Choosing an HDTV - What's important and what's not

[vktyagi]

Now that is what a forum should be, a platform of knowledge sharing. There may be differences of opinion on some matters but the article deserves a big applaud. Expected more such posts in the future.
Vinod

 

[csczero]

Very useful information bro. Thanks a ton. I am buying a LCD TV. Big no to PLASMA. Eye opener for me

cool now me and you are on same path

 

[sanjay0864]

It is almost shocking, the amount of fear there is on here about 'burn in' on plasmas. I have atleast 8 plasmas in my very close circle of friends and family and all of them are what one would term as the average Indian TV viewer and not a single one of them has had any buren-in issues to date. I too have a Samsung plasma and have been using it for almost four months now and except for the first 125 hrs, when we were careful, I or my family have not really thought twice about burn-in and guess what so far so good.

Bottom line, please stop spreading these unfounded fears about havign to change channels all the time etc.

 

[shredder]

It is almost shocking, the amount of fear there is on here about 'burn in' on plasmas. I have atleast 8 plasmas in my very close circle of friends and family and all of them are what one would term as the average Indian TV viewer and not a single one of them has had any buren-in issues to date. I too have a Samsung plasma and have been using it for almost four months now and except for the first 125 hrs, when we were careful, I or my family have not really thought twice about burn-in and guess what so far so good.

Bottom line, please stop spreading these unfounded fears about havign to change channels all the time etc.

How can you blame consumers, when the companies themselves are writing these things in the TV manual:

according to asdflkg, V20 owner

V20 User manual statement on page 5,

Do not display a still picture for a long time
This causes the image to remain on the plasma screen ("image retention").
This is not considered a malfunction and is not covered by the warranty.
Typical still images

* Program number and other logos
* image displayed in 4:3 mode
* Video game
* Compututer image

And this too on a V20 which is considered to be one of the better plasmas using neoPDP or whatever technology. Doesn't really inspire confidence in the end user, does it?

 

[devilz_workshop]

companies are just being safe so that if someone thinks it's funny to sue a company for the mistakes they made then they can defend their asses off

going by the same logic people shld stop machine washing clothes, eating food that is still steaming hot etc. because of slight chance of mishap that might happen was mentioned on the manual or carton?

I am personally going to get a 42PJ560 in 2 weeks time (or 50 incher if I can manage 12k more for down payment, unless I find a better deal with Samsung who do not have any plasmas on display right now :/ ) and major usage for my family will be discovery, Zee TV and movies.


and if you plan to use it for gaming then this will relieve you

http://apcmag.com/forum.htm?g=posts&t=219

How can you blame consumers, when the companies themselves are writing these things in the TV manual:

according to asdflkg, V20 owner

V20 User manual statement on page 5,

Do not display a still picture for a long time
This causes the image to remain on the plasma screen ("image retention").
This is not considered a malfunction and is not covered by the warranty.
Typical still images

* Program number and other logos
* image displayed in 4:3 mode
* Video game
* Compututer image

And this too on a V20 which is considered to be one of the better plasmas using neoPDP or whatever technology. Doesn't really inspire confidence in the end user, does it?

 

[shredder]

companies are just being safe so that if someone thinks it's funny to sue a company for the mistakes they made then they can defend their asses off

going by the same logic people shld stop machine washing clothes, eating food that is still steaming hot etc. because of slight chance of mishap that might happen was mentioned on the manual or carton?

I am personally going to get a 42PJ560 in 2 weeks time (or 50 incher if I can manage 12k more for down payment, unless I find a better deal with Samsung who do not have any plasmas on display right now :/ ) and major usage for my family will be discovery, Zee TV and movies.

Be that as it may be, you can't blame the end consumer for being paranoid about something the company warns them might happen, and which they conveniently wash their hands off in the event it does happen.

As for logic, there is no logic in this. Point is that there is an issue with burn-in and that is why companies are providing written warning so that people cannot sue them when it happens. The printed warning is an indirect acknowledgement by the company that burn-in is an issue and that it happens. If you choose to pretend that there is no issue then by all means watch content in 4:3, or letter-boxed format and the best of luck to you. Or even better, use it as a monitor and watch the fun.
By the way companies do not seem to be all that worried about people suing them, as can be seen from Panasonic's lackadaisical attitude towards the loss of black levels in their 2009 plasma line-up. Till date no one seems to have successfully sued Panasonic for this issue, and we are talking about the US where people successfully sue others left, right and centre.

 

[devilz_workshop]

I am not blaming anyone for anything, I am just trying to say that as long as you are here on this forum and online in general you should research the matter a bit. Burn-ins(for most part) are things of past (obv. if you are careful with it for initial period) and Plasmas have come long way since the time it got labeled badly for that issue.

Plasmas offer better PQ at lower prices than similar sized LCDs. And their only disadvantage has been mostly eradicated and hence they are one of the smartest purchases if you have a particular size in mind or are on budget.

Do watch that vid I linked you to and google a bit for Plasmas being used for gaming and even as an HTPC. and you'll be surprised as to how far Plasmas have come and yet they carry the baggage of their early generation's faults.

I personally know couple of people who got Plasmas an year ago and are quite satisfied with them. and those are not even remotely geeks, they just use them for Shows .

Only issue one of my friends mentioned was that of slight over heating. And that is due to the height. I am almost 7500 Feet above the sea level.

So I went into the store at around 8PM 2 days ago and and checked the screens of 42" LCD and 42" Plasma and the Plasma one was just slightly hotter than the LCD after being on for almost 10 hours

Be that as it may be, you can't blame the end consumer for being paranoid about something the company warns them might happen, and which they conveniently wash their hands off in the event it does happen.....

 

[devilz_workshop]

oops, i forgot to link the vid , here >> YouTube - LCD vs. Plasma for Gaming

 

[shredder]

Only issue one of my friends mentioned was that of slight over heating. And that is due to the height. I am almost 7500 Feet above the sea level.

Slight overheating due to height??? It's more like slight overheating despite height.... If your friend is complaining of heating issues up in the hills then you can be damned sure it will be a sight worse down in the plains.

 

[devilz_workshop]

Slight overheating due to height??? It's more like slight overheating despite height.... If your friend is complaining of heating issues up in the hills then you can be damned sure it will be a sight worse down in the plains.

umm, no?

heating is not temperature related issue here rather a pressure related issue, its because of 'what' plasma panels really are. pressure up here is lesser and that causes it to work more to do what it does and hence produces more heat.

At some point of time Plasmas were not recommended for ppl above 2500 ft of sea level. But now even for me it is not an issue as over heating is really very slight

My point was that most of the issues Plasmas had have been handled well by manufacturers. They might not have eradicated them but made them so slight that they are negligible

 

[ranojoy]

No opinions, only facts ---

My plasma is now 2 years old. Never watched TV on it (in fact, its been connected only to DVDp & XMP). Was extra careful with it during the first 80 / 100 hours or so. Even during this period, watched a lot of letterboxed movies, which did produce temporary IR.

Since then, I've been watching letterboxed HD rips / DVD movies as well as old B/W hindi films with the ugly red T-Series static logo on the top right hand corner.

Even today, the bright white letter subtitles produce temporary IR. But thats about it.

Please note that I am talking about the PV7 model. Todays V20s and their ilk would be a lot better in quality.

Bottomline - my next flat panel (whenever that is) is going to be a plasma !!

 

[shredder]

umm, no?

heating is not temperature related issue here rather a pressure related issue, its because of 'what' plasma panels really are. pressure up here is lesser and that causes it to work more to do what it does and hence produces more heat.

I fail to understand what is meant by 'what' plasma panels really are
What exactly is the correlation between lesser pressure and an electronic item having to work more?? I suppose that would mean that your electricity bill would also be more than normal seeing as the plasma has to "work more"....

 

[devilz_workshop]

Plasma panels are composed of mixture of noble gases and with thinner air on the outside (as is on high altitudes) there is a pressure difference. This makes the chargin up of the gases and formation of plasma difficult and makes the TV work more in order to produce desirable results.

as machine works more, the hotter it gets.


and yes the electricity usage will be higher for me but Himachal Pradesh produces quite a lot electricity and hence the prices here are quite cheaper than most of India.

The issue with heating was that earlier plasmas were such that the overheating factor was quite a lot for higher altitudes back then.

Although I hvn't read much about it anywhere but they have significantly improved and I am saying this from my own experience as old plasmas with my frnd's generate more heat than current ones.

Current line of Plasmas (of LG atleast) heat up but only 2-5% more than same sized LCD

I fail to understand what is meant by 'what' plasma panels really are
What exactly is the correlation between lesser pressure and an electronic item having to work more?? I suppose that would mean that your electricity bill would also be more than normal seeing as the plasma has to "work more"....

 

[shredder]

The issue with heating was that earlier plasmas were such that the overheating factor was quite a lot for higher altitudes back then.

Higher altitudes or not, there are some members who find that their plasmas heat up quite a lot, in the plains, in Bangalore, where it is not as hot as it is in other parts of India. Someone even said that after few hours his V20 gives off enough heat to fry an omelette.... an exaggeration of course, but the gist is pretty clear= Plasmas give off heat

 

[devilz_workshop]

And so does LCDs, just slight difference in both. But you seem to be too convinced that Plasmas are not any good and I just dont see why I should even try explaining you things that you dont plan on understanding

later

Higher altitudes or not, there are some members who find that their plasmas heat up quite a lot, in the plains, in Bangalore, where it is not as hot as it is in other parts of India. Someone even said that after few hours his V20 gives off enough heat to fry an omelette.... an exaggeration of course, but the gist is pretty clear= Plasmas give off heat

 

[sanjay0864]

It's sad that some people for reasons beyond my comprehension insist on deriding plasma tvs. It's the same arguments over and over, in thread after thread. Guys, instead of presenting the same old arguments again and again, why not actually show us a few plasmas that have gotten burnt-in. After all there are tons of plasma users on this forum, yet I have yet to see actual users complain that their plasma have suffered from burn-in. I personally have atleast 7-8 plasma tvs in my very social circle and not one of them has burn-in issues.

Bottom line, unless you actually set out to prove burn-in or totally abuse your plasma tv, burn-in is a non issue.

PS: I have a 'three' year old, 32" Philips LCD that my mom uses to watch tv. Anyhow thinking that LCDs do not have a burn in problem, she has been watching tv on the lcd with the aspect ratio, more or less permanently, set at 14:9 and guess what, the black bars on the side have gotten burnt-in. So much for one of the only benefits of LCD over plasmas. If anyone doubts my integrity on this issue, you are welcome to come to my home and check out the burn-in on the LCD.

 

[shredder]

It's sad that some people for reasons beyond my comprehension insist on deriding plasma tvs. It's the same arguments over and over, in thread after thread. Guys, instead of presenting the same old arguments again and again, why not actually show us a few plasmas that have gotten burnt-in.

If you care to go through one of the old threads by vramak he has clearly presented ocular evidence (=colour photograph) of a Samsung plasma with heavy burn-in problem.
Having said that I am not trying to denigrate plasma. Far from it. My next TV will probably be a plasma, especially considering that it delivers more bang for the buck. However even while buying it I am not going to pretend that it does not have its disadvantages. I am going to buy it for its advantages.

As to the burn-in problem on LCD I have never seen it. If you actually have an LCD with burn-in problem then please save us the trouble of visiting you by posting a photo. As they say, pictures speak louder than words.

 

[shredder]

And so does LCDs, just slight difference in both. But you seem to be too convinced that Plasmas are not any good and I just dont see why I should even try explaining you things that you dont plan on understanding

later

LCDs do not heat up. That is a fact. Unless you are going to go the "subjective" route and say that it gets hotter in comparision to say, a mobile phone or the inside of a refridgerator.
I have never implied that plasmas are not any good. I am well aware of its advantages. My main point was that consumers should not be blamed for being apprehensive about burn-in since the manufacturers themselves are implying that it can happen and that they will take no responsibility in the event of its occurence.

 

[alokbharti]

If you care to go through one of the old threads by vramak he has clearly presented ocular evidence (=colour photograph) of a Samsung plasma with heavy burn-in problem.
Having said that I am not trying to denigrate plasma. Far from it. My next TV will probably be a plasma, especially considering that it delivers more bang for the buck. However even while buying it I am not going to pretend that it does not have its disadvantages. I am going to buy it for its advantages.

As to the burn-in problem on LCD I have never seen it. If you actually have an LCD with burn-in problem then please save us the trouble of visiting you by posting a photo. As they say, pictures speak louder than words.

I have the same Samsung plasma which vramak had before.. I don't worry about burn-ins.. I regularly play Xbox for hours (4-5 hours continuously).. also watch 4:3 regular DTH SD channels.. (14:9) letter-box movies.. no issues at all.. there is temporary IR sometimes, but it goes away.. new Plasma TVs are very resistive for burn-ins..

It gives much better PQ compared to an LCD..and negligible input lag while gaming..

BTW vramak's plasma was badly abused in the showroom.. 24x7 IPL-HD broadcast was displayed in dynamic picture mode.. You need to take care of the plasma in initial few hours (100 to 150 hours)..

 

[devilz_workshop]

LCDs do heat up and not lot. I was comparing a Plasma's of current days to the LCDs when I mentioned that the difference between heat generated is quite mild.

LCDs do not heat up. That is a fact. Unless you are going to go the "subjective" route and say that it gets hotter in comparision to say, a mobile phone or the inside of a refridgerator.
I have never implied that plasmas are not any good. I am well aware of its advantages. My main point was that consumers should not be blamed for being apprehensive about burn-in since the manufacturers themselves are implying that it can happen and that they will take no responsibility in the event of its occurence.