Plasma vs. LED?

Macdaddy4738

Macdaddy4738

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Looking at getting a new TV. My 32" Sharp is definitely on the small size in this room, and its getting a bit old.

I also have a 480 dollar gift card to Best Buy so why not? Im not sure as far as plasma vs LED goes now? Ive read Plasma still has the best picture but the glare can be a little offputting at times. Which do you prefer and why?

Any specific brands? Looks to me like Panasonic is the king, with Samsung in close second. How are LG TV's? Im looking at a price range of 1-1200 ish. Screen size is 50-60 (prefer larger, but 60 is one big ass tv...)
 
My wife works for a TV production company and the guy that runs it told me the Samsungs and Sharps are good. Others have told me to stick with the three S's for TV's, Sharp, Samsung and Sony but that was several years back. I have a Sharp Aquos and love it, when I get a new TV Ill get another one probably in the 55-60" as well. Id like to know about the LED vs plasma as well.
 
I have a 50" Samsung plasma and I love it. I've had it about 4 years or so and it's still my favorite. The picture is crisp and clean no matter if its hd or not. I am looking at the new leds but the refresh rate is no where close to what plasma is and I like watching racing so the faster the better but would like one with built in wifi.
 
led/lcd combo.....go with vizio they are amazing.....the wife and i spent weeks researching and looking at tvs before we got our 47" vizio....its got wifi etc etc....damn thing can be used as a computer if you wanted to.
 
I upgraded from my 50" Vizio plasma last year to a 60" LED and absolutely hated it. I kept saying, this is the latest in technology blah blah, I'm supposed to like it. I down loaded the optimal settings online, still a horrible experience. Everything looked like a soap opera.

I took it back a week later for an LG 60" plasma and it doesn't even come close to comparing. Best tv I have had in my house. Go talk to the TV guys at Magnolia, HHgreg, etc. I'd wager that 7 to 8 out of 10 will recommend plasma.
 
Nothing to add on Plasma vs LED, but I have a 42" Samsung LCD that I got in 2007, that was stolen in 2010, and then recovered and returned (the same day), and its still working great in 2012. So they are durable, as witnessed by the white paint marks that were all over it from the thiefwagon.
 
Go to a store and see for yourelf.
Not being a smart ass but there is some physiological differences in people's eye sthat make the same thing look differet/better to two different folks.
For me it all Plasma, for others they hate it.

If you buy a plasma there are really only two brans worth looking at Pioneer and Panny.
I would not buy an LCD/LED from either of them but their Plsma technology is top shelf.

Then again LG recently purchased Panny's dated patents and you can now by a new LG plasma that is equal to a 5 year old Panny plasma...for the same price as a new Panny plasma.
 
LED is a lighting technology, not a display technology. Most LCD manufacturers now use LEDs as the backlights (rather than CCFL), with some of them using different color LEDs and altering backlight brightness in different parts of the screen (local dimming) in order to provide a better picture. Others just provide uniform white(ish) light across the entire screen.

Production environments typically use Samsung and Sony, with some NEC thrown in (particularly in video walls b/c of their thin bezel line). At similar price points, a plasma will generally have a better picture (darker blacks) than an LCD and better off-angle viewing, but use more power and generate more heat.

The important question today is what devices do you want to connect to the tv, and how? Manufacturers are providing fewer and fewer component and composite inputs, instead placing the focus almost entirely on providing four or more HDMI sockets.
 
1080p LED with a 120hz processor is the way to go. As someone mentioned before about everything looking like a soap opera....that just goes to show you what we have been missing when watching TV. Yes, it is a little difficult to get used to but it really brings everything you watch to life. The problem with plasma is, after a while, especially on mine (42" samsung plasma), you get that line accross the middle when there is a white background..... They do look good, but honestly, only in a dark room....as soon as light hits the screen, you get horrible glare.

My fiance asked me today if I wanted a TV for Christmas, and while I am tempted to ask for a 60" LED, I just think I should wait.
 
It's hard to beat Plasmas for their picture quality. But if you're putting in a bright sunlit room, you will get a lot of glare on the screen.

As far as brands, if you don't care about all of the fancy widgets and stuff built in, Best Buy's in house brand Insignia makes good TVs. They're LG internals with a different skin. I've had 3 different ones and recently switched to a Samsung LCD and wished I hadn't.
 
So... of the folks complaining about picture quality, how many have calibrated your display and how many just took it out of the box, hit the "Vivid" button and thought it looked awesome (or not)?
 
Ron said:
Go to a store and see for yourelf.
Not being a smart ass but there is some physiological differences in people's eye sthat make the same thing look differet/better to two different folks.
For me it all Plasma, for others they hate it.

If you buy a plasma there are really only two brans worth looking at Pioneer and Panny.
I would not buy an LCD/LED from either of them but their Plsma technology is top shelf.
Click to expand...

this
You need to spend the next 3 days in stores looking at them and find what you just like the look of.
Then see what you can score a deal on Friday...
Keep in mind that although you have credit at BB, there are (and will be Friday) some great deals to be had through Amazon etc that will be better than the overpriced BB rate, you can always save that credit for something else they have on sale that is a reasonable price.

For me I'm sensitive to small flicker changes, so plasma was just better.

Also ditto on what Shawn said re: inputs. E.g. do you have an older laptop w/ a VGA output? Alot of TVs don't have VGA input any more, just HMDI (which you can convert from DVI or Displayport but not VGA).
Additionally the big thing now is having extra integrated services, like Amazon instant Video or Netflix etc directly. Get one w/ a WiFi connection b/c running an ethernet cable is a PITA.
 
Only things I need to connect will be my Xbox and the Satellite receiver. I want to leave the Blu Ray option open as well so at a minimum Id like to have 3 HDMI ports. I don't really need the VGA input, and if for any reason I decide I need one, my current TV has one.

I thought about the WiFi connection, but I just cant see any reason Id use it right now. I only stream Netflix and I can do that from the Xbox. I plan on going to the store's probably Saturday or Sunday. I won't be doing anything on Black Friday, forget that mess. Only thing that concerns me just a bit is the glare.
 
CNet has a good reviews section:

http://reviews.cnet.com/televisions/

As with anything, it's just somebody else's opinion... but it is a semi-objective place to evaluate options. I'd recommend *against* putting too much value in user/owner reviews. CNet has some of those, as do Amazon and other sites. The big problem with user reviews is that the guy that got a lemon ALWAYS writes a review. The guy that's perfectly happy with his purchase doesn't waste his time.
 
I'm not tech saavy, but we have a Panasonic Plasma. Got it on a great sale about 5 years ago. I got this one because the screen wasn't shiny. It has a kind of peened finish so that there isn't glare. That said, our house doesn't have strong sunlight in the living room anyway. Very happy with the TV though I do hear that images can get burned into them. That concerned me as I do play video games while riding the stationary bike. Haven't noticed any issues with it. I would imagine that LED's don't have this issue, but can't say for certain. I think LED TV's would have a longer lifespan as well.
 
Best advice I can give you is this(I sold at Circuit city and was pretty good at it)..
Go sit in front of the tv you think you want. Get something turned out that you would watch at home. Measure the distance you will be sitting before you leave the house and sit that distance from it at the store. People look at tvs in the store and either watch from a distance or right on top of the set, either eay will give you a false impression.
 
One good thing about bb is that for a fee the geek squad will come out and calibrate the tv to you and they'll even help with surround sound speaker set up and levels.
 
snappy said:
Best advice I can give you is this(I sold at Circuit city and was pretty good at it)..
Go sit in front of the tv you think you want. Get something turned out that you would watch at home. Measure the distance you will be sitting before you leave the house and sit that distance from it at the store. People look at tvs in the store and either watch from a distance or right on top of the set, either eay will give you a false impression.
Click to expand...

Very true sir.

I don't consider myself tech savvy and don't want to be.

About 4 yrs ago I bought a Panasonic plasma and did what Snappy recommended. I am still very pleased w my purchase. But I would also rather be in the shop 80 percent of the time I could be watching TV :flipoff2:
 
Ive got a 55" LG plasma and a 42" toshiba 120hz led and watch my plasma way more than my led. paid more for the led and IMHO it doesnt have anywhere near the picture quality. I have Directv w/ HD and for some odd reason the LED still looks fuzzy. Just not as good as the plasma...
 
I assume you will be in the stores this week, don't judge any of the tv's by what you see initially. Grab the remote and go through the picture settings (Vibrant, Cinema, Standard, etc, etc). Most of the tvs are set on Vibrant to look amazing under the white store lights. It will look nothing like that in your house.
 
I just bought a 50" samsung led for $799 and I experienced the "soap opera" look when I first hooked it up. I played with the modes and then I adjusted the other crap like back light, black tone, flesh tone, and picture brightness. The soap opera look is gone and the picture is great. The biggest reason I went with led is because I heard they were more durable and had less glare from the screen.
 
I have a 1080P 50" samsung plasma and i love it. Ive had it for close to two years only problem is I have slight burn from new channel 14's status bar at the bottom of the screen.. The wife turns it on every morning to watch the "weather on the ones" but as u change to another channel u cant see the burn after just a few seconds.. to sum it up id buy another one just like it period.

sent from deep space via galaxy S 2
 
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