If you’re in the market for a new flat-screen TV this summer, you should save yourself time and money by heading directly to the aisle with plasma TVs, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal.
As the price of plasma TVs continues to drop, Pioneer and Vizio both announced they’ll end flat-screen plasma TV development — offering excellent discounts for consumers looking for a new TV. Both companies will refocus on LCD TVs, using a newer, cheaper technology that has been popular among shoppers.
Some retailers have seen LCD TV demand outpace plasma TVs by almost two-to-one in 2009, with that number only likely to increase while manufacturers leave behind plasma technology. LCD TVs offer better refresh rates, higher contrast ratios, and other features that manufacturers have been able to market towards consumers.
Although the prices of plasma TVs continues to slide, there are several pitfalls consumers should be aware of, the WSJ article indicates. One such problem is that it may become increasingly difficult to find a repairman capable of fixing a plasma TV, and it may be difficult to order new parts. Another problem is that although LCD TVs sometimes have lesser picture quality, they are typically much easier to use than their plasma counterparts.
Anyone with a cramped living room will also want to avoid plasma TVs, as manufacturers routinely make screens ranging from 42-inches up to 103-inches.
Are you in the market for a new TV. If so, are you considering a plasma TV, or will you purchase an LCD TV?
16 Comments
Does the writer actually understand what he is writing about?
We get confused... sometimes quite often, but we're only human.
Oh, really?
I was of the understanding that refresh rates on Plasma were a fraction of a millisecond ... LCD's were in the low tween's of milliseconds, which provides that wonderful ghosting effect on cheap sets.
Native Constrast ratios on plasmas are somewhere like 100,000:1 and LCD's 2,000:1 ... although with some serious number crunching (and lots of power consumption), LCD's can get Dynamic Contrast ratios up to 20,000:1, with some manufacturers claiming upto 200,000:1 .. which isn't bad.
And that wishy-washy black on LCD's.
If only the plasma gas didn't lose it's potency after 5 years, the whole world would bypass LCD and wait for OLED or Laser http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...ies/2/wink.gif
But all the numbers are BS anyway. Its marketing...
The determining factor in a TV is the quality of the parts, specially the DSP and the panel. Not the number of pixels and the BS "contrast" ratios (sorry but that is one of the most misleading specs) .
Generally plasma technology has better color and black level reproduction and renders a more natural image, closer to CRT, but I'll concede that LCD has come a long way..
Plasmas are far better for image
Might want to review that statement because it is patently false.
Plasmas are not expensive anymore and haven't been so for years. I bought my Samsung 50", PN50A650 series, for $1500. There were plenty of LCD's in the store that were well over $2000. The picture on my TV is outstanding, better than all the LCD's I have seen that were twice its price. The only draw back to plasma is burn-in. However, the plasma's nowadays handle it better. If I see a little burn-in on mine, I just use the TV's scrolling grey bars for a hour and it is gone, rarely have to do that though. If this is indeed true that Plasma's are fading out, you better get one before they all do because the inferior LCD TV's can't compare, even the 120hz or higher models.
the thing that I like about plasma is everyone has a good seat. the viewing angle is superior to LCD by far, since each pixel is lit. the bad thing of course, is since every pixel is lit (not backlit) it does use morre power.
Finally, I am sad to see Panasonic drop out of plasma, because they are the only manufacturer I know of that can handle red correctly. all other plasmas are orange instead of red. Couple this with the Kuro's ability to produce deep black- and wow - you are losing a major quality product.
I guess I better pony up for a 60" Kuro whilst there are still some around! trouble is, my nearly 7 year old set is working perfectly.
It does however suffer burn-in horribly. Or "ghosting" is probably a better word because it can be "washed-out" but it takes forever now. I play alot of video games and have pretty much permanently burned-in certain ares of the screen where certain in-game items are always on. The clock in NHL '09, the ammo meters in COD4 etc...
I have heard that newer plasmas are better for this.
The funny thing is, the 1st thing you're supposed to do when setting up a new plasma is to crank the brightess way down from the factory default setting. So if after 10 years its not as bright as it used to be, one could just crank up the brightness a bit, no ?
About this category
Plasma TV
Makes up the flat-screen television category together with LCD. The fact that a television uses Plasma or LCD technique doesn't say much about the image quality of the television, neither does it say something about resolution or viewing angle. Plasma TVs tend to be available in larger screen sizes than its LCD counterparts, but also tend to have a slightly higher power consumption.
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