Plasma Or Lcd Around 40 Inch

[ton]

Hi all

Need help to choose a tv between 37 to 42 inch for the lounge room. Looking at the good stuff panasonic sony pioneer. Price 3 to 5 grand but it would be nice to come home with some change. Saw a Schaub Lorenz 37 inch LCD full high def for $2.900 that seemed good value for a full high def LCD. The Lcd colors seem strong but the room where the tv will be used gets lots of light and at certian times the tv will get a lot of refelection and i thought LCD tv were beter in bright light. The tv will be mainly used for sport with the odd movie chucked in plus foxtel. Seats are 2 to 3 meters away but can be moved.I know this has probably be covered before but full high def was not out then but im not sure about full high def and not going to fork out for a high def dvd player till they get a lot cheaper. I just want a good tv in a bright room and find looking at the stores confusing. any pointers would be appricated plasma or LCD,, Full high def or just high def

[AndrewWilliams]

Full high def is pretty much a waste of time on such a small display. Personally, I'd be looking at a 50 inch Panasonic HD plasma (1366x768) (about $4K) or if you desperately want full HD, a 60 inch Sony R series. (about $5K)

You really need about 60 inches to get the full benefit of 1080 material unless you've got a very small room and/or you're sitting very close (1.5-2m)

[Alfred Smee]

Full high def is pretty much a waste of time on such a small display. Personally, I'd be looking at a 50 inch Panasonic HD plasma (1366x768) (about $4K) or if you desperately want full HD, a 60 inch Sony R series. (about $5K)

You really need about 60 inches to get the full benefit of 1080 material unless you've got a very small room and/or you're sitting very close (1.5-2m)

This is sound advice from Andrew. A 37" LCD will quickly date as it is too small. 50"-52" displays at 1280x720 or 1366x768 are more than adequate at 3m viewing distance and probably todays choice for your average loungeroom.

[jon1]

This is sound advice from Andrew. A 37" LCD will quickly date as it is too small. 50"-52" displays at 1280x720 or 1366x768 are more than adequate at 3m viewing distance and probably todays choice for your average loungeroom.

[jon1]

I, too, have been trying to decide between LCD and plasma...e.g., Schaub-Lorenz VMD4700PHF (47" LCD with HDMI, 1920x1080, RRP $5499) vs Panasonic TH-50PX600A (50" Plasma, HDMI, but limited to 1366x768, RRP $5199 - Street price around $4000).

I would like to attach a PC to the large screen display, not purely for Home Theatre, but at times to use the screen as a fall-back monitor with enough resolution to be able to type documents, surf the Web, etc., without getting a headache.

I am fairly confident that an LCD will provide a sound monitor base without any flicker or 'jiggling' of displayed documents, but am uncertain of the behaviour of Plasma in this regard: so far, I have not been able to see a PC displayed over a Plasma screen - major stores do not seem interested in such.

I would love to hear of any experiences in this regard, especially regarding the Panasonic TH-50PX600A, or any other similar specced plasma (50" with HDMI) - e.g., Pioneer PDP-507XDA...

Thanks in anticipation!

[ton]

Thanks for the reply guys plasma or lcd for a very bright room its like living in a bloody glasshouse no aircon either

[AndrewWilliams]

If the room is very bright, LCD is definitely the go. If you're using it for general PC use, LCD is better too since plasma tends to suffer from burn-in with static images. At 47" 1920x1080 you'll need to sit no more than 1.5m away to read text without suffering eye strain. 1366x768 is not too shabby for a PC desktop and may let you sit further away.

[jon1]

Thanks for that, AndrewWilliams and for the speed of reply - sounds good advice.

Do others agree Plasma is not the go for use (intermittent) as a PC monitor without causing eyestrain?

[ton]

Thanks again

Yes room is bloody bright great room like being outside but your inside if you get my drift..I have a panasonic TH42 pv30 plasma in the bedroom im very happy with but for the glass house or back room LCD is sounding like the way to go i am going out to buy on tuesday and panasonic dont make a big LCD so mabe sharp sony will have a look at the new samsung but not to keen on them..I do like plasma but the bright room...Any more idears thanks in advance ..ps it will only be used as tv no internet

[Alfred Smee]

Thanks for that, AndrewWilliams and for the speed of reply - sounds good advice.

Do others agree Plasma is not the go for use (intermittent) as a PC monitor without causing eyestrain?

A much bigger problem will be screen burn. See the dozens of other posts on this forum about why you should not display any fixed image on a plasma screen.

IMHO the best display for $3k-$5k would be a LCoS or DLP RPTV if you can accomodate the depth of the TV (300-400mm). These displays don't suffer from reflections caused by bright windows etc and can easily be used as PC monitor. You would get plenty of change from $5k with a DLP RPTV.

[PanaSung]

I wonder what a 720p set will do to a Bray or HD DVD 1080 source?

[Owen]

A much bigger problem will be screen burn. See the dozens of other posts on this forum about why you should not display any fixed image on a plasma screen.

IMHO the best display for $3k-$5k would be a LCoS or DLP RPTV if you can accomodate the depth of the TV (300-400mm). These displays don't suffer from reflections caused by bright windows etc and can easily be used as PC monitor. You would get plenty of change from $5k with a DLP RPTV.

Screen burn is grossly exaggerated.

If you have a bit of common sense and don’t leave images with bright colour or white on screen for extended periods, you don’t have to worry.

A screen saver set to 10 minutes is advisable, and it is important that you keep the contrast settings modest.

The danger time for phosphor based displays is the run in period of about 100 hours, during which extra care needs to be taken.

I wonder what a 720p set will do to a Bray or HD DVD 1080 source?

Scale it down and display it just fine.

Unless you sit close to the screen, you wont see any diferance.

[Black Dawg Down]

Screen burn is grossly exaggerated.

If you have a bit of common sense and don’t leave images with bright colour or white on screen for extended periods, you don’t have to worry.

Not really. Today's plasmas are still prone to image retention or burn-in. My 7 months old plasma developed IR after watching the Aust Open tennis, even with the commercial breaks.

I guess I'll never know whether it's IR/burn-in since the tv imploded and is getting replaced. But the IR was still there after one week. A bit too long for comfort IMO.

[Owen]

Like many people, you may have the contrast set too high, it makes a big difference.

From what you said, it would appear the image retention went away and is no longer a problem.

[Black Dawg Down]

Like many people, you may have the contrast set too high, it makes a big difference.

From what you said, it would appear the image retention went away and is no longer a problem.

I set the contrast at 78 which is what many Pana owners are using in this forum. In any case, even if it's too high it shouldn't be a problem as I've had the set for 7 months.

Nope, I didn't say the IR went away but the tv is being replaced because of some other problem before I can see if the IR goes away.

[Alfred Smee]

Screen burn is grossly exaggerated.

You have to be kidding There are many posts in these forums about plasmas exhibiting the problem so I wouldn't be calling it exagguration. Get your head out of the sand dude.

[Owen]

All Phosphor bases displays are susceptible to burn in, and the most susceptible of all are CRT RPTV’s and front projectors, because they have a very small phosphor surface area that needs to be driven very hard in order to get adequate light output.

I have been using CRT RPTV’s for 7 years as PC monitors, the first one for 4 years and the second for two. A significant amount of time is spend displaying the Windows desktop and applications as well as 4:3 content with black bars.

Neither set has suffered any noticeable burn in.

I was always nervus about burn in, but since I am very careful about contrast settings it has turned out to be a non issue.

Most Plasma’s I see are set way too bright to be safe from burn in with PC applications or games so it is little wonder people have problems.

Just because other people are using a given setting on a given type of Plasma does not make it right. Unless you have calibration equipment that can show you how many foot lamberts of light output your Plasma is delivering, you just don’t know how hard you are driving the Phosphor and therefore how likely burn in will be.

Settings you can get away with for video are not appropriate for PC use.

Phosphor is most easily damaged when new, but you must still take care to avoid problems, even when the display is fully run in.

With appropriate care, burn in is not a problem.

[mich1503559502]

All Phosphor bases displays are susceptible to burn in, and the most susceptible of all are CRT RPTV’s and front projectors, because they have a very small phosphor surface area that needs to be driven very hard in order to get adequate light output.

I have been using CRT RPTV’s for 7 years as PC monitors, the first one for 4 years and the second for two. A significant amount of time is spend displaying the Windows desktop and applications as well as 4:3 content with black bars.

Neither set has suffered any noticeable burn in.

I was always nervus about burn in, but since I am very careful about contrast settings it has turned out to be a non issue.

Most Plasma’s I see are set way too bright to be safe from burn in with PC applications or games so it is little wonder people have problems.

Just because other people are using a given setting on a given type of Plasma does not make it right. Unless you have calibration equipment that can show you how many foot lamberts of light output your Plasma is delivering, you just don’t know how hard you are driving the Phosphor and therefore how likely burn in will be.

Settings you can get away with for video are not appropriate for PC use.

Phosphor is most easily damaged when new, but you must still take care to avoid problems, even when the display is fully run in.

With appropriate care, burn in is not a problem.

alot of av purists like yourself like to see every pixel of detail, and the only way alot of screens can handle that is to have it set at a very modest brightness and contrast.

that however is not for everyone, and alot of people (myself included) choose to trade off a bit of that detail (without going overboard) and crank the brightness and contrast up a bit to give a vibrant picture. the thing is at that level, a plasma will burn in but an LCD wont - which is a large reason why my next screen will be an LCD not a plasma.

[Trojan]

Whether plasmas are susceptible to burn in or not, I chose LCD because I don't want to go home to find my wife paused a Wiggles DVD cos the baby needed attention and left the image there all day!!

For me, I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of image quality for the piece of mind that my non techincal other half will not accidentally burn an image into the screen.

[AndrewWilliams]

...alot of people (myself included) choose to trade off a bit of that detail (without going overboard) and crank the brightness and contrast up a bit to give a vibrant picture.

* cringe *

[jon1]

Thanks for that, AndrewWilliams and for the speed of reply - sounds good advice.

Do others agree Plasma is not the go for use (intermittent) as a PC monitor without causing eyestrain?

My, I did set off a train with my query - but all good stuff and a great help. Thanks, everyone.

[mich1503559502]

* cringe *

my preference, is generally to keep roughly the same settings as are deault in most brands eg pana, or sony. i think that to reduce burn-in as in owens post the settings need to be significantly toned down from that. my cringing comes when i see a brand new LCD or Plasma toned down to look like the 20yr old CRT its replacing - but there are definately different frames of mind on this and i dont at all expect everyone to agree.

[Owen]

Myself and many others do not turn down the contrast and colour to prevent screen burn, but do so because we cant stand the ridicules contrast, over brightness and unnatural colour of the default settings.

Sony in particular are guilty of using the most over the top default settings on all their TV’s. Their LCD’s deserve special mention for providing the most tragically unnatural and overblown settings of any display I have ever seen. How anyone can stand to watch them out of direct sun light is a mystery to me.

Even Sony massive SXRD RPTV’s are unbearably bright at default settings in a domestic environment. I don’t think even one owner of these sets that contributes to this form is using anywhere near the default settings, as they are painful to the eye.

The big problem with most digital displays is that you can’t turn them down far enough for viewing in dim or dark environment. Room lighting is usually required to prevent eye strain, and that’s probably a good thing in a way, as poor blacks levels are disguised by room lighting.

Having said that, the average consumer is drawn to super exaggerated over bright images like moths to a flame.

There is no accounting for taste I suppose, and each to his own.

[mich1503559502]

Myself and many others do not turn down the contrast and colour to prevent screen burn, but do so because we cant stand the ridicules contrast, over brightness and unnatural colour of the default settings.

Sony in particular are guilty of using the most over the top default settings on all their TV’s. Their LCD’s deserve special mention for providing the most tragically unnatural and overblown settings of any display I have ever seen. How anyone can stand to watch them out of direct sun light is a mystery to me.

Even Sony massive SXRD RPTV’s are unbearably bright at default settings in a domestic environment. I don’t think even one owner of these sets that contributes to this form is using anywhere near the default settings, as they are painful to the eye.

The big problem with most digital displays is that you can’t turn them down far enough for viewing in dim or dark environment. Room lighting is usually required to prevent eye strain, and that’s probably a good thing in a way, as poor blacks levels are disguised by room lighting.

Having said that, the average consumer is drawn to super exaggerated over bright images like moths to a flame.

There is no accounting for taste I suppose, and each to his own.

gotta admit - even i turn down the settings on the sony LCDs. also gotta admit that as time goes on that the default settings have got brighter and higher in contrast and in some cases are way over the top. i figure its cos all the flat panels starte so far behinf CRTs in terms of the contrast and brightness and contrast, so they were always preset to show the brightest they could do, but yeah now, sony's especially, are jut too much. i think the pana LCDs straight out of the box look awsome tho. i must be a moth - cos i cant look away!

[Doug1503559538]

Just recalibrate the settigns every year or so with DVE. I found that the settings were identical at the end of year 1 and year 2 on my Philips Plasma so I haven't bothered recalibrating since.

I do notice that friends Plasma's and LCD's seem to be very bright and over coloured compared to my correctly set-up plasma.