Size vs. Quality? Sharp LC-80LE844U vs Panasonic TC-P65VT50 - Page 3

Originally Posted by chunon 

Flicker and likely buzzing doesnt sound like plasma will work for you

Originally Posted by Flavius 

Well, if you don't see it, it must not exist in your universe. Congratulations, you are very lucky. But for those of us who DO see it, it is real.
If the Sammy plasma I'm getting tomorrow flickers like the plasmas in the stores, it's getting returned. I know what judder is, it was not judder, it was strobe light full screen extremely rapid flickering as you'd see on a 60HZ CRT computer monitor.
Google plasma and flicker, I am not the only one who sees this.

Originally Posted by jonnythan 

Maybe you're seeing the room lights flicker.

Originally Posted by whipit 

I'm sure he's seeing a 60hz flicker. When I walk through a store and a plasma is showing bright content it is easy to see this flicker out of the corner of my eye. In other words the screen is turning on and off at 60fps. In the 600 times per second only the first few cycles are bright enough to see then they get darker and the perception is a turned off screen. On the older plasmas the the brighter cycling is near the end of the timeframe. But they still flicker lights on or off.
At home this is less of a problem mainly because the tv is better calibrated and not as bright. I really never notice any issues from this and it's nothing like a 60hz pc crt which were nasty, I always go for the highest refresh rate adjustment first thing when setting one up.

Originally Posted by Gary McCoy 

The 60Hz flicker described is a phenomenon called "optical hetrodyne" and it happens when two sources of pulsing light are close to one another in frequency but not exactly matched, and one sees a flicker equal to the difference in the two frequencies. In this case the two frequencies are the 60Hz screen refresh and the 60Hz from flourescent lighting. It is exactly the same phenomenon as one used to see on old direct-view CRT computer monitors with screen refresh near 60Hz. If the two frequencies were well matched, you saw a rolling black bar representing the time when they were out of phase, and a bright bar midway in between when the intensity of both was maximum. If the two frequencies differed by 1Hz or more, you see the entire screen flicker.
Older direct-view CRT TV's avoided flicker by locking the vertical screen refresh to the powerline frequency. This technique is not easily applied to plasma displays. However if you are troubled by flicker you can eliminate it or reduce it greatly by replacing all the room lighting with old-fashioned, inefficient incandescent bulbs. These types of bulbs do not flicker much, compared to the compact flourescent or conventional flourescents used in homes, or the high-pressure mercury vapor bulbs used in big box stores or Best Buy.
Now you know the "other reason" that plasma displays are demo'd in relative darkness in the back of the store. The main one is to suppress reflections, but flicker reduction also happens.
If troubled by flicker, diagnosis of this problem is easy. Turn off all the room lighting one by one, and replace the offending bulbs.