Why should I buy a plasma TV vs an LCD TV?

I was told a plasma will burn out after so many hours of use. If you watch as much tv as I do, I’d go with an LCD. We just got a Sony Bravia, 46 inch. Great picture!

Have also heard that plasma’s have a life time of so many hours. I know someone who recently picked a plasma over an LCD because he watches a lot of football (soccer) and apparently fast moving objects like balls have a blurry ‘trail’ behind them as they move on LCDs. Don’t know if that’s a selling point for you.

You’re one of the founders are you not? I bow in your presence o’mighty one ;)

We have a 65” Plasma from Panasonic and love it. It has an amazing view angle, and the blacks are perfect. You can sit anywhere without any sort of distortion, and there is no ghosting or trailing. It was expensive, but well worth the price.

Love my 50” Panasonic plasma. Plasmas can suffer burn-in, but LCDs are spendier.

Plasma doesn’t last as long as LCD, and is more prone to image-burn.

LCD also has a size upper limit which is smaller than plasma. But that limit is increasing.

I’m also firmly in the LCD camp.

But, I think I recall hearing that plasmas are desirable in low-light applications. Like if you’re gonna put it in a window-less room for a home theater kind of application.

That said, there are LCD televisions on the market now with 10,000-to-1 contrast ratios… and Sharp recently previewed an LCD boasting 1,000,000-to-1 contrast ratio.

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Counterintuitively, LCDs actually burn more power when displaying black.

I recently bough a Panasonic plasma after doing extensive research. And I believe that if you’re after the best picture quality plasma is unbeatable. Try visiting a shop with calibrated displays and watch a good plasma (Pioneer or Panasonic) versus a good LCD. The difference is certainly noticeable. Burn-in is a minor issue now, as is the lifetime of around 20.000 hours.

Have a peek at this thread, has some more points of interest.

Really, plasma has gotten so good that you don’t really need to worry about burn-in any more.
It is also true that they are more preferable in low light conditions and are now to have more fluid motion. Really though, LCD and Plasma have become so similar, it should really be up to your eyes and your wallet.

How does “burn in” apply to TV? I only understand how it applied to computer monitors.

It’s the exact same idea as with monitors → If you leave an image up for way too long, it gets imprinted into the screen.

How would that happen on tv?

ESPN snail racing?

HAHAA. I suppose, given certain viewing habits or video games.

<nevermind you just said what I was gonna say>

@Bri_L…A good example of burn in is that permanent cloud image in the upper right hand corner of your tv. You know, the one that appeared after about hour 200 on the NES version of Super Mario Bros.

Say you were watching a DVD before you went on vacation. You look at the clock, you’re running 30 minutes late. You pause the DVD and run out of the house. One week later, you return to see that same paused screen still up there. You change to a TV channel, yet there is still an outline remaining.

That’s a bad burn in.

Sounds like personal experience stories?

…or when you watch normal TV on a widescreen so you have the black strips on either side, and then when you watch something in widescreen, you can still see where the black strip met the picture.

fyi, even LCDs join Plasmas in their own equivalent to CRT burn-in, called image persistence.