I thought my 50" rear projection TV was OK until I walked into Best Buy and allowed myself to observe and drool over the newer HDTVs. And now there's no turning back... gotta have one.

Problem is, everyone tells me something different. Plasma is better, LCD is the new wave, viewing angle, pixel count, need more HDMI inputs, blackness level, burn-in, etc, etc.

Anybody been through this? Worse than "which AK is better?"

Glenn

I just bought a 32" HDTV for my sons room yesterday....K-mart Fathers day sale ....looks great!!
http://www.olevia.com/en-us/home.aspx

Glenn 1 part of my business is selling and installing LCD, and Plasma, call me and I'll give you the run down

888-374-6706

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www.audioworksct.com
888.374.6076
Frank@audioworksct.com
KETRON, KORG, MACKIE, SAMSON..........,

I bought a 55" Hitachi Plasma a year ago. I went and watched all the LCD's and didn't like the way they viewed from a side view. They might be better now but I love my plasma TV. Some salesmen told me that the disadvantage of plasma is the glare but I love mine. I think the picture quality is sharper than when I look at LCD screens.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

Actually there is less glare with Plasmas then with LCDs.

Plasmas will give better movement, especially in sports, LCDs can not move that fast, that's why they are using Buzz words like 120hz smooth motion.

LCD colors will pop more than plasmas, but the best picture is a pioneer and it's a plasma.

I sell them all and until LCD's really make amn improvement in their motion blur, and black levels, it's Plasma all the way

Why don't we talk about something simple ... like politics or religion!!!

I'm sure Frank will give you the lowdown and a great education, pointing you in the right direction. Frank wish I made the connection that you were in the TV business I would have called you before my recent shopping experience.

Let me tell you what I went thru a few weeks ago. I went to a chain store called Tweeter Etc. to take a look at what they had in stock. Most were very pricey top of the line LCDs and Plasmas ( more money than I cared to spend). A Tweeter sales manager directed me to a Pioneer Kuro Elite Plasma ( reported to have the blackest blacks in the industry) . IT had been selling for $4500 reduced to $2500 because Tweeter bought 800 of the sets that were being discontinued and were going to be able to sell them at deeply discounted price. I then went home and called everyone I knew who had an opinion on LCD vs. Plasma. It was a mixed camp about half told me why I should have plasma, the other half told me why they purchased LCD. Anyway that Sunday night I did more reading more research and got more confused. Short part of the story is I somehow went to a local wholesale club and purchased a Vizio 50 inch Plasma ( second tier brand). It looked great in the store near many LCDs. Once I got it home I didn't like the picture quality at all. I tried every adjustment possible and it still looked terrible. I knew I didn't want this TV since I had purchased a 32 inch Polaroid LCD a couple of years ago strictly because it was priced right. The Polaroid looked much better than the Vizio plasma. I returned the plasma 2 nights later and went to Best Buy, Circuit City and smaller chain store operation here in New England. I must have looked and read about 20 different LCDs and plasma.

I finally purchased and LCD from the small chain store called Bernie's. Bottom line rather than choose completely by a review or what someone else thought about the plasma vs. LCD I let my eyes be the judge. The LCD I chose was a 46 inch Samsung. I'm very happy with it and can only watch HD channels now. Nothing else carries the punch that the HD channels do. The detail is so good that I spotted Donny sitting behind home plate watching the Yankees play ball. Just kidding about that part, but the detail is stunning. Good luck Glenn, the best advice I can give is let your eyes be the judge.

[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 06-09-2008).]

Might as well jump in here with an oppinion ... I too went through the same "Craziness"!!! Landed up with a 42" Samsung LCD Very Very Happy!!! Also purchased the Samsung BlueRay .. a marriage made in TV heaven.
I know the Vizio's fly off the shelf at my local COSTCO??

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/lcdtv-shootout.shtml

Top 5?

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-09-2008).]

There are good and bad plasmas, just like there are good and bad LCD's and its personal preference as to which you like. (Just go to the store and see which one takes your fancy)
In most cases you also get what you pay for, buy a cheap plasma or LCD and in most cases they look crap, however get a Pioneer or Panasonic Plasma or a Sony LCD and you will be in heaven.
The best value however in both Plasma and LCD has got to be Samsung though. (Not quite as good as the top end sets, but blows the rest of the market away)
Go for 3 HDMI and Full HD (Not the lower resolution HD Ready) 1080P/24fps to get the best from Blue-Ray.
I still use a Samsung 21” CRT for general viewing, as I have a projector (DLP) and screen for Home Cinema use. (For me even 50 or 60” Plasma or LCD’s are just too small to get a true Home Cinema experience)
Hope this helps

Bill

Dunno how to say this ... TV quality just isn't important to me at. Sure it is cool for a few minutes but after that it all seems the same ... but give me high quality musical instrument quality anytime and then I'll really take notice.

May I genuinely ask why only Plasma/LCD tech is being considered?

I looked on in envy as I went from site to site on the net researching HDTVs (about a good 6 months ago mind you) and noticed that all the sites with a good price and CHOICE were mostly American.

(May I assume this is largely a discussion between US citizens at the moment?)

My point is:

American stores (online AND Bricks 'n mortar) seemed to have at least one other choice - DLP.

Cheap.
Great Picture.
Good with Action.
Good (sometimes excellent) Black levels.
Non reflective display.
Huge screensize.

Have things changed THAT much in the marketplace that you would only consider Plasma & LCD??

GlennT,

The simplest explanation of difference between LCD and Plasma screens would be the following:

Plasma screens have better contrast, and black level then LCD screens.

LCD screens have better resolution, lower power consumption and lower prices then comparable sized plasma screens.

Beside that, plasma screens are more alike CRT in a way that they might exhibit ghosting effect (burned pixels if the same picture stays on screen for very long time), and they also suffer from picture quality degradation with time (after couple years the light level drops, similar as with projection lamps).

It should be noticed that both type of screens doesn't behave the same when in different lighting situations (outdoor, indoor etc.)

To sum it up, plasma screen are considered to be better then LCD screens, but because of the competition, there are constant upgrades of both technologies.

Also, notice that high quality LCD might perform better then lover quality plasma screen. And if TV signal is of low quality, there is no TV set in the world that would make it look good on any type of screen.

Good luck.

When it's all done it only matters if you are happy at home with your set. It's just like arranger keyboards, Yamaha is this, Korg is this, Ketron is this.

Everyone has their preference.

My main TV brand that I sell is LG. I just did a scouting company for football players, we mainly the higher end LCD to avoid the motion blur, and in the owners house we did 2 60" LG Plasma because he watches allot of movies and wanted the best color reproduction which includes the contrast level.

Brun in on new decent plasmas are almost gone because of the technologies that are available today.

Stephen, sorry I thought you knew when you came down. Samsung is a very good brand.

I have my option of buying any TV out there, and I bought a HP DLP that's not made anymore.

Me or anyone can give you the speech of what;s the best, what I read about, what my friend told me was the best, but it all ends up with what you are happy with.

My offer still stands, give me a call and I'll try to help as musch as possible.

Frank

Hi,

I have a 42" LG Plasma that I bought about a year ago. It is HD ready and not FULL HD which means the maximum resolution it can output is 1080i. I have a Playstation 3 hooked up to it to play games and watch Blu Ray movies and I think its just fantastic. There is a very small difference between the full HD 1080p and the HD ready 1080i. U cant really make it out unless u see it very minutely. There's just one problem...burn-in of images which is easily corrected with a DVD which I bought called "Pixel Protector". So, bottom-line, I'm very happy with the plasma. I would advise you to have a look at the two technologies and decide on what pleases ur eyes the best.
My 2 cents...
SUNNY

Frank I was too caught up into getting my hands on my new PA800 then the PA2xPro to notice much else. At the time an LCD wasn't even on the radar. But, if I'm ever in the market for high quality audio for car or home I know where to come. Thx.

If you have the right ingedients....

Suitable place to put it,
a little time to tinker with for optimal results,
and the WAF (wife acceptance factor) is minimal,

then consider buying a medium priced projector and a medium-good motorized screen.

this will not set you back much more than a good TV, with the added advantage of having a 80 to 120 inch screen.

A friend has an Epson projector, (not HD) and a motorized screen, (bought months ago about 1600 Euros both) that he uses even for regular tv viewing (news etc). While I personally think it is overkill, (IMHO a 20 inch TV, no matter the brand can let you watch cnn just as well), I sometimes look in awe at the face of the newscaster....and don't let me started about sports, it's like you one of the players.

You can imagine the movies that you are going to see....AWESOME!!!!

ahh, and something else from another more purist friend of mine..."projection is better than TV because in projection, you are casting light at something, similar to everday world where the sun casts light ot objects around us...in TV, the TV itself casts light at you, so it is never the same blah blah.".

[This message has been edited by trident (edited 06-10-2008).]

Same here. The best picture isn't enough... and the sound of built in speakers won't cut it, so I'll be checking out sound systems also. Looks like I'll be taking on a few doubles or triples (gigs) to finance this project.

I have now for 8 Months a Panasonic 42" Full hd Plasma,the best sounding plasma (read reviews)in combination with my 5x1ooWatt Tannoy monitors & 250Watt sub and a bleu ray player it blow you away and a razor sharp image.

Impuls

I went with the Hitachi 60" Ultravision LCD, great picture.

I hate Plazma because it interferes with my Amateur Radio Station badly. They are in violation of FCC part 15 but the Fed's are not very good at enforcement these days.
Hey what do you expect it's the government!

But I like the picture on the high end Plazmas.

Oh, I have an almost brand new HD DVD player for sale....( Yep, I guessed wrong!) :-)

Lee

[This message has been edited by leeboy (edited 06-10-2008).]