Looking to get a HD TV about 42". Which is better? LCD or Plasma?

there are 3 reasons to get LCD over plasma
1- room lighting...is your room super bright?
2- 1080p - not applicable at the size you are talking
3- hooking it up to a computer to use as a monitor

why do you buy a TV?
Picture quality.

If your answers to the above questions are...
1- no
2- i answered it for you
3- no

get a plasma

1 - Somewhat bright in that room but not "super bright". It's a small room with a ceiling fan that keeps it decently well lit but nothing amazing. The room does get flooded with sunlight a large portion of the day.

2- Yeah I read elsewhere that 1080p doesn't really matter at that size.

3 - I will want to occasionally hook it up to the computer to use it as a monitor (mostly for playing HD stuff through the computer)

I have an LCD TV that works just fine but it's only 27" and I just got a new entertainment center that is made for the bigger units and it makes the current one look extremely small.. So I just wanted to know if I should jump to plasma or not.. Thanks for the input.

No offense, but not a good poll. To many variables mostly with how you are going to use.

For picture quality for TV, I'd go plasma. For use as a computer monitor, I'd got 1080p LCD.

I'd go with a plasma. One of my co-workers bought one to game with it and he is happy, but complained about the "break-in" period. Plasma's have better pixel response time than LCD's, they produce colors better too. I heard the black levels on plasma are better than LCD's, but in a room that's not very bright. The panel life of LCD's and plasma seem to be the same these days, and you don't really have to worry about burn in anymore.
I don't think any LCD's come in 42", but the closest sizes would be 40 and 46 inch. I heard 1080p plasma's don't really look that great in comparisson to their 720p counterparts, something about the smaller pixel having a harder time producing brigthness, I'm not really sure.
42" plasma's these days seem to be cheap. You can find a panasonic one for maybe 1400 if you buy it at the right time. A 40" LCD would be a little more.
Personally I'd go with the plasma, but everyone these days seems to think LCD is better. It's not.

I literally ordered a plasma (Panasonic TH-50PX600U) today after a couple of months of research and getting my ducks in a row (and waiting for my bonus to show up last week).

I prefer the picture of a plasma to lcds. Actually, I really don't care for the picture on an LCD much.

You know, I hate to talk in generalities, but I agree. I'm sure there are some awesome LCD's out there, but I just haven't seen them. Every one I look at (including my own small 27" in my bar) seems less then the greatest picture.

I know this might be unpopular but i wouldn't get either, id stick with CRT or go with DLP, most LCD tvs have shitty picture in my opinion and Plasmas dont last that long.

In fact, many plasma manufacturers boast a life span of 60,000 hours to half life! This is a longer life than a tube based television. The specification is somewhat suspect since the process of determining longevity of the product is based on deductive mathematical calculation of phosphor dissipation, and does not take into account the electronic components and the myriad of problems that can occur. Panasonic was the first to claim the 60,000 hour life span, up from a previous 30,000 just a year prior.

Within months after Panasonic announced this new life span, other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon announcing that their plasma television is now rated to 60,000.

So how long will a plasma last? The long and short of it is that it depends upon your daily hourly usage as well as how you use the monitor. 12 to 55 years is my new short answer.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...-lifespan.html

In addition to the misinformation about plasmas, I'd disagree with the CRT and DLP recommendations too. CRT is too bulky and heavy (although admittedly excellent picture), and I don't like the spinning color wheel concept used by DLP.

My own choice was LCoS (Sony's SXRD in my case, but JVC's D-ILA displays are nice, too).

my room (16 x 16) has 3 windows that are 72" x 42". thats a LOT of window. i still bought a plasma and have not had to deal with much reflection. its never been distracting and only noticeable if you sit and think about it.

you can get a 42" Panasonic Plasma for ~$1100 shipped. If there is not a deal on one today, there will be tomorrow. Samsung makes a nice 42" as well that buy.com was selling for $899 yesterday. That was a steal.

Also, I have a 50" Panasonic plasma as well as 2 very highly rated 26" LCDs....a Sony XBR and an LG. They both have nice pictures but lack the WOW factor of my Panny.

Thank you for all the responses. I looked around for a good deal on plasmas and couldn't find one.. so for now so I decided to grab an LCD that was on sale but would EASILY be returnable to the Costco right around the corner.

Since folks said 1080p doesn't really matter at 42" I grabbed this one . (I know the 1080p listed is wrong). I'll keep my eye out for a good plasma deal over the next 90 days.

$1300 shipped to your door for the top model Panasonic and a free Panasonic DVD player...

Here

That is the high end 42" model too. What a great deal.

I bought my first plasma (42") about six months ago and thought the picture quality was fantastic. I was worried about burn-in but never had any issues other than some slight image retention. It flaked out a few weeks ago and would have taken a few months to have repaired so I returned it and got a 42" LCD instead. I liked the fact that I wouldn't have to even think about burn-in. Well, after the past few weeks I can firmly state that the plasma had a much more pleasing picture and I'm seriously considering going back to one. When watching the LCD I'm constantly aware of the poor black levels and backlight leakage whereas I never even thought about the image on the plasma.

I guess each has its own pros and cons but at the end of the day it's the PQ that counts most and in my case plasma has it all over LCD.

You taunt me.

The one I ordered yesterday arrives today (I live not far from the shipping place) so I'll hook it up may just order that one you listed tonight. As always it doesn't really matter what *I* want.. it's what my wife wants. So i'll let her be judge, juror, and executor.

That's been the deciding factor for me as well in picking plasma as LCD just ain't quite there yet for picture quality when you have to put up with poor black levels (an ugly murkiness when viewing footage shot at night or low light conditions) and the backlight can be a nuisance as well under certain situations/viewing angles.

Says native resolution is 1024x768... ? Isn't that a bit low?

all 42" plasmas are at that resolution. plasma pixels MUST be a certain size and that is all they can "fit" into a 42" unit.

while it seems low compared to an lcd, it is actually one of the reasons plasma can reproduce colors so well.



also, dont get fooled by that sceptre. when it arrives, you will hook it up and think the picture is great. if you can not do an a/b blind test you may never really notice the difference.

plasmas are superior to LCD in a few ways...

1- black levels - black must be produced by a television. the definition of black is an absence of light. it is VERY difficult to "produce" the lack of light. plasma does this very well while lcd is more of a charcoal gray. reas what patman wrote, he is accurate. dark scenes, night shots, etc are just better on a plasma.

2- color reproduction - plasmas are very very accurate when properly calibrated. peoples skin looks like, well, peoples skin. skin tones are very accurate.

3- contrast ratio - because of the deep blacks, plasma produces such a strong contrast between blacks and color that everything seems to pop.

these are 3 of the more important issues when looking at plasma v. lcd and it is what has the greatest effect on picture quality, imo. MUCH more than resolution.

Thanks Spacey. I'll check out the LCD tonight and brow beat it for a while and perhaps drive over to my local Best Buy and see if I can see a difference. If you weren't all the way in Jersey I'd take you along for the ride. I guess now would be a good time to mention i'm really not THAT picky about picture quality seeing as I don't even have anything HD.. but I'm always thinking about the future.

Thanks again..

I recently bought a 40 in. Sony Full HD Bravia 1080p LCD.
Awesome picture !

That isn't true. Hitachi makes a very nice 42-inch plasma that is 1024 x 1080.

ok, most.

Many of them up until now but not as I understand it for the reason you state... Plasmas and LCD's are both fixed pixel displays... they have a certain amount of pixels, and that is the native resolution. The size of the screen does not determine the resolution, the number of pixels determines the resolution. Obviously to put more pixels in a similar size screen requires smaller pixels but that is a good thing.

Size of screen and your proximity to it determine whether your eye can discern the difference.




Per a quick google...

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av...9253346,00.htm

"the benefit of smaller, more closely packed pixels, meaning you can sit closer and not notice the pixel grid--the screen-door effect."