Research finds that salespeople recommend LCD TVs more than plasmas

by Darren Murph posted Jul 21st 2008 at 3:53PM

For some strange reason, we can't say we're surprised by the latest J.D. Power and Associates report. Maybe it's how LCD HDTVs seem to be highlighted in most retail locations, or maybe it's just because the negative burn-in stigma attached to earlier PDPs has yet to wear off. Whatever the case, said research firm has just produced an article claiming that "retail electronics salespersons are recommending LCD TVs instead of plasma TVs at a rate of more than three to one." The research focused on shoppers looking for sets 40-inches and up over the past six months, though it didn't specifically mention where it went undercover to source such data. Really though, it's not shocking to hear that B&M salespeople aren't totally adept at explaining pros and cons -- after all, we'd recommend doing your own independent research and ordering online -- but hopefully this will beat the message home to those who've been blindly believing anything they hear when shopping for a new set.

[Image courtesy of Exceptional Innovation]

Filed under: Industry, Displays, LCD, Plasma

Tags: data, hdtv, lcd hdtv, lcd tv, LcdHdtv, LcdTv, pdp, plasma, research, retail, salespeople, shopping, stores, survey

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

scott @ Jul 21st 2008 4:20PM

If nothing else, power consumption is a huge concern. It is a little known FACT to the average human that Plasmas consume more power than LCDs.

While the screen burn thing may be debatable, the power consumption thing is not. With rising electric bills due to rising oil and coal costs, we need to take this into consideration when buying.

I own two LCD HDTVs. Don't you dare walk in here and tell me they don't look fantastic. Keep your higher priced Plasma screen. I am doing fine with my lower power consuming LCD screens.

Highest Ranked

Adam @ Jul 21st 2008 4:41PM

Sorry Scott, but you are misinformed on 2 counts. Plasma is considerably less expensive than lcd at the same screen size. Second, LCD power consumption remains the same during all scenes, due to the nature backlighting, while plasma power consumption goes down in dark scenes and up in light scenes. In real world viewing conditions, Plasmas do consume more energy, the difference is slight. Before you continue spreading your FUD about plasma, get your facts straight.

Adam

Highly Ranked

ds @ Jul 21st 2008 4:46PM

Let's be serious here.. The difference between powering a 50" plasma vs a 47" LCD according to my KIll-a-Watt measurements is about $2-3/month. If a potential buyer is debating the 2 choices and bases the decision on that, then they would probably be better off not buying a $1200+ television.

The truth is I have people ask me for opinions on the 2 constantly, and the one thing they always mention is the plasma burn-in nonsense.

Keep your lower-power TVs, I am loving my plasmas because I have a better looking display (which is my main criteria for judging display devices), and the income to not stress about the extra few pennies it costs to watch each day.

Neutral

David Susilo @ Jul 21st 2008 9:12PM

LCD may look fantastic, but plasma look even much much MUCH better than the "fantastic" LCD.

Before calibration, plasma look slightly better than LCD. After calibration, plasma look miles ahead than a calibrated LCD.

Highly Ranked

skimrn @ Jul 21st 2008 4:35PM

I understand that LCDs use less power than Plasmas. But if you do your math, how much extra does it cost each month? Probably few bucks tops. I think it's worth spending few extra dollars a month for better picture.

I remember researching for long time prior to purchasing my Pioneer Kuro PDP-6010FD Plasma TV. I wanted to buy the best quality TV on the market no matter what type of TV it was. There are plenty of facts out there that plasmas have overall better picture quality than LCDs, especially black levels.

I am so happy to own my plasma TV. All of my friends are absolutely blown away by the picture quality of this TV.

Many people are scared of plasmas for their "burn in" effect. But due to our lovely modern technology, burn-ins are rare as long as you don't keep a stationary image for a long time.

Besides, plasmas are cheaper than LCDs! Wow will you look at that? Plasmas have better picture AND cheaper!

Low Ranked

scott @ Jul 21st 2008 4:46PM

I am not sure where you live but here in Florida a comparable LCD is cheaper in price than a plasma.

Considering the fact that they are saying a Plasma can use as much juice as the fridge, it could add up to an extra $20-$30 a month, depending on how much you run it.

Also,I am not all too convinced about the screen burn thing not happening. I absolutely could not watch TV stretched or with gray bars. So what does that mean? With DirecTV I have both boxes using black bars for 4:3 content on SD channels. If I had a plasma, I'd have to be careful and either stretch it or use gray bars.

Also, with a six month old baby, I find myself pausing TV and video games a lot, and leaving the screen for a long time while I clean up a messy diaper or feed a crying infant.

Neutral

ds @ Jul 21st 2008 4:51PM

@scott

Dude do some research on your own.

""Considering the fact that they are saying a Plasma can use as much juice as the fridge, it could add up to an extra $20-$30 a month, depending on how much you run it. "

You sound exactly like the dopes that buy whatever the kid at Best Buy tells you is the best.

Neutral

h0mi @ Jul 21st 2008 4:36PM

my complaint is that plasmas usually have 1024x768 resolutions instead of 1366x768 or 1920x1080.

Highly Ranked

Spiza @ Jul 21st 2008 8:00PM

I didn't know it was 2006.

Low Ranked

scott @ Jul 21st 2008 4:52PM

Adam-

I will waste no time going out to cite sources, but you are more than welcome to. Plasma TVs use a significantly greater amount of power than do LCDs. Go look it up. You stop posting without all the facts. I am done posting on this topic.

Highest Ranked

Adam @ Jul 21st 2008 5:52PM

Scott,

All you need to do is google plasma vs lcd power consumption. and you will find a series of results that support what I said. Here's a good one:

http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/106gear/

Also, about the prices, go to any store and limit results by screen size, and then order by price and you'll see plasma cheaper every time. sure, a 26" lcd is cheaper than a plasma because they don't make plasmas that small, but a 42" plasma is cheaper than a 40" lcd hands down.

Adam

Neutral

Brian @ Jul 21st 2008 5:04PM

Because plasma manufacturer's decided to take the prices so low that margins in LCD was much higher. Also, 1080p was found exclusively in LCD for a while.

Highly Ranked

lakersin2025 @ Jul 21st 2008 5:06PM

I want to upgrade from my 47" Vizio LCD to something that I can actually see what is going on in the dark areas of the movie. I think a larger plasma is in my near future.

Neutral

El perron @ Aug 4th 2008 2:30AM

What I keep hearing about the burn-in issue is this, in all the stores I went before buying my tv,

"The Burn-In issue is no longer a problem.... as long as you don't turn the contrast all the way up and don't leave static images for long periods of time" that is exact quote of employee from Magnolia, something similar was mentioned by the guy from Frys and Best Buy.

I dont know about you guys but I like to keep contrast really high to make colors more vibrant, even though some people say that they are FAKE colors, accurate colors just don't work for me. they seem kind of dark and green.

Highly Ranked

Scuba Steve @ Jul 21st 2008 5:50PM

Plasma vs. LCD debates aside there is one reason that consumers and salespeople are flocking to LCD and that is mass perception. Everybody knows somebody who recommends LCD over plasma for some reason or another and they do not want to be told otherwise.

As a former TV salesperson I found it increasingly more difficult to try and sway a customers perception, regardless of plasma being a better choice for their needs/room. It's way easier to simply provide a customer with what they want and think is good, and they will go home and think they have the best tv ever made. Ignorance is bliss and that sums up 90% of consumers. Send them home with a 42" 1080p LCD with an HTIB and they think they are rulers of the home theatre world.

Neutral

squiggleslash @ Jul 21st 2008 7:36PM

I see people recommending plasma over LCD all the time.

Despite comments above, I've generally found that LCD beats plasma for price for all but the largest plasma panels. The Home Theater thing quoted above is interesting, but it flies in the face of everything else that's been published on the subject - it reminds me of the "study" recently that showed SSDs (flash drives) use up more power than hard disks. There's a reason plasma stopped being used on portable computers a long time ago.

Which leaves "black", I guess, as the only real legitimate downside of LCD against plasma. And, to be quite honest, I doubt most people notice. LCD is excellent these days. It's remarkable how far we've gotten with it. I still have a Thinkpad 750 with an early colour LCD screen - supposedly IBM sold a TV tuner attachment for it, I can't imagine anyone actually enjoyed watching TV on the thing. My cheap, 32" LCD, $500, TV is better than any CRT I've ever owned. I can't imagine what the better LCD and Plasma panels are like in comparison - but that's kind of the point. It is, to a certain extent, about "good enough". And LCD, like Plasma, makes everything that came before it pale into insignificance.

Once you realize the two technologies are both extraordinarily good, you realize the wars between Plasma die-hards and LCD buyers are just plain ridiculous.

Highly Ranked

Andy Sullivan @ Jul 21st 2008 9:01PM

Scuba Steve is correct. I so often hear people say, "my brother knows a lot about TV's and he says to stay away from plasma because of burn in and the they wear out in a couple of years". If anybody thinks LCD's are cheaper then plasma's just compare any 1080p 120hz 52" LCD with a 1080p Panasonic or Samsung 50" plasma. Since Samsung makes both, just compare them.

Highly Ranked

Spiza @ Jul 21st 2008 8:15PM

Cnet does ratings on power usage on TVs now.

Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U - 286.25 Watts
Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020FD 272.67 Watts

Samsung LN52A650 - 140.8 Watts
Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR4 - 112.57 Watts

So almost double the power usage. Of course, 140 Watts isn't that much power. Couple light bulbs. For those using a PS3 to watch your movies, it uses 180 Watts during playback of blu-rays. So if you're that worried about power, don't watch blu-rays. Oppo DV98-HD uses 13.5 Watts.

Neutral

David Susilo @ Jul 21st 2008 9:17PM

those are MAXIMUM power usage. How often your screen is filled with pure white, full brightness images? Most shows/movies on average are in the 30% brightness range, making maximum power never be reached.

Highly Ranked

Spiza @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:51AM

They actually use a half hour of recorded "that 70s show" with commercials in place. They also calibrate the TVs.

Highly Ranked

T-bone @ Jul 21st 2008 9:12PM

The retailers will push the items with the biggest profit margins regardless if it is best for the consumer or not. So that $3000 plasma will be pushed over the no frills, off brand $1200 LCD and vice versa.

Seems to me that there are more LCD's with bigger profit margins to push.

There may also be the perception that if a certain manufacturer makes more LCD's than Plasmas that means LCD must be better...when in reality, it just has the higher profit margin for the manufacturer.

It's all about the Benjamin's :)

Highest Ranked

Fred @ Jul 21st 2008 11:59PM

wait a minute, you guys are telling me that the 18 year old kid at best buy who is selling me the television does not know what he is talking about??? I am shocked that people are this mis-informed.

Highest Ranked

drktranquillity @ Jul 22nd 2008 5:46AM

Oh lord... you seriously mean to tell me you're considering power consumption whilst shopping for a TV? Ahh, efficient LCD TV, check. 7.1 surround sound speaker system with Blu-Ray player, check. All plugged in to an 8000 watt A/V receiver, check!

Don't forget to order a Diet Coke with your Big Mac.

Neutral

pezman726 @ Jul 22nd 2008 7:42AM

HA! +1

I love the Diet Coke with Big Mac!!

Seriously though, If you're thinking about energy consumption, think of this.

If I can get a 1080p plasma for even $200 cheaper than an LCD, counting in an extra $5 a month for my electric bill, it would take me 40 months for the cost to offset. and that would be 40 months with better picture!

It's sort of like the "hey, you should buy a hybrid car because it will save on gas!" Yes, it will, but it also costs about 5k more than the regular, and to make up the difference in initial cost it will take me longer than I would plan on owning the car anyway.

Neutral

Unknown @ Jul 22nd 2008 8:36AM

I was at sears a few weeks ago and overheard a sales guy telling an older man not to get a plasma because he'd have to 'recharge' it later on.

When I asked him wtf he was talking about he said 'well that's what someone told me'.

I mean srsly, recharge it? what an idiot

Neutral

g-dawg @ Jul 22nd 2008 11:08PM

I'm convinced that Plasmas have a better picture and am not worried about burn-in, but what about dead pixels in LCDs?
I was pretty much set on the Samsung PN50A550 but then went to Best Buy and looked at the Samsung LN52A650 and A750 and they did look better, in my opinion.

But, in 2,073,600 pixels, there's a good chance that a couple will be dead. and if I buy from a store that has a 0 dead pixel policy then I'm probably paying close to retail instead of buying online and getting free shipping and no tax.

Neutral

Nick @ Aug 23rd 2008 7:08AM

Unfortunately LCD was always going to win based purely on production cost. NOT because it is a better product!!! Example- Plasma manufacturers spend hundreds of millions of dollars building production facilities capable of producing 37", 42", 50" + sizes. They still then have to operate a LCD plant to make sizes 19-37inch. That's two plants, twice the staff & obviously twice the investment. Produce LCD however and the same plant can make 7 inch to 70 inches without too much hassle. As for power consumption Adam is completely correct. Plasma's are dynamic. Watch Batman and you'll draw considerably less power than if you were to watch Toystory. I'd be interested to see 12 months of consumption between LCD (Constant Draw) and Plasma (Dynamic consumption) before I got upset about how much extra juice plasmas use. (anyone who knows of such a study post a link) I own both and my power bill isn't that ugly considering how much they're on.
As for why sales staff promote lcd more I suspect it is largely due to the fact that it's a lot easier to give the consumer what they came in looking for. LCD is winning the race so more people are interested in it. Also a lot of sales staff these days are young. Young people play video games. Video games look better on LCD so they're biased this way. It's not really fair then to push LCD on the mid 50's guy who only wants the tv to watch sport. I don't think anyone could argue that indy cars watched on ANY LCD would look better than if watched on a Full HD pioneer 50inch!
The best reply I find when someone asks "What's better LCD or Plasma?" is simply "It's not a case of which one's better, It's which one's better for you?". Ask questions and help them decide accordingly. From a consumer point of judge the tv's on their specifications then get the one you like the look of.

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