Plasma owners, Clear up the fog please

Sevn.7 · 03-01-2008, 11:23 AM

I hear a lot of bad things about plasma and some good things. I just want to know from the owners if they are happy with plasma T.V.s?

Does it suffer from burn-in as bad as they say?
Is it frail? and do they have a short life span?
Does it suffer from any screen motion problems for gaming?

I dont know if anyone knows this one but HDTV's and my wii dont mix. I cant put my Wii in the 720P or 1080P resolution. So the image takes time to upscale resulting in a delay in every button you press (Its small but I notice it) . Do plasmas suffer the same problem when you try to use consoles other than xbox360 or PS3?

braydz · 03-01-2008, 11:31 AM

well my 42inche samsung plasma is gr8. no burn in or nuthing. gets 720p and 1080i with my 360. HDTVs are gr8 i rkn.. but if u had the money id still go LCD.

Sevn.7 · 03-01-2008, 11:49 AM

The price and features of this TV sparked my curiosity about plasma

Vizio 50" Plasma HDTV with Digital Tuner, P50 - Wal-Mart

Shike · 03-01-2008, 12:12 PM

Plasma TVs are an excellent choice. Nothing has superior contrast besides a CRT.

Burn-in isn't a problem, even for gaming, if you treat the TV properly. The first thing you do when you get it is drop the contrast in half. If you can, get a copy of Digital Video Essentials and calibrate it.

The settings when you get it are usually too bright, and can cause burn-in. These are display settings for retailers and not meant for actual use in the home.

Next, keep moving material on it for the first 100-200hrs of the TVs life, or a white screen. This burns off the very first bit of phosphors which may be able to be burned. This is recommended by Panasonic themselves, and as they say once this is done your TV should be very resilliant to burn in.

As for the TV you're looking at, Vizio makes a decent budget brand TV. Still, if you can save up for something from Panasonic or Pioneer, you won't be dissapointed.

pparks1 · 03-01-2008, 12:18 PM

Black levels and colors are better on plamsa that on any LCD. Burn in really isn't a problem anymore. Lifespan on plasma's is just fine...this really should not have any impact on your choice as any type of set (plasma, lcd, dlp) is going to outlive your interest in owning the TV. Plasma also has the least amount of motion blur compared to any LCD or DLP.

The only downfalls on Plasma are heat given off, energy consumed and potential glare. But the newer Panny's with the glare resistant screens pretty much eliminate the glare problem.

jabberwocky · 03-01-2008, 12:45 PM

i love my 42" viera, much better picture than i expected. plasma is so much better than lcd, the blacks are actually black and dont all blend into each other(as with lcd) and the picture whilst a bit 'flatter' than on lcd is more realistic.

i get no blurring with xbox and my cable box is HD and upscales SD so tv picture is brilliant

cheap plasmas arent worth bothering with, panasonic vieras, pioneer kuros, or samsungs are the ONLY ones worth buying.

braydz · 03-01-2008, 01:14 PM

samsung. good stuff. on my wage (student) i wouldnt pay 4 one but my mum bought one so i use that hah

MonotoneAssasin · 03-01-2008, 01:49 PM

i work with them every day, the only downside of a plasma is glare. You dont have to worry about burn in unless you pause a movie and leave to go to a party and crash at your buddies house because you passed out. Y would you leave the tv on through that time anyway?

braydz · 03-01-2008, 01:53 PM

yeah pretty dumb. really easy. most plasmas has a "wipe" feature thingo anyways. like. some things wipes the screen so u dont have any burn in. or u can buy dsics that like. "fizzle" the screen 4 a while and it cleans it all up.

T J M · 03-01-2008, 02:17 PM

Burn-in is nowhere near as much of a prob. like earlier plasmas. I guess power consumption maybe an issue (if u care). There was a thing on the news about how they use much more power than LCDs.