What should i get? I want to mostly watch normal tv on it, but i also want to play some games on it as well.

I'm looking at getting a decentish size tv too (at least 42"), and was wondering why people go lcd over plasmas now? Plasma's seem to be heaps cheaper.

I'm not too worried about how long its going to last (anything over 5 years is a bonus), and wont be using it for gaming.
Is the picture quality better on plasma's compared to lcd's?

wanna hook your pc up to it?
lcd (way better resolutions)

people say plasma picture is better coz they do better blacks, but i dont know about that

my mates lcd (SHD) looks sweet as (37" acer) and it can be had for around 2grand

i personally have a rearprojection lcd (3 x lcd screens, lamp shines through em)
and its f***ing awesome (50" sony, got it for 2 grand last year)

ive heard people say lcd dont refresh fast enough for watching sport
i certainly dont have that issue, all sport looks wicked on our tele

i use my tele as a second monitor driven by my laptop, watch HD media on it, dial into work on it, play cs on it, it is totally unfaultable

i only use an old xbox, havent got any new consoles yet, but even the old xbox is sweet on it

i know a heap of maxes boys have purchased the same tele and use their 360s on it and they say it goes pretty good

no way would i waste my money on plasma

mongie will be along soon enough to tell you plasma is the only way

lcd

mongie will be along soon enough to tell you plasma is the only way

he will be a bit late, he missed his bus.

imo: Anything above 720p, you really need markedly bigger than 42" to see the difference.
Consider your source of content. Personally, I think 720p is going to be the standard for a few years yet.
Foxtel is a grainy dirty source.
uber 1080i on-demand needs FTTN.
With a HDMI source a 720p (native) plasma looks ace.
While LCD sales are easily outstripping plasmas (now), plasmas are a mature tech, burn in is completely over-rated, they're quick, cheap.

Foxtel is a grainy dirty source.

very true

some foxtel channels are appauling (channel 9 for example)

some of the foxtel channels are ok though (for SD anyway)

u can get a 42" 1080p 'SONIQ' (samsung panels) LCD from JB for around $2100. Well they were around that last time I went in to a JB.

My next TV will be a >50" 1080p rear pro LCD/DLP/LCOS. Cheap and big. Word spook. Brother in law fixes em and gets em cheap.

oh, I have a 42" SD plasma atm.

lcd

If you do go Plasma, wait a little bit longer and the new uber 8th Gen Pioneers will be here in about October/Nov. They sound like they will be amazing.

plasma ftw

what cnet has to say

I went with LCD, only because they had a better rez for the price, no complaints here.

I've been researching all this a little lately, because I'm looking to get the biggest TV I can afford when I get my tax return. From everything I've read, it looks like Plasma is the way to go when you get over 42" or so, otherwise go LCD. And what Spook mentioned is true, Plasmas have much higher contrast ratios, meaning that white looks much whiter, and black is actually black (LCDs have a backlight which sometimes makes black look more like a dark grey).

Although, I've recently started looking at the Samsung 1080p DLP rear projection TVs. They seem to be much cheaper, but I checked some out at WOW yesterday, and the picture quality was pretty much the same as the other big TVs (except for the fact that they only had 720p sets there).

Anyone know any good lcd tvs for cheap? And where to buy them? Looking at getting a smallish one for my room on my wall, probably use it for a monitor as well.

Like the other guy said, it realy all depends on your inpput source. Unless you have an xbox 360, PS3 or Blueray/HDdvd you dont need over 720.

Remember regular dvd's are 720×576 and most digital tv is 720p.

Just to make spook's day...

Plasma has better picture quality... LCD has better resolutions.

The truth of the matter is that at 42" or below, you don't REALLY see a difference between a HD plasma and a 1080p LCD. HD FTA TV in Australia is 1080i max, there is no 1080p TV.

I guess the best advice is to go somewhere and look at them, especially HD content. I fount the Channel 7 HD Loop particularly telling. For me, the difference is black levels, and the smoothness of the picutre, both image quality and motion.

what mongie said...and also if you want the best bang for buck real estate wise check out the very awesome Sony SXRD rear-pro HDTV. the 60 and 70 inch babies. As long as you have a good HDTV STB and are a sensible distance back they are brilliant, excellent black levels and ship with an extra bulb as well!

p.s i think the 70inch one has a built in HD tuner..

last edited by Psycho! at 22:37:38 17/Jun/07

keep in mind though that no matter what anyone says, rear projection sets have lower brightness and contrast ratios, their viewable angles are not as wide, and they have ongoing costs... They do however offer more real estate for the price.

last edited by mongie at 23:20:22 17/Jun/07

So is it safe to play PS3 etc. on a plasma? Is it going to cause irreversible screen burn? Anyone have experience with this first hand instead of just speculation and fanboy comments?

Is it going to cause irreversible screen burn?

Depends.

Anyone have experience with this first hand instead of just speculation and fanboy comments?

Yes, but I'll be buggered in telling you.

Anyone know any good lcd tvs for cheap?

matty, aldi had 32" HD lcds for sale for 800 bux

first bunch they got in, sold out lickety split

some stores stil had a few left over from the second bunch a while ago

but u can get similarly priced deals at lots of computar stroes (sub 1000 bux teles, just in smaller sizes)

Get a cheap plasma they are just as good as lcds.

matty, aldi had 32" HD lcds for sale for 800 bux

first bunch they got in, sold out lickety split

some stores stil had a few left over from the second bunch a while ago

but u can get similarly priced deals at lots of computar stroes (sub 1000 bux teles, just in smaller sizes)

What are they like though? I have heard so many times about s***ty LCDs that are bad brands and stuff :( Might go check out my local aldi and have a squiz.

specs were fine, didnt see one up and running, but im sure they would be ok

Looks like plasma's s*** all over lcd tv's. Sounds like alot of people are just listening to the d*******s that work at JB and wow and places like that, they really know s*** all about them, all they are trying to do is make a sale so they get money. Lcd are almost useless when it comes to watching sport, but are perfect for games. Screen burn on plasma can happen, but only if ur a d******* and leave a still screen on. If u look after it u will not get it. Lcd's also dont have great colour, the new full 1080 ones are great for blueray but still look like s*** for normal viewing tv.
Fujitsu plasma s*** all over anything on the market. The invented plasma and they are by far the best, there new black model looks better than a full 1080 lcd screen. Around the same price too.

For what its worth, we bought a Sony Bravia LCD and haven't regretted it.

Go to a (few) shop(s) and have a good look, decide on the spot what is the right unit for the dorras you wanna pay.

Believe nothing that anyone who is employed at the shop says, they just want to rape you in the wallet.

Lcd are almost useless when it comes to watching sport, but are perfect for games.

i hear this thrown around a lot, but what is the explaination or reasoning for this?

I have a HD LCD and have no problems watching sport on it. HD cricket on channel9 looked great. SD rugby on ABC2 and 7 looks great, HD state of origin looked great. What sport is it exactly that looks crap on LCDs?

I never noticed any ghosting on our lcd until I watched family guy pretty close up. It was pretty shocking to see when their heads moved as I only noticed it for the first time but sitting at a normal distance I can't see anything wrong with the picture quality (no problems with sport).

Fujitsu plasma s*** all over anything on the market. The invented plasma and they are by far the best, there new black model looks better than a full 1080 lcd screen. Around the same price too.

Thats a big call... While Fujitsu are a respected brand, and they invented the first full-colour plasma display... Pioneer are generally regarded as the best brand, and they were the first company to start selling to the public.

Personally, I have a Panasonic, and based on what I read, they are regarded as of similar quality to pioneer, but at a lower price.

As for screen burn, current generation plasmas will take all but the longest sill frames. It is widely recommended that you "break in" your plasma for 100-200 hours using a special DVD that cycles colours. (www.avsforum.com) After using a break-in disc, unless you leave your plas on for 24hours on the same brightly coloured frame, you're pretty right. They will sometimes hold on to a bit of a picture if you've let it sit there for 20mins or whatever, but in terms of actually burning into the screen permanently, it would be pretty hard. Every generation gets better at avoiding it too.

Ara, until you can sit and look at a plasma v lcd, on something complex like the channel 7 hd loop, you will not see a difference. LCD's are still a great TV, and they are better than plasmas in hooking up to pc's, however, if you compare the two side-by-side, you will definatley notice a difference in the smoothness of both the picture, and the motion.

channel 7's HD loop isn't even HD. last time i checked it was broadcast at 540p.

what specifically should one look for? my blacks are fine, my contrast is great. i have a relatively high end LCD, are these "issues" that people talk about with sport on LCD limited to the lower end of the market? or is it all a case of people jumping on a bandwagon?

im not saying it isn't true, im just trying to find some more details on the speculation.

channel 7's HD loop isn't even HD. last time i checked it was broadcast at 540p.

Noting that you're in Sydney, you will find that Channel 7 now broadcast selected HD (including the loop) in 1080i, as do 9 and 10.

Previously, they used EDTV - 576P@50fps. The reason it works tvs is that the scenes are complex, and filmed in full HD. There is one particular scene - a helcopter flying over some trees, which shows the issue with LCD's more than anything else I've seen.

The invented plasma and they are by far the best, there new black model looks better than a full 1080 lcd screen. Around the same price too.

looks like somebody's been to my work. seeing as we're the only retailer in brisbane to have the black model :)

did you by any chance to go indro today?

While Fujitsu are a respected brand, and they invented the first full-colour plasma display... Pioneer are generally regarded as the best brand, and they were the first company to start selling to the public.

says pioneer. trust me, put them both side by side, and the fujitsu absolutely s***s all over the pioneer.

Ara, until you can sit and look at a plasma v lcd, on something complex like the channel 7 hd loop, you will not see a difference.

in brisbane anyway, the "HD" loop is broadcast in 576P, which is a low ass resolution, and been compressed massively and it's pretty much the worst "high definition" broadcast on the air.

heavy gaming and computer hookup, go LCD.

for Movies, tv, home theatre type uses, go plasma, and if you want the best, go fujitsu plasma. they have very natural colours, not over saturated like many over brands. they have a fantastic grey-scale (not contrast ratio, that's the mass media name for it, and it's not what you want to look for). contrast is the difference between black and white, which a lot of monitors can do. what's important is how much it can differentiate between blacks and different shades of grey. and for god's sake, don't pay attention to the contrast ratio figures quoted in spec's. it's the biggest joke. fujitsu also have the best mpeg noise reduction and artifact deblocking. IE, when you're watching foxtel, or some channel 7 piece of s*** broadcast, that's the TV that's going to fix the picture the best. other tv's can't do noise reduction worth a damn.

also, 1080 resolution isn't everything. i have 720 screens at work that look better and more natural than 1080 screen, running HD-DVD (and blu-ray, which is ass compared to HD-DVD) and some (not all) of the lower res screen looks better, because it is a better screen and has better image processing.

my $0.02

last edited by Erik-the-Red at 02:00:42 20/Jun/07

What about life span issue with plasmas?

What life span issues?

in brisbane anyway, the "HD" loop is broadcast in 576P, which is a low ass resolution, and been compressed massively and it's pretty much the worst "high definition" broadcast on the air.

The Channel 7 HD Loop is EDTV, which uses 576p. It also has a FASTER FRAME RATE than anything else (50fps)... and as I said to Ara, IN SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE, CHANNEL 7 BROADCAST IN 1080i NOW.

Erik, we're talking about the Fujitsu P42XHA58EB right? How much does it cost?

last edited by mongie at 08:53:50 20/Jun/07

lifespan issue hasn't been a problem in a long time. current models have a half-life (meaning, it will be half as bright in this time) of about 15 years at average use. this isn't really a problem by the way, as you generally only have them set at about 50% brightness anyways.

yeah mongie, that's the one. beautiful tv. RRP is about $4700 including some plush looking stand/cabinet. mind you, that's the market price....

yeah, the 50fps doesn't make up for the fact that it's compressed a lot for the demo loop. also, having a faster framerate doesn't help when the source material is recorded in 25 or 30 fps

last edited by Erik-the-Red at 13:28:53 20/Jun/07

I went plasma cause it sounds cool. Just like plasma ray guns.

yeah mongie, that's the one. beautiful tv. RRP is about $4700 including some plush looking stand/cabinet. mind you, that's the market price....

Oh, cool. My TV's RRP at the time I bought it was $3k. I got it for $2400. That was a year ago.

I found that 90% of salespeople knew sweet-fa about plasmas or LCD's. In the end, I found an excellent guy in David Jones, and he set me straight. Then I bought it from Bi-Rite for $600 less. Victory.


last edited by mongie at 13:43:35 20/Jun/07

i hope you at least gave the first guy a chance to match the price.

if you didn't, that's just rude. they spend all their time going through it all with you for you to buy it somewhere else. i mean, fine, if he couldn't come close to the price, but you did ask, right?

the Panasonic plasmas are getting rave reviews everywhere at the moment.

i hope you at least gave the first guy a chance to match the price.

Of course I did, the thing is, I got it on 12 months interest free for $2400. He could only do it for $3k Interest free.

Orbitor - Thats cause they rock. I love mine, its brilliant.

I went for the 50" Panasonic Plasma... No worries with it. Cost me $2800 from the good guys.

sux2bu

you get the black panasonic model? it's not the silver one, right?

IN SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE, CHANNEL 7 BROADCAST IN 1080i NOW.

The demo loop varies and is rarely shown in 1080i. This is my observation.

Yea Erik-the-Red i went to Harvey at indro, was in there for ages. Not sure if i spoke to you, still have not bought one yet. Ill be back.

Just found a great deal, Harvey at Carendale, The HD Fug TV 42 inch for $2500 thats cheaper than the SD everywhere else.

fug tv?

Go to Beepworld.... They kick everyone's ass

fug tv?

Fujitsu I think.

JB currently have this Samsung 42" plasma for $2000.
http://www.samsung.com/au/products/tv/plasmatv/ps_42c91hd.asp

It's an awesome size but they only had the next model up (another 42" with more HDMI inputs) for me to look at the quality on. They have some new motion feature that makes moving images seem much more fluid which almost looks uber-real, but it seems to sacrifice a bit of quality for it. Anyone know what Samsungs are like in general?

I also spent a while on wiki looking learning about what the differences are between 720p and 1080p and such, but this TV is 1024x768 resolution... and there wasn't any info about that. Can anyone help me out to what that means? (I also looked at the TV's manual and specs but couldn't work it out.)

I also spent a while on wiki looking learning about what the differences are between 720p and 1080p and such, but this TV is 1024x768 resolution... and there wasn't any info about that. Can anyone help me out to what that means? (I also looked at the TV's manual and specs but couldn't work it out.)

Closest res I'm guessing for that would be 576i/p i.e. standard def. but I could be wrong.

Anyone else know any more?

/me waves.

All 42" HD plasma's (at least in the $2000-$3000 price bracket) are 1024x768. The TV's have "HD Input Support" so with mine for example, I can input 1080P over HDMI and it will scale to the right size automatically.

last edited by mongie at 10:30:59 29/Jun/07

HD for lcd is 1366 x 768
:)

yes, 1024x768 is a 4:3 resolution not a 16:9 resolution

Have you been refreshing the page overnight waiting for my post?

I know you have an LCD, but when you bought it, did you actually look at plasmas?

Rectangular pixels. THANKS.

Just for some reference...
Pioneer PDP-427XDA - 1024x768
Panasonic TH-42PX7A, TH-42PX70A - 1024x768

All 42" plasmas are 1024x768... unless they were FULL HD (and I'm not aware that you can get 42" full HD. If you could, expect to pay through the nose).


last edited by mongie at 10:37:08 29/Jun/07

yes (and no, i didnt want plasma, because i wanted to hook up pcs to my tele and plasmas suck balls for that)
:)

All 42" HD plasma's (at least in the $2000-$3000 price bracket) are 1024x768. The TV's have "HD Input Support" so with mine for example, I can input 1080P over HDMI and it will scale to the right size automatically.

Is that a good or bad thing? I don't understand what that means for me watching TV.

Dude, I can't say this enough. Go and look at lots of TV's. Go to a DJ's or something. They normally don't mind helping you out a bit, and they price match.

Obviously the actual detail in the picture of a 1024x768 plasma is not as high as a 1920x1080 full hd LCD. But its the overall viewing experience that matters and I find, that the picture of plasma looks a lot nicer than the picture on an LCD.

You need to decide for yourself, and to do that, look at them side by side and decide what you think.

Xbox 360's look sweet connected at 1024x768, as does HD tv. I'm pretty picky, but I'm sure I'd find it hard to see an actual difference between my TV and a FULLHD lcd.

it means you dont get true 720p, you get a downscaled version of it

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5137915-1.html?tag=main.understand

you have HD foxtel?

That is a good article.

there is no HD foxtel

foxtel only broadcasts in SD

Correction, thanks spook... Foxtel Digital looks horrific on any TV.

No, I don't have it.

depends on the channel with foxtel

some have a very low strength signal (like channel 9)

others are quite reasonable quality SD

especially over component cables

Suposedly, when they turn off Analog, it will be better due to higher bandwidth on the cables.

s*** hey, i did not know this
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/home-theatre/flat-screens-are-energy-hungry/2007/06/29/1182624171396.html

Yeah. I noticed this the other day.

My 42" LCD rates at 275Watts, while my mates 50" Plasma is a whopping 480Watts.

yes, 1024x768 is a 4:3 resolution not a 16:9 resolution

not all. some are 1024x1024, there were even some 1024x1080

also, plasma's are rated at higher usage than LCD's, but they don't really use more. an LCD is rated at 250w for example, and it will constantly use that because the backlight is always on and doesn't change from one scene to the other. on the other hand, a plasma is rated to 500w, but doesn't always use that. that's because the rating is measured when the screen is full white. however, you don't normally watch a completely white image, so in the case of a plasma, when it's a darker picture, it uses less power, since each pixel is like a light bulb

I love my 32" LCD. When Im using the net I browse with my 22" and if I wanna watch moofies I just drag the file over to the 32" and play it on that. Extremely happy with it although I could always do with something bigger.

8-)

although I could always do with something bigger

Story of my life canigetahifive

yer rev, thats it hey

i cant get over how good 720p eps of shows like entourage and heroes look on my tele

i really dont see how you can go plasma if you want to watch pc media on your tele, and really, dont we all? who wants to lose quality dumping it on an xbox, or even worse, watch it on a tiny (comparitvely) pc monitor!?!?

its exclusively the reason i bought my tele, and i coudlnt be happier with it

although we've got a wii atm, and discovered last nite when playing at a mates place, that anything less than 50" just doesnt cut it for wii time