LCD?or LED or Plasma?

andy8442

I want/need a new TV for our kitchen. 37-42" about £500.

Already got a Panasonic,and very happy with this but it's 4 yrs old now, and was wondering what else is out there in terms or new technology etc.

All thoughts welcome.

bengalknights

LED is the new technology out which has better picture clarity and much more power efficient compared to lcds and plasmas, other than that there hasnt been much change technology wise.

andrewjf

bengalknights wrote: »

LED is the new technology out which has better picture clarity and much more power efficient compared to lcds and plasmas, other than that there hasnt been much change technology wise.

Just to clear something up - an 'LED TV' is just an LCD panel with an LED backlight.

DWatts

bengalknights wrote: »

LED is the new technology out which has better picture clarity

It's brighter, but not clearer. As Andrew said, it's just a different type of backlight.

LED is probably the best all-around option. Plasma is good for watching films because they tend to have better contrast, and LCD's are cheap. LED's are brighter.

leemoss

Obviously it'll vary panel to panel but when I was in an electronics store in Japan recently they had all 3 setup beside each other. The LED TV really stood apart from the non-LED LCD and plasma TV. The difference in brightness was very clear as said that though it doesn't particularly mean its a better picture.

Akenaton

Then there's viewing angles to take into consideration.
Sometimes just a few degrees to left or right, or looking upwards/downwards can make a significant difference to brightness/contrast levels.

This is where you need to be careful when buying online because the often quoted 170 / 170 deg don't always bear out in practice from my experience.

This seems to vary, not between the type, ie Plasma, LCD, Led Backlit, but between different manufacturers and models.

If you think this might be a problem, depending on how the tv will be used, then it's best to take a closer look at the tv in a showroom.

Also sound is another factor. The smaller the screen, the tinnier the sound.
Even with large screens the sound isn't always great. The problem is that the panels these days are so slim there isn't much room for decent speakers.

Also Freeview seems to come as standard with a built-in tuner these days.
That can often provide up to 4 free HD channels, if the TV is HD. But don't forget an (external) aerial will be required for Freeview, and you need to be within range of a main transmitter or repeater transmitting the Freeview channels. (A repeater will only transmit Freeview after Digital Switchover in your region and may not transmit all the commercial muxes, but you should still get all the main channels, plus BBC3 and BBC4 and a few others, probably the HD channels).

I bracketed "external" above because it may be possible to use your existing tv aerial, or install one in the loft if the signal is reasonable in your area, or even possibly to use a set-top aerial if the signal is really good.

We bought 3 TVs recently so we had to look very closely, taking all the above into account, ending up with

Display:
Screen type: LCD
Backlight type: Edge LED

They are really bright, superb colour and phenomenal contrast levels.
Although mainly used on Sky, all the aerials above were put to use to give some backup and viewing options.


If you say you're "very happy" with your present tv then it may be best to stick with that for now, unless there is a particular feature missing that you want.

UncleZen

My suggestion: Let your eyes do the choosing.

Foggster

Just a little warning, currently the sound from the lower priced LEDs is pretty poor. I recently bought a Samsung Smart LED and although the picture is pretty good, the sound is appalling!!

As well as using your eyes, use your ears too.

If anyone has any recommendations for a good (and cheapish) speaker system, I am all ears! :rotfl:

funkycoldribena

Foggster wrote: »

Just a little warning, currently the sound from the lower priced LEDs is pretty poor. I recently bought a Samsung Smart LED and although the picture is pretty good, the sound is appalling!!

As well as using your eyes, use your ears too.

If anyone has any recommendations for a good (and cheapish) speaker system, I am all ears! :rotfl:

Ive got a Samsung LED and the sound out of the box was terrible but changing the settings to inbuilt surround sound made a massive difference.

Nuclear_Themes

I had a 50" Samsung and the sound was crap. I was very disappointed as Samsung come very well recommended. I recently picked up a 42" LG LED which can be had for around £450. The picture and sound are both great!

InsideInsurance

To get a proper idea you need to see the TVs separately and in a viewing room.

LED are by far the brightest and so when you see it next to a Plasma the plasma will inevitably look dull in comparison, our eyes are attracted to the bright shiny thing.

If you ever go to a dedicated home cinema forum 75% of those there will say you should get Plasma because the pictures are better, colours more accurate, blacks blacker and motion is handled better. They are however dimmer and the screens all have a gloss finish and so in brightly lit rooms can seem dark or suffer from reflections.

I personally did just buy a new TV and whilst I do agree plasma is better for picture quality I ended up with an LCD. The screen does suffer a little from the known issues of clouding (irregular lighting) but is acceptable and the brightness was needed for the room it was going into.