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if plasmas are brighter, why do they not seem so?

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yellowwwwducky

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Hi all,
I have been looking at plasmas recently. I read they are brighter than lcds but, funnily enough, if I look at a Pioneer 43 inch plasma beside a Sharp 45 inch lcd the difference in brightness of the picture favors the lcd. If I compare a 50 inch Pioneer plasma to a 45 inch lcd it is not even close as the lcd destroys the plasma. Depressingly, in my quest for a nice 50 inch plasma, the 43s are still vastly nicer/brighter looking than the 50s - Pioneer 43 to a Pioneer 50 in my case.
So why all these differences in brightness when lcd is not supposed to be brighter? And why, on the 43 vs 50 Pioneers, even though the specs say the levels are 1200 and 1100 for the 2 sets is the 43 sooooo much brighter than the 50?
Regards,
Yellowwwwducky

Follow Ups:

Re: if plasmas are brighter, why do they not seem so? - videophile 12:02:44 05/10/05 (0)
The brightness of a LCD panel is determined by how bright the backlight is. This means that you can make the panel almost arbitrarily bright. Brightness alone, however, does not make a good looking display. If you make the whites brighter you will also make the blacks brighter. What you need brightness for is brightly lit environments. For the average living room the more important measure is contrast ratio. The contrast ratio of a plasma display is many times that of a LCD. This is why they look better than LCD's, at least when they're new.
But brighter isn't better. - AbeCollins 10:14:26 05/10/05 (0)
My plasma IS brighter than most and it looks really cool that way on the showroom floor. When I brought it home I immediately turned everything down and the overall picture quality is much much better with improved detail and saturation.
calibrated displays? - Joe Murphy Jr 23:42:05 05/09/05 (3)
Anyone can screw around with the picture settings on a display. The exact same models sitting next to each other can look totally different (ie; little Johnny messed with one of them, but not the other or maybe he messed with both of them in opposite directions). Were the displays that you compared calibrated or were they using the settings that the store/manufacturer decided on? It makes a huge difference.
- Re: calibrated displays? - yellowwwwducky 09:03:20 05/10/05 (1)
  well it could be that but of course that would mean that everyone selling 50s vs 43s plasmas anyway is trying to sell more 43s which would have a lower margin (otherwise tweak down the 43 and tweak up the 50). and the 43s plasma vs 45 lcd at more than twice the price for the lcd would also lose out and sell more...43 plasmas. it helps to sell the lower priced plasma if anything which would be counter intuitive to the pump the higher margin product.
  it is consistent across shops and there are tons and tons of shops. so i would think it would average out if they were approximately the same brightness. so brings me back to initial query, why are the 43s soooooo much brighter looking that the 50s? if what i am seeing is a 12% difference, i would hate to see more!
  - not sure... what is your worry? - petew 15:32:13 05/23/05 (0)
    If you like the bright displays--that's what you should get! You won't be happy if you get a display that meets the criteria of a couple of Bozos posting nonsense on the internet...
    ...the most important thing to consider when buying a display is:
    will the people who come over to your place to see it be impressed?
    will they think you are a way-cool dude with flash, style, panache...
    or will they think you are a loser--a bonehead who got ripped because your display is "not bright enough"...
    ...look, people like "not bright enough"...most people are "not bright"...
    think about it...why do you care what we think?
    
    The professional video reviewers tell us:
    You probably have never seen a propery calibrated high-end video display--certainly not in any mass-market retailer, and most likely not even in the most finiky high-end, up-market botique.
    Displays are all shipped "hot" from the factory. Side by side comparisons are virtually useless.
    YOu need to read the professional reviews--and the reviewer should spend much time telling you what reference source he used to calibrate the display, and how much it was "off" and what adjustments he made.
    When you do make your choice (plasma is the hands-down winner--the only reason to even look at LCD is if you are going to use it with your computer), call a professional tuner and spend a few hundred to make sure your set is properly tuned. You don't get what you paid for unless you pay for the professional tuning.
- Don't blame little Johnny .... - dhrab 04:30:41 05/10/05 (0)
  How about the big box retailer's fiddleing with the settings to make their most profitable models look more attractive on the brightly lit show room floor ...
  Go easy on little Johnny, he will most likely be picking your retirement home.(;-)
  Dave

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