Finally purchased a Plasma.. how did I do? (1 Viewer)

[Elinor]

Mort nailed it.

Just like CRTs (tube tvs) and RP-CRTs, plasmas fade very gradually over time. Unless you leave it on 24/7 ... it will be a long time before it even reaches half-life, which is still plenty bright

 

[Kevin_F]

Ok, then let me ask you this, if the price was the same, would you rather get a 42" plasma or 42" lcd?

 

[Elinor]

Hmmm. I'd have to spend some serious time comparing. If both were HD sets (not ED on the plasma), I'd have to see if the grid pattern you can see at about 4 ft. on plasmas was noticeable. RP-LCD has screen door, but it disappears at a closer distance from what I have observed.

If the plasma "grid" or "SDE" or whatever it's called were not very prominent, it really could be a toss-up, depending on overall pic. quality.

 

[MacLean]

My plasma will dim if you leave a constant source, ie splash screen on xbox, after about 5 minutes. I do notice some slight burn-in sometimes but it does go away.


I don't like the way lcds look when there is motion on the screen.

I wanted a bigger HD-DLP or projector...but I got a great deal on the plasma....to good to pass up.

 

[MacLean]

Will Digital Video Essentials give me similar results that a professional calibration would yield?

 

[Elinor]

Maclean, DVE will give you the best user-level adjustments (if you do it correctly) that can be done.

Professional calibrators can get deep into service-level adjustments and refine that picture even more.

It is certainly "better" on some ultimate scale of picture quality, the only question is: is the fee worth it to you?

To me, this is tv ... and the picture I have is magnificent, so it was not worth it. Some folks spend the money for prof. calibration and are very happy with the results.

 

[Rich Boykin]

That's a tough one...

Plasmas tend to have lower resolutions / area than LCD's, but I like the even brightness of the emissive technology of plasma over the transmissive (needs backlight) LCD tech.

I have seen many very expensive LCD tv's that have uneven backlighting, and that just ruins the experience. Not that LCD tech is inherently bad, just that's one flaw that bothers me.

However, the plasmas are more prone to SDE than LCD's (lower pixel density), are more prone to burn in (but responsible usage will minimize this), and generally are a bit bulkier than LCD's.

Personally, the deal breaker would be the motion artifacting...current gen LCD's tend to have a strange effect when there is fast motion on the screen..plasmas MUCH less so.

Rich

 

[RickGr]

Its six of one and 1/2 dozen of the other. I looked at both and bought LCD. I am very very happy with it. I probaly would have been just as happy with a Plasma. The burn in factor on Plasma did tend to scare me off a bit but both are fine sets.

 

[Joe Marks]

Hello..I am in the process of plasma shopping as we speak just trying to decide between Panasonic or NEC. What caught my eye about the original post was the part about cleaning your screen with the Monster cleaner...I have seen in more than one place that you shouldn't use Monster cleaner on a plasma but rather a superfine duster cloth. I can't remember the reason given and I can't vouch for the validity of this but it might have something to do with the coating on plasma glass.

 

[Steve Blair]

Use a microfiber cloth. That's what I and many plasmas owners use and I don't even wet the cloth usually.