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RE: The real skinny

Posted by unclestu52 (D) on August 10, 2007 at 20:58:07

In Reply to: The real skinny posted by Charles Hansen on August 10, 2007 at 20:26:26:

LCD's have a slow turn on/off time, at least compared to plasmas. Most plasma have a pixel switching time of about 6 milliseconds, whereas most LCD's have switching times of 12 to 15. The latest models have switching times equivalent to Plasmas, though it is good to check before purchasing.

For the slower times, watching fast action, say the NBA finals, gives a ghostly after image, a kind of 'swoosh' effect. Very irritating for me.

LCD's are generally brighter, but have lower black levels, and so ultimate detail is not as good as many plasmas. LCD's do look very good on a brightly lit showroom floor, however. At home, where light levels are lower I prefer a plasma. The latest plasmas are achieving very high black levels, but not quite as good as the best CRTs. Panasonic has the best black levels, IIRC, with Pioneer right on their tails.

As others have noted, plasmas have issues at higher altitudes, and the pressurized gasses will make a 'hissing' sound. They consume more electricity than an LCD, and needs about 2 to 3 inches of clearance all around for cooling, a factor which killed many early plasma sets when interior decorators had them inset into a wall.

Also be aware of the role of economic politics. Panasonic went into plasmas very early and I remember talking to an executive there over 17 years ago and he told me that it would take Panasonic a decade to have acceptable plasma models. Sharp, a leader in LCD technology, holds many patents in that area. Sony does not like paying royalties to any one else, so until they developed a few key patents in the LCOS technology, they almost avoided flat screens. Hitachi, IIRC, also holds a few key patents there also. Samsung has the contract to build all of Sony's LCD sets, so guess how that affected their own designs.

At one point in time, 25% of the world's production of CRT sets was a Sony. However, Hitachi built 90% of the CRT tubes for television sets. I recently read where Hitachi just purchased an LCD or plasma factory in Japan, in an attempt to be a major player in OEM'ing the flat screens.

These days no major Japanese company even bothers to import a CRT set. Even Panasonic has discontinued VCR distribution in the US, and most other companies have severely reduced offerings.

The bottom line is competition is very intense and it pays to shop around. New improved models are appearing almost as fast as computers were in the great speed race. Places like Sam's Club and Costco have a excellent offering of models and at great prices.

Oh yeah, avoid the Philips. I believe they recently had a 100% recall on all of their plasmas.


Stu

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