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General discussion

Plasma life-span...

May 18, 2005 1:02PM PDT

Where am I going to find a good reference point for average Plasma half-life or lifespans?

Looking for the hourage on these specific models:

Phillips 42PF9966
Sony KDE42XS955 (37", 42", and 50" - if there's a difference?)
Panasonic TH-50PX50U
Pioneer PDP-5051HD
Toshiba 42HP84

Discussion is locked

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Try...
May 18, 2005 10:31PM PDT

"DLP bulbs should last up to 6,000 hours and are $239 apiece today...most plasmas half life is around 15,000 to 30,000 hours.."

You can figure out if this is bothersome.

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Plasma Lifespan
Jun 2, 2005 2:33AM PDT

The Panasonic Viera line's life span is 60,000 hours.
If you shop carefully you can land a Plasma with better definition and color than LCD or DLP and with 60,000 hours of service the total cost over the life of the HDTV Plasma will figure out to be less than the total cost of the cheaper DLP or any other high definition rear projection set that requires frequent bulb changes. All generation 5 Plasmas will run around 60,000 hours so don't buy an older model Plasma at any price because it will have less than half the life of a Gen. 5 set. A friend who installs systems told me the Samsung and Panasonics top his list for best Plasma Brand Names. By the way, its obviously still not a good idea to walk around the house leaving the TV on as background noise-just burning up the life of the set for no gain. Based on the above I just bought the Panasonic TH-42PX25U/P for under $2600.00. It was an out of box clearance set from Best Buy. Happy Shopping and have a great day, Mac.

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Not necessarily
Jun 20, 2005 8:38PM PDT

You Said "f you shop carefully you can land a Plasma with better definition and color than LCD or DLP and with 60,000 hours of service the total cost over the life of the HDTV Plasma will figure out to be less than the total cost of the cheaper DLP or any other high definition rear projection set that requires frequent bulb changes."

Will Plasmas maintain the best picture for those 60000 hours or will the quality gradually degrade with time (like CRT's do)? LCD's and DLP's should maintain their quality indefinitely.

Plasmas use a lot more energy so if you factor in the cost of electricity you may find that Plasmas cost more after all.

To my eyes there is no significant difference in picture quality with any of them.