LCD Vs Plasma.. here we go again
Discussion
But with a twist:
As prices are for nothing, I want a big 50" screen to play games on from my computer. I have heard that screen burn is a thing of the past on the latest generation plamsa's, and that the picture is more vivid on a plasma than an LCD. Is this true? I am not interested in best colour reproduction, I want best contrast ratio, the least pixelation, and the fastest refresh for the money. This is not going to be used for 'filmic movies' as I already have a solution for that, this is all about fragging baddies with the lads when the girls want to watch tear jerkers on the cinema next door.
My shortlists so far are:
And these are from Richer Sounds because I can buy the additional the 5 year warranty for a sensible price.
If anyone has any alternatives in this ball park, or thinks that I should be looking at LCD instead please let me know
As prices are for nothing, I want a big 50" screen to play games on from my computer. I have heard that screen burn is a thing of the past on the latest generation plamsa's, and that the picture is more vivid on a plasma than an LCD. Is this true? I am not interested in best colour reproduction, I want best contrast ratio, the least pixelation, and the fastest refresh for the money. This is not going to be used for 'filmic movies' as I already have a solution for that, this is all about fragging baddies with the lads when the girls want to watch tear jerkers on the cinema next door.
My shortlists so far are:
- LG 50PS3000 50 inch Plasma £599.95
- PANASONIC VIERA TXP50S10 50 inch Plasma (preferred) £699.95
And these are from Richer Sounds because I can buy the additional the 5 year warranty for a sensible price.
If anyone has any alternatives in this ball park, or thinks that I should be looking at LCD instead please let me know
If you must have one now, then I'd spend the extra on a G10 instead of the S10, but with the 20 Series round the corner, I'd seriously consider holding fire as the S20 is likely to be given the NEO treatment (higher true CR and reduced power consumption), if not just the G10 panel (Full HD instead of HD Ready).
PJ S said:
If you must have one now, then I'd spend the extra on a G10 instead of the S10, but with the 20 Series round the corner, I'd seriously consider holding fire as the S20 is likely to be given the NEO treatment (higher true CR and reduced power consumption), if not just the G10 panel (Full HD instead of HD Ready).
The G10 is full 1080P as I understand it?What tangible difference does the G10 offer over the S10 as an advantage when used for gaming? The absolute minimum requirements are that this can do 1280x1920 as I am going to be sitting as little as one metre away while playing games.. yes I know that's ridiculous but I am always a sniper and the detail counts
This set will be abused, I'm not expecting it to be set to the correct gamma/colour settings etc, it needs to look bright with good contrast, and not to suffer screen burn. It will be used also for web, and reading emails, as well as iPlayer and as a menu display for home media stuff too. Do you think there is any value in spending the extra £300 when considering this as its prime purpose?
edited to add:
RobDickinson said:
Much as I love plasmas purely for gaming I'd go lcd.
Why? Can you offer some real life exprerience of these sets when used for gaming? I have been told that the screenburn problems have long since been eradicated and that LCD's suffer badly from artifacts and pixelation. Is this not the case?Edited by Lord Flathead on Saturday 13th March 21:26
G10 brings higher CR, as well as the extras you'll not benefit from having (FreeSat, +1 HDMI, etc)
As for screenburn, it's always been overplayed in the debate vs LCD, but for the first 1-200 hours of use, you should keep brightness & contrast down, and don't pause the games for too long.
After thatyou can be abit more blasé with the settings.
Plasma's quicker pixel response will also work in the games favour.
Bother to spend a bit of time on setting up the display to suit the room light levels, and you will be rewarded with a cracking picture, even just for gaming.
You'll probably want to sit 5-6ft away from the screen to preserve your eyesight, but equally importantly, to minimise pixelation (seeing the individual pixels that make up the display).
Arguably there's likely to be little difference between a 720p native game on a 768p and 1080p panel, but if you invest in the 1080p one, then as more games are released rendered natively in 1080p (need to set the 360 to that output - and even then, that's only the Original Elite, and the revised Premium with 60GB HDD) you'l be able to take advantage of them.
Theoretically, 720p upscaled to 768p should be a better image than 1080p, but the Panasonic algorithm in the PZ800 made GoW on a 42" from 5ft look bloody superb, and no worse than from 8+ ft on a 37" PX70 (720p HD Ready) Panny Plasma.
As for screenburn, it's always been overplayed in the debate vs LCD, but for the first 1-200 hours of use, you should keep brightness & contrast down, and don't pause the games for too long.
After thatyou can be abit more blasé with the settings.
Plasma's quicker pixel response will also work in the games favour.
Bother to spend a bit of time on setting up the display to suit the room light levels, and you will be rewarded with a cracking picture, even just for gaming.
You'll probably want to sit 5-6ft away from the screen to preserve your eyesight, but equally importantly, to minimise pixelation (seeing the individual pixels that make up the display).
Arguably there's likely to be little difference between a 720p native game on a 768p and 1080p panel, but if you invest in the 1080p one, then as more games are released rendered natively in 1080p (need to set the 360 to that output - and even then, that's only the Original Elite, and the revised Premium with 60GB HDD) you'l be able to take advantage of them.
Theoretically, 720p upscaled to 768p should be a better image than 1080p, but the Panasonic algorithm in the PZ800 made GoW on a 42" from 5ft look bloody superb, and no worse than from 8+ ft on a 37" PX70 (720p HD Ready) Panny Plasma.
E31Shrew said:
Hang on until April 1st as Pana 5 year warranty re entering the fray!
Excellent advice, thankyou PJ S said:
G10 brings higher CR, as well as the extras you'll not benefit from having (FreeSat, +1 HDMI, etc)
As for screenburn, it's always been overplayed in the debate vs LCD, but for the first 1-200 hours of use, you should keep brightness & contrast down, and don't pause the games for too long.
After thatyou can be abit more blasé with the settings.
Plasma's quicker pixel response will also work in the games favour.
Great bit of info that and exactly what I wanted to know re difference in Plasma and LCD.As for screenburn, it's always been overplayed in the debate vs LCD, but for the first 1-200 hours of use, you should keep brightness & contrast down, and don't pause the games for too long.
After thatyou can be abit more blasé with the settings.
Plasma's quicker pixel response will also work in the games favour.
PJ S said:
Bother to spend a bit of time on setting up the display to suit the room light levels, and you will be rewarded with a cracking picture, even just for gaming.
I have all the various setup screens as my PJ was high-end and I have spent whole weekends getting it 'just right' PJ S said:
You'll probably want to sit 5-6ft away from the screen to preserve your eyesight, but equally importantly, to minimise pixelation (seeing the individual pixels that make up the display).
My thoughts were exaclty this: Although I can sit 5 feet back, being any closer would just make the picture 'generated' and less believeable so I guess I will have to compromise between high def and blocky 
PJ S said:
Arguably there's likely to be little difference between a 720p native game on a 768p and 1080p panel, but if you invest in the 1080p one, then as more games are released rendered natively in 1080p (need to set the 360 to that output - and even then, that's only the Original Elite, and the revised Premium with 60GB HDD) you'l be able to take advantage of them.
Theoretically, 720p upscaled to 768p should be a better image than 1080p, but the Panasonic algorithm in the PZ800 made GoW on a 42" from 5ft look bloody superb, and no worse than from 8+ ft on a 37" PX70 (720p HD Ready) Panny Plasma.
Ah I think you are saying that the higher definition, the better the quality for the games that you have tried, and I am hoping to agree with you once I have bought this display.Theoretically, 720p upscaled to 768p should be a better image than 1080p, but the Panasonic algorithm in the PZ800 made GoW on a 42" from 5ft look bloody superb, and no worse than from 8+ ft on a 37" PX70 (720p HD Ready) Panny Plasma.
Surprisingly, a mature lady once said to me when I fixed her aerial connection; "High def is like good sex.. if you've never had it you'll never miss it, but once you've had it you will awlays miss it
There are loads of technical reasons why plasma is better than LCD (as your title suggests) but I too would go for LCD if its for pure gaming, to me the rendered image looks better on an LCD. Maybe its because of the LCD's tendancy to 'plasticify' an image works in favour of an image that is slightly plastic in the first place. Have a look at the usual shop displays that are playing Blu-Ray cartoon movies they look incredibly awesome on a good LCD, and also maybe its just my eyes but I find looking at fine detail for any period on a Plasma hurts my eyes where an LCD does not (this is coming from a guy who has 2 pana plasmas )
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