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Are all of my notions of Plasma Wrong?

post #1 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:14am
Thread Starter 
A friend of mine asked for some advice on buying a TV. He said he's looking for a 46" so I immediately told him at that size he would most likely be selecting between LCD's. I did suggest he look at the larger plasmas, but he said he was advised against (by the Circuit City guy) them do to room constraints. He says his room is bright because of overhead halogen lights. You don't see the reflection of the lights in the screen, but Bright Room was one of the reasons given.
Now I have a Pioneer Plasma, in a very bright room, but the windows are on the right and left side. No matter how bright it gets outside, you can still always see the screen. Now my LCD on the other hand seems to get darker(hazier grey) as it gets brighter outside.
Doesn't this go against the conventional wisdom?
As well, the salesperson told him that an LCD will have a wider viewing range, but I totally disagree with that. You can barely see the picture on his LCD from the wider viewing positions in his room.
Last but not least, the salesperson told him that LCD's have better black levels. Now I know that this isn't true, but all of the LCD's that Circuit City carries have better contrast ratios then the plasmas.
Now, I know that if he is buying a 46" TV, LCD would be the way to go, but now he doubts everything I say about AV.
Are all of my notions wrong? BTW my frame of referance is a Sharp Aquos LCD and a Pioneer PDP-5070 Plasma.
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post #2 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:18am
Thread Starter 
Also, when my room is at its brightest, I can see the TV screen, but I can barely see my laptop screen. This is a basic example of what I'm seeing between LCD's and Plasmas.
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post #3 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:23am
your laptop screen might be directly under a halogen light or on an angle that is causing more reflection. Is the laptop screen one of those high gloss types or standard matte finish. If you have halogen downlights that are adjustable then direct them appropriately away from the screen of the plasma
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post #4 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:29am
Thread Starter 
Laptop has a matte screen like many LCD TV's. This is not really a problem for me as If I need to use the laptop, I dont mind moving elsewhere. I'm more wondering about my notions of Plasma vs. LCD.
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post #5 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by footbag View Post

A friend of mine asked for some advice on buying a TV. He said he's looking for a 46" so I immediately told him at that size he would most likely be selecting between LCD's. I did suggest he look at the larger plasmas, but he said he was advised against (by the Circuit City guy) them do to room constraints. He says his room is bright because of overhead halogen lights. You don't see the reflection of the lights in the screen, but Bright Room was one of the reasons given.
Now I have a Pioneer Plasma, in a very bright room, but the windows are on the right and left side. No matter how bright it gets outside, you can still always see the screen. Now my LCD on the other hand seems to get darker(hazier grey) as it gets brighter outside.
Doesn't this go against the conventional wisdom?
As well, the salesperson told him that an LCD will have a wider viewing range, but I totally disagree with that. You can barely see the picture on his LCD from the wider viewing positions in his room.
Last but not least, the salesperson told him that LCD's have better black levels. Now I know that this isn't true, but all of the LCD's that Circuit City carries have better contrast ratios then the plasmas.
Now, I know that if he is buying a 46" TV, LCD would be the way to go, but now he doubts everything I say about AV.
Are all of my notions wrong? BTW my frame of referance is a Sharp Aquos LCD and a Pioneer PDP-5070 Plasma.

LCDs are definitely better for brighter viewing environments but thats about the only scenario they beat out plasmas for image quality. Viewing angles are bettr on an LCD? Is this what salesmen are telling people? Freegin NO way! LCD viewing angles are terrible....unless you like washed-out images and contrast changes. The only good seat in the house with an LCD is the dead-center.

When you say all of the LCDs have better Contrast ratios, I suspect you are talking about the mfg claims which are complete horse dung. All that 10,000 to 1 crap is silly. Once these sets get measured in real-world conditions they usually end up at like 800 to 1 at the best.

On the other hand, the Pio 5080 was measured at like 3000:1 contrast and that was one of the best measurements EVER for a flat panel. The moral of the story is that Contrast ratios on good plasmas is much better than any LCD. Now, when talking second-toer brands the rules might change but Pio and Sharp are top sets so at least you guys are working with good products.

Black-levels are also better on plasma which is a KEY component for overall image quality since thats where your "depth" comes from. Black performance effects ALL colors and shading/shadow detail, etc, etc.

Nothing against a good LCD but in the end, plasma is king!
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post #6 of 12
2/18/08 at 6:38am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, everything the salesperson put into his head went against my conventional wisdom. Just making sure I'm not totally wrong. I did begin by telling him that at 46" he would most likely be buying an LCD.
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post #7 of 12
2/18/08 at 7:27am
*waits for obligatory: "I work(ed) at [insert B&M store here] and I was one of the best sales people in the store/district/region/country/world. I always made sure that blah, blah, blah..."*
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post #8 of 12
2/18/08 at 7:27am
I dont know what Ccity you walked into, but as far as contrast ratio the plasmas have better ratios....anyway, Let me tell you this, as a guy that sees this DAILY, i work at ccity but im not a sales person, should be but im not, Im the guy that stocks the shelves.....Anyway, back to topic, I see the sales people tell customers all the time stuff that is 100% not true....for example, a guy was looking at for a TV for gaming but he wanted the best blacks, the manager of the TV dept continues to tell him that if he wants the best blacks go with and LCD and that gaming is best on an LCD....i continued to laugh and walked away to continue my job, then he totally missed hooking this gamer up with a home theater...anyway, moral of the story, dont ever listen to what a Ccity sales person tells you...they really dont know what they are talking about.

Back to topic though, at 46, i would highly recommend your friend looking at a 50 inch plasma, i say if he cant go Pioneer (cause of price) go with a Panny (pz700) or a Sammy (5084)...but that my opinion, when it comes to lcds ive noticed alot of motion blur lately, probably just how the 'Great TV employees' have them calibrated but yea atleast with plasma motion blur isnt an issue.
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post #9 of 12
2/18/08 at 7:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by footbag View Post

Thanks, everything the salesperson put into his head went against my conventional wisdom. Just making sure I'm not totally wrong. I did begin by telling him that at 46" he would most likely be buying an LCD.

If your friend can wait until April that won't be true. http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...00000000005702 And I'll bet that 11th gen 1080p Panasonic will cost less than the 46" lcd.
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post #10 of 12
2/18/08 at 7:47am
Thread Starter 
"at 46, i would highly recommend your friend looking at a 50 inch plasma"

That was kind of my point to him. I said at 46" you'll be looking at an LCD. At 50" you would have the opportunity to buy a plasma.

At this point it seems he has written off my advice and he has already bought an LCD. I made the suggestion that he get a "swivel-tilt plasma mount" and he made the comment "I didn't get a plasma, I got an LCD!" I didn't bother to tell him they use the same mounts. It is a bit of a shame because I love to help people set up their equipment for best performance, but now he probably won't ask for my help. I even have about 5 extra heavily sheilded HDMI and DVI cables, but they probably sold him one already.


Oh well, my home theater rocks!!!

Also, we had this conversation during the Superbowl.
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post #11 of 12
2/18/08 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by footbag View Post

"at 46, i would highly recommend your friend looking at a 50 inch plasma"

That was kind of my point to him. I said at 46" you'll be looking at an LCD. At 50" you would have the opportunity to buy a plasma.

At this point it seems he has written off my advice and he has already bought an LCD. I made the suggestion that he get a "swivel-tilt plasma mount" and he made the comment "I didn't get a plasma, I got an LCD!" I didn't bother to tell him they use the same mounts. It is a bit of a shame because I love to help people set up their equipment for best performance, but now he probably won't ask for my help. I even have about 5 extra heavily sheilded HDMI and DVI cables, but they probably sold him one already.


Oh well, my home theater rocks!!!

Also, we had this conversation during the Superbowl.

Every single one of my friends/co-workers that asked for my advice either ended up ignoring it or being swayed by a sales drone into getting lcd's. Every single one of them (one grudgingly) also has to admit they have a little buyers remorse when they see my calibrated plasma displaying a quality source.
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post #12 of 12
2/18/08 at 11:28am
coming from a past LCD owner of the 71F and XBR4, best LCDs out there, and now an owner of the pio 5080 here are my following conclusions

the pio has deeper blacks and a more pure black. IN a dark room, the LCD looks flat in comparison.

Pio has more natural colors and with mroe depth also

pio has better viewing angles (never gets faded from the side)

No burn in issues

no lag time when playing games

A guy at sears was telling customers that plasmas are extinct! hahah
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