------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, although I'm partially PWI at the moment, I really would like to chip in my .02 since I sell TV's for a living at the moment and answer this question on a daily basis.... I'll try to correct a few things people said and also answer your questions in the process.
First of all, standard LCD sizes versus plasma sizes...
LCD: 26, 32, 37, 40, and 46 (inch)
Plasma: 36, 42, 50 (inch)
Those sizes cover most peoples needs when theyre interested in purchasing a "primary" tv for their living room or whatever. So nobody purchased a 42'' lcd... Just wanted to make that clear so nobody feels gipped if they go to the store looking
Now more technical... As many people have said, LCD's and Plasmas both have their ups and downs. Do not listen to people who say "PLASMAS ARE THE DEVIL!!!
" or "LCDS ARE THE DEVIL!!! " though... It's just not true. They just each have their pros and cons.For example... technically, plasmas have a better picture than LCDs. Because of the way the technology works, Plasmas have a LOT higher contrast ratio than LCDs... A cheap LCD would give you a contrast ratio of between 1000 or 1200 to 1. I top of the line LCD will give you a contrast ratio of 4000 to 1. A good plasma TV will give you a contrast ratio of 10,000 to 1. The darks are darker the whites are whiter. Plasmas also do a lot better with quick motion once you get into bigger sizes. When you get an LCD above 40 inches, if theres a lot of quick motion (say in sports or something) you may begin to see a blurrrrr effect. Just the way it works... Another thing that makes plasmas nice is that if you're looking for a TV 42'' or bigger, a plasma is a lot more economical. It just isn't reasonable to make LCD TV's in really big sizes at a reasonable cost. You can get a top of the line Panasonic, LG, or Samsung TV for $1599.99 in stores... Thats 720p/1080i. To get a comprable 40'' LCD with a HDTV tuner built in, It would run you about $1799.99. Then once you get into bigger sizes, you can get a 50'' plasma (Top of the line panasonic) for $1999.99 but to get a 46'' LCD with a built in tuner you'd be paying upwards of $2899.99. So as you can see, plasmas are more economical in bigger sizes... (Obviously prices may varry from store to store and sale price to sale price but I gave realisitic sale and store prices I've seen on a weekly basis). In contrast, Plasmas are not able to be made very small, so if you're considering something smaller than 42 inches, I would go with an LCD TV... The smallest plasma I'm aware of is 36'' and if you go that small you may as well go with an LCD.
So now for all you LCD lovers
here are some downsides to plasmas... 1. Although they're a lot better than they used to be, theyre still suceptible (sp?) to burn in. Burn in is when you change the channel but a different image is still faintly viewable on the screen. This can occur for a couple reasons... primarly from misuse and neglect but has been known to occur accidentally... You may experience this if you leave a DVD paused for hours on end or if you play video games that have graphics that are stationary for hours on end. Again, this is a heck of a lot better than it used to be but it is still a potential issue. I have a 42'' plasma TV at home and I won't play my Nintendo Wii on it because I don't want to make a $1700 dollar mistake and screw up my tv... Many TV's now have a feature called pixel shift built into them however. Pixel shift is a setting that will actually move your entire picutre one to four pixels every one to eight minutes (number of pixels and times may varry depending on the TV). This helps prevent burn in even if there is a paused DVD or video game because the picture is "constantly" (at least every couple minutes) moving... (but not a noticeable amount to the eye)
2. Another downside to Plasmas, as other people have mentioned, is that theyre very expensive to fix. Despite what any sales associate tells you, there is no phenomina of replacing, reviving, rejivinating, or refilling the gas in Plasma TV's. If something happens to the compressed gas in that tube, you're pretty much SOL (unless you have an extended protection plan through whatever company...). So for longevity purposes, LCD's are the way to go. Their most common problem is pixel burn out and if that occurs it may cost a couple hundred bucks to fix, but at least you dont have to eat the entire cost of the TV. From the latest I've read, a reasonable life on a plasma is 8-10 years where as a reasonable life on an LCD is 10-15. Technically, the gas in plasmas does have a half-life, so at that time, the picture would be half as bright as when it started but that half-life is ~30 years. So you'll definitly have a new TV by then...
Hmm... What else to say... As far as weight goes, a standard 42'' plasma weighs ~88 lbs... A standard 40'' LCD will weigh about half that. Either way, it's lighter and easier to move than any other type of TV of comprable size!! They will both hang on the wall as well without a bother. You need to make sure though that if you're doing the mounting yourself that you hit the studs. (I know it may be common sense but you'd be surpirised at the number of people who don't think of it...). One advantage of having a company install if for you is that they often come with a 1 year guarantee that if by some chance the installation goes bad and the TV DOES fall off the wall, that they'll incur all costs and replace everything for you... You should also consider which kind of mount u want... a flat mount, a mount with up to 15 degree tilt, or a swing arm mount. It all depends on how much movement you want to be able to have. Plan on spending at least 100 bucks for a basic mount if you're thinkin like a 40 inch or bigger TV...
Now the issue of hookups... With your high def TV, you'll have the option of using some higher quality cables... Generally what people do is use an HDMI cable (or DVI if HDMI is not avail) to hook up their cable or sattelite. HDMI = High Definitiion Multimedia Interface... This would give you the BEST quality audio video available for your TV...As for your DVD player, you could use your regular cables and it would look just fine. BUT, if you really want to take advantage of the capabilities of your new TV, you could consider purchasing an upconversion DVD player. The DVD's the majority of us have right now are standard definition DVDs. They do make DVDs in high def now but they run 40 to 50 bucks a pop and the players are about a grand a piece. An affordable alternative is to pick up an upconversion DVD player which again utilizes the HDMI cable and will actually take your standard definition DVD and simulate it in high def. You can get a really nice upconvert dvd player for 90-100 bucks in most retail stores. If you just want to stick with the devices (VCR, DVD player, etc) you have now, the quality of hookups goes as follows from worst quality to best quality:
Coaxial:Composite(Red, White, and Yellow): S-Video: Component(Red,Blue,Green for video): HDMI or DVI
Take a look at your unit and see what outputs you have from that list and pick the highest quality one... It does make a difference. Most DVD players if it's new within the last year or two will have a component output. Take advantage of it. As far as video games go, the 360 and PS3 I believe have cables that will make them High Def where as the Wii can be upgraded as far as component cables. Does make a difference on video games as well though.
So bringing up the video game point... As I mentioned before, Plasmas are suceptible (sp?) to burn in so wouldnt be quite as advisable for video games as LCDs. (But I won't NOT reccomend them). So if video games are a big thing, you may want to consider an LCD as they are MUCH less prone to image burn in...
OK onto sound... Again with sound, the cables make a difference. An HDMI Cable is going to give you a LOT better sound than regular coax. Get the best quality audio/vid cable you can to maximize your sound from the TV. If you REALLY want good sound though, you'll definitly want to get a nice surround sound system. You can now get surround sound systems with HDMI inputs and outputs as well so I'd definitly reccomend looking into that.
Another factor to consider is the viewing angle you'll be lookin at your TV from... Plasma TV's are the only TV's to boast a true 180 degree viewing radius. Theyre equally as bright from any angle. The new LCD's are close though coming in at a 178 degree viewing radius. Plasmas arent as good with glare though. If you have a lot of light in your living room or whereever youre putting the TV you may want to consider an LCD for that reason. If light isnt an issue, theyre pretty comprable as of late when it comes down to it...
So lets talk SD vs ED vs HD.... Standard definition is what most TV is broadcast in at the moment. Coming it at a resoltuion of 480i or p it is the lowest quality video source available. Therfore, when you take a low quality source and put it on a TV that is designed to take 720p or 1080i and stretch it to fit, it's not going to look as good. So make sure whenyou're in the store that you ask to see the picture in high def as well as standard def. As I began to elude to, high definition is available in 720p or 1080i/p. Most TV's do not have 1080p though right now. To be honest, there isnt a huge difference between 720 and 1080. High definition television is not broadcast in 1080p at all though because it sucks up too much bandwidth so the only way youd get that is through a true high definition dvd player or through a blueray player... So a TV that does 720p and 1080i is usually just fine for most people. Be aware of enhanced definitiion. Do not get sucked into buying an ED tv if you want something thats going to be aroudn for a while... EDTV takes the standard definition digital signal and enhances it so it looks better but it will NEVER be the quality of high definition. Nor will it ever accept a high definition feed.
As far as what's available in high definition right now, I can give you some estimates but I only know specifics for my area... In my area, there are approximately 12 high definition channels available from our cable company. We pay an extra 5 bucks a month to get them. Dish network offers 31 high definition channels nation wide (28 really cause 3 of them are premium channels) and they charge 20 bucks a month for their high def service. and Dish network offers about 18 channels in high def for an additional 10 bucks a month. So be aware, most of your channels will look like that standard definition channel in the store and only a handful will look like the high definition. Howver... rumor has it that direct tv is going to launch 2 sattelites this year devoted to high def channels and that theyre going to add 120 new HD channels to their line up. If that indeed happens, other companies will have to follow suit or they'll lose tons of buisness. So 2007 may be a big year for high definition TV....
As far as what's going on in 2009, on Febuary 17th 2009 all television feeds must be digital. If you have satellite you wont have to change a thing because all satellite channels are already digital, but if you have cable, in general, channels 1-100 are still broadcast through an analog signal. (even if you have digital cable!!
). So if that's the case, you may have to acquire an additional digital tuner for your television... 99 percent of the new high def TV's however come equipped with digital tuners built in though. Theyre also shooting for all the channels to be high def by then but that wont happen....Ok I'll wrap up here by mentioning a couple other types of TVs but the question was Plama vs LCD and I know I already stepped way out of bounds from that but whatever.... DLPs are GREAT tv's. They use millions of tiny mirrors to reflect the image on the screen. They look great and theyre relatively inexpensive. They're also the only type of TV guaranteed NEVER to get burn in. They dont however have the viewing radius or the contrast ratios of the flat screens. If you don't mind having a little bit wider TV though, theyre a super alternative. a 42-50 inch DLP is only about 16 inches deep. Theyre also very light weight. But if you're considering hanging it on the wall, theyre no good to ya. The light sources are the biggest thing that goes on them after a few years and theyre generally a couple hundred bucks to replace (on up depending on the model...). LCD Projection TVs are similar in size and shape to DLPS and they also dont have the viewing radius of the LCDs or Plasmas. They pretty much have to be viewed straight on (horizontally and verticall) or else youll lose a LOT of the brightness. They also can't be mounted on the wall. But the idea is to incorporate LCD technology with projection technology to make the LCD bigger at a more affordable cost... Their bulbs also run several hundred to replace after a few years and they dim with the more hours they get on them.
So I hope I didn't upset anyone with anything I said, I know I rambled on and on and I hope SOMEONE at least gets SOMETHING out of everything I said. Please feel free to pm me with any specific questions or if you disagree with anything I said... or if you want my opinion on a TV. Theres so much more I could say but I know you've all heard enough and I know I'm gunna have a nasty hang over if I don't get to bed soon.
Best of luck shopping. Remember, everything I said is my .02. Feel free to disagree. I do deal with this stuff on a daily basis though and I have no reason to bs you though.
Goodnite world!
