Is Plasma ready for homes?

Hodman

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I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that Plasma isn't quite ready for home use.

These panels are truly fantastic for commercial display purposes (supermakets, airports, banks etc.) but in a quite living room under the critical eye of discerning consumers?
We have solarization, buzzing, motion blur, contrast/brightness issues, screen burns ...... the list goes on.

Of course, many of us lurking around this forum can cope with many of these issues (even paying for professional calibration services), but the average consumer who walk into Dixons waving his/her credit card may end up disappointed.

I personally think the technology is evolving extremely fast but hasn't quite matured for the general consumer market .... yet.
 
Well, how long do you wait?
I think its ready now, i havnt actually got mine yet..still waiting for it to be delivered and all that,but having seen pw6`s in my local pub i think i can put up with it!
LCD certainly is ready, my tosh 32" is just fantastic,no hastles or problems whatsoever and is truley stunning for pc gaming.Infact think Ill start a new thread on that very subject.
 
He does have a point. There are issues with plasmas that the majority of the public are not aware of, and may or may not be resolved as technology advances. However, CRT TV's were never perfect either, and I'm sure that the public will become aware of plasma's advantages and limitations pretty soon. The price of plasmas is also a factor which makes people wary, and the prices are dropping all the time.
 
Only issue of concern is screenburn. This is a fact of life with plasms. After 10 months of use, 8 hours a day and 6 of those on the same channel with a logo on no issues yet (but never say never). Product life time. I was sick of looking at my previous TV after 8 years of use, although there was nothing wrong with it. BTW, I had screenburn on my CRT but never really noticed it unless it had a monotone colour displayed only.

BTW, new cars only come with 3 years warranty as standard. JL offer 5 yrs on there TVs and we will run out of petrol one day so that £30K BMW doesn't quite make sense does it.
 
My personal thoughts (as a non-techie):

Plasmas are great, but I would have thought another year of development... maybe the next generation models will be the 'serious contenders'.

I have a Viera, and have had no screen burn issues - even though I've explained to the house about NOT leaving static images on, they still do, :suicide: but thankfully, its never effected the screen.

I see no motion blurr whatsoever, and buzzing? I have read about this on the forum, but I can honestly say, my Viera is as silent as my 32" CRT.

Solarization does occur, but this could be happening at the DVD/DVB source, so it's unfair to automatically blame the plasma. In any case, I don't really find it all that common, or disconcerting.

I do, however, have a serious issue with the brightness balance and contrast, where low brightness simply becomes black (see other topic started by myself).

Some have claimed they don't experience this problem with their own plasmas (even their Vieras), so it's either a Viera design/calibration issue, and/or I'm a lot more obsessive about the clarity of my picture than others :smoke: .

I bought a 15" LCD for my PC about 3 years ago, when I was under the serious impression the technology was ready as a CRT replacement. I was wrong! It seemed great at first, but the more I continued using CRTs at work, then returned home, the more I realised I'd made an error. When I bought my 17" LCD last year, I found the opposite. Those two years of technological advancement had made all the difference. It blows away my 17" Sony CRT in every respect.

So, I think I personally will find the most happiness and satisfaction from my next plasma, maybe in two years time, when they have ironed out a few of these teething issues (and maybe brought the prices down :D ).

In a nutshell, I agree with your statement :) Another year or two until they're totally consumer friendly across the board. But great for anyone willing to spend the cash and accept the shortcomings, however minor, of a relatively new, developing technology (as far as home entertainment is concerned).
 
I thought and thought about the pros and cons of Plasma and finally took the plunge!!!

My impressions are wow fantastic!!!

Yes on some poor Sky channels the reception is iffy (US Golf, Motorbikes) but it was exactly the same on my CRT. You just didn't notice it !

It boils down to personal choice and the cost!

I wouldn't buy a BMW but it's a great analogy tho!

LIDDERS
 
elliot_01 said:
I do, however, have a serious issue with the brightness balance and contrast, where low brightness simply becomes black (see other topic started by myself).

Some have claimed they don't experience this problem with their own plasmas (even their Vieras), so it's either a Viera design/calibration issue, and/or I'm a lot more obsessive about the clarity of my picture than others :smoke: .

I would agree with you. But I beleive it is down to the source. Get the DVE disc and you'll see that good footage will look great even if you screen is not perfectly setup. A lot of the problem is due to poor encoding of DVDs and poor broadcast transmission. I can pick up some German channels on my Sat decoder and channels like VOX always have stunning pictures compared to SKY or CNN.

I'm hoping my TV will self destruct in just over 4 years time so I can go out and buy a 50+ inch monster with HD and HDMI. By then I'm sure they'll be under £2K. Maybe by then PC and home entertanment will have converged.
 
elliot_01 said:
.......
I do, however, have a serious issue with the brightness balance and contrast, where low brightness simply becomes black (see other topic started by myself).

Some have claimed they don't experience this problem with their own plasmas (even their Vieras), so it's either a Viera design/calibration issue, and/or I'm a lot more obsessive about the clarity of my picture than others :smoke: .
.

I do tend to agree with you. I also have a Viera, and although I would not go back to CRT (size and space occupied), contrast and colour banding is a problem. Both of these issues are only apparent for less than 1% of my viewing time so on balance I remain a plasma convert.
 
I was not sure about going down the plasma route and replacing my crt,but I can honestly say I wouldn't be with out it. :)

I was worried about things like colour banding, and buzzing but fingers crossed I cant hear it unless my ear is against the panel.

I am a picky sort of person when it comes to PQ but once set up the pictures from plasma can look very acceptable.

Would I buy another one??????................yes......would I recommend one....yes :thumbsup: very happy and I have no screen burn.....yet!
 
As another recent Viera 42inch owner I'm in full agreement. The Viera (presumably same panel as the non-tuner Pana plasmas?) has no issues with buzzing or motion (keep seeing questions about football on the forum but it's one of my favourite things to watch on Viera!.

The only issue is the contrast where detail is lost in shadows. Effectively shades just above black are rendered as black. I can mitigate this quite a bit by turning up brightness very high but I prefer not to do this. It reminds me of problem with old Panasonic TX-28 tv I had where suddenly the excellent crt pic had this 'crushed blacks' effect. It was only a few weeks old. The guy from the shop came round and had to reset some kind of auto adjustment you could only access by taking back off the tv. After that the pic was fine again.

I may be more sensitive to the contrast range than most since I do a lot of digital photography/printing. So I spend a lot of my time adjusting black and white levels in Photoshop and am very conscious of when these levels are incorrect and detail is lost!

It's the only issue I have with the Viera and not a major one. Overall I'm delighted with my choice, especially as it came courtesy of great deal through JL! Even happier that the epg was upgraded at the weekend to full listings/7day so I've started recording direct from Viera dvb to Pana E85 rather than via a Sony freeview box (advantage is you can record rgb rather than just composite video, and you don't have to leave the E85 in 'external link' mode which is necessary for recording from external timer sources via AV2 - it records over the same AV1 scart which links to the Viera's AV4)

Adrian
 
Having now had my Pio 434 for some 3 months, watching a variety of sources, I can honestly say I have absolutely no regrets about stumping up the 3 grand for this exceptionally fine TV. The jump from my(admittedly 10 year old) 29 inch Sony was breathtaking.

Watching DVDs via component cables and progressive scan from the Jamo DVR50 brings out all the best of the source material, with colours and sharpness being spot on. Sound is excellent as well, via either the Pio's detachable speakers, or the Jamo 5.1 system.

As other people have mentioned, some Sky broadcasts are dodgy, but you can't blame the screen for showing up all the problems there. Up to date "proper" digital broadcasts come across fresh and clean.

Even with terrestrial broadcasts (BBC1 2, ITV1 and Ch 4 only), the quality is more than acceptable, though I do have the benefit of living about 1 mile away from the nearest repeater, with direct line of sight. Can't comment on Freeview, 'cos we are in one of those black holes, with no date yet announced for availability.

One other major reason we wanted a plasma, was the ability to wall mount. Now it is well out of the way of our two small demolition experts (1 and 5), plus it frees up so much space in the living room, and gets away from the traditional "stick it in the corner" look most people have to adopt. At some point I'll get some photos stuck up...

We also have a wall mounted 15 inch LCD (£299 Sainsbury's special by LODOS) for viewing in the kitchen. Picture quality on that is also excellent, though the sound quality falls away a bit.

All in all, even though prices are falling all the time, I would not hesitate in recommending anyone considering the "leap of faith", to part with their cash and go for it. And as 888 mentions, go with JL (as I did) and get the amazing 5 Year warranty as well. Sorted!
 
Hodman said:
I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that Plasma isn't quite ready for home use.

These panels are truly fantastic for commercial display purposes (supermakets, airports, banks etc.) but in a quite living room under the critical eye of discerning consumers?
We have solarization, buzzing, motion blur, contrast/brightness issues, screen burns ...... the list goes on.

Of course, many of us lurking around this forum can cope with many of these issues (even paying for professional calibration services), but the average consumer who walk into Dixons waving his/her credit card may end up disappointed.

I personally think the technology is evolving extremely fast but hasn't quite matured for the general consumer market .... yet.

I think it is quite the opposite. The average consumer thinks there are more problems than there actually are. All my friends are still of the opinion that plasmas only last for 2 years and then cost a fortune to fill back up with Gas. They think if you watch it for more than an hour you will get screen burn.

People look around this forum to get the best deal and to look for the best display their money can buy. I think forums members are far more likely to picky about the picture of their display than someone that puts as much research into buying a plasma as walking into Dixons waving a credit card around. These people have also bought a plasma based on how it looks badly set up in these stores.

If the majority of consumers got to see a professionally set up quality display, they would be very impressed.
 
Just now I'm watching 'The Beach' on Viera 42", recorded on E85.

It looks fabulous. A big plasma adds so much to enjoyment of movies. Your eyes rove over the screen. The colours are rich and beautiful. It's far more of a cinematic exoerience and I haven't got around to sorting the av amp and speakers yet.

Since I bought the Viera watching anything, but especially films, is more of an 'event'. If you can find a plasma with pq you're happy with then I say go for it.

Adrian
 
How can you say that Plasma isn't ready for home use?

Plasmas are much better than CRTs in my opinion, and in many people's opinions. The only drawback is the price. But if people don't want to pay the price, they don't buy them. That doesn't mean the screens aren't suitable to do their job!

In my opinion, CRTs are just horrible. They're flickery, they give off a lot of radiation (even aperture grille screens give off a fair bit), they are big fat things that ruin the look and the space of your living room, they're distorted. I could go on but you all know anyway.

If plasma was the conventional technology and cRT was a new invention, it would flop big time.

Here's an analogy...

Imagine art lovers were always scratching their paintings, so they invented a technology that prevented paintings from getting damaged. The down-side of the technology would be that the paintings had to be on the side of a box, so you couldn't hang them on the wall any more. They also lost a lot of their saturation, and instead of being flat they were painted on a slightly convex surface. And you couldn't get too near to them either as it was unhealthy. And the paintings ahd to be a lot smaller, too.

Do you think it would catch on?
 
If plasma was the conventional technology and CRT was a new invention, it would flop big time.

Good point!
 

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