[05-BLACK-ZX5]

So, on a Boxing Day Splurge, I bought a Samsung 42" Plasma flat-panel EDTV.

Good points I experienced:
- Awesome picture.

Bad points I experienced:
- A giant, expensive heater.
- Burns in easily.
- Buzzes like a flourescant light.
- Not many serviceable parts (ie when it doesn't light up anymore, throw it out).

I didn't even have it for a week, and I had been playing NFS: Most Wanted on it for a few days. After the second day, I noticed I could read the mini-map and speedo when the TV was on, then I call to find out what can be done, they tell me "Oh, that's a common problem. We don't recommend playing games for more than 40 minutes at a time". 40 minutes?! Ok, that would be fine if I was a normal girl, but I had been playing for HOURS on end (and in 3 days I was 46% done, ha ha). Also, think about those little TV channel icons in the corners...how many years until you can read a blurr of TV channel icons?

To cut a longer story shorter, I took back the Plasma, and instead of getting a direct replacement of another Plasma, I opted to upgrade to an LCD.

A Sony 40" LCD flat-panel HDTV to be more precise.

Good points I've experienced:
- Runs a lot cooler.
- Doesn't burn in with my gaming habits.
- Brightens and darkens automatically as it senses the amount of light in the room.
- It's HDTV compatible (though I haven't bought the HDTV box yet).
- More serviceable parts (ie if it doesn't light up, get the bulb replaced!).

Bad points I've experienced:
- A couple dead pixels, but I can only complain if there is 11 or more.
- It ghosts a little when there are fast moving objects, but it's hardly noticeable unless you're looking for it.

So, the point of this thread? If you're going to chose between LCD and Plasma, spend the extra money to buy an LCD, rather than being cheap and buying a Plasma like me, or you'll be sorry. Even if it doesn't malfunction now, a few years down the road when the warranty is expired, you'll be unhappy you have to shell out a couple grand to buy a better TV.

[Frost__2001]

wow that's like funny sad and what the hell at the same time there..... well atleast you got a better tv for the time being lol.....

[guilty]

I thought plasma was an upgrade from LCD.. a lot of plasmas have a re-burn feature in them where you burn a white screen into it and that unburns anything else from the screen. Cant comment on the buzzing noise or the heat issues though..

[NefCanuck]

guilty,Jan 11 2006, 07:05 PM Wrote:I thought plasma was an upgrade from LCD.. a lot of plasmas have a re-burn feature in them where you burn a white screen into it and that unburns anything else from the screen.  Cant comment on the buzzing noise or the heat issues though..
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All that does is damage the screen even further in an attempt to even out the damage.

I stayed far, far away from plasma when I was TV shopping back in '03 and I'm glad I did. By now I'd be looking at replacing the damn thing :ph34r:

NefCanuck

[05-BLACK-ZX5]

Yeah, the Plasma has a 'pixel shift' function where it shifts the screen one pixel every so often. You'll notice it move once in a while. But obviously it didn't help...

I had to pay to upgrade to the LCD, because it was more expensive. $750 to be more exact.

[NefCanuck]

05-BLACK-ZX5,Jan 11 2006 Wrote:Yeah, the Plasma has a 'pixel shift' function where it shifts the screen one pixel every so often.  You'll notice it move once in a while.  But obviously it didn't help...

I had to pay to upgrade to the LCD, because it was more expensive.  $750 to be more exact.
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Yeah, I bought a 50" Sony Grand Wega LCD TV back in '03 and haven't regretted the purchase (Except that was back when the Canadian Dollar was at 63 cents, hosed I did get :blink: )

NefCanuck

[guilty]

NefCanuck,Jan 11 2006, 06:37 PM Wrote:All that does is damage the screen even further in an attempt to even out the damage.
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When I was TV shopping with a friend of mine (who bought a 42" plasma) the sales guy said it wasnt possible to burn in the model he was looking at, and if you do play games and it burns in the burn-out feature makes it like brand new again.. like no lasting damage. I dont know how true that is, but it sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

[Focused]

hmm...not sure if i would really call LCD an upgrade in quality....too bad you paid more for it

I'm pretty sure DLP would be the way to go....I personally would never buy plasma or LCD

[darkpuppet]

yeah, Plasma was never that good unfortunately. It looks pretty at first, but they consume a lot of power (175-300 watts), and need to replaced every year or so.

Now, for dead pixels, do you have black dead pixels, or pixels that are stuck green red or blue (or somewhere inbetween)?

Because you can make a DVD that flashes RGB and when run for a couple of hours can actually unstick a few of them 'stuck' pixels (works about 60-75% of the time from my reading). Dead ones (black as there's no power going to them) cannot be fixed to my knowledge.

In order of the bestest technology to the worstest..

LCOS / LED backlit LCD
DLP
LCD
Plasma
CRT

Plasmas were just a stepping stone as better technologies came to take place.

If you have the money, LCoS is the way to go, but it's muoy expensive... sony's SXRD is recommended at this level. If you have money to throw away (as in you bought a veyron for the wife to drive, LED backlit LCDs are very sweet... excellent colour gamut, long lasting light)

DLP... Samsung now has the 6th gen DLP's out.. native 1080p is the order of the day on Screens 50" and up.. faster color wheels, better response times = no rainbowing. Also has better color gamut than LCD projection.

LCD = nice.. probably best price point to performance currently.... not the truest colors, response times about the same as DLP, but LCD screens typically don't age as well...

Plasma = pretty for the 1st 5 minutes.. they haven't solved the cheesy blue phosphor issue, and even discreet element electron arrays are coming out that'll replace plasma with quality more akin to direct view CRTS.

CRT Projection = nice if you have a dimly lit basement and don't mind refocusing every now and again, not to mention the 'clunk' you hear when you switch screen modes.

Flat panel LCD = oversized computer monitors with flourescent bulbs that are hard to replace, have a half life that'll result in the screen slowly dimming... I wouldn't bother, unless you really want a nifty little TV for the kitchen.

Direct View CRT = still the king of colour gamut, contrast, brightness, and lifespan. And they come in 40"+ sizes... but they weigh 300 lbs, and take up the whole living room.

[dad]

blah , blah, blah.....

I have a Samsung 42 hdtv plasma,....kids play games on it for hours on end , picture is great , it does not heat or buzz......absolutely no burn

pretty sure you just got a lemon .....

have a freind with the same unit for some time now....no problemo....

good luck on your purchase

[Drivesthebeast]

I'm happy with my Tube TV...has a better picture on it than any of the LCD tv's I've seen here on the base, and looks as good or better than a plasma that's been used a lot. Plus it was a 1/3 of the price of either type. I like the D-ILA Tv's from JVC...retardedly amazing picture quality, must be because of LCOS and D.I.S.T stuff built into them. They are available as HD versions too. The shop where I bought my Tube TV said I should get one of these as my next tv instead of LCD or Plasma.

I'm not bothered though, I'm more into my systems SQ than Pic Quality

[Festive_Zombie]

We use a couple plasma at work for our Network monitor. They operate 24/7 and have been using them for 3 years now, after a couple of years they have started to fade. But other then that they have been great. I prefer LCD, but for the price and with the speed of changing technologies, Plasma is still a good deal.

[01-yellow-ZX3]

dad,Jan 11 2006, 08:11 PM Wrote:blah , blah, blah.....

I have a Samsung 42 hdtv plasma,....kids play games on it for hours on end , picture is great , it does not heat or buzz......absolutely no burn

pretty sure you just got a lemon .....

have a freind with the same unit for some time now....no problemo....

good luck on your purchase
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Thats because you have a much higher end High Definition Samsung, opposed to his Enhanced Definition (much chaper and bottom end).

Some plasma's have a feature that moves the actual picture every few minutes (almost undectatable to the naked eye), that way the picture is less prone to burn in.

[darkpuppet]

dad,Jan 11 2006, 09:11 PM Wrote:blah , blah, blah.....

I have a Samsung 42 hdtv plasma,....kids play games on it for hours on end , picture is great , it does not heat or buzz......absolutely no burn

pretty sure you just got a lemon .....

have a freind with the same unit for some time now....no problemo....

good luck on your purchase
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True, there are plasmas that are better than others... two years ago, they consumed nearly 300 watts of power, nowadays, they consume around 170 watts... and they have improved the lifespan to a point. But you can't deny the inherent weakness of the phosphors on plasmas. Their lifespan is horrendous, and if you do only one thing on it for an extended period of time, it will burn in.

For every hour of static image projected on a plasma, you should have about 2 hours of moving images to even out the burn. So you're two hours of porn every day evens out the kid's 1 hour of videogame playing ;)

[NOS2Go4Me]

Actually, it's too bad you got the new TV already.

I had a suggestion all lined up, it's the setup I'll be doing for us in the spring: InFocus Screenplay SP5000 projector (720p/1080i native), pull-down screen, ceiling mount. The cost actually comes in at a tad over $2000 IIRC, and it blows away anything else you can throw at it.

SVT Dean actually has this exact same setup.

To be honest, I wasn't sold on projectors or InFocus till I did the following thing last February:

Took an InFocus LP230 to the Inco Cavern at Science North in Sudbury when our company's president made a presentation to the Ontario Mining Association. Set it up, fired up the laptop, tested the display @ 1024x768... the projected image was over 120" wide and crystal clear. EVERYTHING looked as it should have on the 15.4" LCD display on the laptop.

I was stunned. Sara got to see this presentation as well. No wonder she completely supports the projector-at-home idea.

[darkpuppet]

NOS2Go4Me,Jan 12 2006, 08:13 AM Wrote:SVT Dean actually has this exact same setup.
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that's your selling point?

I don't recommend projectors.. once you buy a good projector and proper silver screen, it's going to end up costing more than a comparable TV.

I know I'm fussier than most, as some people enjoy their plasmas and thin screen LCDs, but I wouldn't recommend this setup... with a white screen and projector you still have the issues of people walking in front of the projector, and a slightly lower image quality (and lower brightness) than comparable TVs.

[hardk0re]

I'm still rockin the 27" beveled screen! Seriously I was thinking of plasma this winter, but reading this i'm glad I didn't.....

[darkpuppet]

I'm still rockin' the 27".. I need to
a ) pay off the car
b ) save up for the 60" samsung DLP and PS3

[05-BLACK-ZX5]

NOS2Go4Me,Jan 12 2006, 06:13 AM Wrote:I had a suggestion all lined up, it's the setup I'll be doing for us in the spring: InFocus Screenplay SP5000 projector (720p/1080i native), pull-down screen, ceiling mount. The cost actually comes in at a tad over $2000 IIRC, and it blows away anything else you can throw at it.

SVT Dean actually has this exact same setup.

To be honest, I wasn't sold on projectors or InFocus till I did the following thing last February:

Took an InFocus LP230 to the Inco Cavern at Science North in Sudbury when our company's president made a presentation to the Ontario Mining Association. Set it up, fired up the laptop, tested the display @ 1024x768... the projected image was over 120" wide and crystal clear. EVERYTHING looked as it should have on the 15.4" LCD display on the laptop.

I was stunned. Sara got to see this presentation as well. No wonder she completely supports the projector-at-home idea.
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I looked into getting a projector, but I have nowhere to project the image. And besides, how am I supposed to watch it in bright lighting conditions?

Overall, I think the LCD will be better for my applications in the long run. I do lots of gaming, and don't need to be worried about burn-in. Those 'anti burn in' features didn't work on my Plasma. The LCD seems to already be better than the plasma I owned, and I have a better chance of fixing something that's wrong when the LCD breaks down.

Darkpuppet - The dead pixels are black, not stuck. There's maybe 3 or 4, so it's nothing too horrible.

[chinaman]

05-BLACK-ZX5,Jan 11 2006 Wrote:So, on a Boxing Day Splurge, I bought a Samsung 42" Plasma flat-panel EDTV.

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You sound cheap. Who would buy ED now instead of HD?

For a 42" plasma you are looking at $5000 minimum. Anything cheaper and you get what you paid for.
You say that you already have pixels gone on your better LCD? Yeah, we don't mind looking at that black hole in our face all day every day, and still tell everyone plasma sucks and LCD is the best!
Stop shopping at Walmart,Bestbuy-Futureshop,TheBrick, etc. for all your electronic needs. Nobody will find any highend equipment at any big box crap store.
To each his own, but don't try telling everyone that plasma sucks. ElCheapo!