Video Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on October 11, 2001 at 14:03:25

In Reply to: I like plasma too, gorgeous posted by late on October 11, 2001 at 11:27:49:

Plasma sets are indeed beautiful in both design and function; the color palette that a plasma TV is capable of reproducing is so rich, creamy and three dimensional that it's hard to look at anything else once you've viewed an HD broadcast on one. It's easy to imagine a videophile drooling like the proverbial kid in a toy store, tugging at the wife's blouse while saying "please, I wan'it NOW?" However, behind the slender veneer and awesome potential of this technology resides a couple of subtle "bugs" which, unless & until eradicated, pose a serious problem for the early adopter who just has to have it NOW.

Currently, no plasma sets are capable of displaying proper black level, but because of the beautiful picture plasma sets can generate some early adopters might be willing to overlook this limitation. However, a much worse problem lies in wait! From what I've been reading, all plasma sets are at risk of irreversable screen burn-in (i.e., on stationary scenes and lettering for instance), which can occur in as short a time as 20 seconds! To combat this, plasma sets are equiped with automatic screen savers which kick-in quickly.

On the up side, you'll be happy to learn that plasma screens are reputed to have a much longer lifespan than any tube based technology, up to 40 years (i.e., actually, it's probably more like 20, based on diminished brightness and color levels, but that's over twice as long as conventional CRTs)! So, once these significant performance bugs can be worked out though, the high msrp on plasma monitors should be justified from the standpoint of longevity and technical performance. Until then though, CRTs still lead the way as far as I'm concerned.

I did quite a bit of research on various high definition picture transmission technologies this past summer before deciding to stay with traditional cathode ray tubes. My wife and I had already decided to go with an HDTV because of the increase number of high quality HD broadcasts. However, concerned about potential convergence problems (i.e., which are easier to deal with on 4:3 academy ratio rear-screens) we were leary of replacing our recently "deceased" SONY with another rear-screen projector, opting instead for an RCA 38" direct-view widescreen HDTV; we're very happy with that choice.

AuPh