Plasma surprisingly gaining ground on LCD?
[Thanks, Vanbrothers]
[Thanks, Vanbrothers]
Relevant Posts
- Vizio bucks the trend with Q3 growth, positive expectations for Q4 (30 days ago - 4 Comments)
- DisplaySearch reports rise in Q3 plasma shipments, but who's buying? (30 days ago - 3 Comments)
- Vizio enjoys a Black Friday bump in sales (Today - 4 Comments)
- DirecTV gives recession the cold shoulder, sees increased profits in Q3 (27 days ago - 11 Comments)
- Excess inventory driving Black Friday Blu-ray sales? (37 days ago - 25 Comments)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CajunMike @ Oct 9th 2008 8:10PM
Anyone who does their research and knows the correct application for HD-TV's knows that Plasmas are superior to LCD's in most regards. The only application where a LCD is a better solution is if your room has loads of ambient light or a room that you cannot control how much natural light is present.
I would only purchase a LCD for a back patio, kitchen or sunroom... and of course a computer monitor. There is nothing in the LCD realm that can compare to Pioneer Kuro and now the new Panasonic Viera's.
David S @ Oct 10th 2008 1:58AM
People who don't like staring at 52" light bulbs appreciate the color accuracy and true contrast performance of a PDP.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 9th 2008 8:44PM
Bullcrap.
It uses incomplete information on panels shipped.
It also uses questionable figures on costs of displays.
Fry's is selling Toshiba 52" 1080p LCDs right now (4 HDMI inputs) for $1377 in-store. How does plasma compare to that? Oh that's right, not well.
Adam @ Oct 10th 2008 8:29AM
Circuit City has a 50" plasma from samsung for $1099, it was a pretty easy search
Schwinn @ Oct 10th 2008 9:38AM
Along with the CC reference by Adam, BB sells a Hitachi 50" for $1499 (and it's actually in stock, unlike your loss-leader Toshiba) I'd say it doesn't compare too badly.
What's more, the Toshiba is a 60Hz panel... not exactly the highest in performance...
why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 10th 2008 11:28AM
I'm not just counting blowout weird deals here. CostCo was selling a 52" Westinghouse (1080P, 4 HDMI inputs) for $860 or so a few weeks ago.
I don't know how you checked stock on this Toshiba I mentioned, the deal I saw was in-store, not online.
Loban @ Oct 10th 2008 12:36PM
Umm, I can buy a 50" 1080p Panasonic VIERA for $1500 on newegg right now, and that's with free shipping and no tax and it'll make that Toshiba look like the POS it is.
Loban @ Oct 10th 2008 12:38PM
Oh, and if you check the most recent Home Theater Magazine 2008 HDTV faceoff, you'll see that the VIERA came in a close second right behind the mighty KURO. I don't even think they bothered testing a Toshiba LCD.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 10th 2008 8:25PM
I didn't say anything about quality. I was talking about prices. If you didn't notice, most of the market doesn't consider quality.
"mighty KURO" give me a break. What do you need comparisons for, you've got marketing stuck in your brain.
crawdad62 @ Oct 9th 2008 8:50PM
I'm certainly not surprised if you said by enthusiasts/videophiles. I am however surprised that sales of PDP's are rising. Most consumer oriented stores have many many more LCD's on display. Of course $ talks and if a PDP is cheaper then it's going to sell.
I certainly would of went with a PDP last spring when I bought a new HDTV but as CajunMike stated my family room is extremely bright in the morning and early in the evening. I'm still happy with my purchase and honestly I went from a 30" CRT (which is supposedly superior as well) to a 46" LCD and I'm blown away (probably due to the size though).
But I'm not really surprised that PDP's are seeing good growth. Enthusiasts like the contrasts and Joe Sixpack like the lower cost.
Multi-format-mayhem @ Oct 9th 2008 9:02PM
I'd be surprised if this is really true myself.
Around here LCDs are (@ 40"+ & 1080p & 1080/24) far cheaper than a comparable Plasma.
Besides LCDs are catching Plasma's last strong-point (contrast & blacks) with every new release.
Plasma remain expensive (when direct spec comparisons like 1080p/24 etc etc are applied) & are always, by some margin, very power-hungry compared to LCD.
For that reason alone Plasma is not for us.
As people who run a household & pay the utility bills we're looking to reduce our energy bills, not practically double the cost of running our HD TV, thanks.
GhostDoggy @ Oct 10th 2008 7:30AM
Cowsumers buy into marketing. They never ask if they are really benefiting from the marketing of resolution, or contrast ratio performance, or color resolution, etc. yet they are willing to pay more for the extra bit of marketed value.
Personally, I do not know a single person who sits within the maximum viewing distance based on a unit's pixel resolution and their visual acuity so that they actually can see what they are paying for.
As such, all of these so-called news articles are worthless and never address the real cowsumer issues. For instance, for my seating distance I could benefit the most from a 768P 58" because of my seating distance. Unfortunately, those panels are long gone. And in order to get 1080P panel up to speed it'd have to be 65" or larger.
Pete @ Oct 10th 2008 10:32AM
No, they buy into interesting. Something that you are not.
Michael Sterling @ Oct 10th 2008 10:02AM
Having recently worked for Best Buy, I can tell you that those of us "in the know" really did/do push plasma in stores. Even when consumers come in saying "Oh, I don't want plasma, I only want LCD," we would defend PDP technology and argue that it is better than LCD in many ways.
Not all big box salespeople are dolts.
JM @ Oct 10th 2008 12:12PM
When you say you pushed PDP you mean Pioneeer or PDP in general???
I also use to work in the HE dept in CC and unfortunately as you know they didn't carry Pioneer but the Panasonics were worth mentioning to most consumers if they didn't have large amount of light.
DallasJayhawk @ Oct 10th 2008 12:50PM
I think it's fairly common to find less expensive 1080p LCD's of 40+ inches than 1080p Plasmas and to get the price to match you end up comparing 1080p LCD's with 720p Plasmas. But that's not where the decision was made in my house. I picked up a 42 inch 720p Panasonic plasma last Christmas because watching sporting events or anything with fast action is superior on a plasma. Or at least it was when I bought it. LCD's that had high enough response rates were far too expensive compared to 720p plasmas and since there wasn't and isn't enough 1080p content to worry about it was an easy choice. The other issue is black levels during dark movies. Plasma's show greater detail in dark scenes than LCD's. So plasmas are better for movies as well. Panasonic has an antireflective coating on their glass that does a nice job of eliminating the issue of too much natural light/too many windows.
I don't doubt that LCD's are cheaper to make and will surpass Plasmas when they can have a lower price and a higher response rate so that a thrown football doesn't blur but until that happens, Plasma will be a better product for many consumers even if they have to get 720p instead of 1080p.
Astral @ Oct 10th 2008 2:02PM
I am tired of hearing this shit. Everyone of you that like to say a tech is better than then other is a dumb ass. Everyone's eyes are not the same, some people enjoy the look of LCD as some go for the Plasmas.
To the idiot that worked at best buy. Who are you to tell someone what the perfect picture is. As stated above everyone sees things in a different way, You like Plasmas, so fucking what. Your no one special. Let people pick the TV that want.
Tony @ Oct 12th 2008 11:33PM
Circuit City & Best Buy had the 50" Panasonic 768p base model on sale two weeks ago for $999 - a bargain for superior quality (ok whinners, complain 'cause it ain't 1080p we know the truth about that debate) now its listed at $1099 at CC.
CNet review of the Toshiba RV530U version 1080p LCD at Fry's:
GOOD = 3 stars
The good: Inexpensive for a 1080p LCD; produces a relatively deep level of black; uniform picture across the screen; good video processing; superb connectivity with four HDMI ports and one PC input; sleek, compact styling.
The bad: Poor color decoding and primary color points make for inaccurate color reproduction; some minor false contouring artifacts.
CNet review: Panasonic PX80U series plasma:
VERY GOOD = 3.5 stars
The good: Relatively inexpensive; produces a deep shade of black; accurate initial color temperature; solid connectivity with three HDMI inputs; handsome, understated exterior.
The bad: Color decoding accentuates red; inaccurate primary color of green; ineffective noise reduction.
Take the $300 savings and go with a plasma, specifications never tell the real story anyways, let YOUR EYES make the decision. Panasonic is slightly behind Pioneer with the finest quality flat panel going, expert reviewers agree. I've had a Sony LCD initially, my two KURO's are way ahead in PQ in EVERY way (yes, and cheaper).
Noticing: CC has 132 LCD's for sale, 18 plasma's - its too bad more buyers are not told the truth about the superior flat panel for your money (its all about marketing).