They do need something done to them, about 3 years ago luton airport had loads of plasma tv's installed to display flight info and other details at the checkin desk. Last year whilst checking in it was obvious the tv's were sick, great swathes of colour washout and stuck on pixels all over the place, on nearly every screen.

I think you'll find plasma tv technology has improved since then.

I would have to say that the plasma,s I see these days are better than they used to be by far, and to be honest better than lcd.

The main let down for any audio visual product is the signal it recieves, and the cables used to transmit it. Have a crap input and cables and get a crap picture output.

Even with my 32" widescreen CRT, swapping from bog standard scart leads to

Get this months What Hi-Fi.

They hav the Themescene H30 projector for review and it got the thumbs up! Only

I still stand by rear projection, I'm on my 2nd set.... Fantastic viewing angle, shallow depth (not plasma thin, but at least half the depth of a CRT) absolutely flat screen (big CRT's have a habit of looking like goldfish bowls), sharp picture and especially great for games.

Cost for size blows away plasma, black is black, motion is not blurred, but maybe all the plasma screens I have seen were early early ones. Even if not, their cost compared to RP's just does not appeal.

i dunno about others here but i have only ever seen 1 decent RP tv and that was a 30 odd for nearly 2k, i find generally that they have poor contrast and they are by far the worst for burn in, plus my plasma doubles up as a massive monitor for when i wanna watch films or play games through the nice little dvi connection from the computer, its the same as progressive scan without having to pay an extra

If it was 30" for

*Wades into the argument*

Plasma - some seriously gorgeous ones out there, also some seiously crummy ones too.

Be aware of the following things.

1 - Plasma's can generate a lot of heat. Here at work we have a 60inch LG monster which has what can only be describe as PC case fans all along the top edge to vent hot air. The 3 Pioneer 42 inch sets we got four months ago don't have visible fans, but ventilation is still a consideration.

2 - the 60incher weighs about the same as a fully specc'd up Superb...To move the thing three inches higher took five hefty blokes - and I ended up some nasty chunks of flesh being taken out of them on an unsuccessful 3 person attempt first. 42inches - two people can lift and manouvre, but a third body required to fix it in place.

3 - The Pioneers came in a box with a tilt sensor tag on them - if there was a red spot visible, then we had to reject delivery. One did, but as that had been through the Plasma equivalent of PDI, we accepted it. And it's still in it's box unused.............. Point is, apparently, tilting can be very very bad for them

Personally, I don't like LCD tv's because the the washed out nature of the colours i see, the ghosting issue with fast action scenes, the varying nature of how it renders black, dead pixels and unbelievably, poor definition on finer details (no end of problems for rich graphics and colour - ie Lord of the Rings DVD on a low end LCD anyone?)

Conventional Tube, CRT or a Projector and big white wall/screen for me I'm afraid.

Rear Projection - i've only seen one, and it's getting on a bit now,a Toshiba one. I thought it was really very nice. Some dark edges on the image corners, you know, not exactly perfectly light from top to bottom, but for it's age etc, it was very nice and very very watchable. And at the prices discussed, I think it's the way forward.

the RP i saw and liked wasn't 30", i said 30 odd so anywhere between 30 and 40 inches. and its was about

Sorry to drag up an old thread but my stepfather is about to invest a wadge of cash in one or the other.I said I know just the boys and girls who would have the definitive answer.

Errr...I can't find it

Plasma seems to be the front runner.Has the ball game changed?

PLASMA - LCD is for tight *******s.

IMHO, Plasmas are getting better, but they still suffer from screen burn.

You can get some biggish LCDs, the contrast will be much better and provide a more "vivid" experience. On the flip side, you could argue that plasma is a more tame, "cinematic" experience, and truly hoooooooge sizes.

The biggest LCD we do is 32"

Plasma starts at 37" and goes up to 61" :eek:

Andy, why do you say LCD is for tight ******s ?

Do you know something I don't? :confused:

well having owned my plasma for over 18 months it still works perfectly. they are a lot cheaper now but remember you do get what you pay for so the 1k plasma's are absolute rubbish. looking in curry's the other you can get a very nice 50" plasma for around 2300. so you could probably find it cheaper on't net. awesome telly's them there plasma's

what ever he goes for he must invest in either DVi or HDMi as the picture quality is excllent at 1080i or above.

good luck and remember to actually see each telly before you actually buy it as quality varies massively

I can recommend the Panasonic TH-50PV500-CAB.

If you want anything Sony, let me know, I should be able to get you a good price

Bengie made a good point too - worth having something with DVI and HDMI inputs. Even if you don't have a DVD player supporting that output, it's a worthy upgrade path which will allow you to reap the best out of the LCD / plasma

Remember, the bigger screen you get, the better your source picture has to be to make it enjoyable. Put through any form of broadcast signal (analogue TV, digital terrestrial, Ski...) it'll look poo on a massive screen. By contrast, give it a high quality DVD and you (or your step dad ) will be drooling

As an example, the Sony KE-W50 can be had for

Bengie, what's above 1080i ? :P

not sure if its about yet but i heard 1080p mentioned a little while ago

at times i prefer 760p to 1080i but hey, its all good

DVD wise i have a samsung player that has a DVi output, things look very good though it:) it also has optical and co-ax out puts for your sound needs

i need some stands for my front speakers or possibly some floor mounts as they are way too close but here is a pic of my telly

forgive the quality but it was taken on my phone then resized down to 640x480

Wow! Thanks folks.Will sit him down for a chat tonight

I design AV systems for a living (when I'm not on the international spork-fighting circuit, that is); primarily for corporate boardrooms, but the odd domestic installation too. Personally I wouldn't buy a plasma, LCD or projector for home use. Obviously this is all subject to my experience and opinion, but we've done hundreds of installations so I think it's based on good solid information.

Plasmas are, in my view, not good enough at handling moving video. They're also a pain to install because of the weight (legally you have to have 4 people to install a 60" plasma commercially), they run hot and the lifespan isn't good enough. Burn-in isn't the problem that it used to be, but absolutely is NOT a myth. However, if you're using a plasma as a telly it's unlikely to affect you unless you watch the same channels most of the time - the "bugs" (logos) in the corners can burn in because they're in the same place all the time. There is indeed a recharge service available, but from what I remember (could be wrong here) it's barely cheaper than buying a new screen.

LCDs are simply too expensive for the screen size at the moment. I also don't like the low contrast ratio that most have, and they can be poor with finely detailed pictures. A better long-term bet than plasma though, in my view.

Projectors are just a pain. While you can get ones with great brightness, contrast and so on, and the good ones will handle moving video AND high detail very well, remember to look at the bulb cost. Most of the ones we spec use bulbs in the

I've been looking at both technologies for a while. Most LCd's don't seem to be up to standard for picture quality with a Plasma. Obviously with Plasma you have to run-in for 48 hrs on low contrast to prevent screen burn and they are heavy on the juice too.

I'm reliably informed that the life of modern Plasmas is 10-15 years. The early ones expired after less than 5 years and the screen burnt young children but the technology has moved on since then.

I would go for LCD on the power consumption issue alone but the only ones i've seen that compete with plasma for picture quality are some of the the Philips models and larger Toshiba models.

Don't forget to ensure that the one you chose is fully HDTV compatible. Look for an HDMI socket.

I can recommend the Panasonic TH-50PV500-CAB.

I bought the TH 42PV500 - along with a hdmi Denon 2910 dvd player, the picture quality is nothing short of awesome.

As long as you look after your plasma it will be fine, all this business about gas re-charge and 'throw it in the bin' after 4 years is absolute twaddle.

Des

all this business about gas re-charge and 'throw it in the bin' after 4 years is absolute twaddle.

No it isn't. It comes from the corporate world where you might have the same image up on screen for hours or days at a time, and in that instance you will get burn in, even on current generation screens. Less relevant in a domestic situation, but it certainly isn't "twaddle".

The rear LCD projection TV's I saw in curry's seem to be as good as the larger Toshiba LCD's and bigger too for less money. I was really impressed with the sharpness with no sign of pixelation. No good to mount on a wall but mine would have to go in the corner anyway. They are nowhere near as deep (front to back) as the old projection tv's were either.

Sporky, if you get a chance next time you're near a Currys, take a look and tell us what you think of the rear projection TV's. You seem to have a bit more background in this stuff than some of us.

You CAN NOT recharge a plasma !! where in the world are these salespeople coming from....

Sporky, if you get a chance next time you're near a Currys, take a look and tell us what you think of the rear projection TV's. You seem to have a bit more background in this stuff than some of us.

I had a look a couple of years ago (girlfriend was getting a Freeview box) and the picture looked quite good to me, but the viewing angle was very narrow. That might not be a problem to some people - it depends on how many people you're expecting to cram around the screen and how the room is laid out.

I'll certainly have a look next time I see one.

As for the plasma recharging, colour me quite confused. I'm absolutely certain we had a flyer in the office a few years ago from a company offering just such a service, but the prices were about the same as buying a new screen, but the more I look around the more it looks like myth (or maybe it was just a joke flyer from someone in the office).

And just to reiterate, most of my experience is more corporate than domestic. We use the same screens in a lot of cases though, so hopefully some of it is applicable and helpful.

I had a look a couple of years ago (girlfriend was getting a Freeview box) and the picture looked quite good to me' date=' but the viewing angle was very narrow. That might not be a problem to some people - it depends on how many people you're expecting to cram around the screen and how the room is laid out.

I'll certainly have a look next time I see one.

As for the plasma recharging, colour me quite confused. I'm absolutely certain we had a flyer in the office a few years ago from a company offering just such a service, but the prices were about the same as buying a new screen, but the more I look around the more it looks like myth (or maybe it was just a joke flyer from someone in the office).

And just to reiterate, most of my experience is more corporate than domestic. We use the same screens in a lot of cases though, so hopefully some of it is applicable and helpful. [/quote']

Actually I was really impressed by the viewing angle. I'm not sure what they have done to improve it but it's definately better than i've seen before