Plasma vs LCD

[castaban]

I have to tell here, a friend of mine just bought a Panasonic plasma, 1080p (Z77 I believe). I went to his house to calibrate the set for him (I use Avia). After calibration I hate to say, but I much prefer the picture of my 3 years old RP Sony to his Plasma. It is much clearer, crisper picture...

[kev604]

Maybe you should start a Five Reasons to pick RP HDTV over Plasma thread?

[castaban]

Seriously considering it...

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by shabbs

Then I'm confused, LCDs are certainly not cheaper than Plasma's from what I've observed.

Shabbs, you and I share the same observation... more LCDs than Plasmas, in my case at FS. The top of the line 52" LCDs by Samsung (LED backlighting I believe) and Sony are by no means cheap... weighing in at 4k plus. I am not in the market right now but these LCD TVs look pretty good even when viewed at an angle.

[shabbs]

I think there's an overall shift away from Plasma to LCD for whatever reason. I believe Sony has stopped making Plasma's entirely, or will be shortly and only offer LCDs for flat panels in the near future.

[Simmer]

Originally Posted by shabbs

I think there's an overall shift away from Plasma to LCD for whatever reason. I believe Sony has stopped making Plasma's entirely, or will be shortly and only offer LCDs for flat panels in the near future.

I attended the HDTV Conference in LA last year and here's what Stan Glasgow, the President of Sony, said about why Sony had chosen to support LCD over plasma:

• No glass in screen means less reflection
• Higher brightness
• No false-contouring or motion noise
• No burn-in
• No buzzing or humming at altitudes > 2500 feet
• Lighter in weight
• Lower power and no cooling fans

[Simmer]

I've just finished reading all the posts in this thread and thought I would add my 2 cents worth.

I'm by no means an expert in display technologies, but I've attended several display trade shows and conferences (CES, InfoComm, CEDIA, SID, HDTV Conference) over the past few years and it seems to be a common opinion that LCD will overtake plasma in the not-so-distant future. Plasma may currently hold an advantage over LCD today in terms of things like contrast ratio, colour gamut and motion blur; but continuous improvements in LCD technologies are very quickly closing the gap. Plasma technology is improving as well, but not at the same pace as LCD.

That said, the factor that will likely cause the demise of plasma is cost/price. As some of the earlier posts mentioned, plasma panels contain much more electronics than LCD panels and I understand that the glass is more expensive to manufacture as well (maybe due to the hermeticity requirements?). As the 8th generation LCD fabs come on line, the cost of 50" to 60" 1080p LCD panels will decline significantly, to a point where plasma won't be able to compete. At that point plasma may continue to survive in the larger sizes (72", 80", 103") but LCD panels will likely dominate mainstream sales.

Another factor that the panel marketing folks are zeroing in on is resolutions higher than 1080x1920. The big buzz at CES this past year was 4k x 2k LCD panels. You might argue that panel resolution won't make much of a difference as long as the resolution of the HDTV source doesn't change but once you hook up your 8 Mpixel still camera to your 4k x 2k panel, you might just change your mind. And this is just what the marketing types want: a new number to promote when they are explaining why theirs is better than the competition. LCD panel technology is already capable of reproducing 4k x 2k resolutions. Plasma has no chance of doing this at a comparable cost.

[jfplay]

Plasma manufactueres have no ones but themselves to blame for the downward trend. I own a plasma (traded in a LCD for it) and can't believe how bad plasma makers are at dispelling myths and pointing out LCD weaknesses.

Percerption is reality and LCD has created a bogus bogeyman while plasma has done a poor job of pointing out some really valid flaws in their competiiton.

Ultimately Plasma is destined to be Beta to LCD's VHS.

[S.Koivu]

If plasma is to die, then LCD will also die. LCD isn't good enough, period. Something better than lcd has to replace plasma if it dies. Will it be laser, sed, oled, etc, I have no clue but it's gonna happen. As for my personal prediction, front projection (yeah, projectors) will become more popular than ever because of price and PQ. As for TVs, it all depends on the product cost of upcoming technologies. If they can make cheap sed or laser tv down the road, they might have a winner in their hands.

[Simmer]

As I mentioned in my earlier post, LCD manufacturing technology is now entering its 8th generation. It's hard to imaging that a new display technology can mature fast enough to compete with LCD on cost. For a while SED looked like it might take a run at LCD but in the end Toshiba & Canon just couldn't get the cost down fast enough. OLED appears to have a very attractive cost structure but it's hampered by reliability concerns that currently make the plasma burn-in issue look trivial.

Check out the last couple of sentences in this article.

[peano]

Plasma may well indeed die out, but right now, LCDs just don't cut it in terms of PQ. Maybe soon...but not now.

[isajoo]

the great/safe part about having anything that uses LCD is that its just a standard reliable technology.

of course people will say their not as good as CRT/plasma, but they have already taken out CRT from the equation for anything from under 32" and soon will step right over plasma. many will say its has already occurred.

I'm going to enjoy watching you die....
it is inevitable

Agent Smith - The matrix

just look around your home/work and there are so many devices that use LCD's and most if not all have worked for years and years. they have proven that the technology does last. the good part is that its not a living display like plasma(its just a liquid color filtering screen), its passive AKA transmissive, so the rate of failure is much lower.


the list of items is endless
this one still amazes me till today


many will say, a watch is totally different then a TV, true...but can plasma technology create these sorts of mini devices?
I think not.
its took them till just recently to come out with a 32" EDTV(852x480) plasma tv. LOL

also power fluctuations is one of the big issues with plasmas, if u display a solid white image on a plasma compared to a solid black image, the power need total jumps causing constant spikes in voltage and eventually destroying resistors/transistors. this leads to constant plasmas repair issues include changing circuit boards.

where with a LCD, the power is constant regardless of whats displayed on screen.
of course this leads to the common issue of backlight leakage or cloudiness. but is mostly visible when viewing dark video sources or black solid backgrounds. newer LED backlighting is continuing to improve on this issue.

[hoodlum]

Originally Posted by isajoo

also power fluctuations is one of the big issues with plasmas, if u display a solid white image on a plasma compared to a solid black image, the power need total jumps causing constant spikes in voltage and eventually destroying resistors/transistors. this leads to constant plasmas repair issues include changing circuit boards.

Are you making this up?

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=73439


According to iSupply, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for LCD and Plasma over the next 4 years will be 32% and 16%, respectively. Both technologies will be around for a long time.

http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20071205PR200.html

[castaban]

Originally Posted by peano

Plasma may well indeed die out, but right now, LCDs just don't cut it in terms of PQ. Maybe soon...but not now.

I think this is a matter of taste and situation. I myself prefer LCD to plasma picture quality

[bcarty]

Well, I bit the bullet and chose LCD over plasma.
I bought the Sony Bravia KDL52W3000 LCD. In the end, after reading all the reports and advice in various forums, I left the final decision to my eyes. In my side by side comparisons with the Panasonic 50PZ77 plasma, the Sony won hands down. My whole family arrived at the same decision.
The plasma looked soft and blurry to all of us, while the LCD "popped".
And then, in side by side comparisons between the KDL52W3000 and the XBR4,
we couldn't see a difference that would justify the $1k higher price of the XBR4.
We have the new set hooked up to our HD cable box and we couldn't be happier.
The picture is truly stunning. Hockey, football, sitcoms, documentaries and Xbox 360 games are all extremely impressive. No bad pixels, no motion blur, no clouding; nothing but 52 inches of amazing tv.