Who here hates plasma televisions?

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I AM{skullface}

metrosexual
Oct 24, 2000
1,536
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Boston, Mass
www.skullface.com
As I learn more about tv types, like plasmas, LCD, RPTVs, etc., I keep seeing people say "plasma is crap, it lasts 2 years and dies and will burn-in an image if you play games on it". Curious as to why there is such "anti-plasma" sentiment, and why peeps, when I ask what a good type of tv is, tend to tell me that plasmas are garbage, and LCDs are much better.

I'm just curious what people here in this wonderful forum think of plasma televisions, and why? If you were looking for a nice type of tv, what would you buy?

-I_AM
 
The only time I've seen burn-in images is if it's a static image, like a network logo or a score board for a sport's game, and they have to be left there for a looong time. I seriously doubt one would leave a game paused at one spot and let it sit there for months on end.

I like plasma TVs, the display is nice and crisp, but they simply cost too damn much. I'd rather get a bigger HDTV for the same price. Mmm... 1080i Discovery Channel ^_^
 

I_Like_Fire

Smokin Bad Ass
May 4, 2004
349
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I own a LCD projection and yes plasmas are crap they play for 20 to 40 thousand hours then have to have the gas changed and probably the screen fitting as well, LCD will still burn an image into the screen but not as fast and not as bad on the other hand lcd projection will not because instead of the LC being right up against the screen it is being projected to the screen.

Here is the TV I own I got a deal on it cause my brother works at ciruit city.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...on_43to53TVs&DCMP=BIZRATE_DF&HQS=TV_KF42WE610
 

Twisted Metal

Anfractuous Aluminum
Jul 28, 2001
7,122
3
38
39
Long Island, NY
When you get an HDTV television and tuner, how many channels will actually be displayed in HD? What about video games, do they take advantage of the higher resolution? And DVD's?
 

Clayeth

Classic
Apr 10, 2000
5,602
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Kentucky
I think DVD quality is actually somewhere between a standard TV and HD.

As for plasmas, for their drawbacks they just aren't worth the price when you can get an LCD that is just as small, usually smaller, with equal or better picture quality.
 

Twisted Metal

Anfractuous Aluminum
Jul 28, 2001
7,122
3
38
39
Long Island, NY
Clayeth said:
I think DVD quality is actually somewhere between a standard TV and HD.

I meant do DVD's run at higher resolution on an HDTV? And what about video games? Because I wouldn't get an HDTV just to have a few TV channels in high def.
 
You can get different cables for your DVD player or console to take advantage of the HDTV resolutions, called component cables. They seperate the color signals into red, green, and blue signals, unlike a composite cable that puts the signal on one pipeline. This gives you that crisper picture :) Some games can take advantage of the resolutions (480p, 720p, 1080i), but your TV must support them. Alien8 knows a helluva lot more about this than I do, kick him a PM for more detailed info :)
 

SkaarjMaster

enemy of time
Sep 1, 2000
4,870
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Sarasota, FL
Yes, if you're getting HDTV definitely get those component cables. I have one and the DVDs look great! I don't have digital cable, because we don't want to pay the cable company for it right now so no TV channels are in HD but it still looks a lot better than our old TV. We might get digital cable later though; I keep hearing the prices are coming down. I have no idea about the games though, but with component cables the DVDs will look better!
 

TossMonkey

brown bread?
Sep 4, 2001
6,101
7
38
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Great Britain.
quakeguy.tumblr.com
Since I hardly watch TV I'd recommend anybody who watches as little TV as me that they buy an overhead projector for films, it's cheap when compared to TV's and you can have a picture to span your entire wall. Just imagine A WHOLE WALL, when your buddies are bragging about 50 inch this and 70 inch that you can gloat about watching the latest DVD's on a 15 foot long wall.
 
SkaarjMaster said:
Yes, if you're getting HDTV definitely get those component cables. I have one and the DVDs look great! I don't have digital cable, because we don't want to pay the cable company for it right now so no TV channels are in HD but it still looks a lot better than our old TV. We might get digital cable later though; I keep hearing the prices are coming down. I have no idea about the games though, but with component cables the DVDs will look better!

Indeed. I swapped out my regular composite cables for component ones a while back and the difference is very clear. As for games, the Xbox has an HD kit, as does the Gamecube (Although I hear all Gamecube games are at 480i, the utmost lowest resolution an HDTV can produce. Not to say it looks bad or anything though, knocks the socks off of composite and s-video). A few examples of HD ready games for the Xbox are:

Soul Calibur 2 (720p. HOT.)
Ninja Gaiden (480p and I think 720p. Also hot.)
The Suffering (480p)
Project Gotham Racing (480p)

And that's all that I can recall in my collection. I know I have more that are HD ready, but my brain refuses to work :(
 

I_Like_Fire

Smokin Bad Ass
May 4, 2004
349
0
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If you push the salesman hard enough and you are buying a big enough TV you can usually get them to throw in the moneter cables for free. And yes they make a difference.
 

Latent Image

Bring the rain!
Jun 3, 2001
2,297
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Zer0's Anus
Dont like them, still get blurry images with fast motion, im staying with CRT.

Wait for OLED techology to develop :)

http://optics.org/articles/news/10/6/4/1


samsung.jpg
 

T2A`

I'm dead.
Jan 10, 2004
8,752
0
36
Richmond, VA
Hyrulian Hero said:
At least you'll have a permanent reminder of the happy days when you used to watch TechTV all day........
:( :( :(

One of the plasma TVs at a local Circuit City (home city of the CC HQ, actually; go Richmond!) has had one of their plasmas sitting out on display for a long, long time, and it really looks like crap now. :eek:
 

I AM{skullface}

metrosexual
Oct 24, 2000
1,536
0
0
Boston, Mass
www.skullface.com
I_Like_Fire said:
I own a LCD projection and yes plasmas are crap they play for 20 to 40 thousand hours then have to have the gas changed and probably the screen fitting as well

I'm guessing you're joking, since the half-life of plasmas are currently rated at 30k to 60k hours, and that's just to half-brightness. Having the gas changed is a complete myth that's reached urban legend proportions. :) Nice TV you have there, have you tried to hook your puter up to it for some huge gaming?


Twisted Metal said:
When you get an HDTV television and tuner, how many channels will actually be displayed in HD? What about video games, do they take advantage of the higher resolution? And DVD's?

Most network channels have some sort of HD content on it, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, TNT. You also have DiscoveryHD, PBS HD, and then the staple HD channels, such as ESPNHD, HDnet and INHD. All movie channels have one dedicated HD channel, such as HBOHD, Showtime HD, etc.

DVDs are authored at 480p, which, even though it seems is a much lower resolution that HD content (1080i), it isn't. Since 1080i is interlaced, it's in effect 540p. Not a huge difference. Also, depending on the dvd transfer, dvd's and 1080i HD content can look exactly the same in regards to picture quality.

Lizard Of Oz said:
DVD's are 480p (at best).

A very nice alternative to CRT, Plasma, or LCD HDTV is the "DLP" (Digital LIght Projetction)type. Image quality is better than Plasma and CRT. You can get it larger than you can an LCD. And it cost less than Plasma.

Oz, I was looking at DLPs, but I can't get over the rainbow I see. I think the newest DLP is attempting to fix that with a new style of color wheel, but until then the rainbow is simply too much for my eyes. :(

-I_AM
 

Lizard Of Oz

Demented Avenger
Oct 25, 1998
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I AM{skullface} said:
Oz, I was looking at DLPs, but I can't get over the rainbow I see. I think the newest DLP is attempting to fix that with a new style of color wheel, but until then the rainbow is simply too much for my eyes. :(

-I_AM

3-chip DLP projectors, and/or 7 segement color wheels will illiminate that effect (and is the reason I bought a CRT projection TV for now).