LCD TVs

[El_Gringo_Grande]

The discussion of BluRay/HD DVD has once again gotten me thinking about my next purchase of video equipment which I hope will be by next Christmas.

My question is about the longevity of LCD TVs. I don't know if they are the same technology as LCD computer monitors but I have noticed something that bothers me.

Of the 5 LCD monitors I use, three of them have developed defects. Two of them very serious ones. A few lines have appeared going from the top to the bottom in various colors. The other one has two dead pixels pretty much in the center of the screen.

The two that have not developed problems are only a year or two old. (And one of them has a brief color shift to blue every couple of hours. But that could be the video card so I don't count it.)

Is this common in LCD TV's? I would hate to spend a couple grand on a TV then two years from now have these defects show up.

Is plasma any better? I have heard it degrades slowly over time but that doesn't worry me much if the loss in quality is too bad.

What I really want is DLP projection but they are becoming hard to find. Plus my wife likes how skinny the flat panels are.

[Grieg]

Having sold and supported lots of different LCD TV's... yes, it can happen a lot more than people think. I would say it is common, but not so common as to keep the technology from being one of the best sellers in the industry. Key here is to get a panel which is well manufactured. Sharp, Samsung, Sony all have excellent LCD displays. While the base technology is the same, TV's typically do not have the as high of a native resolution as Computer monitors. Computer montiors thus have more individual LCD pixels, which means more chances of one of the pixels failing. (That is an over simplification, but still fairly accurate.)

Plasma is better in some ways. Better color accuracy, better viewing from off angles, better blacks, and they are generally cheaper in sizes 42" and up than similarly sized LCDs.

Plasma is worse in that: the panels are heavy, consume a lot more electricity, produce a lot more heat, and can typically only go up to about 8000 feet in altitude. (For us Colorado people, thats an important thing.)

Plasma does have the ability to burn in. What is burn in? Let's say you play xbox, and play a racing game for 4 hours. There are parts of the image which do not move, the speedometer for example. Now, if you were to change the channel, you could see a ghost image of the speedometer on the screen, as it had burned in. The nice thing about today's plasmas is that this typically is not a permanent burn in. After a few hours of watching normal TV, the panel corrects this and removes the burn in. Game manufacturers are also getting wise to this, and are producing games with less and less stagnant images in their games. So... is this an issue? Not really. Unless you leave a frozen image on the screen for 8+ hours, you probably won't cause permanent damage.

Also, both LCD and Plasma panels will lose intensity with age. Plasmas will last longer, last time I checked the stats on them. LCD's use fluorescent tubes to back-light the LCD panel, and if this burns out, you have to replace it.

Personally, I think Plasma is a better investment. Panasonic and Pioneer are the 2 top manufacturers at this time. Panasonic pretty much dominates the industry, in fact. Their panels are cheaper, look better, and have an excellent proven reliability compared to most of their competition. Pioneer panels are a lot more expensive, but are pretty much the best image in plasma you can buy. Go take a look at the Pioneer Elite 50" 1080P plasma, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, if you do go rear projection such as DLP, take a look at Sony's rear projections. They use a LCOS technology which I think is better than DLP. Both technologies use a lamp to produce the light for the image, and at best you're going to get 3000 hours of usage before needing to sink another 200 bucks into it for a replacement bulb. (I could go into the pro's and cons of those 2 technologies, but you don't want to read all that crap. hehe.) DLP/LCOS is best if you're going into very large TV's, 60" and up.

Ok so... It kind of depends on what size you are looking for.

60+ inches = DLP / LCOS.
42 to 50 = Plasma
30 to 40 = LCD
20 to 30 = CRT (yes, this is still the best image you can buy.)
(You actually won't have much of a choice on plasma vs LCD in less than 42" sizes. I don't know of any 30" plasma TVs.)

Hope that helps.

[El_Gringo_Grande]

Thanks for the info.

It is really hard to find a DLP projection under 50". I am wanting something in the 46" range. So I am leaning toward plasma. I just like their picture better. Probably because of black level. All my current tvs are CRT and the blacks look odd on all these fancy new technologies. It is funny that the lowly CRT has the best picture. Especially in the black area. Actually the best picture I have ever seen is on my Mitsubishi 21" CRT computer monitor.

One thing I am worried about is that it will be the main tv and be on pretty much all day. What I have read is that half life of plasmas for panasonic is about 60k hours. Would you say that is about right? If so that would give me about 16 years of use, which is fine.

[Acreo Aeneas]

Some manufacturers actually have started producing actively 52"+ LCD HDTVs (ex. Samsung, Spectre). I believe Toshiba has one that is 60".

[Grieg]

Originally Posted by El_Gringo_Grande

Thanks for the info.

It is really hard to find a DLP projection under 50". I am wanting something in the 46" range. So I am leaning toward plasma. I just like their picture better. Probably because of black level. All my current tvs are CRT and the blacks look odd on all these fancy new technologies. It is funny that the lowly CRT has the best picture. Especially in the black area. Actually the best picture I have ever seen is on my Mitsubishi 21" CRT computer monitor.

One thing I am worried about is that it will be the main tv and be on pretty much all day. What I have read is that half life of plasmas for panasonic is about 60k hours. Would you say that is about right? If so that would give me about 16 years of use, which is fine.

CRT is one of the best display types for quality, hands down. The problems with the technology are obvious: Big, heavy, extremely expensive to produce larger than 30 inches...

But yes, to answer your question, that seems about right for a plasma set. Honestly, it is what I would purchase.

With Panasonic continuing to slaughter the competition, I'd go with one of their 42" 1080P plasmas. It won't set you back like the Pioneer 1080P will and still looks really good.

[ScratchMonkey]

Originally Posted by Grieg

CRT is one of the best display types for quality, hands down. The problems with the technology are obvious: Big, heavy, extremely expensive to produce larger than 30 inches...

Don't forget disposal.

[Tonk]

sony makes a 70'' lcd, best buy also has a store brand of TVs that are actually Samsung (best lcd screen imho) a 42'' LCD Insignia(the brand) goes for $996 around here, i bought one, and my friend bought one, and neither of them had problems, they are 1080P with black blacks, and white whites, and with my BD player, its better graphics than life itself