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General discussion

Quality of New Plasma TVs?

Aug 2, 2005 11:01PM PDT

I'm thinking of purchasing a 42" plasma and have some questions -
I've heard some negatives about Plasma TVs, but I've also heard a lot of defenses for Plasmas. For example, I've heard that plasmas will burn-in easily. But newer models have much less of a risk to do it." "Older models have a life of about 3-5 years," but "newer ones may last as long as many CRTs (more than 7 years." Is there some truth to this? I'm sure older models have more negatives (older versions of any technology usually does), but I am curious about how newer plasmas have come along? Some clarification, experience, and education on these comments/misconceptions would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
-Tony

Discussion is locked

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I Believe You're Right On All Counts....
Aug 3, 2005 12:44AM PDT

...And while plasmas still can be burned in if you're really stupid about it and play games leaving them on for 24 hours at a time, even a tiny bit of prudence renders this a non-problem. Life spans are conservatively rated at 25-30,000 hours. That equates to about 20 years use at four hours a day. At eight hours a day, it still gives you a good 10 years. I don't know about you, but I figure I'm good for a new TV before 10 years usually.

Re: the most important criteria, plasma still gives you the brightest, most vibrant picture by a long shot. Take alook at any LCD next to a plasma and it's a joke. It's also the only technology (othe than CRT) to give you virtually 180 degrees perfect viewing. Go off axis on an LCD or especially, DLP and it looks like someone shut the set off. Stick with plasma!

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Plasma Lifespan
Aug 3, 2005 3:40AM PDT

Many current models are rated to 60,000 hours. You do the math.

Burn in can happen but, as posted above, even basic common sense can prevent this from being a problem. Even if you do screw up and forget to turn off the game console there are picture movement technologies and "burn eraser" tricks that can fix or prevent a moderately burnt screen. (Don't try without a pro though.)

Terry
Owner
Beyond Home Theater
www.beyondhometheater.com

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PLASMA TV's
Aug 5, 2005 8:06AM PDT

Plasma Pro: Brightest Picture, Excellent Viewing Angle, Best Contrast, Thin (Wall mountable), Light weight (for size).

Plasma Cons: Burn-in (If you're not a moron this shouldn't be an issue. You've got to leave a stagnant picture on the screen for a long time for this to happen. The only way you'd have to worry about this is if you only watch channels that have a logo or ticker running, if you pause a video game and leave for a month or so, or if you watch normal TV and refuse to stretch the screen out (I use 'JUST' for filling the screen, that way the center portion of the pictureis stil in proper proportion). Life (or more accurately half-life) is 60,000 hours on the new gen8 panels. 60,000 hours is a long time. I, who watches more TV than anyone on the planet, average 8 hours a day. That is equivalent to 7500 days, which is 20 and 1/2 years. I think I'd buy a new one before then just to have a bigger screen!

Summation: Plasma is fantastic, LCD is nice but not as bright. DLP's have a bulb that costs (at least for the Panasonic) $600.00 to replace. These bulbs need to be replaced on average every 600-800 hours. CRT's are great but HUGE and heavy. The supposed successor to Plasma was LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) has been dropped by all manufacturers. The next successor to Plasma well, we'll just have to wait and see.

The only recommendation I have is to get one with a built-in ATSC tuner, and only buy one that is HD, not ED. I know a lot of people say it isn't neccessary, but it sure is nice being able to watch TV without using any other devices (not everything needs 5.1 audio). The cable card slot works quite well. and the TH50px500u has 6 speakers built-in (of which 2 are woofers).