LCD or plasma?? Which is best for 42" TV?

torianut

Just looking for some advice please from those of you in the know! We are looking to get a 42" HD ready TV that is wall mountable and don't know the difference between LCD & Plasma and which would be best.

Any advice - or recommendations of good value 42" TV would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

emmaroids

lcd`s are the best imo, plasmas can burn out.

for a decent 42" you should be looking to spend between 900 and 1500 quid.

superscaper

emmaroids wrote: »

lcd`s are the best imo, plasmas can burn out.

If we were living five years ago that might have been true. But plasma tv is now in its 8th generation. Typical lifetime now for plasma doesn't make it a disadvantage anymore. As for LCD, it's only very very recently they've been technologically capable of making decent screens for above 40".

You're best bet is actually going into electrical/tv/hifi stores and actually viewing the tvs and determine which you prefer.

poe.tuesday

I personally prefer LCD's and they are deemed as being better but like superscraper says, go and have a look as see for yourself, make sure however the tv is being fed with real tv images and not fed off a pc etc as this will not give you the image that you will actually see at home, really take a look at dark programmes as this is where the quality of your screen comes into play

superscaper

poe.tuesday wrote: »

I personally prefer LCD's and they are deemed as being better but like superscraper says, go and have a look as see for yourself, make sure however the tv is being fed with real tv images and not fed off a pc etc as this will not give you the image that you will actually see at home, really take a look at dark programmes as this is where the quality of your screen comes into play

Good advice from poe.tuesday.
Also be sure to view it from a distance, for the size of screen your talking of an optimal viewing distance of something like six feet. Looking at it up close won't give you the overall picture (if you forgive the pun).

I also used to prefer LCDs but since we got our panasonic plasma I have to say that I think it is superior to most LCDs of that size.

Personally and from a professional interest point of view I can't wait until the Organic LED TVs come out.

poe.tuesday

the view distance for tvs varies on the tv you have, for crts(standard def) it is 4 times the diagonal, for HD it is approx 2 times

have a look here, great little site http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/Tv-viewing-distance.html

what most comsumers forget is that they go and buy these lovely big boys toys and the majority of the images that they will view willl be in SD, when and SD image is seen on a HD screen - oh it can be nasty, and then if it's 4x3 then out comes the pillarboxing, even nastier

when you check out the screen also look for movement and if it smears, this cna end up being quite nausiating to look at, try to get them to put on a channel showing the worst case scinario, this will be and americal tv programme, something with lots of blacks and fast movement, if you could get something like Miami Vice that would be great, it will look horrible, at least you will see what it will look like of each of the types of screens

good luck and I hope it lives up to your expectations

personally I would never get a plasma or lcd, I will always stick with CTR's as long as I can but there again I do look count pixels for a living ;-)

poe.tuesday

superscaper wrote: »

Personally and from a professional interest point of view I can't wait until the Organic LED TVs come out.

you should see true uncompressed HD on a sony CTR HD monitor - now that's the dogs ....