The big picture: The Death Duel Between LCD and Plasma

Iria · Aug 21, 2006, 12:59 AM

Source: Toronto Star
________
A ghost appears on the battlefields of competing technologies. It's the ghost of Beta, the home video technology that succumbed in the 1980s to rival VHS. It haunts garage sales where battered Beta versions of movies like Stripes and Police Academy bake in the sun alongside Peter Frampton 8-track tapes.

The ghost might have some company soon. Another home entertainment technology death duel is under way as two different TV technologies — liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma — vie for dominance of the big-screen, flat-panel television market.

Until recently the technologies weren't really in direct competition, as plasma was more suited to bigger screens while LCD had the edge on smaller ones. Giant LCD sets were available, but they relied on bulky image-projecting equipment behind their screens, and thereby lacked the fashionable thinness of plasma flat-screen units.

But LCD technology is evolving as manufacturers turn out increasingly larger flat-panel units. LCD manufacturers can now make a flat-screen TV as big as 46 inches without compromising picture quality. And they say even bigger sets are in development.

LCD is now in plasma country, and this means war — a war some say plasma can't hope to win.

Judas · Aug 21, 2006, 06:51 AM

LCD rules, plasma imo can fade away.

Necrosis · Aug 21, 2006, 11:25 AM

Plasma technically has a better quality picture. It also doesn't have issues with motion blur, or dead pixels. Hower, LCDs do have higher resolutions but those resolutions become a moot point with a dead lock on HDVD movies.

SFOSOK · Aug 21, 2006, 12:36 PM

Doesn't it depend on the contrast ratio of the LCD?

LeanWolf · Aug 21, 2006, 02:33 PM

doesn't plasma always have a better contrast ratio because black pixels aren't lit like they are for LCD?

Judas · Aug 22, 2006, 12:02 AM

Dead pixels are becoming quite rare lately.. i've been able to open up several lcd tv boxes only to find maybe 1 our of 50 so far with a few dead pixels, Dells 3007fpw with 4mil pixels i've seen a few dead ones but getting it replaced is short work.

Reguardless, lcds with 3000-6000 Contrast ration is great... and the new lcds have pretty much zero motion blur at all... All points are basically moot and becoming even more moot as lcd technology goes in strength and perfection.

I can seriously say, i'd prefer lcd over plasma ANY day of the week, they look better, are nicer on the eyes, look great, and not only are they cheaper, but they can take a hell of alot more of a beating then plasmas.. not to mention usually have a longer life span and better warranty coverage.

Tipstaff · Aug 22, 2006, 05:04 AM

Overall, LCD tech is maturing so damn fast that most issues with ghosting, issues displaying black, and what not disappear as soon as the next LCD TV model comes out. Now we have TVs with incredibley high contrast, lower dead pixel count, and higher brightness. The one issue that still remains is ghosting, but thanks to companies like Samsung (with their 8ms and faster TVs) even that issue is slowly disappearing.

BTW, one thing the article didn't mention (but was mentioned to me buy a friend at Sony) was that within the next 2 months prices for LCD TVs will be dropping as much as $2000 (although it did mention they are dropping as low as $2000 for a large screen TV). This is one reason (along with upgrading my PC) that I've put off buying one for 6 more months (at least).

Dark Lord · Aug 22, 2006, 05:34 AM

i think id have to take LCD over plasma any day of the week.

theres plasmas whole Half-Life and burn in problems, and as was said already, LCD has come so far and so fast that its matched, if not passed any values plasma once held over LCD. if it hasnt passed plasma yet in one area or another, im sure it will in a breif period of time.

pr0digal jenius · Aug 22, 2006, 05:38 AM

another missed issue is lifespan...plasma is estimated at about 5 years...LCD is far better

Dark Lord · Aug 22, 2006, 06:07 AM

i beleive the life span is 10 years, but the half life is 5. so after 5 years, its already dimmed by 50%.

Tipstaff · Aug 22, 2006, 08:22 AM

Ah.. the good old Plasma myth.

A plasma TV is good for 60,000 hours by spec. Realistically, it's more like 30,000 due to Plasmas half-life, whereby at 30,000 hours the brightness of the display will be 1/2 of it's original quality (as you mentioned, DL). Now, "technically" 30,000 hours works out to be about a 3.5 year life span, but that is only IF you ran the unit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now, seriously, do you know anyone that does that? And that's the thing: almost everyone uses that calculation to work out Plasmas lifespan. But, given that a typical person/family would watch maybe 3-6 hours of TV a day, or 1095-2190 hours a year, in truth Plasma TVs "should" last you anywhere from 13.7 to 27.4 years while maintaing a decent brightness level. Not 3-5 years. Where it becomes tricky is that the REAL lifespan of the TV will be as long as technology permits, and in this day and age of ever changing tech, that will probably be more like 10 years (at best), which would be Plasmas true half-life. That isn't actually that bad if you think about it.

Judas · Aug 22, 2006, 05:44 PM

not.. it's not bad... but it's still a tv that degrades extremely fast

ferret2004 · Aug 22, 2006, 11:24 PM

I just got a plasma tv a few months ago. I use it maybe 10-15 hours per week, sometimes less if I'm busy. By the time it reaches the 30000 hour mark, let alone the 60000 that it's rated for, I'll probably be dead

Necrosis · Aug 22, 2006, 11:41 PM

Yup and not one mention about the bulbs in the LCD's either. Those will go before the plasma will. I would wait until they get the technology perfected of turning off pixels to get true black levels. Once they have that going LCD's will truly be superior.

niceguyrichy · Aug 22, 2006, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

not.. it's not bad... but it's still a tv that degrades extremely fast

Jesus, 14 years is "extremely fast"!!!

gimme a break, 99% of people replace their tv well well well before a plasma would get anywhere near noticably 'worn'.

on a personal note though, plasma's use more electricity, so I'd recommend lcds for that reason alone

LeanWolf · Aug 22, 2006, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Yup and not one mention about the bulbs in the LCD's either. Those will go before the plasma will. I would wait until they get the technology perfected of turning off pixels to get true black levels. Once they have that going LCD's will truly be superior.

Agreed! Black pixels are still backlit so plasma still has them beat there. Yep, and those LCD bulbs are far from cheap!

Dark Lord · Aug 23, 2006, 12:07 AM

well lets not forget the new Sharp LCDs that are being developed with 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios.

Customgamer1 · Aug 23, 2006, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Lord

well lets not forget the new Sharp LCDs that are being developed with 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios.

LOL thats nuts. I will love to see one of those.

Judas · Aug 23, 2006, 12:40 AM

tell that to a few million people that still use a tv manufactured in 1970s if not late 1960's...

There are quite a few poeple that rely on a TV.

I've personally seen myself, the number of plasmas returned due to failing compared to lcds.... plasma is not doing well in that department at all, thier fail rate is horrid in comparison to lcds.

And you'd be surprised how many hours some people have there TV on...

Necrosis · Aug 23, 2006, 12:53 AM

Of course there are weird people like me. I use my 32" LCD for regular TV viewing, and the 65" projection CRT for movies only.

Dark Lord · Aug 23, 2006, 02:11 AM

and then theres people like me that only use the tv for maybe 6 hours a week, at most.

theres just not a damn thing on tv to watch, except late night reruns of southpark, Xfiles, and stargate.

pr0digal jenius · Aug 23, 2006, 02:49 AM

plasma's are tuned towards mid range colors, LCDs for brightness, and DLP for darker colors.....plasma has shortER lifespans, and LCDs are more prone to being DoA while Plasmas fail more often assuming they are good out of the box

Customgamer1 · Aug 23, 2006, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

And you'd be surprised how many hours some people have there TV on...

Well I agree with you. I live in a family of 5 and the tv is on most of the day when someone is home. We have a DLP tv so the light bulb will have to be replaced but what can I do? The tv is very important so I say we have it on about 6 hours a day. I also play 360 on it so it adds up more hours...

Also just think of the adverage person? Most people turn on the tv lets say when they get home from work and in most cases it stays on until they leave or go to bed. It's on even if they are not watching it right?

Judas · Aug 23, 2006, 04:15 AM

rule of thumb was usually to leave the TV on even when not watching to save the tv's life, less wear and tear... but with these plasmas and LCDs, this isn't exactly true.

When hitting the powerbutton on the new tvs, it actually puts them into a suspend mode, this keeps everything still charged up, "somewhat on" while turning off parts, bulbs for example, that work on usually a "hourly" setup.

Customgamer1 · Aug 23, 2006, 05:19 AM

Well I guess people looking for a big LCD tv have to look no where else but Samsung!!!

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33800

70 inch monster!

Judas · Aug 23, 2006, 05:17 PM

why do i call poorly photoshop on that?

i don't doubt the samsung creation.. but that picture seems to just scream it to me.

Dark Lord · Aug 24, 2006, 05:09 AM

pff, only 70?

102 inches.

Aug 21, 2006, 12:59 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 89	The big picture: The Death Duel Between LCD and Plasma Source: Toronto Star ________ A ghost appears on the battlefields of competing technologies. It's the ghost of Beta, the home video technology that succumbed in the 1980s to rival VHS. It haunts garage sales where battered Beta versions of movies like Stripes and Police Academy bake in the sun alongside Peter Frampton 8-track tapes. The ghost might have some company soon. Another home entertainment technology death duel is under way as two different TV technologies — liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma — vie for dominance of the big-screen, flat-panel television market. Until recently the technologies weren't really in direct competition, as plasma was more suited to bigger screens while LCD had the edge on smaller ones. Giant LCD sets were available, but they relied on bulky image-projecting equipment behind their screens, and thereby lacked the fashionable thinness of plasma flat-screen units. But LCD technology is evolving as manufacturers turn out increasingly larger flat-panel units. LCD manufacturers can now make a flat-screen TV as big as 46 inches without compromising picture quality. And they say even bigger sets are in development. LCD is now in plasma country, and this means war — a war some say plasma can't hope to win.

Aug 21, 2006, 12:36 PM	#4
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	Doesn't it depend on the contrast ratio of the LCD? __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 21, 2006, 02:33 PM	#5
LeanWolf alpha male Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Skyrim Posts: 5,713 Rep Power: 84 System Specs	doesn't plasma always have a better contrast ratio because black pixels aren't lit like they are for LCD? __________________

Aug 22, 2006, 05:04 AM	#7
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 191 System Specs	Overall, LCD tech is maturing so damn fast that most issues with ghosting, issues displaying black, and what not disappear as soon as the next LCD TV model comes out. Now we have TVs with incredibley high contrast, lower dead pixel count, and higher brightness. The one issue that still remains is ghosting, but thanks to companies like Samsung (with their 8ms and faster TVs) even that issue is slowly disappearing. BTW, one thing the article didn't mention (but was mentioned to me buy a friend at Sony) was that within the next 2 months prices for LCD TVs will be dropping as much as $2000 (although it did mention they are dropping as low as $2000 for a large screen TV). This is one reason (along with upgrading my PC) that I've put off buying one for 6 more months (at least). __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Aug 22, 2006, 05:34 AM	#8
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	i think id have to take LCD over plasma any day of the week. theres plasmas whole Half-Life and burn in problems, and as was said already, LCD has come so far and so fast that its matched, if not passed any values plasma once held over LCD. if it hasnt passed plasma yet in one area or another, im sure it will in a breif period of time. __________________

Aug 21, 2006, 11:25 AM	#3
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Plasma technically has a better quality picture. It also doesn't have issues with motion blur, or dead pixels. Hower, LCDs do have higher resolutions but those resolutions become a moot point with a dead lock on HDVD movies.

Aug 22, 2006, 05:38 AM	#9
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	another missed issue is lifespan...plasma is estimated at about 5 years...LCD is far better

Aug 22, 2006, 06:07 AM	#10
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	i beleive the life span is 10 years, but the half life is 5. so after 5 years, its already dimmed by 50%. __________________

Aug 22, 2006, 08:22 AM	#11
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 191 System Specs	Ah.. the good old Plasma myth. A plasma TV is good for 60,000 hours by spec. Realistically, it's more like 30,000 due to Plasmas half-life, whereby at 30,000 hours the brightness of the display will be 1/2 of it's original quality (as you mentioned, DL). Now, "technically" 30,000 hours works out to be about a 3.5 year life span, but that is only IF you ran the unit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Now, seriously, do you know anyone that does that? And that's the thing: almost everyone uses that calculation to work out Plasmas lifespan. But, given that a typical person/family would watch maybe 3-6 hours of TV a day, or 1095-2190 hours a year, in truth Plasma TVs "should" last you anywhere from 13.7 to 27.4 years while maintaing a decent brightness level. Not 3-5 years. Where it becomes tricky is that the REAL lifespan of the TV will be as long as technology permits, and in this day and age of ever changing tech, that will probably be more like 10 years (at best), which would be Plasmas true half-life. That isn't actually that bad if you think about it. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick. Last edited by Tipstaff; Aug 22, 2006 at 08:49 AM.

Aug 22, 2006, 11:24 PM	#13
ferret2004 HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 285 Rep Power: 0	I just got a plasma tv a few months ago. I use it maybe 10-15 hours per week, sometimes less if I'm busy. By the time it reaches the 30000 hour mark, let alone the 60000 that it's rated for, I'll probably be dead

Aug 22, 2006, 11:41 PM	#14
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Yup and not one mention about the bulbs in the LCD's either. Those will go before the plasma will. I would wait until they get the technology perfected of turning off pixels to get true black levels. Once they have that going LCD's will truly be superior.

Aug 23, 2006, 12:07 AM	#17
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	well lets not forget the new Sharp LCDs that are being developed with 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios. __________________

Aug 23, 2006, 12:53 AM	#20
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Of course there are weird people like me. I use my 32" LCD for regular TV viewing, and the 65" projection CRT for movies only.

Aug 23, 2006, 02:11 AM	#21
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	and then theres people like me that only use the tv for maybe 6 hours a week, at most. theres just not a damn thing on tv to watch, except late night reruns of southpark, Xfiles, and stargate. __________________

Aug 23, 2006, 02:49 AM	#22
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	plasma's are tuned towards mid range colors, LCDs for brightness, and DLP for darker colors.....plasma has shortER lifespans, and LCDs are more prone to being DoA while Plasmas fail more often assuming they are good out of the box

Aug 23, 2006, 05:19 AM	#25
Customgamer1 Fell off the tech wagon Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,273 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	Well I guess people looking for a big LCD tv have to look no where else but Samsung!!! http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33800 70 inch monster! __________________ Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Aug 24, 2006, 05:09 AM	#27
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	pff, only 70? 102 inches. __________________