Plasma Tv Or Lcd

[Maigo6]

I will buy either a Plasma or an LCD when I return home in a few weeks.

What do you guys reckon, as anybody moved to LCD from Plasma or vice versa ?

I'm in Tokyo and have seen a 103" Panasonic Plasma TV........the price is 5,600,000 Yen that's roughly 1,600,000 Baht and I just checked up on the internet, it's for sale in USA for $69,999....................

I will be interested in 42" myself, but not decided if it's Plasma or LCD, what do you guys reckon ?

[fisherd3]

Well I had a look around the other day and I think the best value is the Sony Bravia 3 led range, not a true lcd thin TV as it is basically a rear projection TV, but in a different league to the usual trash of that genre, new recently reduced price in the Sony shop in Sri Racha Robinsons building for a 50" jobbie is 39,000thb. It is not as good as the real thingbut at half the price it has my vote.

Between Plasma and LCD , I would not entertain Plasma unless a give away deal, but that is the way it seems to be going, we all know they are said to 'leak', I would not risk my one being the bad apple and leaking its way to obscurity in a couple of years.

I am frankly surprised anyone buys them, given the bad press.

I will buy either a Plasma or an LCD when I return home in a few weeks.

What do you guys reckon, as anybody moved to LCD from Plasma or vice versa ?

I'm in Tokyo and have seen a 103" Panasonic Plasma TV........the price is 5,600,000 Yen that's roughly 1,600,000 Baht and I just checked up on the internet, it's for sale in USA for $69,999....................

I will be interested in 42" myself, but not decided if it's Plasma or LCD, what do you guys reckon ?

[LivinLOS]

Samsung LCD's seem very vibrant.. I think they have a fair price point also.. Sonys also present good image across the range..

Lcd over plasma if image is important over costs..

[grtaylor]

Just bought myself a Tatung 37" LCD at Numchai in Pattaya for 39,900. Very happy with it.

http://www.tatung.co.th/en/Product/index.aspx

Just been to Tesco Lotus at Fortune Town, and they have a 32" Gold Spot LCD for 19,900!!! Display looked pretty good. Anyone ever heard of them?

G

[britmaveric]

LCD, plasma(s) burn out after a few years.

[JacksonGlurk]

The conventional wisdom among film and video people is that plasma provides far better (i.e. more realistic) color reproduction because of the depth of the black scale it can reproduce in comparison to that which is possible on an LCD. In small sizes perhaps the difference isn't really so noticeable, but in large sizes it does become apparent quickly -- which is why large displays are always plasma.

Also, the old plasma burn in thing is an old wives tale, unless of course you intend to leave your set tuned to the same program for about ten years. You certainly shouldn't worry about that.

Still, all that said, I think personal taste has more to do with the choice than anything else. My preference is the Pioneer plasma line. All plasma 720p's. Pioneer also has an 1080p monitor which is breathtaking, but so is the price. The whole Pioneer line is very expensive, but most people in the business agree they are worth every cent.

Edited April 21, 2007 by JacksonGlurk

[Jamie]

Best bet is LCD. If you are looking for a large screen, the price on these have come down quite a bit. While plasma burn in is really no longer an issue, plasmas are still rather bulky the color isn't as "true."

[ZZZ]

By far the very best is the old fashion CRT TV, unless you really NEED something that is flat and really big.

A CRT TV beats LCD and plasma hands down in all aspects, except they are limited in size to around 40inch and they take more space.

If you want picture quality CRT is the way to go, have you ever seen a TV store display any normal TV sets near the flat screens? there is a good reason they never do that

An added plus is that you can pick up a CRT TV for a fraction of the flat screen price.

[Maigo6]

That may well be true, I have a 32" Sony Widescreen CRTV at home in Thailand, and in Japan the place I stay has a 34 " Sharp CRTV, both produce very good quality results.

But I would like a bigger screen in Thailand and the 42 Inch seems about right, even though I am very happy with the Sony I already have.

I think I just wanna spend some money.

[Silurian]

If you are at all concerned with heat generation and power consumption, then LCD generates less heat and uses less power than Plasma. When I buy electronics, I am always concerned with the amount of heat generated since Thailand is hot enough. No need to create more heat. I am waiting on the OLED TVs that are supposed to be cool running and use far less power but I think those are still years away.

You might want to research http://www.cnet.com/ for TVs. They seem to have good reviews. The recently had a good article about the various TV types.

[richard10365]

I have been reading some about the LCD/Plasma discussion. I think what everyone is after is the quality of the picture. The latest (as far as I know) in terms of quality is how many pixels fit on one line of horizontal resolution and how many horizontal lines of resolution are there?

Although plasma and LCD tv's look cool, you pay through the nose to get that great picture. However, HD tube tv's do deliver (or so they say) true 1080i with many being cheaper than plasma/LCD tv's.

I'm not a TV expert but other than saving space (and it looks cool), why would you need a plasma or LCD?

[Maigo6]

I think that one may be a little too big, and at 322Kgs a little heavy. And its, 1.6 Million Baht here in Tokyo, god knows what the price would be in Thailand!!

[Firefoxx]

Plasmas have better color and brightness (but the gap is decreasing), but lower resolution. LCDs have higher resolution, but worse contrast and viewing angles. Thing is, Thailand doesn't have any HD broadcast/cable yet, and it's unlikely that there will be any in the near future. HD discs haven't taken off yet either (they can be copied, but nobody's producing copies yet, since cheap players aren't available), same with HD consoles, so you won't be using much of the high resolution. Of course, there's also the argument of future-proofing.

In the end, it depends on what you want. Do you want better color/picture now, or do you want to plan for the future? In any event, prices continue to fall (plummet, actually), so it's not that wise to buy that top-of-the-line TV now, since it will probably be middle-of-the-line next year, and cost much, much less to boot.

[solo siam]

Actually the HD plasma's are cheaper than the LCD TV's nowadays, Samsung 50" is 79,995 baht at the local Powerbuy (1366x768 resolution).

I like LCD's but I think Plasma's are going to get cheaper, quickly - for example a Samsung 42" Plasma can be had for 39,999 baht from Tescos.

In regards to HD, I think you will see it in Thailand within 2 years in one way or another, True has bought HD programming already from the USA.

[fisherd3]

This seems to be an informative article:

http://www.beststuff.com/articles/7987/

Edited April 22, 2007 by fisherd3

[melbat]

I bought a Panasonic Viarra 42 inch Plasma. I was told by the sales guys in various stores that plasma is better for TV viewing .. but LCD is better for DVD. I watch footy a lot.. and I am very pleased with the picture i get with UBC or true now it's called. I had a good deal from Tesco in Phuket. 69000 for TV with free surround audio and DVD worth 15000 baht and 10000baht worth of shopping vouchers free. I know in power buy here they are discounting like hel_l.... shop around!

[geoffphuket]

If I were I betting man, my money would be on Plasma being dead and burried within the next two years. Look very closely at the dot pitch (resolution) on the current range of HD LCD tv's - most of the cheaper ones are rather poor to say the least, including the Sony Bravia sets. Samsung and Acer offer some good specifications and are no more expensive www.acer.co.th

[youngkiwi]

I have a 40" Samsung LCD connected to my computer and you can't go past Samsung for clarity, brightness and contrast. They have come down significanly in price as of late, and are a very good buy in my view. Check out any of the PowerBuy stores, they have the full range and allows for easy comparison.

[Phil Conners]

I agree with the previous poster that Plasma is on the way out, however at this time there doesn't seem to be much point in paying the premium for LCD - at least not for big screens (42" and more).

There's a relatively up-to-date comparison between Plasma and LCD here on CNET. Check it out.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Phil Conners

[cdnvic]

A lot of the worries about Plasma are outdated. Burn in is not much of an issue these days and if you want it viewable within a large room, the viewing angles on the plasma are much better.

However, I'd still opt for a large CRT unless power consumption is a big concern.

[raro]

I might rather settle for a beamer. The picture is also quite bright and a beamer is far cheaper than LCD or Plasma screens.

And here comes the real cheapo solution: Take the screen of your old laptop, buy an overhead projector and there you go...excellent resolution paired with a pretty good picture quality!

[Kwarium]

panasonic disagrees with you guys...

"Panasonic continues to expand its plasma manufacturing capacity to over 11 million units annually by 2008."

No, the plasma will not leak out.

Yes, plasma does blacks better.

(BTW, I use LCD front projection at 100+ inches diagonal.

My avatar is the view of the screen from the bedroom, through the fish tank.)

[indothai]

Plasma or LCD?... This debate will go on forever until one is offically dropped by all manufacturers.

So many are making LCD's / Plasma's now-a-days it's hard to tell if they are "good" or "bad", and trying to find a "honest" review is quite impossible.

One thing I found out when shopping for LCD's/Plasma's (in Bangkok), the sales people will hover and pester you like there is no tomorrow.

I've been to some stores where they'll try to "unload" older models and ignore what the customer really wants... some may even do false advertising just to sell units.

I'm getting an LCD mainly because of heat and power consumption which I think will affect overall reliability (TV's aren't supposed to cost this much). Picture quality is "slightly" better on Plasma, but unless I'm viewing it both side by side I don't think my brain will notice a difference.

[Phil Conners]

There has been made several references to the higher power consumption of plasma screens vs. LCD but according to the CNET article I linked to earlier the difference is only up to 30% more for a plasma over LCD. Compared to the huge power consumption of a CRT or a rear projection TV I think the difference in power consumption (and thus heat) between plasma and CRT is of little importance.

I agree with indothai about the staff in shops here. Either they seem to not have a clue (or at best be unable to explain) or they have an agenda to sell one or another type of TV.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Phil Conners

[solo siam]

I thought it was common knowledge that the shop staff in the electrical stores often actually work for the manufacturer (i.e Samsung, LG etc..) rather than directly for the store, which is why you shouldn't always trust their opinion.

[Mrjlh]

I will buy either a Plasma or an LCD when I return home in a few weeks.

What do you guys reckon, as anybody moved to LCD from Plasma or vice versa ?

I'm in Tokyo and have seen a 103" Panasonic Plasma TV........the price is 5,600,000 Yen that's roughly 1,600,000 Baht and I just checked up on the internet, it's for sale in USA for $69,999....................

I will be interested in 42" myself, but not decided if it's Plasma or LCD, what do you guys reckon ?

Before you buy anything take a really close look at "DLP". Not available in Thailand and if it was it be over priced. Here's a link to how it works. Good luck.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dlp.htm

Edited April 22, 2007 by Mrjlh

[richard10365]

I don't think I have met a knowledgeable sales person. All they do is point to the TV and say in a broken English caveman type voice,........ "TV".

Duh! Where do they get these people?

I have no faith in sales people in Thailand.

[britmaveric]

Bought a 42in LG 1080dpi LCD for crissie - with HD can't get any better picture than this.

[Firefoxx]

I don't have faith in sales people, period. They're *sales* people, for crying out loud. Their main goal is to sell their product, not to keep it and gather dust. If you think that sales people outside of Thailand are any different, you're in for an eye opener. If you expect non-native English speakers to speak fluent English, you perhaps shouldn't be here. Try Japan... their English proficiency is even worse.

What do I have? I personally have a 37" Benq LCD. It does 1920x1080, and I bought it for 80k more than a year ago, at a time when Sony didn't even have models that did 1920x1080 (the only two were Acer and Benq) and the models that did a lousy 1366x768 cost 100k+. It has been discounted to around 50k since then. I don't have much to complain about it, except for no TV-out. It accepts (and displays) 1920x1080 input from my computer just fine. I bought it since it was at a reasonable price, and I don't fall prey to brand loyalty.

[mickmac]

I would suggest to anyone looking at buying a new TV, what ever type, LCD or Plasma, to pick up a UK Magazine, home entertainment etc. and go through that. Possibly get couple of months worth. Have a look at the new models etc. pick out the ones with the specifications you want/are interested in. They will usually have a list of the most recent TV's that have come out that year, along with their specs. as well. Check them against each other ensure they have the features that you want.

Basically do some homework, then go around the relative shops and check the TV's they have on display and check against your list of features that you require in a TV.

I have a Pioneer Plasma 42 inch and am quite satisfied with it.