lcd,led, or plasma
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- EPtype
gotta by my girl a tv for christmass... but i am not really sure what to get... looking for something around 27 inches 1080 hd and for the best deals i can find
- e_pill0
PLASMA - great for sports/ movies
LCD - great for gaming
LED - great in general
- eighteen0
I still don't understand the difference between any of these three...
- epic_rim0
put another way
plasma - shorter lifespan (more repairs) but better blacks
LCD - great refresh (good for gaming) and longer lifespan
LED - lower power, still immature, def longest lifespan.
- e_pill0
new iMac screens are LED. if that helps..
- ETM0
- grafisk0
I bought a samsung 40" LED, and its very good. Great picture, the online wallgarden from samsung offering apps is good. Just got a 27" LED Apple screen as well and its by far the nicest monitor ive used ever.
- CALLES0
LSD best visuals ever
- ETM0
Going back to the OP... he said a 27" is what he is looking for. I don't think they make plasma's that small, do they?
- Boz0
LOL at some responses..
Okay.. there are a few things e_pill was pretty much right.
Plasma advantages:
it's great for gaming (due to lack of refresh rates) and it has great blacks (even cheaper plasmas have much better blacks than the comparable LCDs) and it has nicer and more natural colors than LCDs. The viewing angles are also great.Plasmas are more mature technology. Panasonic is at 10th generation now. This allows plasmas screens in general to be more cost effective on larger screens.. that's why you can pick a lot more larger screen plasma screens 55+" than LCDs. LCD costs go up dramatically with size.
- Superior contrast
Plasma disadvantages:
- They are heavier than LCDs
- They consumer more power
- They have sometimes issues at high altitudes due to pressure differences between your screen and air
- They are made in larger sizes but you can't find plasmas in sizes generally less than 40".- Plasmas can have some issues with very bright rooms.. It can make your screen less viewable.
- Image retention still happens. Burn in has been solved but image retention happens.. They do have much better technology now to prevent this from happening. Samsung for example uses pixel orbiters to constantly refresh display pixels so it lowers the chance of image retention. Of course if you do have images show on screen after prolonged use, most plasmas have WIPE effect that goes white pixels across the full screen that cleans anything like that.
LCD advantages:
- Lower power consumption
- Lower cost of manufacturing and in retail for smaller screens
- You can in effect get a 30-32" LCD TV
- If you do like super bright colors LCD offers super color saturation. Generally LCD have better brightness.
- They are generally lighter and thinner
- No altitude problems
- LCDs usually have sharper image than plasmasLCD disadvantages:
- Refresh rates are still causing blurring effect in fast paced scenes.. The reason they advertise 120hz and 240hz as a feature is funny. They actually have to push the refresh rates to those levels to try to compensate for the problem. Unfortunately if you do use 120 or 240hz you will get that effect of unnatural looking movie. Almost like it was shot with handheld camera.- LCD colors are pretty bad.. Only the top top end LCD TV sets have colors that can be comparable to plasmas. Same goes for blacks. What manufacturers do is deliberately make their TV sets over saturated in color (Samsung does that) by default so it looks better to a uninformed consumer. It makes a bigger "wow" factor but unfortunately if you want to lower that effect, if you bought a mid-range LCD TV you will have issues with washed out colors.
- Viewing angles. They are pretty high, but worse than LCD. On lower end displays especially.
- Contrast is also a problem with LCDs. Especially when you look at greyscale.
- Pixel quality can be also an issue. People report as much as 10 dead pixels. Plasma doesn't operate with pixels so it doesn't have that problem.
- LCDs handle resolutions poorly. If you are watching a picture that's 480p or something in between and your LCD display's native resolution is 1080p, the picture will be worse than on plasmas.
- LCD TVs are in general very expensive when they go past 50".
LED TVs are LCD TVs but with a lot of plasma ideas and advantages included. LED TVs have an unbelievable picture due to the fact they use LED backlighting instead of old cold cathode fluorescent lights. Their color saturation, the contrast and blacks are superb mostly because the display is now equally lit from the back across the full surface. They have less refresh problems and have much greater color gamut.
They are super thin and consume even less power (20-30%) than LCDs. They are better for environment too due to less pollution when disposed.
The big negative about LED TVs is that they are super pricey. 65" Plasma 1080p is now less than $2k.. 65" LED display is $5k.
But in a year or two, when prices drop, LED is the TV you want to buy.
- Boz0
you don't need 1080p on a 27" TV.. you simply won't see the difference.. it's way too small..
1080p resolution was made to look better on bigger screens (42"+). This is where you will start noticing a difference.. on 27" you'll be fine with 720p display.
Now I don't think you'll find 27" plasma.. so it will probably be an LCD.
- Boz0
Here's a chart that will help you understand 1080p or not and your viewing distance..
- About right. My 1080p 46" looks great at 7-8ft away, and I can tell the difference with 720p.doublespaced
- mg330
I've been researching Samsung LED's for a while now, because through our company's parent company, we have discounts at Samsung (among tons of other discounts). Anyhow, I'm pretty much able to get a 55" LED for around $800 less than list price. I've got a Samsung LCD now and love it. The low profile of LED's is the clear winner for me, and on the good ones the picture is fantastic. I'm expecting to pay about $2K for one that might cost nearly $3K in the store.
- The more granular dynamic backlighting on LED TVs is dynamite and really helps the black level issues.ETM
- randommail0
EPtype, I hope you don't drown in the sea of techno-babble and specs. You'll end up with a headache and then realize it's just a TV!
And since the flat-panel TV market is maxed out saturated (that's why they're trying to sell people with 3D gimmicks), all the well-known brand name HDTVs are good quality.
The most popular brand is probably Samsung. You can get a great 32" for around $350 at any big box store like Best Buy.
(btw, unless you go over 42", 1080p is unnoticeable. Don't get scammed)
- "1080p is unnoticeable" I think If I can notice resolution difference on a laptop screen thenI will too on a TVPIZZA
- No you won't. Your laptop screen has more pixels than an HDTV. And the viewing distance is less than 2 feet.randommail
- ETM0
randommail is right. Just go look at the TVs side by side and see for yourself. And ultimately, even a mid-level TV looks good at home when you have nothing next to it to compare.
- randommail0
...and I know this is going to sound sexist, so I apologize in advance...
since this is a gift for your girl, she'll likely be most impressed with the look of it and then it's size. Not the pixel count, refresh rates, or contrast ratios.
- randommail0
I bought my first LCD HDTV in 2004. It was a 32" Samsung and I use it now in the bedroom.
I bought it for $1500 back then. I just checked online, and you can get the same size Samsung with even better specs for $400.
Just some food for thought.
- the price of early adoptionPIZZA
- I got my 46" LCD two years ago for $1800. Same thing is now $1100 with better specs.doublespaced
- PIZZA0
Plasma is a dead end technology, no longer being developed majorly.
The persistent image is fucking atrocious on it too, things on screen for literally 5-10 minute will still be visible an hour later.