I'm in the market for a new 50" display. I'm on the fence about lcd or plasma. I like the fact that lcd is pretty much immune to burn-in, but I don't like the motion blur. After visiting several electronics stores, I'm constantly being told that plasma is good for sports, but to use lcd for gaming. AFAIK, when watching sports, there are tickers/scoreboards/etc, just like there are ammo counters and aiming reticules in games. Considering how well plasmas handle motion, I would think they would be great for gaming. I am seriously considering the panny pz77u. Am I missing something in this assessment, or are all the salesmen full of s***?

I'm the type of person that plays ps3/360 games, but really only the single player. I'll finish a game and move on. I'm not the type to play halo 40hrs per week. I'd say I watch movies/tv about 70% of time with about 30% gaming. I figured i'd get some b.s., but I recently asked a BB tv rep about what I should buy. He said he had some info about the different techs. I was expecting some sort of technical data or something of the sort. He ended up pulling out a sheet of paper with the pros/cons of lcd/plasma written down lol...

Yesterday, I brought my 360 into BB to try out some lcd displays with some games. I tried out the samsung 5265, toshiba lx177, lg lbx and samsung 5084 plasma. Although I only had my system hooked up to the plasma for a few minutes, there was WAY less motion blur and the image retained much of its original resolution. What do you guys think? Obviously, breaking in the display is a good idea. Are these new plasmas any worse than our old sony trinitron 27" tv with regards to burn-in? I use to play tons of xbox on that tv. I recently looked at the settings, and founds that the contrast has been on 100% since we purchased it. Never had any burn-in issues. I'm confused :confused:

I was thinking the exact same thing when shopping for my flat panel and then decided to go the LCD route based on sales peoples' advice.

I just didn't end up liking LCDs in general, but being convinced that gaming and burn-in issues would haunt me if I didn't stick with LCD I went through 3 sets (2 Sharp 46D82s and one Sony 46W3000) but I just gave up on them. Yes, I felt comfortable playing games but they had IQ issues specifically relating to back lighting, blacks, skin tones, motion blur and banding.

So now I have the 50PZ77. I still worry about burn in even though most people reassure me that it's really no longer an issue, not as much as before anyhow.

But to be safe, I have been breaking in my plasma (100+ hours) and been sporadically watching regular TV, DVDs and gaming on a PS3 in between break-in. I haven't allowed any content to show black bars - I use the zoom/Just feature to maximise the image to take up the full screen.

I've limited my gaming to 20-30% of overall use so far. Well, not a single hint of burn-in and I am just about finished COD4 and that game looks jaw dropping on a plasma. Even my wife, who hates gaming in general, could not believe how great that game looks on this TV.

Personally, after what I've gone through, I would take a plasma over LCD any day of the week. LCDs are getting better but I believe IQ is still a major plasma advantage.

I think if you take a few precautions such as break-in, lowering contrast and brightness initially, limiting gaming and adjusting non-1.85:1 content to fit the screen; doing these things for the first 200-400 hours of use should ensure even phosphor ageing with no burn-in. Well that's what I keep telling myself anyhow.

I agree with atc7,

NEVER LISTEN COMPLETELY TO SALES PEOPLE OF B&M STORES!!!
not that they are completely just trying to sell you whatever their manager may be pressing them to sell, or that they may or may not know what they are talking about- but the best education is a self education when it comes to all this technology. So continue on with thoroughly sorted out info on your purchase... I would recommend reading on these forums for facts about what is what when it comes to that stuff... It is widely accepted that LCD is nice, but for some applications- for example the lcd panels do better in bright environments; Plasmas can function the same in bright environments but are killers in lower light settings... The subpar blacks on LCD's in general aren't that noticable in a bright room but the difference is easy to see in a dark room... What is better depends on the person but My vote goes to plasma for serious cinemaphiles and gamers.
I would like to say that your plasmas available today are more durable than made out to be; there are some small things to watch for, but mishaps are very preventable.
I don't want to open up a can of worms saying whether or not treading lightly as if your plasma was going to retain that score number at the top left of the screen will stay just because you paused your game for 5 minutes... I will point out that a lot of QUALITY manufacturers are going out of their way to make sure that our plasmas aren't what the myths make them out to be- I recently bought a panasonic pro plasma- and after a few years on end of consulting others, installing systems, working as a tech/tweakhead for videos and such- I have realized that plasmas actually are very durable...
The main enemy of your display would be either the lack of common courtesy/sense or wild children who have access to projectiles... View normally with minor changes in viewing habits and you should be fine. I have been gaming hard, viewing cinemascope aspect ratio movies, and using the monitor for my mac as soon as my display arrived last week and not a bit of IR; I have a panasonic pro panel though- and that is something to consider because despite that there are still a couple of displays that have other technical bugs and such that make them liable to kicking the can.
As a side note, you can also enable a few of the functions to help reduce the likelihood of any mishaps; use screensavers, energy savers, knock down the overall brightness a bit, and calibrate the panel- once when you crack open the box do a minor calibration then do it thoroughly once you reach a certain period of time to check out any necessary differences/ changes that need to be made. In some cases the calibration over time needs drastic re-vamping, others are usually the opposite and you should get it right on.
To close, gaming and all material should be fine if you just avoid leaving your panel on CNN for the weekend, avoid leaving a game on pause while you go to grocer with your girlfriend/wife/mom/anyone that'll take a while to move from point a to b, and as long you don't turn your panel's brightness to max while throwing on that marathon of 2:35/1 movies you should avoid damage to your display.
All in all; I think plasmas have nearly caught up to the durability of CRT televisions- anyone please feel free to chime in though... Just my 2 cents.

hope this helps

Well, that info is re-assuring. I was considering the panasonic pz77 because of panny's reputation for plasma, as well as the anti-glare screen. I recently suggested my girlfriend's parents buy a px77. They did and are very happy withit. It just seems that with all the time i'm spending reading reviews of lcds, demo-ing different models, etc. I could be breaking in my new plasma. The screen uniformity issues/motion blur is the biggest issue I have with lcds right now. I find it weird that I was an early adopter of lcd for my desktop pc. I've owned several since 2001. I just sold off my dlp, and got a good deal on a samsung 4665. However, I immediately noticed the motion blur. Its been bugging me since I got it. It seems that the blur/ghosting is significantly more apparant on a 46" screen that a 24". I didn't think it would be a problem, but it is. If anyone else uses a pz77 for gaming, I'd like to hear your experiences. thanks

i recently got the pz77u and have been playing my 360 on it (after a 100 hour break in). The quality is incredible with no motion blur. Color reproduction is nearly perfect. When I was shopping, I compared the plasmas and lcds side by side and constantly noticed the high level of motion blur on the lcds (it was very distracting). The vivid colors of the lcds were certainly eye catching in the store's overly bright lights but once I brought my plasma home to a more realistically lit situation, I realized it was just as good and probably a lot more natural. I'm not sure why so many people recommend lcds for gaming but I can tell you that plasmas are the true best choice for gaming. Motion blur is a big deal in gaming and lcds are miserable at this (not sure about the high end sony lcds and what not but they are quite expensive). Burn in is not really an issue as long as you take some precautions. I am planning on running the break in dvd at least once a week for a few hours.

Well, I would assume that sports have commercials which help break up the static displays. Either way I'm not losing any sleep over it.