See also DPI - Contrast Ratio

Plasma vs. LCD LED TV

- Same room, same time & image used. A picture says...

Update 15/5/2011 Just been watching the latest Panasonic VIErA 50 Inch Plasma TV and during the day, with only a moderate amount of light in the room and it was very disappointing.

Not much has changed from the images at the start of this review. It was reflection central however once the room was darkened the picture was first rate.

Once the sun went down things improved and the picture looked natural [Cinema mode(s)] but even so you could still see reflections in the screen if any lights were on. Having too big a screen is a bad idea. (as was the case here) You need to be AT LEAST 3 times the distance back from the screen as it is wide and this is a MINIMUM.

Having a TV that's over-sized shows up all the imperfection in the broadcast, and due to trying to cram as many TV channels into a given spectrum as possible sometimes it looks like HD/SD rubbish.

   Look at the static scores moving!

The football (sports) scores have a life of their own, watch the move and grove instead of being solid colours on many broadcasts.

Plasma is not as black and LCD or LED because you’re really looking at the phosphors coating and phosphors reflect some light unless you're in a totally dark room and displaying a totally black screen. A plasma display is made of a glass sandwich that traps a a mixture of gases like xenon in vacuum surrounded by phosphor coatings and transparent electrodes. This glass sandwich also traps that gas in little pockets formed by etched ribs at each tiny pixel. The display’s thin glass panels are bonded around the edges and at the boundary of each pixel by the thin ribs that define each pixel’s area.

There is no room for movement so the displays are made so the glass sandwich can't bend or crack, this also makes them very heavy. Into the future as LCD and LED prices fall they should take the lions share of the sub 40 inch market, the quality and response time is always improving. LCD is around 15% lighter on average than the same sized Plasma they are often thinner in construction too.

We recommend you get the longest possible warranty (whatever the cost) on your Plasma display and check the Pixel Policy, (See our FAQ's) we believe where there is more heat there is more expansion and contraction and more chance for more pixels to go bung than you'd be happy looking at.

When you think about the voltages and heat involved in a Plasma display it's like having a few hundreds thousand micro fluorescent lamps running in a confined space. It's no wonder they can suffer problems, especially if allowed to overheat. On a larger screen where the pixels are easy to see would you be happy with just one dead? It won't be right in the corner either if Murphy's law has any say in it. Have a good warranty/pixel policy and be prepared to use it. That's twice I've given you the best tip.

The final caution is be prepared for the blame being put onto you for "misuse" of your Plasma screen because you let an image "Burn-In". The first 200HRS are the worst, whatever you do, beware of the following trap during this running in time. I doubt they will replace the screen because it's been fried by you, even if all you did was leave a cable news or stock channel on too long or connect up the X-Box or Playstation and forgot to tell the kids to turn it off. Most LCD and LED TVs don't act like a mirror that reflects the light coming in from the larger windows found in most apartment buildings. Unless you have block-out curtains, for day time viewing there is a clear winner..

The below are generalities there are always exceptions!

• LCD/LED lasts up to twice as long as Plasma. • LCD/LED does not have "Burn In" issues as Plasma. This is where a shadow is permanently burnt into a spot where you continually display the same segment of an image like a "Stock Ticker" or Time for example. • Plasma has the edge on contrast ratio measured before the anti-glare glass is added to the raw panels. As for all manufacturers be wary of their often misleading CR claims. • LCD often has the blackest blacks. • LCD is quieter and lighter. • LCD/LED can double as a computer monitor without "Burn-In". • Plasma can have a wider viewing angle up to 180 degree vs. 170 for the latest LCD models some LED models have higher restrictions. • LCDs and LED use much lower voltages internally (12V) and generate much less heat, Plasmas (300V) often need a fan to dissipate the heat. Fans = Noise, Heat = more power consumption than LCD. LCD pixels don't need power to show black, Plasmas do. • More heat (Plasma) = More problems.

The easiest way to shorten components life is to heat them then cool them.

• We have LCD watches because of LCDs low power consumption. LCDs use half the power of Plasmas.

Our conclusion

Only buy a plasma if you're watching in a fairly dark room.

Buy a LCD or LED TV for brighter rooms or daytime viewing. Nothing works with sun shining on it. Check out the viewing angle of any model you're thinking about as LED TVs sometimes restrict the angle.

Beware the shops may not show you how bad digital TV can look, even HD it varies greatly from program to program. From Fantastic to Pathetic.

Don't get a TV that's too big as bigger is not better when it comes to showing up the imperfections in the broadcast as mentioned above. If you think the TV size it may be too big it probably is. For real Home Cinema (Theatre) get a projector, more bang for your bucks and more a cinema feel. A big TV is a big TV not Cinema.

Do you really need 1080 HD?

It's a bit late to ask now as it's a given but.. • That depends on how far back you intend to sit! If you're right on top of a TV then why not, but from say 5-6m back from a projected image the difference would not be great between a 720p (Still HD) and 1080p HD Max.. • See for yourself the following 2 images simulate 720P:

& 1080P. Sitting at your PC it's easy to see the difference but try 3m back :)

From only 1M back it would be a great idea to use more pixels!

Based on 20/20 vision, every time you double the viewing distance you only require 1/2 the resolution for the image to look the same.

What does "Real" commercial digital cinema use? Digital cinema currently uses standards known as 2K (2048 x 1080) 12 bit, 24FPS, with the aim to have 4K (4096 x 2160 pixels) as the ultimate standard. 4K is requirement for a 50-90 foot screen. Smaller venues use as little as 1280x1024 pixels.

Pixel size used in commercial cinema

Project a 2K image on a screen that's 15m/50 feet wide and each pixel is 15000/2048 = 7.3 mm wide. (3.5PPI) Using 4K each pixel is 3.6 mm wide. (7PPI). What's can we have at home now? Using a 2.2M wide screen (100 inch) and a 720P projector if we try the same formula for pixel size as used above (2200/1280) you end up with 15PPI and a pixel size 1.7mm which is half the size and has twice the information per CM as the highest digital cinema standard (4K) and 4 times the current 2K standard. Note all home cinema projectors are now 1080P which makes them even better value. In a bright room (or indeed outdoors as below) you need #1 Brightness #2 No reflections, Contrast ratio is wasted.

One big TV!

The pictures above in this review feature a 9M display screen which has 2 pixels per inch.

The human eye can see around 300 dots per inch.

You already know that the further back you are, the harder it is to make out the dots. Another example is a bill board usually printed at between 2 and 100 dots per inch or DPI. Which brings us too..

Don't believe all the hype, believe your eyes, most times!

CON-trast ratio

Contrast ratio or CR is often a con. Your Notebook PC is about 300:1 CR. • Cinema is 1000:1 • Any light in the room makes higher than say 400:1 contrast ratio academic. • The loss of contrast sensitivity accelerates with age, at 60, the amount of light reaching the photoreceptors is only 33% of the amount seen at age 20. By the late seventies, the amount falls to 12%.

Contrast perception

In the above image the 7 gray bars are the same. The only difference is how YOU perceived the brightness. That's what we mean by "Real World" we don't get carried away with specifications that just add zeros onto readings. They often have little relationship to what and how people watch and the conditions encountered in the Real World. So what are we saying here?

Don't get all carried away with big contrast ratio numbers..

More on contrast ratio.