LED, LCD or Plasma?

[gagnerants]

Which type should I get my husband for Christmas? We have a window directly across from the TV, but it is rarely open, and does have light-filtering curtains. I cannot afford more than $1000, and would like a 37" or 40" (42" at most, our room is small). Do the plasmas really have that much glare??? We currently have a 23" LCD and it has no glare, except for on the bezel. How bad is the plasma glare compared to a MBP screen??

For that size of a screen LCD all the way, if above 46" plasma. LED is still to pricey for something trying to clone the plasma.

 

[sabot]

yes we all know a true LED display is the "latest & greatest" but i've seen too many people being mugged off lately with so called LED TV'S that are just using LED's to backlight a traditional LCD display!
these people have heard the LED buzz & just jump straight in unaware

until the true LED stuff comes down to a sensible price the choice for a large screen must still be Plasma ;D
good informative link HERE

 

[baggss]

yes we all know a true LED display is the "latest & greatest" but i've seen too many people being mugged off lately with so called LED TV'S that are just using LED's to backlight a traditional LCD display!
these people have heard the LED buzz & just jump straight in unaware

until the true LED stuff comes down to a sensible price the choice for a large screen must still be Plasma ;D
good informative link HERE

That was an interesting link, thanks.

Since price is not really an issue for me in the three models previously posted, would you still recommend the Plasma?

 

[bennjiboi]

It's all good to discuss specs but no one has asked what soft of room it will be in and what you will be using it for?

If it's in a loungeroom, like ours is (we have a 50" Samsung Plasma) does the room have a lot of sun light? This will affect your over all viewing experiance.

Brighter rooms are better suited to LCD, Sadly, we moved into a new apartment and every room in the apartment has massive windows and full of sun.

I have noticed the plasma struggeling if you like during the day, seem's dull and lifeless.. In my room, again, totally sun filled, I have a new 42" Toshiba Regza LCD and it's beautiful and bright even on the sunnist of days.

I also game a lot and feel that LCD is better suited (to me) then what my Samsung plasma is.

LED is great and I would love to get something LED it will drop in price soon, If you need something super thin and space is a huge issue then LED would be a good option, if you a bit of a tech geekand you want the latest, get LED lol

If you aren't and dont need the newest and shinnyest thing, look at LCD

 

[baggss]

Fairly good sized living room, currently has a 57 inch Hitatchi 1080i Rear Projection DLP HD TV in it, so the new one would be a bit smaller. Sun depends on the time of year, more in the summer less in the Winter, but I have shades and can darken the room as desired. Space is not an issue and the way the seating is arranged the current TV fits the distance formula (1/2 height of the set times 5 or 6) so the replacement will be fine as well.

I game a bit, but not enough for it to be an issue, either way I go will be a step up from what I have when I do game.

If this boiled down to price or space it would be easy. It's odd though since this is basically a freebe and will fit fine in the space it will go in, it all boils down to what I think I want with no real constraints.

 

[Dysfunction]

Have you looked at all 3 in similar lighting?

 

[baggss]

Have you looked at all 3 in similar lighting?

Not yet. I plan a trip to Best Buy and Fry's tomorrow to do just that....

 

[iggibar]

Go for the LED and don't look back! The screen contrast/quality is UNBELIEVABLE! We got a 60" Sharp LED(almost the same as the sharp you are comparing too)...just wait till you play Modern warfare 2 on this...HOLY CRAPPPP!!! I also like LCD though. We have had 2 toshiba 32" 1080p lcd, and they look awesome, and have proven to be absolutely great in reliability(hitting almost 2 years old now). I'm actually not a huge samsung fan. For me, it's either Toshiba(first), panasonic(2nd), or sharp(3rd).

 

[DarkestRitual]

I still can't even believe this is a question. If price isn't an issue, then it should be no contest lol. But you're right bagsss, whatever you pick will be better, but for me the choice would be between LCD and LED. Why invest now in a dying technology? Why not get ahead on the curve so you're current for longer with the LED?

 

[sabot]

if price isn't an issue then you shouldn't really have any problem
go out & look at the sets in a showroom & see which one you like best
maybe even take a DVD you like as a reference, something bright/contrasty/colourful etc ;D

i did a quick bit of digging & the true LED screens i referred to earlier are only just starting to be produced in larger sizes about now.
its called Organic LED or OLED
couple of links

OLED technology explained

OLED TV Television

A little bit about the technology
OLEDs are made by placing a series of organic thin films between two conductors. When electrical current is applied, a bright light is emitted. The OLED materials emit light and do not require a backlight (unlike LCDs). In fact OLED TVs are better than LCDs in many ways:

OLED TVs have Faster refresh rate, better contrast and better color reproduction.
OLED TVs are really thin - the Sony XEL-1 for example is just 3mm thick. The new prototypes by Sony are merely 0.3mm thick!
OLEDs have a much better viewing angle - almost 180 degrees.
Better for the environment - they draw less power, and contain no bad metals.
OLEDs can actually be made flexible or transparent. Imaging a foldable large OLED TV that takes no space when not used...

i thought 2009 was going to be the year they all jumped on this bandwagon http://www.onlyoled.co.uk/sony-oled-tvs-launched-year

looks like a true LED large screen is a litte while off yet which explains why everyone is going for the LED backlit LCD screens after hearing about the coming new LED technology. good for the manufacturers to slip in on the back of it tho!

but for a larger screen i'd still coose Plasma over LCD purely for the motion blurring you get with LCD

Plasma TVs can present moving objects without loss of crispness or detail.Plasma technology needs only one impulse per pixel to produce an image therefore its response time is almost instantaneous.

LCD technology requires pixels to go from active – to inactive -and back to active again, to achieve a single response cycle; their response time can measure anywhere between 4 milliseconds to and 25 milliseconds. Even the fastest LCD screens can suffer with some degree of movement blurring.

either way you'll get something that should last you until the OLEDs are ready

 

[gagnerants]

Both of you guys know that current LED sets are only backlighted or edgelighted they are not LED, if you want the picture quality then go OLED, the only problem is that they cost around 3 or 4 grand for a 15" screen. From my research I did at the start of this year, Plasma has the highest native contrast ratio, best refresh rate, thicker glass (good thing), plasma has the widest viewing angles, also the majority of plasma screens I have looked at all have 24p pull down hdmi ports.

 

[sabot]

whatever happened to the old rule of thumb where everyone knew that if you wanted a screen larger than 32 or 37 inch you bought a plasma & smaller than that an LCD ;D

 

[ZorroAMG]

Panasonic if you go plasma, end of story.

 

[sabot]

definitely my first choice


Pioneer were good but the global downturn & people choosing cheaper sets with genereic LCD panels prompted them to pull out of the TV market. shame their big screens were awesome
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2009/gb20090212_424440.htm

 

[gagnerants]

or Pioneer ;D

Yeah I wish I had the money for their elite series.

 

[bobtomay]

Warning: The downgrade in size will take a little getting use to. Just went from a 65" Toshiba 1080p DLP to the 58" Panasonic plasma. Yeah, it took me a couple of weeks to adjust.

When you go into the showroom at a local Best Buy or other big box store, you can't compare pq related to brightness, color, contrast, blacks... They all ship with a showroom setting nowadays that are too bright, have too much color saturation, too much contrast, etc.; designed for a wow factor not a natural looking image (ntm people have been playing with settings otr). Even if you get to stand there long enough to adjust them, it's just almost useless in store. Can look at motion blur, angle viewing (if it's even needed in your setting, although you're going to find LCD has come a long way here if it's been a couple of years since you went looking), and reflectivity.

 

[iggibar]

I always thought the thinness of the oled tvs made you waste money for useless technology, unless you actually want to mount it, they are not worth it imo. Why spend so much extra money(almost twice as much) when you can get a great lcd, and have money to buy a new mac I mean, it's not like the thinness of the tv will make the huge tv table go away! I would just wait a couple of years for oled...if I really wanted it, because soon enough, just like in the past, when plasma tv prices were really high and lcds took over, led/oled will take over and make lcd look old. It would be cool if they passed the saving to the consumers by not making them as thin, because I know a lot of people who also don't really care about how thin it is...though I'm not sure if that's even possible with the screens.

 

[kuklachica]

How much glare do plasmas have now?? My TV room is pretty dark (only two windows) but one window is directly across from the TV. We have that curtain down all the time, but it still filters light through. How much would this small window effect viewing?

 

[Dysfunction]

it's a glossy screen, my living room is almost identical and I never notice any glare issues... we mostly watch movies though.

 

[sabot]

my plasma is OLD, i saw the label on the back dating it as November 2000 when i was behind it the other day!

anyway even back then they have some kinda coating on the front glass of the screen. if you get right alonside it & look at an acute angle with the set off you can see a purplish coating which i guess must be an anti glare coating of some kind

it looks a bit like the solar reflective coating i have on the glass in my car but it can't reflect light the same (certainly not the same direction anyway) otherwise it would make it worse