A clear choice: plasma or LCD?
Plasma TVs, which use more electricity, can offer a superior picture because they can display truer black colours and have higher contrast ratios than LCD screens.
Choosing between the two technologies may hinge on price and how the TV will be used
It’s an inevitable question when looking for a flat-panel HDTV these days: Will it be plasma or LCD?
It was easier when there were only cathode-ray tubes and choice came down to size and brand. Now, we are confronted with different and confusing technology options. How do you choose between plasmas and LCDs?
Price could be one way.
Plasma HDTVs 50-inches or larger cost less than similar sized LCD HDTVs, but the price gap is closing, especially with the popular 42- to 46-inch sizes.
As for life expectancy, both plasmas and LCDs are capable of running around 60,000 hours, or eight hours a day for 20 years, before half brightness occurs. And they are both now capable of an exceptional 1080p HD resolution.
Plasmas are known to be somewhat of an electricity hog, but Barry Murray, marketing director at Panasonic Canada, feels that tag is a bit unfair.
“Government regulations require plasmas to list the maximum watts used, when, in fact, they consume closer to half that power in real-world conditions,” he says. “Plasmas light each pixel individually, as required, but LCDs always have a backlight running and block the light to produce colours.”
With all this in mind, how do we choose?
Ultimately, it comes down to how you want to use your HDTV.
If you are a videophile looking for the true home-theatre experience, an HDTV plasma might be the way to go.
Generally, plasmas are known for their superior picture performance because they can display truer black colours than LCDs. Plasmas can run a very low level of luminance to create the colour black and have higher contrast ratios than LCDs, producing a more detailed true-to-life picture.
LCD HDTVs are no slouches on picture quality but they still can’t block out enough of the underlying backlight to produce the same level of blacks as plasmas.
Plasmas are also believed to offer smoother and more realistic video motion with quicker pixel refresh rates, but LCDs are quickly catching up.
The new 120Hz refresh technology being incorporated in LCDs is considered one of the biggest breakthroughs in some time, according to Patrick Lapointe, director of marketing for LCDs at Sony Canada.
“Our MotionFlow technology (120Hz refresh) provides smoother motion and seamless action for sports scenes,” he says. “By doubling the number of frames on the screen every second, the eye perceives much less judder (instability) and blurriness than before.”
Viewing angles are also better on plasmas, up to an extreme 160 degrees. At that angle, you would be just about beside the screen with no loss of brightness or colour saturation. Higher-end LCDs like ones from Sony have decent viewing angles and are fine for most family room seating arrangement.
Of course, if you don’t have an HDTV set-top box from your television program provider or a Blu-ray DVD player, you just won’t get the video quality you’d expect. If your TV set-top box or DVD player doesn’t support the new HDMI interface, they probably don’t provide HD video.
If you plan to also hookup a PC/Mac or a game console such as an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, you might want to consider an LCD HDTV.
While plasmas can do an excellent job projecting these, they still have a slight risk of burn-in, a permanent ghostlike image associated with prolonged display of a static image. LCD HDTVs are immune to burn-in so they are the safe bet, but they do suffer from stuck or dead pixels (permanently lit or unlit).
Another reason to consider an LCD is viewing distance. LCDs tend to have a smoother picture in a shorter viewing distance, making it optimal for using a computer or game console with it when you want to get up close. But note that if you are hooking up a computer, you won’t get a decent picture unless it has a DVI or HDMI video card.
– by Tom Katsiroubas of YourHome.ca and the Toronto Star