Plasma or LCD

[birdman0_o]

I hope this thread hasn't been created before, but it would probably need updating. My parents want to buy a new tv sometime soon and I would like to know which technology is "better" or if there is a "right" answer. All your input will be much appreciated, thanks

 

[killivolt]

I hope this thread hasn't been created before, but it would probably need updating. My parents want to buy a new tv sometime soon and I would like to know which technology is "better" or if there is a "right" answer. All your input will be much appreciated, thanks

I can't quote for LCD's right now on their over all longevity. However, my sony plasma's have failed all of them one by one over 4yr period. The repairs weren't so bad about $250.00.

The last one that failed I suspect the TV repair company had developed a Hot Fix for them or carried parts in stock. Often times they will repair them while they are in the bid process. But, this time they quoted me a higher price about $500.00 at which point I declined and sent it to surplus. The surplus manager said Thanks ? I said for what ?

He said for the TV looks great ? I said but, it didn't work and I got a quote from the repair company that it would cost about $500.00 to fix.

He said well I don't know about that but, it's been working great Thanx.

The Students and the Facility said they heard a POP and then it went black.

That was typical as to the other's ? but this time it had made a much louder noise so I had no reason to disbelieve the damage quote from the repair company.

Currently I have {2} rooms with {4} 52" Sharp LCD's which is {8} Total. They are running (8 to 10hrs) a day since September last yr when I installed them. (So far so good.)

In the {2} other Rooms we just moved from. We had {4} 42" plasma's and {1} 52" Hitachi.

Hope that helps.


kv

 

[birdman0_o]

Why so many tvs?

 

[killivolt]

Why so many tvs?

The classroom is arranged for the professor to see all resources coming from the Document Camera, Computer, DVD-VHS, and Site. The Site video is coming from the Local Public Schools we are Broadcasting to this way the professor is seeing his Students in order to interact with questions or catch them screwing around cheating ect. This was in the old rooms all sony 42".

Then the Computer was resourced out continuously as a source for the Students in the room to see it was a backup for the projector which display's all media presented for Students in the room with the professor on Campus.

Now the new rooms are shorter we got screwed when we moved to the new location and we can't use the projector any more so we switched to the 52" sharp LCD's and that will cover the front 2 rows of students and I have to install small VGA screens on the 2 rows behind them with 2 students sharing a screen 4 screens per row. These will display content from the Computer or the "Document Camera which is a Wolf Vision 12 both HDMI and VGA."


kv

 

[ccurtis]

My tendency is to go with LCDs. Their viewing angle, brightness, and persistence issues are all but gone now. They have always been a reliable technology. Plasma displays have lower resolution. Plasma reigns where largest sizes are needed (above 40 inches), as LCDs become prohibitively expensive, of not impossible, as the size increases beyond that. I have read that plasma displays are much more reliable today than they were a few years ago.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Plasma are less reliable, and more expensive to repair when they do go wrong.

But in any case, Plasma is almost totally gone now, with hardly any manufacturers making them, Panasonic are probably the largest, but Samsung and LG still make them (for the moment) - all three also make LCD as well.

 

[sheldonstv]

From a servicing point of view the lcds and plasmas ive come across reliability wise they are crap!!!they are so good i wouldnt have one if you bought the biggest and best looking lcd or plasma if you gave it to me!!!to put it another way in the shop where i work as an electronics service engineer we have sets which are (chassis wise) 15-20 years old-they go wrong once-are easily repaired-and quite happily go on working for another 10-15 years and picture wise are 100 times better than the pictures on any lcd or plasma....the maximum life of a set (lcd or plasma) is about 18 months from new-depending on what is wrong with the set its sometimes scrap the set and buy a new one!!!
lcds failures seem to be mostly confined to poor design of the smps,or failure of the invertor panel-rare occasions weve had signal panel failure-most smps faults are easily repaired but if the panel has been too badly damaged it has for reliability to be replaced as a complete unit-the same with the invertor pcb(if it is transformer failure then its easily repairable-otherwise you replace the complete pcb!!!)
it all comes down to cost with an lcd repair-replacement invertor pcb depending on model can be anything from £180.00+,replacement powersupply panel £50-£100 +,if the signal panel is faulty and its not software related or an easy fix forget it the set is scrap!!! some one who has bought an lcd for £200-£400 from tescos or aldi wont pay nearly the same again to have the set repaired full stop!!!the set is scrapped and they buy new
plasma tvs ive come across have had various failures-mainly power supply related but depending on model if the supply cant be reliably repaired you are looking at £200-£300 for a complete panel!! if the supply panel has failed due to a sustain board failure you are in for a big repair bill-the repair for reliabiltity invovles sustain board replacement and if more than one has failed at £180-£200 + for each pcb + replacement power supply panel the customer will just scrap the set and buy new-we have also had signal board failures too ranging from no sound or picture due to software corruption-the on screen displays are quite misleading with some faults which are simply the result of a power supply missing to one of the sustain panels which if you arent familiar with the problem it can waste a lot of time whilst faultfinding...an ordinary tv does not fail like an lcd or a plasma- they are reliable(ive seen sets that are nearly 25-30 years old and still providing good pictures and sound) are generally easy to repair when they go wrong and are built to a much higher standard than lcd or plasma-i find people are still willing to pay £30-£40+ for an ordinary tv to be repaired whilst they wont pay the for the repair of an lcd or plasma if it comes to nearly as much or more than what was paid for the set in the first place....if you go with lcd or plasma you need deep pockets to have the set repaired or you must really like the set.....

 

[sheldonstv]

still want a plasma or lcd?????

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

still want a plasma or lcd?????

There's no option - CRT's are long discontinued, and the last few were total junk anyway.

I'm perfectly happy with my Plasma, and my LCD

 

[pcbheaven.com]

LCDs are environment friendly Plasma are energy consuming.

 

[sheldonstv]

Where im located you still can buy widescreen crt tvs-asda sell them,you can still get them from some currys stores (we sell them by the lorryload!!!).....so they are still available round here....you can keep yr lcds and plasma sets-as far as im concerned they are overpriced and more importantly UNRELIABLE rubbish!!!they will never ever beat a crt tv for reliability,if i was to spend £200-£400+ on a tv set(if its lcd or plasma)i would expect to buy something that will last for years(the same as a crt tv-15 years +)not rubbish that only lasts if you are very lucky 18 months or so...and then will cost nearly as much as a new one or more to get repaired!!!.....the manufacturers need to get their act together and produce sets that are as reliable and long lasting as an ordinary crt tv-until they do i shall never buy one from new(i wouldnt buy one full stop!!!)big grin

 

[crutschow]

Base upon sheldonstv's comments it sounds like you would want to buy a long extended warranty if you bought an LCD or Plasma TV.

 

[sheldonstv]

that's ok if you the customer are willing to pay the extra each month or whatever for that"servicing"cover-which depending on what goes wrong might mean you get a replacement set back every time whilst yrs is being fixed ready for a swap for somebody else -still doesn't beat an ordinary tv-set is repaired same day and got back to the customer(not swapped for another)or the next couple of days depending on spares-some places they are offering a free 5 year warranty just to reel the customer in but the sets will never last the warranty....still want to buy one??get your money out ....

 

[Mikebits]

Based on consumer news that I read, Plasma is on its way out.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Where im located you still can buy widescreen crt tvs-asda sell them,you can still get them from some currys stores (we sell them by the lorryload!!!)

Like I said, there are essentially NO CRT sets available, apart from a few absolutely cheap crap ones specially made for the supermarkets - which generally have a VERY short life, far less than LCD or Plasma.

 

[sheldonstv]

where u bin buyin them from then???? i disagree crt sets are still available here for people to buy and they will outlast any lcd or plasma set-compare a 40+ year old bw valve set that i had in the other day which failed due to an oc valve heater which after repair is still giving good pictures and sound and has already outlasted any lcd or plasma rubbish that you can buy-what would u rather have?rubbish that lasts for 18 months max from new if u r lucky and needs a big bank balance to repair or a set that lasts for years is reliable and is easy to repair????

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

where u bin buyin them from then???? i disagree crt sets are still available here for people to buy and they will outlast any lcd or plasma set

What sets are you talking about?, there hasn't been a decent make of CRT available in the UK for a good few years now.

Perhaps you might also fill your location in?, making geographical references without a location is pretty pointless.

 

[oliverb]

I got my Sony 40" LCD a couple of years ago to replace my old Panasonic 28" wide screen TV.
While I was installing my LCD on the chimney breast I had a couple of days overlap where I could compare both sets together. The main difference between the 2 sets could be seen in a DTV picture where there was a gradual change in colour from light to dark for example in pictures with lots of blue sky or underwater pictures. On the CRT you could clearly see bars of colour change whereas on the Sony LCD the gradient was very smooth. This is down to the hardware picture processing in the TV my 8 year old Panasonic has none.

The only disadvantage of the LCD was a slight motion blur compared to the CRT screen.

Watching a DVD I could see no difference when using scart or RGB cable on the CRT but a massive step up in quality on the LCD when using RGB. The CRT was just not able to display the extra detail of the LCD. I never use scart cables now just HDMI or RGB.

The other main point is the size and bulk of the 28" CRT compared to the LCD. The CRT dominated my room and never really fitted in. The LCD looks wonderful sitting on my wall and I have gained all the floor space back.

Last but not least HD TV looks so good CRTs just can't get near it.

 

[killivolt]

I got my Sony 40" LCD a couple of years ago to replace my old Panasonic 28" wide screen TV.
While I was installing my LCD on the chimney breast I had a couple of days overlap where I could compare both sets together. The main difference between the 2 sets could be seen in a DTV picture where there was a gradual change in colour from light to dark for example in pictures with lots of blue sky or underwater pictures. On the CRT you could clearly see bars of colour change whereas on the Sony LCD the gradient was very smooth. This is down to the hardware picture processing in the TV my 8 year old Panasonic has none.

The only disadvantage of the LCD was a slight motion blur compared to the CRT screen.

Watching a DVD I could see no difference when using scart or RGB cable on the CRT but a massive step up in quality on the LCD when using RGB. The CRT was just not able to display the extra detail of the LCD. I never use scart cables now just HDMI or RGB.

The other main point is the size and bulk of the 28" CRT compared to the LCD. The CRT dominated my room and never really fitted in. The LCD looks wonderful sitting on my wall and I have gained all the floor space back.

Last but not least HD TV looks so good CRTs just can't get near it.

I agree. It's just that my 19" panasonic I bought for $15.00 at a yard sale was so cost efficient I couldn't resist. So, I decided long ago I'll go to the theater pay their high prices for movie and a pop corn. Take my wife out to dinner and a movie. It's stress relief from the kids. Besides if someone wants to steal the set they can have it. I'll just go buy another one. After lifting heavy TV's for 10yrs especially them Sony CRT ::Grumble:: I now always choose something light and reasonable.


kv

 

[sheldonstv]

well i do agree on the sony weight wise issue-iv been in the servicing trade (tvs video dvd etc)for a good few years now and have seen the sets change over the years too as different makes and models came into the shop for repair,lcd and plasma are just the latest items ive come across for servicing but i will say crt tvs in most respects are better than lcds you get a better sharper picture on a crt than an lcd- no motion blur either-there is a toshiba crt tv which is hd compatible as well which gives quite improved pictures hd wise-plasmas i just dont like full stop-but it still comes downt to money paid out on a set at the end of the day verses cost of repair and how long the set has lasted from new-in my experience of the average age of an lcd or plasma has been 18 months from new-and they have gone wrong for whatever reason and it all comes down to cost-if a pcb can be reliably repaired or has to be replaced and some of these items bring the repair to nearly as much or more than the set was bought for-where an ordinary tv has a life of 10 ,15 ,25 years plus before a failure ,and is easily repaired to component level reliably for a set to go on for years before the next failure....that you cant say about lcd or plasma -from a servicing viewpoint from my experience until they get the basic design of these things right at the moment they are not reliable enough for me to go and pay good money for one-ill stick to something reliable and easily repaired that lasts and you dont get that with lcd or plasma at the moment....