Plasma or LCD at 42" ? Which is better ? Pros and Cons?

[Television123]

I am contemplating on buying a 42" plasma or lcd tv however i cannot make my mind up which is better and why? any help please.

[RobDickinson]

Plasma remains better for watching movies I think

[Television123]

I have the dilemma, I like watching sports in good quality picture which someone has told me is better on a plasma however I do tend to go on my playstation a fair bit and wondered what the difference was like in graphics and if they changed at all so long as I had my hdmi cable connected.

[PJ S]

Plasma, Plasma, Plasma.
There was a time when LCD merited contemplation for heavy gaming use, but those days are long gone.
So, Plasma, Plasma, Plasma.

[Television123]

as you are already aware my preference is LG, here are the two i am currently thinking about http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lg-42ld450-42-full-hd... lcd
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lg-42pj550-42-hd-read... plasma

theres obviously the debate where the frame rate is much higher on the plasma which allows sports like football, rugby, etc to "flow" and be easier to watch on the eye where as the LCD tv is 1080p HD Ready with the pixel resolution 1920x1080 delivers a sharper quality of detail. the sale ends jan 3rd and would love to make the decision before to save a fair bit.

[Nimbus]

slight thread derail..

are either of these actually any good ?

I realise trying to get a back to back test at Currys will be meaningless, as the assistants there have less of a clue than me, and the input sources will be pants..

I've been in the market for a 40/42 inch tv for a while now ( just waiting for the crt to die... )

The price and saving seems very reasonable... or are these actually 'cheap' tvs that have been advertised at an inflated price, so Currys can offer such a great reduction around xmas/new year time, like tesco do....

I also see sony centre are offering lots off their tvs..

eg http://www.sony.co.uk/product/t32-ex-series/kdl-40...

I had thought I should get one of the panasonic 42 G series plasmas, but they are nearly £700, so thats quite a difference in price..

Should I hold out /stump up for the panasonic plasma.. or are these LGs ones worth a shot..

If its any help.. I'm coming from a 28 inch Phillips CRT... lovely picture, but seems a bit small these days !

I only have freeview, and playback films from my xbmx xbox, so its SD all the way

[Television123]

hehe i know what your saying, valid point, my custom might aswell go elsewhere. you seem to be in favour of the plasma rather than lcd, any reason or have you heard their better? those tv's only appeal at currys due to the price tag. thank you.

[Nimbus]

Television123 said:

hehe i know what your saying, valid point, my custom might aswell go elsewhere. you seem to be in favour of the plasma rather than lcd, any reason or have you heard their better? those tv's only appeal at currys due to the price tag. thank you.

Just from what I'd read, for anything over 37 inches, plasma was better..

but there is so much conflicting advice on big tvs, and of course, everyone has an opinion..

of those 2 tvs, the plasma appears to have a better choice of inputs..

I guess I'm just a bit paranoid that tesco/currys one version of these tvs tend to be not as good as the standard versions, but you never know..

there are 7 pages of posts/review of the plasma one here..

http://www.avforums.com/forums/lg-forum/1210182-of...

busy morning reading for me then

[Television123]

great link thank you, just a short morning read for me

[PJ S]

Nimbus said:

......I only have freeview, and playback films from my xbmx xbox, so its SD all the way

In that case, you should be looking at the 37 or 42X20 Plasma from Panasonic

[Television123]

Thanks, good to have a direction of where I'm going I'll have a look now.

[Nimbus]

PJ S said:

Nimbus said:

......I only have freeview, and playback films from my xbmc xbox, so its SD all the way

In that case, you should be looking at the 37 or 42X20 Plasma from Panasonic

argh ! and now after an hours browsing... ( I really better do some work now !! ), I'm back to where I always end up..

to much choice and too confusing !

I'm also paranoid that having spent a load of money, I'll actually find the picture quality worse than my current crt tv, mainly based around the fact I'll be mostly viewing SD freeview content..

I really want..

40ish inches
min 2 scart, preferably 3
min 2 hdmi
vga
analog audio out
built in freeview, tho freesat would be a bit bonus, as its years till we get freeviewHD in my area
the best picture I can get..
the case not to look like a dogs dinner, ( some of them are pretty foul..)

preferably under £500

Oh well, keeps me off the streets, I'll probably stick with my crt until it really does die

[Television123]

i think im more on the plasma side at the moment however have heard gaming damages the screen after some length of time but fixes itself. anyone know of any knowledge what actually happens? ill find more out from that useful thread. enjoy your work

[PJ S]

If SD is going to be the staple diet, and it pretty it is for everyone, then Plasma is more CRT-like.
The X20 is HD Ready, so feed it any HD source, and you're good to go.
Of course, if Freeview HD and FreeSat are desirable features to have in-built rather than a separate box added later, then you were right to look at the G20, and even though it js Full HD, the scaling done on SD is very well executed, so you won't be ruing the fact you went for it instead, just to have the two decoders/tuners in-built for a neater solution.

[JumboBeef]

Nimbus said:

preferably under £500

The S20 is about £550, a bit over but well worth it.

[GallardoOwner]

Is that correct that Plasma is considered better than LCD, I know when I got my 40" about 5 years ago all the advise I seemed to find was that LCD was the way to go and was almost backed up by the fact that even now LCD is higher priced that Plasma, Was told that Plasma suffers screen burn so not so good for playing games or the Sky channels that have the channel name on screen all the time, Has all this now changed or just wrong info in the first place ?

As it happens im looking to go big in the next 6 weeks, is 60" the largest size now avaliable without getting into really silly money, I noticed that most of the high street ones do now have a 60" whereas when I got mine 5 years ago 40" / 42 " was mostly the largest size in the shops.

Finally any reccomendations for on line shops to get a 60" +

Thanks

[Agoogy]

As far as my weeks of online research suggetsed...LCD are more energy efficient and fast approaching the quality of plasma, are extremely tech/spec heavy in terms of colourful stickers on the box....
However if ultimate picture quality is desired over paper based spec, then plasma still rules.
There is an accepted 'run-in' period to rule out future screen burn by watching so many hours on reduced brightness, but all up to date reviews discount screen burn as an issue anyway.
What is recognised is that due to the screen lighting method, you cannot beat the blacks and contrast offered...plus the there is no pixelation during fast moving events (sport/gaming)...
I ended up getting a 42G20B from Sainsburys with 5 year warranty for £630 delivered.
Sony appears to be What Hi-Fi's brand of choice in 2010, but Panasonic remain the mass majority's pin up.

[LaFleur]

Television123 said:

as you are already aware my preference is LG, here are the two i am currently thinking about http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lg-42ld450-42-full-hd... lcd
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lg-42pj550-42-hd-read... plasma

theres obviously the debate where the frame rate is much higher on the plasma which allows sports like football, rugby, etc to "flow" and be easier to watch on the eye where as the LCD tv is 1080p HD Ready with the pixel resolution 1920x1080 delivers a sharper quality of detail. the sale ends jan 3rd and would love to make the decision before to save a fair bit.

We have a Panasonic Plasma which is excellent at games and much much much much much better picture quality than the LG's. See my other thread started yesterday asking questions about a strange phenomenon I see on a lot of different LG's. They just have no natural feel to their picture.

[LaFleur]

Agoogy said:

As far as my weeks of online research suggetsed...LCD are more energy efficient and fast approaching the quality of plasma, are extremely tech/spec heavy in terms of colourful stickers on the box....
However if ultimate picture quality is desired over paper based spec, then plasma still rules.
There is an accepted 'run-in' period to rule out future screen burn by watching so many hours on reduced brightness, but all up to date reviews discount screen burn as an issue anyway.
What is recognised is that due to the screen lighting method, you cannot beat the blacks and contrast offered...plus the there is no pixelation during fast moving events (sport/gaming)...
I ended up getting a 42G20B from Sainsburys with 5 year warranty for £630 delivered.
Sony appears to be What Hi-Fi's brand of choice in 2010, but Panasonic remain the mass majority's pin up.

Great choice! We recently got one of those Energy Usage meters (evil device!) and was surprised at how little power our Plasma (42S20B) takes (basically same tv but no CAST). The new plasma's are very efficient.

[Phil.]

No brainer........

Bought one of these 6 months ago - fantastic reviews - now £100 less than I paid at £539.90 - free delivery - Panasonic TX-P42S20B 42"