Deciding Between Plasma & LCD

nh3com said:
i've just changed from a 37wlt66 to a 42px60 and for HD the LCD was miles better, oh well

Sounds to me like the 42px60 needs calibrating if thats what you found.

Martin
 
ashworthacca said:
Sounds to me like the 42px60 needs calibrating if thats what you found.

Martin

SD and DVD look fine but HD, the detail is just not there, well not like HD on an LCD
 
In a demo I saw between the 37WLT66 and the 37PX60 with the same HD feed, there was no difference in the detail level between the two despite the Plasmas lower resolution.In fact, the Panasonic had a superior picture all round.
Something does not sound right with your set up if the Panasonic looks worse than the Tosh it replaced, there should be no contest in my opinion.
 
ashworthacca said:
Sounds to me like the 42px60 needs calibrating if thats what you found.

Martin

Hi mate:hiya:

You have the new Panny px60 then eh....

I was v close to the Tosh 32WLT66 (indeed Abbeygoo has purchase one recently) but then I saw a BBC news 24 Freeview picture on the Panny the other day in John Lewis. Wow, damm good for SD/Freeview:eek:

I've often though (and seen) that Plasmas looked better with SD (particularly with Freeview) but wasn't sure when it came to HD (not that I have any HD sources yet:rolleyes: ) nor Component DVD for that matter.

How do you find your machine overall with all sources?
 
Absolutely, what hi fi also agreed with this and rated the Tosh far below the PX60 & 600.

I've seen the pX60 with high def and it is awesome, the tosh doesn't cut it by comparison.
 
Lin3ar said:
In a demo I saw between the 37WLT66 and the 37PX60 with the same HD feed, there was no difference in the detail level between the two despite the Plasmas lower resolution.In fact, the Panasonic had a superior picture all round.
Something does not sound right with your set up if the Panasonic looks worse than the Tosh it replaced, there should be no contest in my opinion.


it was very noticeable on bbcHD world cup coverage, there was a Philips advert pitch side and just to the right of it there was some blurb. on the LCD it was easy to read from a normal high shot but on the plasma there was no chance. I think it’s down to is the lack of horizontal resolution on the plasma. I could have it set up wrong but what do you really have to do but stick in the hdmi cable and tweak the contrast, brightness, colour and switch all the other stuff off.
 
that a great link mate! also answered the one aspect i couldnt quite get my head around. although most opinions said plasma was better, everytime i was in a shop my eyes told me different because the lcds always looked so much sharper and more vivid. before i started reading up on here i was conviced i was gettin a lcd. cheers anyway :thumbsup:
 
spinaltap said:
Having just 'upgraded' from a 28" Sony Widescreen CRT to a Panasonic 37PX600 I subsequently discovered this link to help other people yet to decide between buying Plasma or LCD...

http://panasonic.net/think_plasma/quality/index.html
Sems a tad one sided to me.....

Of course plasma still has a few advantages over LCD but the new LCD's coming out can easily hold themselves against any plasma and LCD's also have their advantages over Plasma.

What I have learnt since I have been investigating is that on top quality LCD and Plasma sets Plasma seems to be far better for SD viewing and for the true "home cinema" experience but if you are going to be going HDTV or even considering using a computer/games console on your panel then it has to be LCD.

Thats why I cancelled my order for a 436XDE and have started to save up my pennies for the new 46X Sony, its all down to what your using it for.
 
domtheone said:
Hi mate:hiya:

You have the new Panny px60 then eh....

I was v close to the Tosh 32WLT66 (indeed Abbeygoo has purchase one recently) but then I saw a BBC news 24 Freeview picture on the Panny the other day in John Lewis. Wow, damm good for SD/Freeview:eek:

I've often though (and seen) that Plasmas looked better with SD (particularly with Freeview) but wasn't sure when it came to HD (not that I have any HD sources yet:rolleyes: ) nor Component DVD for that matter.

How do you find your machine overall with all sources?

Hi Dom, hows the practicing going?? You can't let HCK win again.:D

Anyway, the Panasonic is absolute pure class. I have also got the Samsung LE32R41BD and was quite happy with the picture but the Panasonic is in a different league. I currently run a SDI modded Sky+ box and Component DVD player into a Lumagen DVI scaler into the PX60 via DVI input and the DVD playback is very very good, but I am more impressed with the Sky+ picture. For SD it's superb. However, I have not tried any HD sources yet.

See you soon mate.

Regards
Martin
 
If anyone is interested in the 37PX60 its down in price at PRCDirect prices are going down £1213 with the cabinet, and £50 cashback when bought in store, seems a bargain to me, just PM with JL. Am to thinking about getting the Panny as the SD wimbledon in JL looked great compared to some of the LCDs on the same feed.
 
Interesting site, but while Panasonic do both LCDs and PDPs, they don't do very good LCDs.

With the latest LCDs, you can have a 45 degree change in angle with no picture degradation whatsoever (S-PVA panels) but Panasonic doesn't use them.

Response time isn't an issue now - the latest panels won't smear 99% of the time now - however there's still the sample and hold effect going on with LCD because they don't flicker like Plasma. If anything Panasonic's plasmas are worse for motion than LCDs because their consumer products are forcing some sort of adaptive noise reduction on analogue SD inputs, and when it kicks in, the images smears worse than any LCD I've ever seen, but only for a second or two most times. You don't get green trailing and blue/yellow flashes with LCD and motion though. Not to mention the dithering with fast-moving objects.

No argument about colour reproduction from me though - Plasma wins hands down here, it's better than CRT even. LCD is getting better, but it's still playing catch-up. (I've not seen Sharp's 5-wavelength backlight solution though - Sony's WCG-CCFL is good, but has issues with accuracy, especially with reds)

I'd also disagree with the brightness/lighting argument used on the site. In anything other than a totally pitch-black room, the current LCDs look better than Plasma. If there's a light on, you can't tell if the Sony V series is turned on or off, if you've got a full black image onscreen. When you've got a light on in the room, Plasma blacks turn grey. In a dark room, there's no contest, but you've still got the dithering to deal with on plasma. (which can be quite noticeable at times)


Both technologies have their problems - I would base my decision on whether I'd be viewing in a totally dark room, or not. In a bright room, there's no contest, LCD is far better.

It all depends on what matters to you most about image quality though. Some people aren't bothered by (or can't see) the green trails and blue/yellow flashes with Plasma, others are more bothered by the "sample and hold" effect LCD has.
 
andrewfee said:
. If anything Panasonic's plasmas are worse for motion than LCDs because their consumer products are forcing some sort of adaptive noise reduction on analogue SD inputs, and when it kicks in, the images smears worse than any LCD I've ever seen,.

:eek:

Presumably, this doesn't happen on HDMI input then???? No image smear here but I connect via HDMI???

I'll try anologue tonight to see if it's as bad as you say, but haven't read about this problem with the panny before. Have you any links to threads highlighting this problem please.

Martin
 
andrewfee said:
Interesting site, but while Panasonic do both LCDs and PDPs, they don't do very good LCDs.

With the latest LCDs, you can have a 45 degree change in angle with no picture degradation whatsoever (S-PVA panels) but Panasonic doesn't use them.

Response time isn't an issue now - the latest panels won't smear 99% of the time now - however there's still the sample and hold effect going on with LCD because they don't flicker like Plasma. If anything Panasonic's plasmas are worse for motion than LCDs because their consumer products are forcing some sort of adaptive noise reduction on analogue SD inputs, and when it kicks in, the images smears worse than any LCD I've ever seen, but only for a second or two most times. You don't get green trailing and blue/yellow flashes with LCD and motion though. Not to mention the dithering with fast-moving objects.

No argument about colour reproduction from me though - Plasma wins hands down here, it's better than CRT even. LCD is getting better, but it's still playing catch-up. (I've not seen Sharp's 5-wavelength backlight solution though - Sony's WCG-CCFL is good, but has issues with accuracy, especially with reds)

I'd also disagree with the brightness/lighting argument used on the site. In anything other than a totally pitch-black room, the current LCDs look better than Plasma. If there's a light on, you can't tell if the Sony V series is turned on or off, if you've got a full black image onscreen. When you've got a light on in the room, Plasma blacks turn grey. In a dark room, there's no contest, but you've still got the dithering to deal with on plasma. (which can be quite noticeable at times)


Both technologies have their problems - I would base my decision on whether I'd be viewing in a totally dark room, or not. In a bright room, there's no contest, LCD is far better.

It all depends on what matters to you most about image quality though. Some people aren't bothered by (or can't see) the green trails and blue/yellow flashes with Plasma, others are more bothered by the "sample and hold" effect LCD has.

I think you use the words "latest LCDs" quite alot. Yet I don't see you saying "latest plasmas" when concluding that LCDs are better in some areas. Too only acknowledge that Plasmas are better in dark conditions and colour is simply wrong. Actually I would say the "latest plasmas" are great in any lightcondition except direct sunlight. I haven't seen any LCD in direct sunlight but that's ok because nobody watches TV or DVDs in sunlight. Not now and not when we had CRTs.

As for your last paragraph. I have no idea what trails and flashes you are referring too. Never even heard the question raised so surely that can't be a common problem.

Compare the latest LCDs from Sony (just out and considered great LCDs) to last generation (436/506) Pioneer plasmas (which will be replaced in the next month or two by presumably even better models) I would say that the Pioneer wins hands down in viewing angle and response time, yes it's still noticable on newer LCDs. Trying watching football or hockey with fast camera movements.

Also HDTV and HDDVD looks absolutly stunning on a Pioneer 506. True I haven't seen HD-DVD on a LCD. But comparing World Cup in HD from satellite I'll take my plasma before my friends Sony 46" anyday.

With LCD still playing catch-up it's no contest if you are buying your screen to watch movies or TV. A high class plasma is the way to go. I know five people that have bought large LCDs the last six months. All of them have given the deciding reason as being that they are presumably better for using as a computer screen. While this in theory may be true, only one of them still has their screen hooked up to the computer as they've discovered that it's worthless to sit on the tv-sofa and do computer work or surf. The screen size and distance where you keep the TV just doesn't work. The only one that even has it connected uses it to play games from the computer and has to pull up a couch way closer to the screen than used for tv viewing to get a decent experience. This "big" advantage for LCD is basiclly a myth. If you know that you're gonna use it to play gameconsoles alot AND have a seating arrangment so that you can sit at a correct distance to play then I would recommend a topend LCD.
 
My sole requirement for a new television was to be used, strangely enough, as a television (no games consoles, here). Up until very recently I held a long-term belief that my next television was going to be an LCD. I was primarily worried about stories of screen burn/retention on plasma panels.

My short list of LCD's was the Loewe Spheros R37 or the Sony X40. In the last few weeks I auditioned a correctly set up Sony X46. The motion blur on the football match I watched was criminal - there was no way that I could justify spending £4,000 on a device that was so inherently flawed. In contrast, the Loewe Spheros is a far superior panel - but it's eventual flaw for me was the persistent mpeg background noise in an otherwise clean picture. When I'm spending this much money I make no apologies for being hyper-critical in the performance of the television that I'm going to buy - one that I'm going to live with for the next ten years or so.

So, reluctantly at first, I re-evaluted the purchase of a plasma panel. The choice was between the Pioneer 436SXE and the Panasonic 37PX600. Side-by-side comparision in John Lewis of the Pioneer with a 42" Panasonic demonstrated that the Panasonic's overall picture quality had the edge over the Pioneer. Overall, my conclusion was that the plasma panels did not exhibit any of the major flaws of the LCD's that I had previously been auditioning. Picture quality is simply stunning, even with lower bit-rate channels compared to LCD.

While I could have bought the 37PX600 much cheaper elsewhere I took advantage of the package on offer at my local shop@panasonic branch. They had plenty in stock, offered 3 years 0% credit, a 3 year Panasonic warranty, and a free VCR. I also bought the EX85 DVD recorder from them. Moreover, despite John Lewis' 28 day returns policy, the manager there would only replace a panel with any stuck/dead pixels within 2 days of delivery while the Pansonic branch would similarly replace the panel within 3 months.

While in the Panasonic shop (the only place that I have visited with a suitable array of external aerials for first-rate demonstrations), here was the best place to compare LCD side-by-side with Plasma. Do this and a picture paints a thousand words - even a simpleton can conclude that the Plasma overwhelmingly wins over LCD.
 
hutch. said:
Sems a tad one sided to me.....

Of course plasma still has a few advantages over LCD but the new LCD's coming out can easily hold themselves against any plasma and LCD's also have their advantages over Plasma.

What I have learnt since I have been investigating is that on top quality LCD and Plasma sets Plasma seems to be far better for SD viewing and for the true "home cinema" experience but if you are going to be going HDTV or even considering using a computer/games console on your panel then it has to be LCD.

Thats why I cancelled my order for a 436XDE and have started to save up my pennies for the new 46X Sony, its all down to what your using it for.

dont do it :thumbsdow
 
spinaltap said:
My sole requirement for a new television was to be used, strangely enough, as a television (no games consoles, here). Up until very recently I held a long-term belief that my next television was going to be an LCD. I was primarily worried about stories of screen burn/retention on plasma panels.

My short list of LCD's was the Loewe Spheros R37 or the Sony X40. In the last few weeks I auditioned a correctly set up Sony X46. The motion blur on the football match I watched was criminal - there was no way that I could justify spending £4,000 on a device that was so inherently flawed. In contrast, the Loewe Spheros is a far superior panel - but it's eventual flaw for me was the persistent mpeg background noise in an otherwise clean picture. When I'm spending this much money I make no apologies for being hyper-critical in the performance of the television that I'm going to buy - one that I'm going to live with for the next ten years or so.

So, reluctantly at first, I re-evaluted the purchase of a plasma panel. The choice was between the Pioneer 436SXE and the Panasonic 37PX600. Side-by-side comparision in John Lewis of the Pioneer with a 42" Panasonic demonstrated that the Panasonic's overall picture quality had the edge over the Pioneer. Overall, my conclusion was that the plasma panels did not exhibit any of the major flaws of the LCD's that I had previously been auditioning. Picture quality is simply stunning, even with lower bit-rate channels compared to LCD.

While I could have bought the 37PX600 much cheaper elsewhere I took advantage of the package on offer at my local shop@panasonic branch. They had plenty in stock, offered 3 years 0% credit, a 3 year Panasonic warranty, and a free VCR. I also bought the EX85 DVD recorder from them. Moreover, despite John Lewis' 28 day returns policy, the manager there would only replace a panel with any stuck/dead pixels within 2 days of delivery while the Pansonic branch would similarly replace the panel within 3 months.

While in the Panasonic shop (the only place that I have visited with a suitable array of external aerials for first-rate demonstrations), here was the best place to compare LCD side-by-side with Plasma. Do this and a picture paints a thousand words - even a simpleton can conclude that the Plasma overwhelmingly wins over LCD.

Good choice! I love mine to bitz!
 
ahh the old plasma/lcd debate again:rolleyes:

well heres my two peneth on two sets mentioned in this thread. i have, on monday ran side by side a sony 46" lcd and a pana 42px60, while the sony was good ( for an lcd ) the panasonic was far superior in every department from motion to black levels to picture noise.

if a big screen that will not burn or show retention is your thing then go faor the sony.
if pq is your thing then plasma has got to be the way
 
thewul said:
ahh the old plasma/lcd debate again:rolleyes:

well heres my two peneth on two sets mentioned in this thread. i have, on monday ran side by side a sony 46" lcd and a pana 42px60, while the sony was good ( for an lcd ) the panasonic was far superior in every department from motion to black levels to picture noise.

if a big screen that will not burn or show retention is your thing then go faor the sony.
if pq is your thing then plasma has got to be the way

Totally agree:thumbsup:

And now that the risk of screen burn is getting less and less there is only one coice for a 37" panel and above in my opinion.
 

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