Even as the past year has been
cruel to plasma, we've
stood by the "old" gas capsule technology. The results of DisplayMate's controlled tests clearly show some of the reasons why we
love us some plasma. The lineup of 2008-vintage, top of the line LCDs from Samsung, Sharp and Sony were calibrated and pitted against a top-end Pansonic plasma. You'll have to hit the link to get the full blow-by-blow results, but suffice it to say that the plasma set trumped the LCDs in the areas of contrast, color accuracy (to be fair, the Sony came close) and black level -- both on and off axis. Even for LCD fans, these results show that the side of the box with its inflated specs is no place to look for indications of picture quality. For those already in the know about plasma, though, there's a lot of reason to hope that even if the technology is in its autumn years, there's an Indian summer up ahead.
[Via
TVSnob]
posted July 13th 2009 1:38PM
Further to my point. For any idiot that would solve the "Reflection" problem by simply turning off the lights and closing the shades. I have no intention of ALWAYS being in the dark when I watch TV. May work for movies, but I am not about to watch Price is Right sitting in the dark. LOL :)
"Burn-in" is definitely no longer a concern with plasmas. I mean sure, from a purely technical stand-point, it is still POSSIBLE, but so too is uneven aging of a LCD panel, which would result in the same sort of "ghost" image always being stuck on screen. Bottom line - modern plasmas do NOT "burn in". That is an old, no-longer-true fear that REALLY needs to be put to rest!
As for reflections and glare off of the screen - that is purely a matter of the screen surface. Plasmas all use glass screens, so they are naturally prone to some reflections and glare, but the newest anti-reflective and anti-glare coatings are quite effective and mitigate the glare and reflection problem quite a bit. Once again, the Pioneer Kuro plasmas were the best in this regard (very little glare or reflection), but the Panasonic plasmas are fairly decent now. You can certainly have lights on in the room. But, of course, sunlight streaming in and directly hitting the screen is going to wash out the image and cause reflections - there's no way around that!
On the LCD side though - glossy, HIGHLY reflective screen surfaces are all the rage! I'm so disappointed with Samsung's newest lineup because almost all of their models have this incredibly glossy, ridiculously distracting, reflective screen surface! They claim that it makes the black levels better. Well big whoop when the only thing I can see is my own face staring back at me!
Sony's LCDs are basically a matte finish though and LG has a very matte surface on some of their LCDs.
If you're honestly very worried about glare and reflections though, you should definitely check out the screen surfaces in person though, because if you think a Samsung LCD is going to have fewer reflections than a Panasonic plasma, you are WAY off the mark!
IMHO, this article is moot. Though some will certainly say that this is still waaaaaayyyyyy off, with LG announcing earlier this year that it will ship an OLED TV, not only is plasma a dying technology, but so, too, is LCD. OLED will likely be a significant improvement over plasma, definitely so over LCD.
OLED is a LONG way off, sure they might start shipping some 32" or maybe even a 40", but big screens are years away.
Well, I think this story has been going on for about 5 years. I will make just one point. You can buy a 50" plasma, top of the line for around $2k....(panny or sammy, KURO may you rest in peace), but you can't find a 50+ inch LCD with decent features for $2k. Then say you have a huge basment or big living room, your stuck between DLP(garbag) or a smaller TV, unless you go with something like panasonics 65/58" plasma screens, or samsungs 63/58" or LG's 60" plasma screens. Or the only other LCD competitor in the larger sizes would be Sharp(havent seen the newest 65" models) but mostly garbage, or sony's 70 inch XBR which costs around $15k.... If you need big, plasma is the ONLY way to go. I have a 58PZ850U in the basement, a LG 50PS60 in the upstairs living room(just got it and THX mode looks great) and then I have a little toshiba 32HL67 in the bedroom(all calibrated using my spyder calibration tools). Needless to say, I don't watch much TV in the bedroom.
What are the expert opinions on the Mitsubishi LaserVue systems ? Has anyone experienced one or has any solid input ? I bought my first flat TV, a 50in Panasonic plasma 7 years ago for $10K (crazy) and it's still hanging in my living room. I've since bought LCD having bought into the hype. I'm now moving into a new house and want to get my systems dialed in. Any educated info to assist would be greatly appreciated including ideas on how to qualify a true professional A/V calibrator to dial in all of the systems.
Thanks
Lance
For me, given where I have to have my HD, I went LCD because of the glare issue. Now that it seems LCDXs have gone to highly reflective screens, there's no more difference. Too bad it's going t0o be quite a while before we can afford OLED... I'm hoping plasma sticks around for a while... my next set will probably be a plasma as I will NOT buy a glossy OCD.
OTPH, for sure there is an apparent visual difference between a glossy and matte screen. Think of a glossy LCD screen as torch mode on steroids.
i have a pioneer elite kuro pro-111 plasma best tv i've ever seen in my life, i have a panasonic px75u plasma 720p and a rca f38310 crt tube. the only thing that can be better then the above will be oled, i will take a plasma over a led lcd.
Go Plasma!!!