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Plasma and LCD TVs

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Elios, Mar 8, 2005.

  1. Elios Gems: 17/31
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    I was looking at some the other day with at Bestbuy with a friend. Anyone have these, how do you like them?
    I personally am not impressed with either. Number one, because of the cost vs. the life expectancy, especially on the plasma TVs. Also, if you don't have the ability to watch high def tv, or all you have is basic broadcast of basic cable, what's the point? I actually listened to a sales person giving a pitch to a couple saying that watching regular tv would be so much greater an experience with a plasma. Never mentioned the need to beable to receive high def.
    I also noticed a small, but what could be something big. If you move off to the side of either the plasma or the LCD, the picture gets really dark. Seems like the only place for something like this would be in a home theater setup.
     
  2. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    Depends of the model: some have wider viewing-angle than others and thus their image quality stays better even if viewed from the corner of the screen. ;)

    How is that? I have read that they use some gel inside the monitor, but I'm not sure.
     
  3. Elios Gems: 17/31
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    Its the gas in the plasma cells. They tend to leak the gas after a few years. As the gas leaks out, the picture quality becomes less and less.
     
  4. JSBB Gems: 31/31
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    Personally, as far as I could see it the only real benefit of the plasma t.v.s is the thickness being so much less than a comparable high definition t.v. I couldn't see much difference in picture quality in the models that I looked at.

    I live alone in a full sized house so spending a couple thousand dollars to get a thinner t.v. that from everything that I have heard has a shorter lifespan didn't seem prudent to me.

    That being said, carrying my behemoth of a t.v. down the stairs into my rec. room wasn't exactly fun.

    Oh, and as far as normal t.v. signals looking better on a h.d.t.v. - they do look somewhat better actually, h.d.t.v.s generally have some sort of built in system to smooth out the pixilation. I doubled the size of my t.v. and the picture quality is actually slightly better than on my old t.v.
     
  5. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    You're all far too rich if you can afford one of those giant plasma TV things. Either that, or they're really cheap where you live. I could put down a deposit on a house for the cost of one of them here.
     
  6. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    Hmmm....If you're thinking of geting anything bigger than a 40 inch Plasma or LCD TV, then save yourself the trouble and get a HDTV projector! Depending on the brand, they can be a lot cheaper than a TV...and the screen size can be an entire wall! :thumb: :rolling:
     
  7. ejsmith Gems: 25/31
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    HAHA! The leaking gas one is always funny.

    There's about 5 or 6 different "technologies" available on HDTV's, in the States, anyways. I'm going to list them here.

    1. Plasma
    2. LCD
    3. DLT
    4. LCD-projector
    5. CRT-projector
    6. CRT tube
    7. D-ILA

    Technically speaking, the DLT and D-ILA are also projectors.

    Plasma works much like a fluorescent light. Each pixel is actuall three smaller sub-pixels, and each of those sub-pixels is it's own little fluorescent light. Works exactly like a fluorescent light. The gas (usually argon) is converted into a plasma bulb by AC current, giving off ultraviolet light. The UV light hits a scintillator (god, I had to look that spelling up!), converting it into visible light.

    LCD is LCD. There's Liquid Crystal on Silicon, which is still LCD, but everything opaque (other than the liquid) is behind the light source. Reduces scatter, improves image quality. Also costs more. You can find these in both projector form, and in backlight display form.

    DLT is fairly new, because LCD and plasma was invented back in the 60's. DLT uses a light source, which reflects off microscopic mirrors on a chip. The mirrors are either pointed toward the screen or toward a black surface. Contrast of these is even better than a LCD screen. There's a rotating color wheel, which in it's first iteration, gave people the same "flickering" effect seen on monitors at 60hz. They've all but cured that now, with 6/8 segment wheels turning at 120hz. If you can see bullets as they leave the barrel, like Jelly Kelly could back in the 60's, then DLT is going to cause you visual problems ("rainbow effect").

    I forget how D-ILA works. I think it's similar to LCD's and LCoS, but it's a projector as well.

    ----
    A projector is a projector. There's a white screen, and a box with a lens. These are probably the best price/performance, right now. Plasma and LCD are "primary" technologies, because you are viewing the direct light source. All other HDTV's are some kind of projector, in which you are viewing the light as it's reflected off a white screen. In the old days of CRT-projectors (which are still the poorest form of TV), the contrast was really bad. It's come up, all around.

    Plasma screen have just about the best contrast you can find. You'll see 1200:1 and 5000:1 thrown around, but the only way you'd actually see that is with a photometer. In "real life", plasma pulls around 800:1. LCD screens pull 400:1. DLT gets around 600:1. The LCD and CRT projectors vary as low as 100:1, up to maybe 250:1.

    In a dark room in the middle of the night, when you've been eating M&M's for an hour and sipping weak coffee, and you've taking vitamin-A for the past week, you can add 200 to each of those contrast ratios. It's stupid, but it works, so it isn't stupid.
    ---
    The plasma screens lose contrast over the course of their life, and it's first visible in the blue spectrum. The more energetic light just depletes the phosphorus coating faster. They are also subject to "burn in", although you have to burn the living piss out of them for months to see it's effect. A CRT will burn-in long before a plasma, but if you turned the TV to CNN for 3 months straight, you'd see the logo burn.
     
  8. Rastor Gems: 30/31
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    I've got a DLT, and I've got to say that they're pretty nice. They do not work well on a white surface, so make sure you get a beige-colored screen or wall.

    Watching HDTV football games with that thing and my 7.1 theater system is truly enjoyable though. If you have a room that can handle the equipment (needs to be very dark and large to work well), definitely go with a DLT over any of the other technologies.
     
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