Plasma TV (and the death of projectors)
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What's the difference between Plasma and LED technology?
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
One thing I haven't seen mentioned about plasma vs. LCD is weight and heat. Since you mentioned hanging it on the wall I figured I'd point out that plasma screens will probably weigh quite a bit more than an LCD of comparable size, and plasma sets (generally) consume more power and therefore generate more heat. I can actually feel the heat coming off my 42" plasma in my bedroom when I'm standing a couple of feet away. Neither is a big consideration for me though. I love my plasma screen and all things considered, I think it's the best picture for the money. If you've used an LCD computer monitor recently (who hasn't?) then you're already pretty familiar with LCD tech. Though the panels used in TV's may be more advanced, there isn't much difference in the basic way they work.
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When I built this house, I set up a media room with a 70" projector screen with a short throw (10 ft), so the picture was big and the quality acceptable. I've replaced two bulbs thus far (not cheap: ~$300), and I can live with that. However, what they don't tell you is that these bulbs die with an explosive bang loud enough to make you think you're taking mortar fire. Quite exciting. Best of all, when the second one went, it spewed powdered glass across the room. Yep. Actual glass, fine as grains of sand on the beach, all over the couch, carpet, and had I been sitting there at that precise moment, me. Having replaced the bulp, the color wheel now makes a grinding, whining noise, no doubt from an internal coating of glass as well. To say that I'm through with projectors would be an exercise in understatement. So, looking at a large screen to hang on the wall. Looks like 65" is tops for plasma, and they've come down in price quite a bit since I bought the projector system (at the time the biggest screens were $8-10k). What's the thinking on large, wall mountable TV technology these days? I'm not sure what features to look for, or what pitfalls to avoid. I just want something that doesn't explode.
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
One of my good friends has worked in the home theater business for years, and i've been working with him off and on for quite a while. with LCD's you never have problems with burn in, the picture isnt as good because of the CFL backlight you'll never get a true black, some get close though. With LED or Plasma the tv can shut off sections to give you closer to a true black but i think Plasma's still have some form of a backlight, at least they used to. They also used to have problems with burn in, i hear its been fixed but i still wouldnt trust it. You also used to have to have them serviced and recharged every couple years(just like the light bulbs from that projector), they may have fixed this too but it still may happen. I've also read several articles that have said that since LCD tech is scaling better and getting into the size ranges that were dominated by plasmas a lot of the manufacturors are discontinuing the plasma lines because of the lower cost of LCD panels. Personally my preference is for CRT rear projection or CRT projectors, the 57" sony i have now on 1080i cant be beaten for picture quality. They wont go to 1080p but oh well. I'm not sure what Full HD or HD Ready means, but i'd imagine HD Ready only has a true resolution of around 720p(1330x720) or less, and Full HD will go up to full 1080p(19xx x 1080). I cant remember the full res for 1080p, but always check what the native resolution is on any tv you're looking to by, some tv's will take any input than just scale it down to whatever their native resolution is.
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What's the difference between Plasma and LED technology?
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
I belabored this decision for weeks before buying a Samsung LCD. When I was comparing the TVs side by side, the only difference I noticed was that the LCDs were consistently sharper. I've not had a single moment of buyer's remorse, and am considering getting another Samsung LCD for the bedroom.
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I belabored this decision for weeks before buying a Samsung LCD. When I was comparing the TVs side by side, the only difference I noticed was that the LCDs were consistently sharper. I've not had a single moment of buyer's remorse, and am considering getting another Samsung LCD for the bedroom.
Jordan Marr wrote:
I've not had a single moment of buyer's remorse, and am considering getting another Samsung LCD for the bedroom.
For a moment I read you were getting another for the bathroom ... I certainly need new glasses ... :laugh:
Edgar Prieto Software Engineer
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One of my good friends has worked in the home theater business for years, and i've been working with him off and on for quite a while. with LCD's you never have problems with burn in, the picture isnt as good because of the CFL backlight you'll never get a true black, some get close though. With LED or Plasma the tv can shut off sections to give you closer to a true black but i think Plasma's still have some form of a backlight, at least they used to. They also used to have problems with burn in, i hear its been fixed but i still wouldnt trust it. You also used to have to have them serviced and recharged every couple years(just like the light bulbs from that projector), they may have fixed this too but it still may happen. I've also read several articles that have said that since LCD tech is scaling better and getting into the size ranges that were dominated by plasmas a lot of the manufacturors are discontinuing the plasma lines because of the lower cost of LCD panels. Personally my preference is for CRT rear projection or CRT projectors, the 57" sony i have now on 1080i cant be beaten for picture quality. They wont go to 1080p but oh well. I'm not sure what Full HD or HD Ready means, but i'd imagine HD Ready only has a true resolution of around 720p(1330x720) or less, and Full HD will go up to full 1080p(19xx x 1080). I cant remember the full res for 1080p, but always check what the native resolution is on any tv you're looking to by, some tv's will take any input than just scale it down to whatever their native resolution is.
Please remember to rate helpful or unhelpful answers, it lets us and people reading the forums know if our answers are any good.
SomeGuyThatIsMe wrote:
Personally my preference is for CRT rear projection
Are you kidding? Those were/are god awful.
SomeGuyThatIsMe wrote:
I'm not sure what Full HD or HD Ready means
They are talking about two differnt things, and therefore cannot be a comparison. HD Ready is refering to the fact that the TV has an HD resolution (at least 720i) but lacks a built-in HD tuner. Full HD refers to the resolution being 1080p (1920×1080).
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Unpaid overtime is slavery.
Trollslayer wrote:
Meetings - where minutes are taken and hours are lost.
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:laugh: I have a mug on my desk (a present from my daughter for Father's Day a couple years ago) with the caption "Professional smartass" on the side.
Software Zen:
delete this;I need one of those!
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SomeGuyThatIsMe wrote:
Personally my preference is for CRT rear projection
Are you kidding? Those were/are god awful.
SomeGuyThatIsMe wrote:
I'm not sure what Full HD or HD Ready means
They are talking about two differnt things, and therefore cannot be a comparison. HD Ready is refering to the fact that the TV has an HD resolution (at least 720i) but lacks a built-in HD tuner. Full HD refers to the resolution being 1080p (1920×1080).
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Unpaid overtime is slavery.
Trollslayer wrote:
Meetings - where minutes are taken and hours are lost.
You must either have a bad one, one that is dirty, or whose tubes needed to be replaced (mine are almost brand new). When the tubes are cleaned and aligned properly the contrast and picture quality of a HD CRT set is at least on par(in my opinion better) than any modern display of the same resolution, except maybe OLED but they're so small and expensive we should probably just ignore them for this conversation. I had a 32" LCD showing 720p and my 57" CRT rear projection at 1080i(it scaled down 720p to 480p due to the different frequencies required by the analog components) and the CRT had a much much better picture. Yes 1080i gives me more horizontal resoultion but less vertical resolution than 720p, if you have a tv that does both swtich between them and I bet you'll barely notice a difference(assuming you tell the source to output the correct resolution). DLP and other current rear projection TV's have the same problem that LCDs do, they only have one big backlight that cant really be blocked, the new Laser projection tv that Mitsubishi is coming out with will be able to not shoot sections just like the CRT tubes so you'll get better blacks than you would otherwise. CRT's do have their downsides, hard to get parts for, weight(my 57 weighs 250 pounds), and size. Until lcds/plasmas come way down in price or they come up with soemthing better i'm not switching.
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You must either have a bad one, one that is dirty, or whose tubes needed to be replaced (mine are almost brand new). When the tubes are cleaned and aligned properly the contrast and picture quality of a HD CRT set is at least on par(in my opinion better) than any modern display of the same resolution, except maybe OLED but they're so small and expensive we should probably just ignore them for this conversation. I had a 32" LCD showing 720p and my 57" CRT rear projection at 1080i(it scaled down 720p to 480p due to the different frequencies required by the analog components) and the CRT had a much much better picture. Yes 1080i gives me more horizontal resoultion but less vertical resolution than 720p, if you have a tv that does both swtich between them and I bet you'll barely notice a difference(assuming you tell the source to output the correct resolution). DLP and other current rear projection TV's have the same problem that LCDs do, they only have one big backlight that cant really be blocked, the new Laser projection tv that Mitsubishi is coming out with will be able to not shoot sections just like the CRT tubes so you'll get better blacks than you would otherwise. CRT's do have their downsides, hard to get parts for, weight(my 57 weighs 250 pounds), and size. Until lcds/plasmas come way down in price or they come up with soemthing better i'm not switching.
Please remember to rate helpful or unhelpful answers, it lets us and people reading the forums know if our answers are any good.
...Link to your TV?
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Unpaid overtime is slavery.
Trollslayer wrote:
Meetings - where minutes are taken and hours are lost.
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...Link to your TV?
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Unpaid overtime is slavery.
Trollslayer wrote:
Meetings - where minutes are taken and hours are lost.
couldnt find a link to specs, all i found was a manual and people complaining about some flicker issue. KP 57HW40 is the model number. sony has taken everything down for it except the manual. other specs i've found have varied greatly from site to site.
Please remember to rate helpful or unhelpful answers, it lets us and people reading the forums know if our answers are any good.
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
what they don't tell you is that these bulbs die with an explosive bang loud enough to make you think you're taking mortar fire.
Is this common or does it happen only in certain conditions? Depending on bulb quality or environment in the room, things like that. Best warn my brother just in case though, his has been in place for a year or so now.
- Rob
I've had two bulbs fail, the first one went quietly, while the other was fairly loud but the projector unit contained the most of the fragments. The experience noted here sounds quite dangerous for the user and a real liability for the manufacturer.
Tom