Similar to Mobile Phone Thread. List what you've got with pros/cons and a suggestion to me of what to get. Or comment in general

Thinking of buying an LCD/Plasma TV, Samsung brand preferbly. Looking at 40-50", limit of around $3000. Would like one with HD, a built-in high definition tuner & game mode. But I'm stuck on whether to get LCD or a Plasma.

Image to help anti-tech people aware of what others are talking about



Aspects:

Size: Both LCD TVs and plasma TVs are thin as you could hope for. In screen size plasmas usually run larger though don’t usually come in smaller sizes, which is sometimes needed. Viewing Angle: Plasma have a wider viewing angle. Life Span: Both have good lifespan. Issues: Plasma sometimes suffer from “burn in” effect. LCD TVs are sometimes susceptible to a delay that causes the outline of figures or objects to appear jagged. Color: LCD TVs are renowned for a sharp picture and vibrant color. Plasma TVs are known for a wide range of colors and accurate color reproduction. Brightness: LCD TVs are said to do slightly better in bright-light conditions. Black Levels: Plasma TVs generally produce very black blacks whereas an LCD TV will produce a very dark charcoal gray. Contrast Levels: Plasma TVs, technically, are said to have greater contrast levels. Cost: Prices for both types of TVs are decreasing rapidly.

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At the moment I have -

Sony Trinitron 59cm CRT flatscreen TV
Pros: It's got a flatscreen, has simulated surround sound, looks stylish. Umm..that's about it
Cons: Heavy, lacks any special capabilities to make the picture look better.

I'm partial toward LCD. Being a gamer things like burn in, lifespan, and cheap pricing of plasma made me wary. I read some of those, save price, are at least partially solved. I'm not convinced.

Well I've got a bit of experience with both and I prefer LCD.

My parents went out and bought a 55" Hitachi plasma, and while everything looks super neat, I still reckon my LCD has a slightly better picture.
They've got this;


* HD Ready (requires HDTV Digital Set Top Box)
* 1,366 W x 768 H Resolution
* World First: 68.6 Billion Colours
* 1,000 cd/m2 Panel Brightness
* 1,000:1 Contrast Ratio
* 170 Degree Viewing Angle
* Built-in twin analogue tuners
* Multi-Picture (PinP, Split, PonP4, PonP12)
* Aspect ratio mode (Panoramic, Zoom, Cinema, Full, 4:3)
* Teletext (Fastext with 100 page memory)
* Built-in HiFi quality speakers (10 speaker, 36W)
* SRS WOW / BBE Sound
* VGA-UXGA input for PC
* Twin Component inputs (DVD/STB)
* Twin HDMI digital inputs (HDCP Compliant)
* SD Card + USB Photo Inputs
* Headphone Output
* Remote Control Swivel Desk Stand
* 60,000 hour panel life (normal video use)*
* Fanless Design for Silent Operation
* Slim Space Saving Design
* 12 months warranty

And I have this;





* 81cm (32”) High Definition LCD TV
* High Definition tuner built-in, plus an alogue tuner built-in
* 1366 x 768 resolution
* 5,000:1 Dynamic Contrast ratio
* 500:1 cd/m2 Brightness
* 12.8 billion colour display
* 8ms response time
* Backlight system - CCFL
* HDMI, PC input, Component, S-VHS, RCA
* 176 degree viewing angle
* Game mode
* SRS® TS-XT (Trusurround speaker system)
* Teletext
* Pedestal stand with Swivel base included

Colours and contrast are slightly stronger on the plasma, but overall I think the image on my LCD is brighter, sharper and jumps out more than the plasma one.
I reckon for the price I got myself a pretty good TV, and with your budget you can easily get yourself one of these. Heck, you could even stretch it out a bit and get the 40" model. And take it from me, don't buy Sony TVs....

Wasn't going to :lol:

And it's not just because of Lik-Sang either :P

I know where I can get a 40" Samsung LCD with all the bells&whistles I want for $3000. But am I better off waiting for another say...6months? Or even a stocktake sale after xmas? And have they managed to make LCDs produce a real 'black' colour yet?

My sister has a samsung plasma. Can't tell you what the picture is like cause she was using compersite for everything.

The T.V. it self looked great though, I'd still be going CRT if only 'cause they are so cheap now. Or a rear projection, these have awsome pictures these days and are a lot cheaper per inch then LCD or Plasma.

See this T.V. for example.




2,500:1 Contrast Ratio is where is sucks the most but at $2,999(sale price rrp $3,299) thats a huge TV, 56' inches(142 cm) huge.

Of course in six months prices will be lower, so it's really a question of whether you want the TV now or not.

I myself have a Samsung LCD, same as Mach's just in 26'' (I think Mach has the 32''?) and I'm really happy with it. Your fears about 'real' blacks shouldn't be a problem, especially with the technology in the Sammy's. You can definately tell the difference between a shadow or something that is meant to be a true black, whether in a game or on TV. Also all Sammy's with HDMI inputs fully support HDCP, which is a big bonus.

In short, buy the Samsung LCD :P

You heard the man. :P

Seriously, I reckon you should go for the Samsung LCD. They're just built for HD gaming and they look great when watching HDTV.

True. And I think with a new couch coming next week, I should wait. Looking at the prices I won't have much money left :( But it's good to clarify that I should be wary of plasmas.

I saw one at Myer yesterday, 42" Samsung plasma on special for $1799 (was $2499). I questioned the assistant when asking why there's a $1200 difference to the one next to it that looked exactly the same. He said the only difference was that the cheaper version didn't have an inbuilt HD tuner. I looked closer at the specs and noticed that not only that it didn't have a HD tuner, but it also had lower resolution with a measely 860x640. I told him this and he said "Yeah, that's also standard definition". Before my closer inspection I thought they were both HD tvs which nearly made me reach for my wallet. Close shave..

I'll wait until the xmas stocktake sale and see where my money goes from there.

Damn that was lucky backslash, you've got to be careful with those things since the TVs themselves (i.e. cheaper shit ones) look pretty nice on the outside, a lot of people get fooled into thinking they get a bargain and then when they get it home it looks like crap because its only SD, which isnt going to look nice on large sized TVs.

I gave up on my LCD and plasma quest because while the picture was generally brilliant, as soon as it started moving it just turned into a blurry/jerky mess. Especially with high contrast things like anime and games and whatnot. Maybe things have changed in the last 6 months, but as far as I've seen, nothing beats a CRT when it comes to a moving picture.

I reckon tvs have improved quite a bit since then but the new models aren't exactly dominating the market. You go into any electronic store and there's still a lot of the older models hanging around

After recently getting a frozen pixel on my PC LCD monitor I'm just wondering what's the chance of getting a dead/frozen pixel in the first place? At least with plasmas you don't have to worry about it which is why I'm now considering a Samsung Plasma over the LCD

Have you tried this yet?

Also, doesn't dead pixelation fall under warranty? If it happens to occur again simply get a replacement monitor / television.

Only a 30day warranty regarding dead pixels (very late reply but hey, better late than never)

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Okay, it looks like I'll be purchasing the Samsung 40" LCD sometime next month. Problem is, I want it in a white finish (the opposite of black) and I've only seen the 32" model (Civic's tv) in white in Perth. I looked up the model number for the 40" white, which is LNS4052D. But when I typed this on google and clicked on 'search pages within australia' I get no results. The Australian Samsung website only shows the black one with the model number LA40R71BDX

Yet the International website begs to differ.

Are they impossible to get? I looked on ebay but there's no white lcds, only black ones. HELP ME! :( If getting a white model is impossible, I'll just buy a black one from ebay since it's only $2500 now (incl p&h). At lleast it's $500 cheaper than 2 months ago

Black is cooler. B-)

And I've I learnt anything about white things, it's that after the time, they alwasy turn yellow...you don't want a yellow TV now do you? :P

So you're saying I'm going to have yellow Wii?

Oh wait ... :P




Sorry bad joke :whistling:

So you gots the TV ey? Tell, me How does the picture look in motion? Does it have trouble with contrast images doubling up a little when moving fast?

Can you do a test for me? Chuck in a game that has some camera controls. Find a large area that has a reasonably contrasted bacground eg: mounatins against a sky or sumthin. Go into the first person veiw and swing the camera around as fast as it will go. Do the mountains or whatever move around smoothly or do they double up a bit?

I only ask because I gots me a Samsung 81cm CRT under the impression that it would move the picture around more smoothly but it doubles just as much as I've seen all the LCD ones do. I;m starting to think now that no TV over 80cm can produce a high contrast image that moves quickly smoothly.

Sigh.

Dad went out a bought one of these at Harvey Normans last weekend:
http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/c...RCSHQFHKFSESI5P

Seems alright, haven't really tested it out properly yet though...only used the Standard Definition Setbox via s-video, the real test will be using the 360 and cranking the resolution up to 1080p and see what happens. :P

Yes, I did get the tv, here's the photo again: (ugh! I hate that walnut now!)



Anyway, what do I look like? A non-lazy person?! :P
When I first fired it up I had some motion problems whilst watching Mythbusters on DVB when they decided to speed up some of their projects by 500% so I had the ghosting thing going on. After a fiddle around with the picture controls the problem seems to have disappeared. Occasionally there's been some slight blurring but only the tiniest bit.

As for the FPV swinging the camera thing, it does double up, even with Game Mode turned on it seemed to make no difference. This was with Zelda on the Wii using composite cables. Might be different for the current next-gen consoles or when I receive my component cables.

Hey DJ Civic I know this question may seem impossible but can you turn off DNIE? It usually makes the picture worse than better

Thanks Mr non-lazy person :D I'm now 99% sure that TVs in general, regardless of type can't move a picture smoothly enough to satisfy my eye. So I'll stop looking and try to content myself with the CRT :D

And btw, Zelda was the perfect test as I got my Samsung CRT a third of the way into playing it and that's when I noticed the problem. And the component cables won't help as they sharpen and brighten the picture... which will technically make the problem worse :D

Sigh... again.

I have a HDTV but its bulky

Bulky tv's are so finished, everybody wants the sleek and slim looking panels now. Sell it before it's too late

I managed to sell my old 59cm to my aunty for $150 (whilst trying not to rip her off at the same time) which I don't think is too bad considering it cost me $1000 roughly 4-5 years ago. It's respectable anyway. And my brother's buying my 8month old STB for $45 (cost me $130). Once again, average price for family members

I'm looking at my old tv (waiting to be picked up tonight) right now from the back sitting on an old coffee table and damn it's huge! It's like a car's V8 engine (or bigger!) :lol:

Watched Monsters Inc on the LCD last night and the DNIE actually made the picture a lot more vibrant and better looking. I'm also using the Energy saving option now too during the night which helps relax my eyes especially when I'm watching movies with the lights turned off whereas before I used to go "Argh! It's too bright! I can't see anything!"

you loose quality with any picture mode, you have to use "custom" and tweak it just right. and i heard that DNIE feature just makes it really dark??

Actually it makes everything brighter (vibrant colours) and more shine-y looking. There's even a DNIE demo mode which splits the screen up so half of it is with DNIE off, the other half on

And I've managed to get the custom controls just right :)

LCD?
Whats tat? :unsure:
Sorry,I don't really pay attention to these things.

Oh dear. Then why, may I ask, do you post in this topic then? :blink:

We purchased a LCD last summer! (42") and its very nice! We wanted a plasma, but the way our living room is we couldn't :(