as the title says, I am planning to buy one of the three technologies. I am looking for 50+ inches. Our daily viewing time is approximately 8 to 10 hours (tv is turned on in the morning and evening even when no one is watching!).

Our room is has enough light during day time, it is not really bright but its not shady either.

Which is the better technology for < $2200. Any help / suggestions / guidance is appreciated. If there are other topics in forums, please suggest the link!

Best Regards.

[LV426]

There are a lot of conflicting views about which is "best" from a picture quality point of view. This is highly subjective and supporters of each technology tend to have very strong views that their choice was the right one (of course)!

You have a lot of hours there. For that reason alone, I'd probably discount any Rear Pro tech, because bulb life will be a factor. For no other reason.

Which leaves Plasma vs. LCD. Although modern Plasmas are very robust (at least, compared to earlier models) I'd still be inclined to suggest LCD as being the most long-lived technology currently available.

This is all of course theoretical and assuming equal build quality and all other things being equal.....

[mart.stokes]

To a certain extent and from a picture quality point of view, I am starting to shy away from this debate and consider each individual TV on its merits. I love my SXRD, but feel the breath of plasma and LCD down my neck nowadays. Of course, happy users of plasma may consider LCD to be breathing down its neck etc.

Therefore, the advice offered by Nigel is valid; given that all the technologies can produce good sets, go for the one with the least amount of messing about or degredation over time. Almost certainly LCD.

[Razor]

All formats have their benefits and draw backs. The best advice is to demo and see which you prefer. I myself prefer the picture from a DLP or SRD/Dila rear pro to the others. 2nd place for me would be a plasma then lastly a lcd. I find that the colours from an lcd to be a bit unnatural for me and I do notice some smearing and oil painting effect. This will vary from display to display.

Happy demoing.

[SimonH]

Originally Posted by ankeet1

as the title says, I am planning to buy one of the three technologies. I am looking for 50+ inches. Our daily viewing time is approximately 8 to 10 hours (tv is turned on in the morning and evening even when no one is watching!).

Our room is has enough light during day time, it is not really bright but its not shady either.

Which is the better technology for < $2200. Any help / suggestions / guidance is appreciated. If there are other topics in forums, please suggest the link!

Best Regards.

Couple of things:

a) I noticed your quoting prices in dollars, presumably USD, if your across the pond (this is a UK / Euro) forum, you will find model numbers and available sets differ quite a lot.

b) At 50" I don't see a vast amount of point in Rear Pro,DLP etc, 50" plasma's and LCD's , especiallly plasma's are silly cheap now for a 50" . RP TV's come into their own in a BIG way when your talking big big screens, ie 65"+, then their is little comparisom as something like the SOny SXRD series offfers fantastic PQ on a huge 70" screen for little cost, trying buying a 70" plasma for $2.2 k:P

c) In your room conditions, with your budget (in the states) and baring in mind the hours you want the unit on for, I would suggest a plasma or LCD. I have a friend in the states who just purchased a Panasonic 50" full 1080p 24fps with stand and a Panasonic Blue Ray player for $2,250, with a 5 yr warrantee, a complete give away frankly. LCD is of course an option as well, but as everybody has said, you really need to go take a look at them in the flesh, LCD or Plasma both basically offer the same PQ, just go see which you prefer.

In conclusion it's all about size / your budget, at sizes like 60" and 70" plasma is so far out of your budget it's not funny and LCD even further but at 50" or so you can get a great plasma over your way, with a smaller footprint, and equal pq quality, personally between those 3 technologies, if you choose decent brands and shop wisely and do demos
's you will find the PQ is all much of a muchness, its' really about which picture your prefer.

[bsimmer3000]

Originally Posted by ankeet1

as the title says, I am planning to buy one of the three technologies. I am looking for 50+ inches. Our daily viewing time is approximately 8 to 10 hours (tv is turned on in the morning and evening even when no one is watching!).

Our room is has enough light during day time, it is not really bright but its not shady either.

Which is the better technology for < $2200. Any help / suggestions / guidance is appreciated. If there are other topics in forums, please suggest the link!

Best Regards.

I had the same choice to make as you but TV had to hung on the wall so DLP was out of the question. I am lucky as my viewing room is in a basement so very limited light down there. I narrowed it down to three models

Runco Plasma- Very nice tv's and was offered a good deal as i bought my speakers from same place.
Panasonic Plasma - Heard good reviews so had to test it out
Sony LCD - Again heard good reviews so had to add this to top 3

I would have added Pioneer into that list but i had compaired a couple of models to the 50pz700u panasonic and was no better for the extra money.

So i tested side by side the runco, panasonic and sony.

With-in 5 mins i decided not to go with the sony. The other 2 plasma's just look way better with respect to colours
The Runco was lovely and def had better picture but nothing in it. but then again it was 3 x the price.

So i ended up with the panasonic 50pz700u and what a great tv it is. It also got voted best flat screen ever tested a week after i purchased it which i can now see why. But the great thing is this tv can be purchased from as low as $2300

[NicolasB]

I don't know what the state of play is in America (you guys get all the cool stuff we don't ) but have they launched rear projection TVs which use either LEDs or lasers as a light source? Those should not only be a significant jump in quality, they will also completely eliminate bulb-lifetime as a factor in the purchase.

Mind you, LCDs with LED backlights should be pretty cool too.

[GoldenArms]

Originally Posted by LV426

There are a lot of conflicting views about which is "best" from a picture quality point of view. This is highly subjective and supporters of each technology tend to have very strong views that their choice was the right one (of course)!

You have a lot of hours there. For that reason alone, I'd probably discount any Rear Pro tech, because bulb life will be a factor. For no other reason.

Which leaves Plasma vs. LCD. Although modern Plasmas are very robust (at least, compared to earlier models) I'd still be inclined to suggest LCD as being the most long-lived technology currently available.

This is all of course theoretical and assuming equal build quality and all other things being equal.....

I wouldn't discount DLP because of of the amount of TV watching hours listed. The newer DLPs have LED illumination which lasts about 50-100 thousand hours without picture fade. That's about 5 to 10 years.

DLP is a lot lighter than plasma (plasma is about 200lbs for a 60" and DLP is 70lbs for the same size television. DLP is also more energy efficient that LCD and plasma so that can save you some bucks on your electric bill. IMO DLP also has the best picture quality. I've read that it has the ability to product up to 200 trillion colors and twice the amount of colors than plasma and DLP.

[avinitski]

i also find that my DLP doesnt make the image go all blocky on SD stuff which LCD's ive seen suffer from this quite a lot compared to my DLP, i mostly watch SD so its a big thing.

Simon,
Thanks for the insight! I might be considering a 50+, < 60" plasma. Last week I saw a Mitsubishi DLP, 65", with base stand and delivery, all for 1599.00 USD at Costco.

But again, all the other members' responses about the hours/day the TV stays, it makes sense to not go for a DLP.

This is the best site!!!!!!!! Lot of nice advise and smart folks!

Regards.

avinitski,

For the same reason (trailing pixels) i am shying away from LCD. I know the newer LCDs almost eliminate this problem. But when you see Plasma and LCD side-by-side for an action movie, you will definitely see the difference.

Regards.