Why LCD TVs might soon be obsolete

[bigblue]

You dont have to worry about burn in. Not really an issue anymore,

It is still an issue, to varying extents. The people that say otherwise are generally people that want to sell TV's. You might not get it now, when the panel is new, but that's not guarantee you won't get it later, when the phosphor ages, especially if you watch the same channel/play the same game often during it's lifespan.

Even if you don't get any burn, retention is still a problem. If you play a game for a while, that has static items on screen, then change over to the TV you'll often see feint outlines of your game for a while. Especially if you watch something, such as football or golf, that has lots of areas of the same colour. It annoys the hell out of me.

Plasma's are better with motion though, and I'd say that screen response times on LCD's are a little misleading. They're not really the issue. Even with the lowest response rate panel, you'll still get motion problems due to the kinda "afterglow" effect.

Plasma often seems to be a more natural image too, partly because our eyes are conditioned to CRT's. Plasma is more CRT-like because it's not quite as razor sharp as LCD. Also, because of this, it often seems more flattering to SD footage.

But then, LCD is far more suited to PC use, because of this sharpness. So it's horses for courses !

they told me to run it on eco for 200 hours and thats it (panasonic)

Panasonic said that ? Did they guarantee it ? If so, presumably you can return it under warranty if it occurs ?

If so, that's the first example I've heard of, of a manufacturer giving any sort of firm reassurance about screen burn. The fact that they never previously have (to my knowledge) is a pretty big indicator that it IS still an issue.

Yes, but my plasma still is better than equiv lcd

To you, maybe. But someone with an equivalent LCD might prefer it to your plasma. Personal preference and all that ?

[nichomach]

As to actual burn-in, I haven't encountered that so much, but image retention on the three 50" and one 63" plasmas at work IS an issue; we use them for presentations, and it's not a problem, as such, since it's usually just Powerpoint slides etc, but I wouldn't want that effect on my telly at home. The three smaller screens are NEC, the larger one a Samsung. That experience was a factor when I chose the 40" Samsung LCD that I have at home. My experience is that it produces excellent picture quality, handles motion well, and seems fine colour-wise.

[JimmyBoy]

i would choose lcd over plasma, ive seen a few plasmas and the screen looks like its flickering, maybe its just the refreshing i dont know or maybe its just not setup correctly but everything just looks perhaps over sharp im not sure how else to describe it, this also applies to my friends 50 inch samsung plasma, also we was watching a music channel for no more than half hour and the big red bar on the right of the screen that displays peoples txts in, playlist etc stayed there for quite sumtime after changing the channel, i just wouldnt enjoy watchin it if i had paid a grand for it as id be too worried about damaging the panel with burn in.

[TheAnimus]

Plasma's are better with motion though, and I'd say that screen response times on LCD's are a little misleading. They're not really the issue. Even with the lowest response rate panel, you'll still get motion problems due to the kinda "afterglow" effect.

I'd say that its really becoming lesss and less of an issue, due to cunning driver techniques in no small part. I understand that the latest TFTs actually use a different level than they should, depending on what the crystals where changing from. So you get less of the inertia with the crstyals (this is what gives the afterglow)

They've been doing this for a while now, and it really makes a difference.

nichomach, at work we also have stupid plasmas, whats wrong with a DLP projector i don't know. They look fuzzy, and awful. PPTs are OK, but small text is just awful. Its worth saying these are quite old plasmas (3 years) and of course not full 1080p res (despite some of them been 60"!). I really don't understand why they where bought.

Ben_: its not a competition, most of it comes down to what people want them for. Now anything you or I have bought, is completely obsolete, so theirs no point trying to claim yours is the best, the point i'm trying to make is LCD has more advances to be made than plasma has, and also, if you don't take into account cost, LCD is better for most situations (for reasons went into above).

[nichomach]

In fairness, I should say that the plasmas are popular with end users; they're less work than projectors and don't have so many issues with ambient light, and as I say, it's retention, not burn in, so a couple of goes with the utilities and they're usually fine. They're also VERY sharp. As I say, I just wouldn't want the retention on my telly at home. They're actually 1366x768, but most of our stuff doesn't involve small text, so it's not really an issue. I love the Samsung I have at home to bits, though; the motion plus stuff really does seem to do the business.