lcd or plasma

Both have many advantages and disadvantages, suggest you do some research online as well as compare models of both types in the store. It's too broad of a subject to give you a simple answer.

Obvious difference:plasmascreens do burn in easely.

Unless you have a real need for a flat screen hanging on your wall, I'd stick with CRT for as long as they are around. Many of the problems on both LCDs and plasmas are not supported to component level by the manufacturers. Replacing boards is fine as long as the unit is under warranty, but an expensive exercise, when it's not.

If you really want one, go to the store and ask to see a sports programme where there's plenty of movement. Plasmas are reknowned for generating movement artifacts, which can be quite annoying to watch. Don't make the mistake, though, of looking at a 54 inch plasma screen from 2 feet away. You'll see all sorts of nasties that wouldn't be apparent at a normal viewing distance.

Some of the Sony stores have good displays of both with proper lighting and seating. Worth a look to get a better idea of the two, and how they stack up with respect to each other, and CRT sets.

Arfa

It depends on the application, size, and budget.

LCD generally is better for use with computers, where smaller screen sizes are used, where off axis viewing is limited, and where brightness is needed. PDPs are generally better for video, have better blacks, and are more cost effective in larger screen sizes. PDPs have phosphors that age, though newer sets have much improved this area.

These are generalizations. Each factor will vary among brands and models as well. The best of one technology may outperform poorer designs in the other type in any area. Prices in both vary greatly. View each set under the conditions you will be using it and judge actual performance rather than looking just at the specs, which may be very misleading.

Leonard

My biggest gripe about LCD is the banding effect most(all?) of them seem to show when displaying smooth color gradients. Look at a blue sky scene and it normally looks a lot smoother on a plasma but has visible bands of color across it on LCD and DLP sets. I've seen a lot of burned in plasma sets, though that can be minimized by properly setting the brightness and contrast. I've also seen a few with irreplaceable parts that had craters blown in them. They run at much higher power levels than LCD which tends to contribute to more failures.

....BUT the resolution, detail and clarity are outstanding on a properly working and properly adjusted plasma.... also because it is well suited to very large screen size without using the "projection method" it has a much wider angle of good viewing without the dramatic light falloff of the projection sets whether they are the CRT, LCD and the DLP technologies. For smaller screen sizes, the LCD flat panel display, not projection, is a clear choice.... just look at the computer's flat panel LCD monitors... the newer ones have a much improved response time so movies and fast moving scenes don't smear.... but again, if you want big, the Plasma is terrific.... I have owned 3 different Plasma sets and NONE have had any burn in problems,,,,, but I don't play video games and I vary the wide-screen modes every so often to avoid most burn in issues.

-- Best Regards, Daniel Sofie Electronics Supply & Repair

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

sizes

needed.

cost

models as

other

...anyone know whatever happened to that flourescant or glowing plastic, that was discovered and demonstrated 10 or 20 years ago ? There was an item on t.v. news detailing how a lab-technician carrying a UV lamp was walking past some test tubes containing liquid plastic, noticed one / some of them glowed as he walked past. On the t.v. news item, in a lab.somewhere, someone in a white coat was holding up a ribbon cable with a small glass/plastic panel 2x2 inch? monochrome (in shades of greenscale...if you see what I mean), with television motion / images running on it. It was speculated that from this be developed into wonderful color flat panel displays. without the complications of "traditional" Lcd's / tft's and their complicated multi-layer construction etc. ...and the "refresh" rate characteristics of this "flourescant plastic" was akin to a CRT. What happened to it ?

regards, Richard

Thank you all for your response....it will give me a starting point.......thanks again....

They probably couldn't produce the other necessary colors by the same chemical process.

OLED is clearly taking the lead of next gen display tech. It's super simple and cheap to fabricate the screens, thinner [and presumably lighter weight] than any LCD or plasma TV's I've seen, offers true black, wide viewing angle, low power consumption, etc. I'm not dumping 3 grand into a plasma set now, when I know (ok speculate) that by the time the mandated NTSC cutoff date arrives (2/17/09, last I heard), OLED sets will be priced at or below that of competing plasmas. Till then, CRT's will serve me well enough.

^^^^^^^^ and LCD's!

Dad gummit I hate when the final output is nothing like what the editor shows!! So er.. yeah.. plasmas AND LCD's will be much cheaper than they are now and OLED sets should be priced similarly at that time.

David Maynard psoted this to my question on "Flourescent displays" in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt :-)

Not sure but it sounds like you're talking about electroluminescent panels.

The problem for graphic displays and TV is in making the blue color but these folks claim to have not only solved that but are in pilot production of large screen display panels.

regards, Richard

I would stay away from projection sets . My choice for the money in a flat panel wall mount set would be LCD . I have seen and handled both at work .

Plasma is nice but the things weigh a ton . LCD is much lighter to hang up . As for funny little effects you see on flat panel tv sets once you have one for a couple months you stop noticing that . You dont really want to sit 2 feet from a big flat screen .

The only reason i can come up with for having a flat set is .. they are just cool and save space and can go up on a wall . The biger 36 inch glass tube tv sets ar so big and heavy you need ver well made furniture to hold them and if you ever need to move it to hook up stuff its a real pain .

I suggest you look for a flat tv set from a discound outfit , return salvage store ( i work at one ) you can save as much as half on something with a minor damaged plastic case . My 37 inch sharp has a cracked corner which i just glued . Half of retail and it was new in box .

I would say direct view LCDs are more reliable than plasmas. LCD technology is more mature and requires much lower voltages and power. This makes the ICs that drive the display panel less likely to fail. Since these driver ICs are a part of the display panel, they can't be replaced.

I've seen a number of plasmas in stores that had missing bands of picture (probably because of a failed driver IC). On the other hand, I've only seen a few LCDs with this type of failure (and these were from old laptops). Andy Cuffe

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com

I would dissagree. The stuff I see in LCDs that I don't like is far more annoying to me than PDPs. And the weight is not that much different in the same size. Look for yourself and determine which meets your needs. Some people prefer the look of one or the other or have priorities that favor one technology.

Leonard

You have not handled many of these then .. LCD is always lighter than plasma . In fact all the plasma sets i have worked n all had solid cast metal frames for the screens . LCD do not have such structures for the screen .

I just worked on a Pana.... Plasma dated Dec. 05 with a 2 inch wide bar in the picture .. bad screen on that . A second Pana... plasma with bad back lights . This model they built the lights in with the screen and will only sell lights & screen as one unit .

I have run across a few non working LCD sets and it was never the screen .. yet ...

Plasma doesn't have backlights, that one must have been an LCD.

Does Panasonic have anything like the Philips "Ambilight"? If so, maybe that's the backlight he's referring to.