New HD TV, what to buy

What should I buy if I want to buy today, in 50 to 60 inch HD, DLP or LCD? How come Plasmas draw so much power, like 400 to 500 W?

Ziggie

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Ziggie
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You should buy a size according to your needs. Any new set purchased should be an HDTV type. I myself don't like the DLP, or any type of rear screen technology. They just don't have the performance of the direct view. If you compare the sharpness and illumination between the rear screen and direct view, there is a very big difference. There is also a difference in the price. You get what you pay for.

Basically, for me, it is between the LCD or the Plasma. The Plasma is best in a dark room, and the LCD is best in a lit room. The Plasma will have a higher contrast ratio than the LCD, and it looks more like a CRT type picture. The Plasma has less chances of defective lit pixels. The black levels in the video will have less shading errors in the Plasma. They are both very good technologies. If a still image is left on the Plasma screen for a very long time, it can burn in. LCD screens can have what may be referred to as a sticking effect, but this would take a long time of no image movement to accomplish.

The Plasma draws more power, because it is a complex type of tube technology, and it requires a large power supply to operate. The tube and its addressing system uses a lot of current. The LCD only uses a backlight system for its illumination. The LCD panel itself uses MosFet technology internally to drive the liquid crystal medium. MosFets use low current, and low voltage to be driven.

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JANA
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JANA

Another thing to consider is cost of ownership. A Plasma is a very complicated set, repairs are not cheap. If a panel defect occurs, such as failure of the address bus to fully remove charge from addressed cells, the panel is basically gone. I have worked on an older model set, only 5 years old, with a panel failure. As the set heated, cells would stay illuminated making a terrible looking Picture. Replacing the panel is out of the question due to cost. Technology has improved, but these sets have not had the market time CRT sets have, so we really do not know what normal panel life expectancy is in REAL household use. They are also prone to phosphor burn, Still images are very bad on these sets. As to DLP, LCD and DILA (JVC's LCD technology) All of these are good options, personally I like the LCD, as the DLP to me does not seem as good at reproducing fast motion. The cost of ownership of these sets can be high, as lamp life may be 3000 to 6000 hours, depending on manufacturer, and lamps may cost $250.00 or more. So basically during the average 5 years you could spend $1500.00 on lamps depending on your usage habits, manufacturing tolerances, direction of the wind blowing off the antarctic, you get the idea. :-)

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Jammy Harbin

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Reply to
ampdoc

I'd say wait a while. HDTV is one of the most unstable market categories that I have ever seen. No matter what you buy, it will quickly become a bad choice. Just my two cents.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

Plasma does indeed look very good when setup right, but as you say the reliability is just not there to an extent that I'd plunk down several $K for one. I've encountered several dead ones where chips had blown which were bonded to the panel, and quite a few more with phosphor burn, one of them was left on for only about an hour with a paused video game and had annoying and permanent burn.

Reply to
James Sweet

Rear projection NTSC sets are a dime a dozen, I've picked up 6 of them for free, fixing them and trading up until I got a pretty nice one. Browsed craigslist today and there were at least 5 free ones up for grabs, most with minor problems.

Reply to
James Sweet

Yes, they also use quite a bit of power, 450+ watts..... compared to perhaps 85 for an LCD screen.

CRT hdtv's are still pretty nice & often come with three hdtv tuners. Slim crt tvs don't seem worth paying $300 to save 6 inches of space.

Reply to
Sarah

I've got a DLP rear projector. Sitting down, the angle of view is perfectly adequate for a family - after all with a 50" screen you don't have to sit on top of it. Stand up and you go off axis, though, but surely TV is watched sitting down?

As regards resolution, it's far better than any domestic CRT set - genuine HD ready. Illumination on full power is also higher on axis - in fact I'm using the low power lamp setting and have reduced the contrast from default.

Its main fault is the lack of a true black in low key scenes - everything looks slightly sat up. However, you don't get a true black in the cinema either.

There are some movement artifacts sometimes. More obvious to some than others. Later 3 chip DLP technology should help this.

These things are personal, but I far prefer it to any Plasma I've seen.

Of course a CRT to an equivalent spec would be better - but such a thing doesn't exist and would need a crane to install if it did.

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*OK, who stopped payment on my reality check?

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
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Dave Plowman (News)

Reply to
RonKZ650

The plasma sets are impressive; but to view what? HDTV will only take off when there is sufficient and significant viewing material to warrant owning one. I am not a sports fan, by the way.

As to movies; they can't even get the sound right these days!

Reply to
Charles Schuler

Broadcast HD is worthless IMO, but having seen DVD movies on it, it looks truly fantastic. I'm looking forward to the day when I can pick up a dead HD bigscreen for free, I'm guessing it'll happen within the next couple years, for now NTSC is good enough for what I've paid for it, which is nothing.

Reply to
James Sweet

Hi Iam looking for a used LSB (power supply board) for a Phillips/Magnavox RPT 60" mod 9P6034C102 chassis PTV835 board # 00APD026C003 There are several models compatible. You mentioned craigslist. Can I browse that site? Thanks

Reply to
Glenn

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