LCD, LED or Plasma TV? - What's best?

[Dan]

I'm in the market for a new TV and am baffled.

I want a 55" TV and I don't know what to get, LCD, LED or Plasma. What's best?

Seems Plasma are cheaper. I don't mind paying extra for a decent one though so price isn't an issue. They last me years so it needs to be a good one with crystal clear picture quality.

Some friends are telling me Plasma are better once you go past about 40" - But websites and reviews suggest LED lit LCD TV's are the best. With LCD backlit TV's being next best. Plasma being the older style with a bulkier surround and back to them.

The more I look into it the more I'm baffled.

Can you guys put me right?

 

[Q.S.]

LED,is the way to go it lasts the longest - just get one with good resolution
Plasma's get very hot - if you touch them after a few hours they will burn you and you can get ghosting on the screen if you hit pause on a DVD etc for too long.
LCDs need a back light which only lasts so long and once that goes you might as well but a new t.v.

 

[mydigitalhome]

Panasonic Plasma are fantastic installed loads with no problems.

 

[davederby]

Hi the tv you require depends on several different factors mostly what you are going to be doing with it, Plasma tvs are best for home cinema (movies) and sport, modern plasma displays are now offer more enonomy than equivelent size lcd screen tv, they no longer suffer from heat (4 years ago plasma tvs would be hotter to the touch and twice as expensive to run than lcd screens, this is no longer the case) but yes plasma screens do still suffer with image burn but this is only if you have the screen on for hours, on say one particular channel with a logo in the corner etc (but most screens now incorporate a pure white screen which is a burn in screen and gets rid of any image retention) most good plasma screens offer 600hz updating this makes motion fluid and seemles with no blur and plasma displays update instantly.
Led and lcd tvs are effectivly the same technology screen but with different forms of iluminating the display, lcd screens use what is flourescent tubes either above and below the screen or either side of the screen (these eventually yellow with age and this makes whites look yellow (and yes these tubes do go but no very often), Led screens use either edge lighting (where a row of led bulbs are placed on the sides of the screen, in place of the flourscent tubes on conventional lcd tv) or backlit (more expensive) where for every pixel there is a led bulb, lcd and led screens do tend to suffer with motion blur and manufactures update the screen several times a second to try and solve this 100hz updates twice as fast as 50hz and 200hz (fastest update available on lcd and led screens) four times as fast. There you go plasma best for movies and sport lcd and led best for everyday tv, led cheapest to run followed by plasma then lcd, led most to buy with lcd and plasma simular priced.

 

[Marvo]

I prefer plasma, better colour contrast, better 'refresh rates and better handling of dark movie frames, black is actually black unlike lcd where black is actually gray.

 

[telectrix]

so where in the scheme of things does my CRT stand?

 

[needasparks]

Worth remembering Plasma has a 100deg viewing angle where the other two don't. This is relevent if your layout of seating in an oblong room makes viewing difficult from the sides.

 

[RogertheBodger]

so where in the scheme of things does my CRT stand?

On the list, it's just above 'Steam Driven'

 

[telectrix]

dammn, thought it was the dog's nuts. 26" was biggest i could get. but at least i can adjust the picture without a degree in computing.

 

[topquark]

Full array LED backlits are around the best images at the moment IMHO (was looking around at the w/e). 55" sounds rather large though Dan, you'll need to be sat a fair way away from it to get the best without getting tennis neck. The jury is still out on the newer OLED technology as yet.

That's just for the display part of the technology, you've then to consider input types (HDMI, DVI/VGA, USB, Network (Lan/Wifi)). Tuners terestrial freeview/freesat (make sure it's freeview HD or freesat HD and not just plain ole freesat/freeview (saw a lot of them at the w/e!). You may be better going for a separate freeview HD recorder tuner if you want live/pause, rewind, record etc.

 

[vernam616]

Forget all the fancy ****, unless you are a AV geek

I went and bought a Samsung 46" 3D LCD around 3-4 months back, crystal clear picture, previous TV was also samsung lcd which we had for 5 years and only upgraded because of size difference(40"), sold it to the nextdoor neighbour and its still running

if i recall correctly the new TV was only around £650 with 2 pairs of adult active shutter glasses, 2 kids pairs and a MONSTER HDMi 1080p full speed cable, which all in all i didnt think was too bad

 

[pennywise]

I've seen a few LED TV's in the shops some running blue ray, in my personal opinion they are rubbish the image looks pre production as it's just too sharp the lighting isn't soft enough it makes films look more like tv dramas like casualty. Plus points being they are energy saving. We've got a pionneer plasma amazing image and smooth, unfortunately they've stop production though panasonic are basically the same thing as all pioneers engineers jumped over to panasonic.

 

[alarm man]

plasma for me,all round better picture,they do use more power and run hotter but screen burn isnt really an issue these days with normal tv progs,ive got an lg and ive left tv on over night but the lg whitewash gets rid of any ghost images,tho if your a serious gamer id go for lcd

 

[Surboy]

Samsung LEDs are brilliant and superb value for money!

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I'm with Tel, you're all sucked in by the marketing.

Where's most of the past 90 years R&D gone into? Thats right, Sony triniton, the pinnacle of billions of research.

When all this other tat is sorted out with its tubes going yellow and ghosts, etc, then I'll consider bowing to the marketing son of satan!


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