Augustes

A friend owns a company that installs sercurity systems. He does a lot of new construction apartments. The job he's currently on wants him to install a fairly nice plasma or LCD TV in the game room. What would be best for this application?

Nero

here we go again. our favorite question

uh hmm? he should ask the job what they want. (or flip a coin)

Nimbus

Depends. If it's for watching movies in dim lighting, he should go for the plasma. If it's a bright room, an LCD would be better. Reflections can be a problem for plasmas.

redford

There are a million choices to choose from. You have to give us alot more info than the 'customer wants one'. Price? Size? Room to fit? Gaming needs? Give us more info!

Nero

The unfortunate fact is that there is no clear cut answer because LCD and Plasma technologies have competing advantages and disadvantages ... in different areas and modes of use.

LCD

Advantages:

Lighter
More energy efficient
More durable
No chance of "screen burn"
In general higher resolution
Less glare and usually better image in bright room

Disadvantages:

Pricing goes up considerably after about 42 inches
Some instances of noticeable "ghosting" due to slow lcd refresh rates
"True Black" hard if not impossible to obtain due to light leakage.

Plasma

Advantages:

Better Blacks and apparent contrast due to nature of "light emiting" technology.
Better cost per in (cheaper larger screens BUT with moderate resolution)
Better viewing in low or controlled light situations


Disadvantages:

Significantly heavier
Significantly more energy inefficient (generates more heat too)
More Delicate in transport and usage
Screen tends to be more prone to glare due to reflective surface
Only available in larger sizes* (due to "pixel" size limits in tech)


This list is in no way complete or comprehensive, merely a broad highlight of the more obvious differences.

Nimbus

LCDs burn in all the time.. I have seen them happen, so as others. So you want to take that off the "advantage" list there, SamIam2.

You forgot "better viewing angles" for the the plasma in the "Advantage" section.

You also need to remove "Significantly energy inefficient". The plasmas have low power consumption. A 103" plasma requires less power than a women's blow dryer. I have also heard that people who own both plasma and LCD and that the LCD runs hotter. It's magma hot behind the LCD panel whereas the Plasmas are slightly warm. So get that off the list.

Augustes

it don't mean anything.. burn in is a burn in. It still gets it.

why do you think they have a thing called "Screensaver"? It's to reduce wear and burnin of the LCD screens.


You also forgot to include "Poor viewing angles" for the LCD under the "Disadvantage" section.

Nero

According to my manual my 50PX60U uses 515 watts. That seems like quite a bit. How much does a blow dryer use?

Nimbus

You also forgot "uneven" brightness across the screen for the LCDs under "Disadvantage" section. You've got a lot of work to do to fix what you posted.

redford

Viewing angle wise, LCD must be catching up. My Samsung 4051 seems to have much better viewing angle than I expected out of an LCD. With my narrow and long family room, I have absolutely no issue with anyone complaning on viewing angle despite 90+ degree required in this room.

As for burn in problem - I have to admit that was my #1 reason for going with LCD over Plasma. I suppose all display technology can produce burn ins, but which is easier? I let my 9 and 5 year old kids use this TV as a monitor to PC as well. With the way she plays games on this thing, I can assure you, Plasma will produce burn-in within days. I do admit this isn't everyone's situation.

As for power, from what I read, LCD in average consumes less power. LCD draws constant power (based on brightness), while Plasma consumption fluctuates depending on what it displays. My 4051 never runs hot when I touch the vent near the top of the unit.

I feel I sacrificed overall image quality slightly over Panasonic Plasma, while gaining more in the area of flexibility. Personally, I think that was a good trade off.