lcd vs. plasma

[Loves2Watch]

Originally Posted by waltc

No salesman recomended this set over another and all of the tv's had a pretty decent picture. I spent time studying a dozen reviews on this tv and all were highly favorable if not outright implying that the Samsung ln52a750 was a top tier set. I have tweaked the set several times as every web site has different numbers for the optimum picture.Some vastly different than others wich I don't understand. My picture is better now than when I first turned it on due to tweaking but still not where I want it.

Or at least get a calibration disc like Avia or DVE.

For rbinck, I don't know why they settled on 48Hz but the picture looks fantastic on all of the G 10 models I saw.

[chipmonkmrl]

I agree with your first thoughts.... the Panasonic plasma DOES have the better picture... and once you've had a modern plasma, going onto lcd is a step backwards, in my opinion. Here in London, I recently sold off my 65" Panasonic plasma (from their range last summer) to replace it with....a Panasonic Professional 65VX100.... which is the world's most advanced plasma bar none. I had to BEG their PRO division to get me one... and mine was the very first one sold here in the UK in January (according to Panasonic Pro division). Brightness, contrast are simply not an issue anymore,colour to die for, and they are taking the lead and flying the flag for plasma, now that Pioneer has dropped out... which IS a real shame... I can assure you that I would rate any consumer Panasonic plasma from the current/last range over any lcd regardless of price...
Your first reaction says it all, and is no big suprise! Your Panasonic plasma WAS really better... in the areas where YOU expected the picture to be better, and that's why you cannot attain your expectations even after tweeking the lcd... I recently saw a pre-production model of a 56" Phililps 21:9 lcd model (Panavision aspect!), and was not impressed.... Movies and Sport in HiDef simply look better on a plasma, and Panasonic's plasma are also KINDER to low resolution public terestrial digital broadcasts... which, in the Uk, are pretty poor.... So when you are done with the tweeking, and remain unsatisfied, return the set...

[AV End User]

Don't worry, you didn't buy the wrong TV. I'm sure the salesman (oh, sorry, . . ."expert") at the store told you that the LCD was "Better" than the plasma. And here I see a lot of plasma purists with good opinions and great intentions trying to tell you that the plasma is "Better" than your LCD. Don't get me wrong, I love my plasma, and it's the only choice for my particular room. But in your situation, an LCD could be the right choice.

I'm not going to give you the whole lecture from soup to nuts. If you want you can read it on my site, www.AVEndUser.com. But to put your mind at ease, what you really need is a professional calibration. Your LCD came from the factory in FLAMETHROWER mode, and in your living room is virtually unwatchable. For starters bring down the color saturation , contrast and "sharpness" to a reasonable level so you don't go blind before you can do the job right.

If you don't want to pay a pro, you can do a semi-reasonable job yourself. Go buy a copy of Digital Video Essentials for Blu-Ray (maybe $26 online), and follow the instructions.

The one thing you won't be able to do is set the white color temperature. You need a lot of expensive equipment to do it right, so just take a stab at by sight. But you will get the red green and blue levels closer to correct, and the contrast where it aught to be.

Lose those cartoon colors and processing artifacts, and you'll learn to love your LCD.

[X-steele-X]

In truth, Plasma's had better PQ as recently as 2008. This year Samsung and Panasonic LCD's seem to have gone to the next level. Surprising that an older Panny Plasma would be so notisably better than a recent Samsung LCD.

I suspect you would get more bang out of it if you calibrated it.

What model Samsung did you purchase?

I bet its very thin. At CES the 2009's looked ridiculously thin!

check out how thin

[jbk]

Why are people so concerned with the thickness of their big screen HDTV?

Just look back at the old CRT's they were 24 inches deep and weighed a ton.

HDTV thickness is just a marketing ploy foisted on the consumers.

Who cares if a HDTV is 1.5 inches thick or 4 inches thick? It really doesn't matter if you're putting it
on top of a credenza or putting it on a wall. It's still significantly thinner that the old CRT!! Especially, if you're putting in the same space as the old CRT or DLP.

What they should be focusing on is picture and sound quality.

Plasma HDTV still have the edge in a side by side comparison. No artifact crawl, better color, better black and wider viewing angles.


JBK

[X-steele-X]

Originally Posted by jbk

Why are people so concerned with the thickness of their big screen HDTV?

Just look back at the old CRT's they were 24 inches deep and weighed a ton.

HDTV thickness is just a marketing ploy foisted on the consumers.

Who cares if a HDTV is 1.5 inches thick or 4 inches thick? It really doesn't matter if you're putting it
on top of a credenza or putting it on a wall. It's still significantly thinner that the old CRT!! Especially, if you're putting in the same space as the old CRT or DLP.

What they should be focusing on is picture and sound quality.

Plasma HDTV still have the edge in a side by side comparison. No artifact crawl, better color, better black and wider viewing angles.


JBK

You're right, of course. Thickness is not the end all. It is an impressive sign of what can be acheived. And the panels are lighter, making them less likely to break and easier to move around. I know my living room looks so much better with my 52" LCD on a mount than when i had a 36" crt that felt "dominating".

And you're right that a new 2009 Panny Plasma will still have nicer PQ than 2009 Panny LCD. Or than anything short of a KURO.

But from what I saw at CES, they're coming close. The thickness is just an example of where technology is taking us. Certainly there are advantages to today's LCD's:

1) they weight less
2) no glare concerns
3) no issues with burn-in or IR

But for pure scinematography, there is no beating a high-end Sammy/Panny Plasma. Not Yet! I see LED backlight LCD's converging soon. And I see OLED's dominating (but that could be another five years out).