LCD or Plasma

It seems that I get asked one question more than any other:

Which is better LCD or Plasma?

To some degree you could say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but that doesn’t help anyone make a decision when faced with all of TV propaganda out there.

So, I’ll lay out the facts for you:

-Size does matter, when you’re paying for it. Plasmas are traditionally less expensive, especially when you look at the bigger sets. Most LCD brands top out around 57”, where as plasma can get much larger.

-Plasma sizes only go down to 37” where as LCD has a variety of smaller options.

-Plasma is capable of displaying blacker blacks which ultimately means better contrast ratio.

-LCD sets suffer from motion artifacts or motion blurring do to slower refresh rates. Although, newer units have much better refresh rates check the spec’s for pixel response time, the lower the time (ms) the better with motion it will be.

-Plasma has better viewing angles than LCD, however LCD is still pretty good, so I wouldn’t take this into consideration unless you have an extreme situation.

-LCD units are not affected my images left on screen for long periods. Plasmas in the past have had issues with image burn in, but in newer sets not only is it not a permanent problem, but it is all so less of an issue because of technology improvements.

-Plasma TVs tend to have a more glare from their glass screens; where as LCD TVs have less glare because of the screen surface.

-LCD units have a longer life (60,000 hours). However; plasma life expectancy is between 30,000-60,000 hours. What that means is you could watch TV eight hours a day for a minimum of 10 years. I don’t see that being a problem.

In summary, I think that in the past deciding which to choose, Plasma or LCD was easy…let the application decide. Lot’s of windows, play video games go with LCD. Otherwise go with Plasma (assuming we’re talking about TV’s bigger than 42”.) However; as technology improves the decision gets harder because the two types are closing the gap between them. As this happens the more I think it will come down to personal preference, which picture do you like. When deciding always remember, if you choose a quality brand (you get what you pay for) when you get the unit home and hang it on the wall nothing else matters. The picture will be the best thing you’ve ever seen.

My personal favorite: 50” Plasma!