New TV: Plasma or LCD?

I am thinking about getting a new TV. I have a Playstation 3 now, meaning that I want a TV that is good both for VF5 and Blue Ray movies. I am thinking about getting a 42'' or 50'' full HD plasma, though I would like some opinions from someone that has tried VF5 on one of the latest Plasma screens. If VF5 sucks on plasma screens (shadows at fast movements, blurriness or some other reason) them I might go with an LCD even though their picture quality in general is worse when watching movies.

Anyone with some suggestions / info / frist hand experiance?

 

I find the picture quality of the top-end LCD's from Philips, Sony etc give a much crsiper picture than most plasmas. I work in the electrical department of a big retail store and have yet to see a plasma that can out-perform a good LCD. LCD's are also well re-knowned for lasting longer than plasmas.

 

This is the one...

52" Sony XBR4

True 120Hz.

Read more about it in this thread.

I will have one of these.

 

If I had £2,000 to spare then I'd be getting me one 'a' those!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

 

Better picture quality on movies is of course very subjective though in most blind tests I have read more expensive plasma screens are usually the winners. I think this is due to Plasmas still have better contrast, deeper blacks, better refresh rates and also better viewing angles things that still do mater a lot when viewing movies. But as I said I only have compared them watching dvd movies and I have no clue how my impression would be with a ps3 playing VF .

 

From every specialist (BestBuy, Circuit City, Tweeters, etc...,) that I have spoken with generally say if you are buying one for movies than get a good plasma; for video gaming get a good LCD. Also I have never seen a 360 or PS3 hooked up to a plasma, but I can say this they look great on LCDs. Me personally I plan on getting one of the new XBR5s.

 

I've spent quite a few hours on avsforum. It's full of hyper-critical consumers that look really hard at what they buy. A huge stand-out of the XBR4/5 line is that there are very few rejects when compared with, say, the Sharp Aquos D92 series (my previous desire - which, apparently, was fraught with banding problems), according to those who post in both threads.

More about 120Hz... Note that only two LCD TVs exist that offer true 120Hz (Sony and JVC). Others, like Sharp, claim 120Hz but are native 60Hz and use 3:2 pulldown to simulate 120Hz. The magic of native 120Hz is that it requires no interpolation to run 24fps, 30fps, or 60fps.

I have seen a BluRay/PS3 demo on an XBR4 - it's insane. The picture looks to have depth-of-field, as if it were 3D. Go to a Best Buy or other store and watch for yourself.

 

I use 3 40" Displays from Samsung, They all work great.

One is an OLD plasma. And two are newer LCD's.. my LCD looks great. LNS4062F I think is the model number..

For games i'd go with LCD dont have to worry about burn in.. and image quality is comparable if not better.

 

Is 120hz really that big a deal? There's still going to be visible judder in 24fps scenes that pan, because its, well, 24fps. I see judder in movie theatres . . .

 

Heh. The judder seen in theatres can be made to go away with this set (motion flow = on, I believe). Now there are purists arguing that movies SHOULD have judder.

 

My friend just got an XBR4. I'm so freaking jealous.

I've been slowly but surely saving up for one. I figure if I'm gonna get an HDTV, may as well get the best. The Samsung LN-TXX81F (I think F is at the end, not sure) series also looks mighty nice.

Sony's XBR4/5 (these sets are identical save for piano black finish, an extra connection (something weird) and a longer warranty for the XBR5) and Samsung's 81F and 71F seem like the best sets money can buy at the moment. The Sony seems to have the best viewing angle (better blacks at different angles), which for VF parties would be ideal. The Samsung is great if you'll be using it in ideal conditions (watching from the center of the screen in a pitch black cinema room). My guess is that for VF, you'll pretty much never be in such an ideal condition.

So for everyday use, go for the Sony XBR4. While it may dig deep into your wallet, it'll definitely be worth the cost. The XBR4 will last you for years. Of course, you can also wait till the next XBR (XBR6 I guess) comes out which will see a nice drop in price for the XBR4. But can you wait that long?

 

Found another tread on the same subject:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstat...scending&page=1

Seems as plasmas still have the picture quality- and refresh rate edge. The permanent burn-in problem seems gone on the newer plasma models though temporary burn-ins still seems to happen.

Sigh this was apparently no easy question heh, thanks for all the imput so far though.

 

That was an interesting read. Gundyrat1 appears to know about 98% percent more that the next most knowledgeable person in that thread. I'd study avsforum.com if you have time and patience. It's really strong on useful info.

 

I just recently got the Sony XBR4 46" as a gift for 2 friends who are brothers it was meant to be a christmas & house warming present to save trouble buying seperate presents. Wow it's nice & boy I'd didn't expect it to be so big. It scared me the first time I'd saw it b/c It actually made my friend's living room seem smaller.

 

you buy tvs for friends?

you want to be friends?

 

Smurf,

I remember you showing me the link to that set on IRC (probably right before you bought it). That was just days or even hours before I really knew what it was. It sort of went like this in mah brain - "Eh, Sharp is the one. Damn banding, though... oh, wait... XBR 4&5... true 120Hz? This does change everything. Hey, that's the set Smurf linked! He's on the ball!"

Nice one, man.

I must have 52" XBR4. Someday.

 

Ztaar,

I bought a Sony 40" XBR2 and my PS3 on the same day (last March when VF5 came out ). I can't think of anything to complain about. VF5 and blu-ray movies look sick (I mean that in a good way) on this tv. The color is so crisp, and blu-ray, particularly the CGI movies, will make your jaw drop. If the Motionflow 120Hz of the XBR4/5 (or the HDMI 1.3) isn't a deal breaker, go with an XBR2/3! In my experience (thus far), I've noticed no problems with the XBR2's ability to handle quick movements while watching football, movies, etc. And with the XBR4/5 costing the same (or actually less) than what the XBR2/3 cost less than a year ago, you can probably get the XBR2/3 for a really reasonable price; since they are last year's XBR models.

This may not be a fair comparison, but I'm yet to see a picture that comes close to the XBR2. The reason I'm saying "not fair" is many HDTV's I see are at bars, where they are either all feeding off of the same signal, or the bars owners may not actually have the HD service from their cable provider (might just be digital). A lot of the time, the colors are so faded, and the picture quality is actually "bad" in comparison with what I have at the house. As for what I've witnessed when comparing HDTV's at places like Best Buy/Circuit City, only the Samsung 1080p can give the XBR's (2-5) a run for their money IMHO.

As far as TV's that actually surpass Sony's XBR series, I've also read that the high end Samsung (1080p) LCDs rival the XBR series (and some people actually prefer them). As for Plasma, the one tv that is said to have an overall better picture quality than the XBR series, is the Pioneer 70HD/80HD plasmas. This is according to CNET and some random forums I came across; in which they compared the sets head to head. The Pioneer's are said to outperform the XBR series for watching HD satellite/cable, and movies on most formats. Blu-ray movies however, were said to look equally good on both TV's. If you really want to get picky/technical, the XBR would probably have a slight advantage, due to them being full HD (1080p) sets; whereas the Pioneer's have a resolution of 1024 X 768. So, since blu-ray movies are all meant to be viewed in 1080p, the 1920 X 1080 resolution of the XBR's would theoretically be more ideal I would think. But I'm not sure how much of a difference this would actually make to the naked eye.

I've read that LCD's and DLP rear projections are your best bet for video games. So if you are more concerned about performance in regards to video games and blu-ray movies in particular, I'd go with the XBR series (the best LCD has to offer right now). Go with the one of the Pioneer plasma's if you are more concerned with watching HD cable/satellite TV in general (although HD and regular digital channels look nothing short of amazing on my XBR2), or movies on most formats (such as upscaled HD content, DVD's, etc.). Most of this is based on bits of info I've read in the last few weeks, so it's still fresh in my memory. Hope this helps a bit too! Good luck /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

I think you should steer clear of DLP for gaming. Movies are so beautiful on DLP (especially Mitsubishi Diamond Series) and the value is tremendous. I've experienced and read about lag problems when playing VF5 on DLP. Probably .25 second input lag.

 

I wasn't aware that there was lag in VF5 when playing on a DLP set. Thanks for that heads up; although .25 of a second may not be significant (if even noticeable) in most gaming genres, we def. can't afford to have that while playing VF!

 

I'm in tvhd research for about one year. I've read a lot, most of the time at avs forum on lcd and plasma forum, also i've tried some lcd and plasma tv.

From what i see and try, the pioneer plasma ( 5080 and pro950hd elite tried) are AWESOME!!! on my 360. Also samsung 64 models and panasonic 75X, pz700u series are also awesome.

LCD xbr3 don't convince me since, for my eyes, don't handle fast movement very well. On fast moving the whole screen appear somewhat blurry, not as clean as plasma. But it maybe some setting adjust.

I didn't try xbr4 for gaming but from what i see, it blow away other lcd around, fantastic picture. Is fast motion are really well handled? wanna try!

From now, i'm on the go to pull the trigger on pioneer 5080 but i wanna try xbr4 before just to be sure.