thinking of getting a plasma, concerned about power usage

[opencube]

i may be getting either a 46pz80 or a 42pz80.... however ive notied that the wattage of these plasmas are pretty high.

anyone have experience of these and how they may have effected their electricity bill? would be interested in hearing opinions of those who have moved from crt to plasma.

[stranger]

The wattage quoted is the maximum ie with a mainly white or snow scene when showing normal content it will be quite a bit less than this, less still with darker scenes.

[bennyben]

The PZ85's consume less power. Pioneers even better

You can always save electricity with the power saving settings. Plasmas are not actually much worse than LCDs for power consumption - they have much high power ratings but they don't have back lights.

[Visor]

I was worrying about the same thing before I went from a CRT to the 50PZ80 in October.

Looking at the energy tracker chart within my Eon account, it shows that I used on average approx 10kWh per day last month - compared to approx 7.5kWh in Nov 2007.

Obviously it's not exactly the most accurate way to measure the power consumption of just the TV - plus I also recently purchased a new Sony surround system. And the wife is always at home now as she's currently on mat leave.

HDTVtest shows a calibrated 50PZ81 uses 300W.
My PS3 uses about 200W.
My Sony AV amp + active sub uses ~ 280W.

Hence the big jump in my usage.

Read the comment from DunklerStreiter re power consumption of his 42PZ80:

Panasonic TH42PZ80 / TH42PZ80B Review: 42" Viera Plasma HDTV

Yes I am paying more electricity now, but I think it's well worth it.