I need help, please bear with me.

I originally asked this question in another thread, but I probably shouldn't have since everyone seemed to be in the middle of a typical Plasma VS. LCD flame war, so I'll ask it here. Following is a quote from a poster, followed by my reply.
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If most of the games you do are a "full screen" display go for the plasma, if most of the games are SD or not using the full screen, then go for the LCD. There is no right choice that can be defined by the fanboy arguments above, just what is correct for you.

What you will find is that plasma will give you better dark detail. This is usefull in allot of RPG games where you can get shot by something in the dark (Halo1/2/3, Gears of War, etc...). It can be difficult on a LCD to see the detail in a dark scene and see where the bad aliens are hiding.

What you find on a LCD is better and brighter colors from brightly lit scenes. Detail on brigtly lit scenes is better on a LCD. Good for sports games, racing etc...


I can attest to the bolded section, when I was playing Halo 3 on Last Resort(Zanzibar), I couldn't see anyone hiding in the dark section where the sniper rifle is. In fact, it wasn't until I turned up the brightness that I could even see the details in the dark section (wall, cracks, etc).

The good news is that Halo 3 has a screen selection where you can choose brightness settings, I chose the highest and can now see everything. The bad news is when I turn up the brightness manually via my Samsung TV menu as opposed to the in-game menu, the surroundings are too bright even though the dark parts look fine.

For example, when zooming in with the Sniper rifle, everything looks too bright using the TV settings, but using only the in-game brightness settings, the zooming is perfect and it's not overly bright in any settings. In fact the brightness is great all around.

My real concern is with other 360 games, I only have Halo 3 thus far (sad I know:rolleyes:), but will be getting Ninja Gaiden 2. My primary concern WAS lag, now that this TV performs with no lag whatsoever, I was happy.

That was until I read your post about the darks being better on plasma TV's, and then I recalled it being difficult to see the bad guys in the dark section of the aforementioned level.

Will this be a problem on all games, like NG2 where there is going to be dark levels? I'm sure it will.

Halo 3 had an in-game brightness setting, but NG2 and most other 360 games probably won't, does that mean I need to turn up the brightness on my TV, which will allow me to see the dark areas better, but then "washing-out" the bright areas by making them too bright and an overall unpleasant gaming experience? I'm not sure.

For the record, I have the Sammy 37LNA450 LCD tv, bought it last Friday (May 16th) so I still have a few weeks to return it in case I want to go plasma.

However, I can only go as big as 37 inches and most plasma's start at the 40 inch size, so I went LCD. I know that Panasonic now has some 37 inch plasmas up for sale, they are the professional versions, here's links to the ones I could find.

http://www.panasonic.com/business/plasma/plasmas.asp?cm_mmc=Phelps-_-PPDC-Proplasma-_-Google-_-TH37PH10UK

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=176432&catGroupId=14624&surfModel=TH-37PH10UK&displayTab=F

http://www.thehighdefinitionstore.com/tvs/panasonic-th-37ph9uk-287.html

You can see the native resolution on those Panny's is 1024 X 720, as opposed to my Sammy which is 1366 x 768, I know 768 is supposedly "true HD" whereas the 720 is not, but is it really that much of a difference?

Finally, I paid $830 for my Sammy, got a killer deal at Best Buy, they price-matched an online website (which I thought they would never do), although it was an authorized Samsung internet dealer, that's why they did it. And we bought 2 tv's from them, a 46 incher for the folks, and a 37 incher for myself, so that also played a factor IIRC.

The Panny's I listed are all about $1300, so is $500 more worth the brightness/better black feature? Not sure, but Buy.com has the same Panny for $890.

http://www.buy.com/prod/panasonic-professional-th37ph10uk-37-plasma-display-37-16-9-1024-x-720/q/loc/111/204793761.html

I've heard nothing but terrible things about Buy.com however, so I'm very wary of buying from them.

Apologies for my painfully long post, just seeking some help.

Is it worth returning my 37 inch Sammy LCD for a 37 inch Panny plasma for the better black feature of being able to see the details in dark areas, or is it just more rational to turn up the brightness accordingly?

I'll start another thread if necessary and apologize if this post is misplaced, I'm like the OP, my head's spinning...:confused:
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Well there ya have, I'm just really concerned about seeing things in dark areas of primarily video games, and to a lesser extent TV shows/movies.

Originally I wanted a plasma TV, but 37 inches is as high as I'm willing to go for the room size (in fact I was going to go 32 but 37 is the "best fit" solution).

So please, without being overly biased (I realize most people have biases of some sort), and without any flaming, could some of the experts chime in?

I've researched and read other threads, and the basic conclusion seems to be that darker games (Devil May Cry 4, Gears of War, Ninja Gaiden Black), would look much better on plasma Tv's because of the dark details, and LCD would "wash out" the brighter areas due to adjusting the brightness manually.

Most plasma manufacturers say to "limit gaming/static images to 5% of the toatl viewing time of the TV", and I'll be honest, it's going to be around 90% for me, this is primarily a gaming TV.

I can only go 37 inches, and only have 3 weeks to return the LCD for a plasma if I want, please help, thank you, and I apologize for making you read all this.:o

P.S. I thought about posting this in the LCD or Plasma forums, since those areas have much more viewers, but thought I'd start here, I may post there if I have to, but I'm afraid of the responses I'll get:rolleyes:

BTW I found this thread and it gave me some useful info, especially the poster who mentioned the "retina-destroying" LCD panels.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029178

I guess I just need to find a 37 inch plasma somewhere in the similar 800-900 in price range I got my Sammy for.

Again, buy.com has one, but I'm very wary of buying from them.

Well, back to scouring the internet for the best price on a 37 inch Panny plasma, WITH HDMI, as I've noticed some don't.

Anyone know of good 37 inch plasma's? I'll be scouring these forums as well, thanks again and I apologize if I've wasted anyone's time, except my own, lol.

Also found this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032890

It seems burn-in doesn't scare me as much as it did one week ago. Like the OP from that thread, I'll be be gaming heavy, perhaps 5-6 hour sessions on games that will have HUD/health bars up constantly, and people say they've left their Panny's on for that long on pause and still no-burn, IR maybe, but they say it washes away rather quickly.

I'm having a fascinating conversation with myself and have almost convinced myself to get a Panny plasma, I just need a 37 incher w/HDMI inputs for around 1 grand.

Anyone know of any?

thx again.

Well, if things are straight forward, which they may or may not be, then this is what your looking at for just a 5% difference of brightness.

5000 hours of a static image will make a 5% difference on a panel rated at 100k hour half life. Thats 1000 days of 5 hours a day, or like 3 years of playing the same game. Then you have to figure that everything else will be aging too. That makes it much longer to see just a 5% difference of the other pixels.

If i understand you correctly, you're saying that it's worth getting a plasma since it takes so long for the phosphors to age?

Panasonic TH-37PH10UK ............ game, set, match point. This is the TV for you. It's a 37" plasma avs forum sponsors have them for right around the price that you want to spend. I def think you are on the right track. You'll see a major difference in shadow detail and black level performance going from an lcd to a plasma. Good luck in your search.

Thanks, after scouring the net, I've found that's basically the only 37 inch PDP set out there for the price/quality I'm looking for.

I checked for reviews of the set and found this link:

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-th-50ph10uk/4505-6482_7-32558881.html

The good: Very good black-level performance and shadow detail; accurate color decoding; independent memory per input; versatile PIP function; extensive picture adjustments with full grayscale controls; removable, customizable inputs; spartan styling.

The bad: Inaccurate primary color of green; some false contouring; does not include a stand, a tuner, or speakers; limited to only four total inputs and doesn't include a digital input out of the box; cannot change aspect ratios with HDTV sources.

Apparently it doesn't come with speakers, a stand, or even a built-in tuner? I know it's a review of the 50 incher, but the two panels are basically the same except for the screen size.

Does anyone have this set to confirm/deny any of this info?

I'll be posting this on the plasma thread now since I'm down to one model and hopefully someone there has it, thanks again.

Jarod,

Sorry I missed your reply in the flame war that erupted around your question.

No easy answers for you on this one. Can't say if a PDP will be better for you or not.

The 360 has a 1080 connection doesn't it? Could you run it on 720p full screen or 1080 full screen? I have just the old Xbox and only HD though component.

I play allot of games on both sets I have (Cube, Xbox, Dreamcast) but both are LCD and that is fine. I have noticed the lack of black detail on several games, on all of the consoles that I use. Please note that the newer of the sets is much better than the older of the two sets that I use, but it is still lacking.

I will also say that I do pause games (for all you greens out there, yes I leave the set on) and will leave them sometimes overnight or for hours durring the day. Face it, you can do a save but on allot of the games it will save up to certain point, not exactly where you are at the moement. There are allot of PLasma fans out there who will say this is not a problem and they do it all the time, well, with respect, I don't want to chance it.

Also as I have mentioned before I hate to strech images. It does not matter if it is full strech or one of the proportional types where it is streched more towards the edge of the screen, I just can't stand it. So where allot of plasma owners will do a strech to use the full screen just in case, I wont.

Even with the issues I still love my sets for both gaming and watching TV.