its almost as good picture quality wise as the Plasma, fast moving objects are almost spot on, small bit of blurring (you don’t have this issue with plasma).

LCD screens on the other hand are or can be awful, fast moving objects blur and the overall picture quality is nowhere near LED or Plasma, I find the blacks are more a dark grey!

[Devon Fox]

I have a 50" Panosonic Vierra - Love it, great picture shame about the Vierra name though

[HDAV]

there is ahuge amount of rubbish out there in terms of sales speak, I wont go through it all but...Plasma better IMPO than LCD for medium to dark rooms only available in sizes 37" to 103" LCD (LED are a version of LCD using LED backlighitng rather than CFL) FOr very bright rooms LCD are better in bright conditions.

 

Only issue with Panasonic Consumer plasmas is they are too cheap! 42" Full HD set is now cheaper than the 32" CRT was!. More info about the sources and room required, but for regular TV viewing PAnasonic are to beat (i still prefered the Panasonic to the pioneers when pioneer were making PDP, the grand daddy was Fujitsu I have a mate with 62" Fujitsu still stunning now! and P50XH58EDd is probably the best plasma ever made althought he 50VX100E is very nice)

[wymberley]

Hi,

Well, this thread was the kiss of death!

Got a 50" Plasma by Panasonic a tad over 3 years ago along with a home theatre sound unit and BlueRay player (bit of a gamble there at the time but it paid off) which I kept in the main for watching DVDs, having also bought a 42" LCD for day to day use.

The plasma TV cost £2266. Wife turned it on last night and in addition to the pcture we now have a well defined verticle yellow line about 1.5" wide running down from the top of the screen to about half way. Spoke to the supplier and he knew exactly the problem before I even finished describing it. Suffice to say, the screen has had it. It is out of warranty but the guy gave me a phone number and recommended that I speak calmly to Panasonic as apparently they are quite helpful. We'll see. I hope so as I was only able to afford this lot as we moved house, downsizing, so had a bit to spare (knew I should have bought another Churchill instead).

Whereas we all want to pay as little as possible for life's little luxuries, I would suggest that you shop around and balance the initial cost against some retailers that are offering a 5 year warranty. I know I wish I had.

Cheers.

PS The Panasonic dept. I need does't work over the weekend so I can't call until Monday. I'll give an update in case anyone is interested.

Edited November 27, 2010 by wymberley

[dunganick]

Hi,

Well, this thread was the kiss of death!

Got a 50" Plasma by Panasonic a tad over 3 years ago along with a home theatre sound unit and BlueRay player (bit of a gamble there at the time but it paid off) which I kept in the main for watching DVDs, having also bought a 42" LCD for day to day use.

The plasma TV cost £2266. Wife turned it on last night and in addition to the pcture we now have a well defined verticle yellow line about 1.5" wide running down from the top of the screen to about half way. Spoke to the supplier and he knew exactly the problem before I even finished describing it. Suffice to say, the screen has had it. It is out of warranty but the guy gave me a phone number and recommended that I speak calmly to Panasonic as apparently they are quite helpful. We'll see. I hope so as I was only able to afford this lot as we moved house, downsizing, so had a bit to spare (knew I should have bought another Churchill instead).

Whereas we all want to pay as little as possible for life's little luxuries, I would suggest that you shop around and balance the initial cost against some retailers that are offering a 5 year warranty. I know I wish I had.

Cheers.

PS The Panasonic dept. I need does't work over the weekend so I can't call until Monday. I'll give an update in case anyone is interested.

 

I know the issue you have, I came across it a few times. Panasonic couldn't repair the set in these instances and they arranged replacement sets. I think you might be in luck as it is a known issue, best of luck. I can promise you however that Panasonic appear to be by far the most reliable make of electrical goods (except microwaves) that i have come across.

[wymberley]

I know the issue you have, I came across it a few times. Panasonic couldn't repair the set in these instances and they arranged replacement sets. I think you might be in luck as it is a known issue, best of luck. I can promise you however that Panasonic appear to be by far the most reliable make of electrical goods (except microwaves) that i have come across.

Nick, nice one, thanks for that, mate#

Phil

[Raja Clavata]

When I looked, and bought, Panasonic Plasma were tops in the size I wanted (37") Pioneer were better in 42" and 50"(?)

 

I think Pioneer were only available in 42" and 50". Funnily enough I bought the 42" Pioneer plasma (wife kicked up a stink about size of the 50" set) and a 37" Panasonic LCD - very satisifed with both.

[Tom&Dexter]

So it's all round to your place to watch the royal wedding then, I'll bring a big bag of value crisps

 

Mr P

 

If i can have the cheese and onion you are more than welcome

[HDAV]

I think Pioneer were only available in 42" and 50". Funnily enough I bought the 42" Pioneer plasma (wife kicked up a stink about size of the 50" set) and a 37" Panasonic LCD - very satisifed with both.

Pioneer did for as short time offer a 37" LCD although it wasn't a pioneer panel and the later Pioneer plasma were Panasonic/Toray panels.