Buying a LCD TV

[vid6639]

Originally Posted by ST7677

You want to see it yourself... go to any shop that stocks both and watch a standard definition signal from 1meter, and you would see the color gradations, juddering, pixelation etc in LCD.

For viewing standard definition there's no doubt that the CRT or the plasma will fair better than the LCD. There's a reason for that. The benchmark set is for HD and we really don't care too much how standard definition will look on the LCD. The TV tuner is basic and the noise reduction engine is also basic to keep the costs down. The main r&d is done at the highest picture level possible while developing the application board.

The latest engine which we are working on infact will not do anything for input lesser than full HD. It needs 1920X1080 input or the processor simply bypasses and just gives the same signal to the panel from the input. This will be found in all LCD models coming out in Q3 2008.

It's like buying a top of the line audio system and then playing 64kbps mp3 music on it and saying that the system is no good. No amount of tuning will improve the music quality.

IMO if you buy a LCD TV and use it for standard cable or even tatasky which is absolute junk quality you are not even using 10% of the panel's ability. Tatasky feeds are 4:3 even though there is a menu option in the STB for 16:9 it is currently disabled. In a plasma and CRT they will look better as there is detail loss and they have a better noise improvement engine. Since there is detail loss you think the picture is better whereas the LCD shows every detail including the noise and stretches that further to fit the screen without much processing, this makes people think that the quality levels aren't good.

Also, 1meter is too close for viewing LCD/plasma and can't be the basis for PQ as these are designed for viewing distance of 8-10feet depending on the panel size.

Also LCD is not a new technology, it came even before plasma, some time in 80's. Only that it picked up lately.

I was referring to LCD's as commercial TV's and not for other applications.

P.S.- How much did u pay for ur LCD?

lol. I actually got it for a steal for Rs.86,000. The mrp now is Rs.93K i think.

I could actually go into more detail on how we test these panels like the skin colour test which involves watching several hours of HD pictures of beautiful women wearing nothing at all. We have to make sure that the skin is always shown in correct colour tone. Very challenging test especially when your boss comes upto you to ask what your doing. lol.

[shuvc]

@vid, can you elaborate a bit more.
How would a HD plasma compare with a HD Lcd with HD content?
If they are similar, then does it not make sense to go for plasmas, since they are ALSO better with standard def AND cheaper?

[vid6639]

New products launched are Sony's new W400A with full HD and a contrast ratio of 30,000:1. This is the basic Full HD version with no picture processing just the full HD 1920X1080 panel. It's priced at Rs.1,19,900 mrp.

Samsung will be launching their new line up as well which is the A550 range also with Full HD and 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio panel. After this they will be launching the A650 panel top of the line full HD with a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1.

Once I get more specs of the internals for these I'll update the specs here.

[Shankyz]

Hi guys,

I am looking for a good TV (LCD/Plasma/CRT) in the price range of 50-60k (Max), I am going thru this thread to get better understanding and Pros/Cons of each technology.

Meanwhile, if the experts could advise on some good models/brands to choose fron, it will be a great help. I will be using the TV primarily to watch Dish TV DTH, DVDs for movies and my children may play games sometimes.

Thanks for all the help in advance.

[vid6639]

Originally Posted by shuvc

@vid, can you elaborate a bit more.
How would a HD plasma compare with a HD Lcd with HD content?
If they are similar, then does it not make sense to go for plasmas, since they are ALSO better with standard def AND cheaper?

Currently all the HD plasmas available in India are only 1024X768 resolution but they downscale a full HD signal of 1080p to that resolution hence the term Full HD.

A true HD plasma of 1920X1080 will cost a bomb almost double of the 1024X768 one. Their production costs are exorbitant. There are models available but mostly in 50" and above and none that I know of in India. Have to check the pioneer kuro though.

LCD's are pretty common nowadays with 1080p i.e. 1920X1080 resolution. Their cost ranges from 1lakh to 2L depending on features.

[reignofchaos]

^^Its a fallacy to compare plasma and LCD resolutions simply by the number of dots. First of all you won't be able to see individual pixels from 8-10 feet which according to you is the viewing distance. The apparent resolution of LCDs is signficantly lower than 1920x1080 at viewing distance because of motion blur. Because of this the apparent resolution drops significantly as the individual pixels can't change fast enough. There are techniques to improve the response time such as Overdrive. However overdrive leads to a perceptible loss in image sharpness. Plasmas have no such issues with response times as their response time is virtually zero.

The S-IPS panels are a bit better in this regard. The S-PVA panels that Sony sources from samsung are absolutely terrible in terms of response times. In addition most of these have input lag which absolutely kills the experience when playing an XBOX or a PS game on the panel. There's nothing much different between these LCD TVs and high end LCD displays used for computers. The good thing about high end computer monitors is that they typically have an option to turn off overdrive when working on completely static screens. I'm not sure if televisions allow the same. Please note I'm talking about high end monitors based upon IPS or MVA/PVA panels and not the el cheapo TN panels which have flooded the market now. *VA panels were always classified as slow even for computer applications so its a shame that they are now being put into LCD TVs which will only aggravate the issue.

Coming to the contrast ratio, the whole deal about dynamic contrast is a scam created by lcd marketeers to beat plasmas on paper. Dynamic contrast doesn't work half the time or creates unnatural hues and skin tones. While an LCD can claim a contrast ratio of 20000:1 only on the basis of dynamic contrast, their real contrast ratio is not more than 2000:1 or 3000:1 at max. The plasmas have a native contrast ratio of atleast 10000:1 and the latest generation has a 20000:1 contrast ratio. They don't even need the cheap tricks of dynamic contrast. Add to this the color gamut. LCDs are typically limited to 8 bits per pixel or at max 10 bits per pixel in the newer panels. Plasmas on the other hand have a color gamut of 12bits per pixel or more. Thats an order of magnitude higher than the best that LCDs can do.

Add to all this the massive issues that LCDs face when scaling from a non native resolution. Its just completely unacceptable how poor the image quality is at anything other than their native resolution. People now have 1080p TVs but where is the content?

Bottomline is that LCDs are great as computer displays. I don't discount that fact. However as a TV, they don't hold a candle to plasmas.

[jassi]

excellent stuff roc i completely agree

[reignofchaos]

To add to my above post, I'd have to say that the unfortunate truth is that neither LCDs or Plasmas come remotely close to the picture quality of our really old 32" Philips Matchline Widescreen CRT. That is hands down the best CRT TV I've seen in my life. Too bad that it decided to conk out after four years of use and Philips after sales service was so bad they couldn't repair it :(

[appuchan]

Saw a new Samsung LCD model (LE40A656) in my last visit to UK. See the picture below. This is the 6 series model with 50000:1 contrast ratio. The TV itself looked better than picture in it.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

To add to my above post, I'd have to say that the unfortunate truth is that neither LCDs or Plasmas come remotely close to the picture quality of our really old 32" Philips Matchline Widescreen CRT. That is hands down the best CRT TV I've seen in my life. Too bad that it decided to conk out after four years of use and Philips after sales service was so bad they couldn't repair it :(

Is it still available ?

[reignofchaos]

Nope... stopped long long ago.

[vvrchandra]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

..old 32" Philips Matchline Widescreen CRT. That is hands down the best CRT TV I've seen in my life...(

Even I also have a Samsung 29A10 model tv which is 29" and also a 100Hz tv. This is the first tv that came in with the DNIe technology of Samsung. When I bought this around 4 years back, it costed me around Rs.55k. This set is made in korea. I tried for the 32" wide screen with 100hz at that time, but could not get it. Hence the 29" 100hz tv.

As far as the picture quality is concerned, it is very good when I watch DVD's. Also for the normal TV viewing on STB(Hathway), it is very good. This came with a 4 year warranty at that time and in between once I had a problem because of memory earsing. It took time but was done for free because of warranty. I'm satisfied with this tv.

[jesal]

not sure if i updated. i went to buy a lg 32 inch lcd for 38k, my dad liked a 42 plasma from videocon so ended up buying that at 39999. at the price its a steal the problem is its just too freaking huge and kick *** for watching movies, its lovelyyy... i guess as they say size does matter.

[dilipkumar7278]

Guys
I am planning to buy panasonic 42in plasma.But the problem is that I cannot choose between PV7 and PV70.Could anyone explain me the difference between the two. The price difference between them is around 12000 rs here in cochin.I heard from one salesman that the resolution is more for PV70.But the specs show no difference.Also I think PV70 has 2 HDMI input as compared to 1 in PV7. Is there any other features that I missed? I can definitely live with a single HDMI...
Cheers
Ch..

[Shankyz]

Originally Posted by dilipkumar7278

Guys
I am planning to buy panasonic 42in plasma.But the problem is that I cannot choose between PV7 and PV70.Could anyone explain me the difference between the two. The price difference between them is around 12000 rs here in cochin.I heard from one salesman that the resolution is more for PV70.But the specs show no difference.Also I think PV70 has 2 HDMI input as compared to 1 in PV7. Is there any other features that I missed? I can definitely live with a single HDMI...
Cheers
Ch..

Both TVs have almost similar picture and sound features, only difference is that Panasonic-TH-42PV70 has additional HDMI Inputs,

Source: Compare India - Ask Expert