Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5
regular
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OP
regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 5 |
I am looking for a 40" to 42" television and am not sure which technology to go with, LED or Plasma. The Samsung LED's look extremely sharp with great detail, but I still hear good things on Plasma's. I am unsure on which way to go, though Plasma's are less expensive, looking at them at B-Buy the Samsung LED's look much clearer than the Plasma's. Would like some input as to why you prefer one technology over the other and what brands you consider better.
Thank You, Tim
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,749 Likes: 37
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,749 Likes: 37 |
Personally, given those 2 choices, I'd go with Plasma.
IMO, better price, better picture quality.
Enjoy the Music. Trust your ears. Laugh at Folks Who Claim to Know it All.
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,236
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,236 |
The store is a tough place to evaluate tv's. I have a Panasonic 50" plasma. I love it. Less than 2 years old but they get better every year. I know what you mean about the Samsung Leds looking so sharp. But every time I see one they have Avatar or an animated movie playing. I would love to see what a regular movie looks like on it. The reason I love the plasma is that everything looks natural.
M3 and M80
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 4,877
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Apr 2007
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My vote would be for plasma.
-David
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2009
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With digital displays one should not look more "sharp" than the other. If a picture does look sharper, it's because the set is playing games, and not delivering the picture as intended. Things like the sharpness control, and edge enhancement actually destroy fine detail in order to make larger objects appear to pop.
Not saying that the LCD (there's no such thing as an LED set outside of sports stadiums), can't be tuned to deliver a more accurate representation of what's on the disc, but it seems that the plasma is more right out of the box. Still don't trust the default setting of any display. You'll in the very least want to change it to "Movie" mode.
All that said, my vote goes to the plasma too.
Pioneer PDP-5020FD, Marantz SR6011 Axiom M5HP, VP160HP, QS8 Sony PS4, surround backs -Chris
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,420
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Dec 2003
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The LED bsck lit Lcd's do use less energy than Plasmas but only by a small margin. Most LCD's come from the factory in 'torch' mode where they are set to the highest and brightest settings possible to attract the consumer's eye. Once thsese sets are properly calibrated they look similar to Plasma but IMO, not as smooth/crsip at these proper settings.
Jason M80 v2 VP160 v3 QS8 v2 PB13 Ultra Denon 3808 Samsung 85" Q70
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 6,928
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Dec 2008
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I don't think you'll go wrong either way in this day and age. I preferred the LCD over the plasma myself a couple of yrs ago and bought the Sammy 6 series due to overwhelmingly positive user reviews. Never had a problem with it and love the picture.
Half of communication is listening. You can't listen with your mouth.
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015 |
If it were me I'd get the plasma. The off-angle viewing with LCD/LED's are bad. In my experience, the store adjusts the screens to sell the one they are pushing at the moment. On one trip, the plasma they were trying to push had the best picture. On a different trip to the same store, they had a new plasma they were pushing and the one that looked the best before, was now the worst looking one in the store.
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,443
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jul 2004
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I have an LCD that I bought before the LED backlighting or edgelighting came out. It is true that the off axis viewing is not as good - so I don't sit off axis. The picture continually amazes me when looking at HD TV or DVD's or Blu Ray.
"A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" Churchill
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 769
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 769 |
Same here. I bought a LCD a couple of years ago and love the picture. I never had any problem if off-axis also because I don't sit off-axis. I picked a LCD because my living room has lot of light coming in, so in this condition it seamed better than a plasma. If my room would be in a basement with low light condition, I would probably go with a plasma though, the LCD just can't refresh the picture fast enough for fast paced movies or sports, at least not at 120Hz.
Bruno M80s/VP180/QS8s/EP600/AVR-890 ------------------------------------ "The problem is choice..."
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 34
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 34 |
Plasma is a bit larger and puts off more heat / uses a bit more electricity but is cheaper and generally good picture.
I have a Samsung LED and it works fine. The only thing I dont like about mine is the 60hz refresh rate. If you get an LED, get at least 120hz or you will deal with ghosting.
Plasma is usually about 600hz now I think, so its a non issue. I would just go with a plasma.
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466 |
Plasma displays don't use artificially inflated refresh rates like LCD must to prevent ghosting. The phosphor decay rate on a plasma display is tuned to be right around 1/60th to 1/72nd of a second. Just in time to be energized for the next frame.
Pioneer PDP-5020FD, Marantz SR6011 Axiom M5HP, VP160HP, QS8 Sony PS4, surround backs -Chris
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 5,236
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Apr 2003
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I LOVE my panasonic plasma. It gets my vote.
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,443
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jul 2004
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I have a Sony with 120 hz refresh - I have never seen any ghosting nor any problem with sports. The only problems I have seen have been pixelation due to insufficient bandwidth on cable.
"A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" Churchill
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635 |
Hi I have Samsung's 40" 610series LCD it is 120hz and I still see ghosting even in characters that are walking when playing blu-rays. I have tried Smooth, clear and sharp settings for the 120hz and makes no diference. If watching a hockey game on HD it still takes time to refresh and blurs when the players are skating. The ghosting really annoys me in movies.For instance in Night and Day when Tom is walking down that alley in night I see three ghost images around his head. and 240hz is not much better. I am taking my HD reciever to the store next week when there is a hockey game and I am going to watch a game in HD on Plasma setup directly to the tv no splitter and see if there really is a difference
Anthem MRX520 M5HPv4 VP160HPv4 QS10v4
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635 |
Plasma is a bit larger and puts off more heat / uses a bit more electricity but is cheaper and generally good picture.
I have a Samsung LED and it works fine. The only thing I dont like about mine is the 60hz refresh rate. If you get an LED, get at least 120hz or you will deal with ghosting.
Plasma is usually about 600hz now I think, so its a non issue. I would just go with a plasma. I have a 120hz and ghosting still occurs and watching fast sports is still a pain. I am also told 240 hz is not much better
Anthem MRX520 M5HPv4 VP160HPv4 QS10v4
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635
aficionado
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aficionado
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 635 |
maybe HDMI Cables do make a difference though, however reading a A/V mag they said its a waste of money the more expensive ones were.
maybe time to try a monster cable
Anthem MRX520 M5HPv4 VP160HPv4 QS10v4
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,466 |
Nope. A bad HDMI cable will cause sparkles, not ghosting. If you're getting picture and audio your cable is fine.
Pioneer PDP-5020FD, Marantz SR6011 Axiom M5HP, VP160HP, QS8 Sony PS4, surround backs -Chris
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 74
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 74 |
Plasma will usually have the edge for blacks. I would give the edge to LED for color accuracy, especially if it is calibrated.
If your budget is limited, you are more likely to get better bang for your buck with a mid grade plasma set. Either way, have fun shopping. Adding new gear is always a treat.
SC-05, HLT6189, Oppo BDP-93, Blue Circle Audio FX2 Axiom M2v3's, QS8v3's
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,443
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Jul 2004
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maybe HDMI Cables do make a difference though, however reading a A/V mag they said its a waste of money the more expensive ones were.
maybe time to try a monster cable Troyd, I have none of the motionflow features activated on my TV. No extraneous processing. I have zero blur and zero ghosting. I don't know if you can turn it off on the Samsung but would suggest you try if you haven't already. As far as cables, go to Monoprice. I am hooked up with all Monoprice cables and again, no issues.
"A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject" Churchill
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Re: Choosing a Television
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,420
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 10,420 |
maybe HDMI Cables do make a difference though, however reading a A/V mag they said its a waste of money the more expensive ones were.
maybe time to try a monster cable What ever you do don't buy a Monster brand cable, don't feed him. Monoprice cables are just as good if not better and the only time you might have an issue regardless of what brand is if you have a long run, say over 12ft. Color acurracy would be even bewtween plasma and a good LED lcd when properly calibrated at least the ones I have seen set up in some demo rooms.
Jason M80 v2 VP160 v3 QS8 v2 PB13 Ultra Denon 3808 Samsung 85" Q70
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