Plasma or LED/LCD?

After having a UN55C6300 LED set for 2 weeks I had to return it. The picture had cloudy spots, flashlighting, bright blacks, and beyond horrible off-angle viewing. I couldn't live with it, it was not watchable to me. It also suffered horrible motion blur with even the slightest movement on the screen. Browse around in the LCD section and you will find that 80% of the people that post have problems with LED technology.

Plasma for me.

This is the Plasma section so obviously Plasma.

Not a difficult choice, obviously PLASMA

You mean LCD technology. LED is just a backlighting and won't introduces all the issues you mentioned. If you're gonna pick an LED LCD, pick the one with local dimming. Yes, they are not as sexy as edge lite LED TVs but PQ will be much better.

I meant LED backlighting. Even the local dimming 8000 series didn't appeal to me, since I was picking up another set after returning my Samsung LED, I decided to do it right and go Plasma.

Samsung made 7 full-array Local Dimming LCd's:

LN-T4081F
LN-T4681F
LN-T5281F
LN46A950
LN55A950
UN46B8500
UN55B8500

http://reviews.cnet.com/2795-6482_7-399.html
Full-array without local dimming
Edge-lit without local dimming
Full-array with local dimming:The original and still the best.
Edge-lit with local dimming
http://reviews.cnet.com/2795-6482_7-399.html

you will not be happy with that vizio. i have calibrated one in a bright room. go for the plasma.

I had the UN55C630 as well and had horrible clouding and flashlighting, then after researching, all LED's will most likely have this issue. I think they're overrated.
I went and exchanged for a PN50C680 Plasma and it has the best picture I have seen. I am super happy I switched to Plasma. I do have a LCD in my well lit room that is necessary for reflection issues.

I agree that they are overrated (LED tech). It is a technology that appeals to people because of the look of these TVs. Slim, sleek, and modern are what people are interested in it seems, which takes a backseat to picture quality. People do want what is new, which is why these newer sets are being marketed hard.

Unfortunately I kind of made an impulse buy during a black friday sale, but soon realized after the purchase that I should have done more research. I was expecting much more out of this technology, but was very disappointed to say the least. After comparing both LED backlight tech and Plasma tech, the choice was obvious for me. The only thing that the LCD had was more of a "pop" in the picture, but that doesn't mean the quality was better, it just stood out more color wise. I would attribute this to the brightness that LED tech is known for.

About two months ago, I was looking to replace my 8 year old Panasonic 32" LCD. It was a great TV and served us well. I just assumed I'd get another LCD and started doing a ton of homework on LED technology. Since I was stepping up to a 55" or higher size set, that limited my options a lot in the LED/LCD market. I had narrowed down to the Vizio you mentioned in your orginal post, and the LG55(I can't remember the rest). Both were fully backlit (rather than Edge-Lit) and had local dimming. At this point in process, I hadn't even considered plasma.

So I took my wife to Costco to see the Vizio. She immediately noticed the blooming effect. Then we went to BB to see the 55" LG and she did like that one. But she fell in love with the PN58C8000 Samsung Plasma. I was concerned about image retention and burn-in. So we went home to do some more homework. Turns out CNET ranked the PNxxC8000 second for 2010 models (behind the VT25 series) in just about every category. Now... both the Vizio and the LG were in the top 10, so that's saying a lot too. More homework on the plasma revealed that most of them now come with a pixel shift feature that helps a lot with IR and burn-in. To the point where it's almost a non-issue.

But here was the deal killer for the LED/LCD. The next day (Sunday) we went to a friends house to watch the football game. He had just bought a 60" Samsung LED/LCD and was having a party. There was no room on the couch so we sat on the floor. The TV was mounted on the wall above their fireplace. We could NOT see the picture at all while sitting on the floor! It was truly terrible... you honestly couldn't watch the game. You hear people talk about the viewing angle being so bad on LED/LCD - it really is true.

We went back the next day and bought the plasma and I'm not sorry one bit. It's a phenomenal set and the picture is amazing. The off angle viewing is great too, which is good for us because it's in our family room, which is quite big (and well lit, btw). I know that I really would have been sorry had I bought a LED/LCD set.

I wanted to share this because I'm not a plasma fanboy by any means. I just wanted a great TV and I feel like I got one. Hope this helps.

if i were you i will go with Plasma, a good high end plasma! overall better PQ.

I own a 65" S2 Panasonic plasma and the Vizio 551 55" LED/LCD,,, for PQ the Vizio wins,, for size my plasma wins.

Cheers
Davyo