New TV!

[Red_Thunder]

I currently have a 32" Yusmart LCD HD its not the best example of a LCD ive ever seen. Im planning to upgrade to somthing larger/better quality.

Been looking at the :

Samsung LE46A556P 46" LCD TV

and

Samsung PS50A556S 50" Plasma TV

Anyone know if 100hz is worth getting? i do abit of gaming on my TV (ps3/360) but not a great deal. I mainly just watch sky and films.
Most of which isnt HD, but i guess its worth investing to some degree.

Ive been told LCD > Plasma?

Just after opinions really.

Cheers guys!

[Gandalf]

LCD > Plasma for gaming due to there being no risk of screen burn (though modern plasmas are not as susceptable)

LCD < Plasma for movies and TV.

//www.avforums.com is the best place to go for views and reviews on any equipment you're looking at.

[delankster]

a friend of mine just picked up the samsung 50" plasma and i must say its one of the best pictures i've seen on a tv. Well worth the money in my eyes and if i was in the market for one then that would be my first port of call

[Red_Thunder]

Ah right, what makes the Plasma > LCD for TV?

The LCD has higher dynamic contrast then the plasma, my current has 10,000:1 the Plasma has 20,000:1 does it make THAT much difference in terms of colour quality?
I recently bought a Syncmaster 226CW for my PC and i find that the black isnt really THAT black (strange concept i know) is this back light bleed? Could either of these TV's suffer from this, when the lights go down and theres a darker scene in a film.

Im glad your both saying Plasma, its bigger and cheaper lol!

[Gandalf]

ok, I have LCD. Main reason. 90% of it's use is games, 9% movies and probably 1% TV. (Rarely watch TV now anyway)

The issues I have on mine are banding (though not as bad as some) and clouding, otherwise known as backlight bleed. In games it isn't noticable and in films it's ok in light scenes but dark scenes it is rather annoying. I can eliminate this by turning on the lights, but that ruins the whole 'home cinema' experience.

As you mainly watch sky and films then get the plasma as that samsung supports 24hz playback and will be perfect for the PS3 and bluray.

Finally, as you say most isn't HD then again plasma will suit you better as it will handle SD images far better than LCD will though some LCD's are pretty good at this, most aren't.

There is a thread somewhere on avforums about the main differences and advantages/disadvantages of each but I can't find it at the moment. A quick google comes up with this link on tesco of all places (I guess they're good for something!) that has a comparison table there.

At the end of the day it needs to be your choice and the best thing you can do is go to a home cinema store and see some in action. Don't go to currys or comet and see them as their showrooms are all far to brightly lit to be of any real world comparison. A proper cinema store will have a viewing room for you to check out some screens in more realistic conditions.

[T-Bag]

Personally I've always gone for LCD. I use mine hooked up to my computer for watching videos (let that computer hardware upscale to HD for you), play some last gen consoles, and watch freeview (through a tuner in my computer so it's upscaled again).
The main reason why I pick LCD dates back to when Plasma had shorter lifespans (ie their contras ratio would halve within a year to 18 months).
If you get a good LCD, the picture quality stands up to plasma quality. They're very similar now. I think like for like quality plasma are still slightly cheaper.
As for contrast ratio, I wouldn't take their figures too much into consideration. I would go to a shop and find one you like. (then buy online). You can read as many specification sheets as you like but you won't know which you prefer without seeing it in person.
For our first HDTV we went to the shop expecting to buy an LG or a Samsung and walked away with a Toshiba. Picture quality matched the top screens and it had more HDMI ports than the others so was an easy choice.

[delankster]

i find that the black isnt really THAT black

that was one of the things that impressed me with the plasma
the blacks seemed .... more, well black, for lack of a better word :g:

[TeaLeaf]

I just went Plasma and the picture quality including lack of screen motion blur (which I would have thought was important for gaming) was what swung it for me.  I went for the Panasonic 46PZ81B and am loving it.

TL.

[kregoron]

LCD has some advantages, they dont burin the picture if you fall afsleep to some still picture, generate less heat.

But so do plasma, plasma generates much nicer and livelike colours, runs a bit hotter, can get burnins (tho new models are almost impossible to do it on, tho if you do, its easy to remove )

I actually regret getting my 46" Sony, eventho it was one of the best LCD's on the market, especially when i had my m8's 46" Panasonic plasma standing next to it. i almost cried.

Id go for plasma, to be honest

About the lifespan of plasma, it worried me and my m8 alot too, until we actually heard to average lifespan. The average lifespan of a generally well renowned brand like sony/panasonic/samsung, the lifespan is measured in the time the contrast is halfed, so when the contrast is halfed the manufactured actually consider em dead
But a brand like samsung has a minimum lenght of 350.000 ACTIVE hours. which with a bit of simple math skills is around 39 years active non stop.. so i dont think its the panel we need to worry about, more general electronics malfunctions like every other electronic device in your home

[Red_Thunder]

Cheers for the feed back guys! Was going to go for the plasma after your responses then i noticed the plasma has gone up by £150 quid over night :|
I cant believe it, went into the local curries and its up there too. MAAAAN!