After couple of days thinking and reading comments on HFV abt plasma, iam also thinking to see demo of plasma too b/c i will be mostly watching cricket on sd channels . My question is can plasma last for 4 or 5 years b/c i don,t want to change tv for next 5 years .. And some membrs are saying plasma is bad b/c of burn in and spider cracks .....
On the whole, it is a wise decision to look at all option instead of having a closed mind.
As stated earlier, burn-in (BI) is history but image retention (IR) can be an issue. The difference is IR is temporary while BI is permanent. IR is an issue with LCD/LED also but to a much smaller extent. IR can an issue with plasma if you watch same channel over and over again for very long duration. But this rarely happens because today as soon as we get a commercial break, we change channels. But DTH logo at the bottom will always be present. TataSky is better in this respect because their logo is semi-transparent. However Panasonic plasma has a feature called "Pixel Orbiter" that shift the picture after a discrete internal so that same area is not exposed all the time. And there are thousands of posts on this forum as well as other on how to avoid IR.
The long and short of it, there is no need to be afraid of BI and IR. Just have to be careful.
Secondly panels can go bad. Ask member arnprasad. His LCD panel went kaput after 3 years and the only option was to change the Samsung panel for 60-70k. He went for a brand new 50XT50 instead. So is true with plasma panel also. Yes. It can go bad. Now coming to spider cracks, that has definitely happened. But you see that you will find a complaint post on panel (whether LCD or plasma)
only when panel goes bad. Who writes, "I purchased so and so TV
n years ago and my panel is still works well".
To make it short again, the % of plasma panels failing would be 1 in 10000; maybe more. Note that any panel can fail. LCD panels also suffer from dead pixels, dead pixel line (one red or blue or green line appearing vertically, etc. Dead pixel line happened with my IBM Thinkpad. It happens with TV also. At least Panasonic provide 1+2 years of warranty on panels. No other brand does that.
My advice is look at pros and cons of both - LCD and plasma. Weigh them both. Factor in your watching habits. Then arrive at a decision. Both LCD and Plasma will last 5+ years or equally likely to fail earlier. Nothing can be guaranteed about electronics.
