Kevin Hockey said:
I have a 42" Plasma which is sensational. LCD are not as good from an angle and only goes to 40". Plasma are heavier however and don't forget to find out how much it will cost you after installation.
Must admit I do love my plasma
Kev
www.gogecko.com.au
I only know a bit about the benq stuff, they should be bringing out a 47" LCD soon from memory..
http://www.benq.com.au/HomeProductList.asp?bc=18
I think Hardly Normal have a sale on ATM?
A quick OZ Google found this information..hope it helps?
Plasma vs LCD.
The two different camps of flat panel display standard will, of course, gladly spruik the advantages of their own standard and the deficiencies of the other. But which type of display, plasma or LCD, is right for you? And which will give you more bang for your buck?
1. Plasma and LCD technology - what's the difference?
Plasma and LCD panels may look similar, but the flat screen and thin profile is where the similarities end. Plasma screens, as its name suggests, uses a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture. LCD screens (liquid crystal display) are in layman's terms sandwiches made up of liquid crystal pushed in the space between two glass plates. Images are created by varying the amount electrical charge applied to the crystals. Each technology has its strengths and weaknesses, as you'll read below.
2. Is there a difference in picture quality between plasma and LCD screens and normal CRT TVs?
It's not what's happening behind the screen that's important - it's how the screen performs as a television that matters the most. In that regard, both plasma and LCD sets produce excellent pictures, although many home entertainment specialists will tell you they're not quite up to the standard of the bulky old CRT televisions yet (although they're quickly catching up).
Those same home entertainment specialists will tell you that for basic home theatre-like usage, plasma screens have a slight edge over LCDs. This is because plasma screens can display blacks more accurately than LCDs can, which means better contrast and detail in dark-coloured television or movie scenes. The nature of LCD technology, where a backlight shines through the LCD layer, means it's hard for it to achieve true blacks because there's always some light leakage from between pixels. This is steadily improving with every new generation of LCD, however.
3. What advantages does plasma have over LCD?
Apart from better contrast due to its ability to show deeper blacks, plasma screens typically have better viewing angles than LCD. Viewing angles are how far you can sit on either side of a screen before the picture's quality is affected. You tend to see some brightness and colour shift when you're on too far of an angle with LCDs, while a plasma's picture remains fairly solid. Plasmas can also produce a brighter colour, once again due to light leakage on an LCD affecting its colour saturation.
Plasma pundits will also tell you that some LCD screens have a tendency to blur images, particularly during fast moving scenes in movies or in sports. While that was true for older generation LCD screens, newer models have improved significantly - so much so that the differences in performance between LCDs and plasmas in this regard is almost negligible.
Perhaps the biggest advantage plasmas have now over their LCD cousins is price, particularly in the large screen end of the market. Plasmas can come in much larger sizes than LCDs at a cheaper price. Plasmas being sold in Australia generally run between 42" and 63" wide, with the cheapest 42" selling for between $3000 and $4000. 63" plasmas can go for as much as $20,000. LCDs, on the other hand, top out around the mid 40" mark, and are more expensive than similar plasmas. Sharp's high end 45" LC45G1XSYS LCD, for example, retails for $15,499, while Pioneer's top of the line 43" PDP-435HD plasma goes for $7999.
4. What advantages does LCD have over plasma?
It's not all doom and gloom for LCD though, as it has the edge over plasma in several key areas. LCDs tend to have higher native resolution than plasmas of the same size, which means more pixels on a screen resulting in a sharper image. This makes LCDs an ideal choice for any true high definition television you plan to watch.
LCDs consume less power than plasma screens, with some estimates ranging that power saving at up to 30 per cent less than plasma. LCDs are also generally lighter than similar sized plasmas, making it easier to move around or wall mount.
LCD pundits also point to the fact that LCDs have a longer lifespan than plasma screens. This was true of earlier plasma models, which would lose half of their brightness after more than 20,000 hours of viewing. Later plasma generations have bumped that up to anything between 30,000 and 60,000 hours. LCDs, on the other hand, are guaranteed for 60,000 hours.
You might have also heard that plasmas suffer from screen burn in, an affliction not as commonly associated with LCDs. Screen burn in occurs when an image is left too long on a screen, resulting in a ghost of that image burned in permanently. Newer plasmas are less susceptible to this thanks to improved technology and other features such built-in screen savers.
5. Which is better value for me right now: plasma or LCD?
If you're in the market for a big screen television, then we'd suggest plasma as a safe bet. Plasmas give you more bang for your buck at the big end of town, and while LCDs can give you better resolution, the price difference is currently too wide. However, if money's not an issue and you want the sharpest image in town, then a large LCD is for you. At the smaller end of things (15" to 36" TVs), LCD is the only way to go if you want something slim and tasteful.
Of course, both LCD and plasma screens are getting bigger and cheaper, so don't expect this recommendation to stay the same forever.
