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50" tv plasma or led
CRAIGR - 18/6/12 at 08:14 AM

Looking to buy a new telly ,probably 50" but which is better/more reliable plasma or led and why.

Over to the mass of locost knowledge

[Edited on 18/6/12 by CRAIGR]

T66 - 18/6/12 at 08:19 AM

Samsung led. I've been Sony for years and the Samsung are superb

Irony - 18/6/12 at 08:27 AM

LED all the way. Our 42inch LEDS are far superior to our 42inch Plasmas at work. As above I have had good luck with Samsung LCD and LEDs and we probably have 30 in total.

We had a rush job on and I asked a fellow employee to order another 42inch Samsung LED the same as a existing model we have. A day later a LG 43inch PLASMA turned up. I said 'it's not the same size, make or technology, what were you thinking?'. My fault for not doing it myself. Put the two screens together and the LED just looks better in everyway.

Reliabilitywise I don't know about PLASMA but our Samsung LEDs and LCDs are pretty tough. The business I work for designs and builds exhibitions and roadshows. Our go up and down the country, in and out of vans all the time. Out of thirty I think I have had one break due to a internal failure after 4 years of use. The rest of our broken ones have been handling damage. They don't like being dropped or hit with heavy objects (such as scaffold tubes in one case).

The main problem we have is port damage. On these budget highstreet screens the ports on the back plug directly into the 'motherboard' and any rough handling is directly transmitted to the main circuit board. Just be gentle when plugging and unplugging.

[Edited on 18/6/12 by Irony]

loggyboy - 18/6/12 at 08:30 AM

Ive been swearing by the panasonic plasmas for the past 5-6 years, however the modern LEDs not only look smart on the outside, but are looking pretty good in terms of picture now too.
What sources are you watching from?

CRAIGR - 18/6/12 at 08:36 AM

Sources are hd aerial and satelite and non blue ray dvd. Not used for gaming just occasional use of a Wii.

Is it worth considering 3d or is it too gimmicky at the mo ?

Do like samsung tv's though.

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Ive been swearing by the panasonic plasmas for the past 5-6 years, however the modern LEDs not only look smart on the outside, but are looking pretty good in terms of picture now too.
What sources are you watching from?


[Edited on 18/6/12 by CRAIGR]

twybrow - 18/6/12 at 08:42 AM

quote:
Originally posted by T66
Samsung led. I've been Sony for years and the Samsung are superb


+1 from me. I have a Samsung LED TV (smart, HD Freeview, 3D etc), and it is amazing. Dont bother with plasma, it is yesterdays technology - heavy, and not energy efficient. LED is the best technology at the moment IMHO....

CRAIGR - 18/6/12 at 08:45 AM

Any idea of the model.
How do you find the 3d and smart aspect ? Worthwhile or not ?

quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
quote:
Originally posted by T66
Samsung led. I've been Sony for years and the Samsung are superb


+1 from me. I have a Samsung LED TV (smart, HD Freeview, 3D etc), and it is amazing. Dont bother with plasma, it is yesterdays technology - heavy, and not energy efficient. LED is the best technology at the moment IMHO....

loggyboy - 18/6/12 at 08:55 AM

With regards, to 3D , it depends on if you watch alot of movies that are in available in 3D and you can be bothered wearing silly glasses! (IMO it is indeed a gimmick, but a gimmick that can add to the right movie)

As for my source question, If you watch mostly HD, then auditioning the TVs in stores will be a good place to start as they always show them using HD! Just make sure you dont pay any attention to the slow moving sample movies the manufacturers use. Ask to watch dvds, and TV stations you are likely to watch. Ignore minr differences in colour, as these can be set up by tweeking the settings. Look for deep blacks (you get these well on Plasma) and look for reactions to fast moving items and defintion between sharp objects and text.
If you also spend a fair amount of time watching SD TV then you need to get them to show you the TVs on SD channels! I found the best thing to watch (even if your not into sport) is football or rugby, the fast movement, ever changing green colours and small players really show up how bad or good the TV is, watch for pixels around the players and the grass seeming to 'float' around. It was this that pulled me to Panasonic Plasmas, almost all the TVs i saw (both plasma and LCD -it was pre LED tech when I purchased) looked great on HD sources, but show them some standard TV channels (either terestrial, or satelite) and they the Panasonic plasmas just dealt with the SD SOOO much better.

Like I said, though, it was a few years ago I bought mine and tech and manufacturers spec changes quickly, so what may have been good then, may well not be so now. Try not to be manufacturer bias either, One manufacturers tv may look awfull, but the slightly higher model by the same company (with minimal increase in price) might look superb.

[Edited on 18/6/12 by loggyboy]

Alan M - 18/6/12 at 09:25 AM

quote:
Originally posted by CRAIGR
Any idea of the model.
How do you find the 3d and smart aspect ? Worthwhile or not ?
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
quote:
Originally posted by T66
Samsung led. I've been Sony for years and the Samsung are superb


+1 from me. I have a Samsung LED TV (smart, HD Freeview, 3D etc), and it is amazing. Dont bother with plasma, it is yesterdays technology - heavy, and not energy efficient. LED is the best technology at the moment IMHO....


Me too

twybrow - 18/6/12 at 10:37 AM

quote:
Originally posted by CRAIGR
Any idea of the model.
How do you find the 3d and smart aspect ? Worthwhile or not ?
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
quote:
Originally posted by T66
Samsung led. I've been Sony for years and the Samsung are superb


+1 from me. I have a Samsung LED TV (smart, HD Freeview, 3D etc), and it is amazing. Dont bother with plasma, it is yesterdays technology - heavy, and not energy efficient. LED is the best technology at the moment IMHO....
#

Samsung UE32D6100 32' 3D 1080p HD LCD INTERNET WI-FI FREEVIEW TV | eBay for me...

Have not tried the 3D in earnest (only in s hop), but it was much better than I expected. SMART TV is great - but yoy need either a wired ethernet cable, or you need to buy a particular wireless dongle (£25) to make it work. Alternatively, you can plug your laptop into the TV directly, and watch 3d movies directly through it...

As I only buy a TV once in a blue-moon, we opted to future proof as much as posssible, hence HD freeview, 3D, and SMART... without these features, you can go much cheaper.

Jasper - 18/6/12 at 10:40 AM

LG or Samsung LED definitely, uses MUCH less power than the plasma and the pictures are equally as good. I've got both at home, the newer one being the LED.

CRAIGR - 18/6/12 at 11:06 AM

Thanks guys
As always locostbuilders comes up trumps with some top info .
Looks like it will be a 46 or 51 inch samsung led then but will need to check out the smart and 3d malarky to see if i really need it although my 9 year old reliably informs me that its a must have. lol

[Edited on 18/6/12 by CRAIGR]

Hellfire - 18/6/12 at 11:23 AM

I was in a similar position about 6 months ago and after lots of reading and research, decided on plasma technology and purchased a Panasonic GT30. I like watching fast moving sport and couldn't live with the image blur of an LCD screen.......

My research suggested that plasma technology was far superior to LCD, for my viewing purposes.

Phil

mark chandler - 18/6/12 at 11:48 AM

Samsung LED for me, we purchased I think it's the 3d 8000 LED TV two years ago, the 42" plasma now lies redundant.

Two things sell it, amazingly thin and the very low power consumption.

Plasma was racking in £25 per month in electricity and warmed the room.

Picture quality, the LED HD is much better than the HD ready plasma.

RIE - 18/6/12 at 11:57 AM

I went for a Panasonic plasma. Most manufacturers have gone over to LCD, however when I was comparing screens plasma was still superior. LCD screens (especially LED) look oversaturated and just don't give a natural picture.

Andy W - 18/6/12 at 12:26 PM

Panasonic plasma for me. Super picture, plus the newer plasma's use far less electric than the older units.

Mr Whippy - 18/6/12 at 12:57 PM

I wouldn't change from my hd projector, once you have a 4 metre diagonal picture everything else looks a joke

mangogrooveworkshop - 18/6/12 at 01:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
I wouldn't change from my hd projector, once you have a 4 metre diagonal picture everything else looks a joke




I use it for games and dvds ......Your bang on the money

mtechmatt - 18/6/12 at 02:27 PM

I have a samusng 40" 3D led (the new one, bezelless)

Its a great looking tv, lovely sharp picture with great contrast... bad bits its over a grand, AND the remote is SLOOOWWW the inbuilt TV guide is SLOOOWWW and the 3D glasses have been used twice, one for me to 'see whats its like' and once again to show the missus. 3D is a waste of money IMO...

MikeFellows - 18/6/12 at 03:38 PM

it purely depends on your budget

a £1000 LCD/LED will be far superior to a £1000 plasma

look at a £2k plasma though and no LCD will touch it

the difference to the layman is simple enough. The LCD tech is back lit, so black/dark images appear grey (you probably wouldnt notice unless you has 2 side by side), Plasma has no backlight so dark images are much better

also bear in mind LED is no fabulous new technology, its just they put LED's behind the screen to light it up instead of tubes

best TV on the market? go have a look at the Panasonic Plasma's, they licensed the tech from Pioneer when they quit the TV market - I promise there is no better screen (unless someone knows of a 4kHD thats launched since I last looked)

the panasonic TX-P50VT50B is probably the best 50" screen on the market, however it is two grand

edit to add that plasma's need to be ran in - they wont be amazing the first day you turn them on - dont run them in and you can end up with a bad screen

[Edited on 18/6/12 by MikeFellows]

motorcycle_mayhem - 18/6/12 at 05:36 PM

To watch the (lesser) BBC1 coverage of F1 this year I acqquired a 43" Samsung Plasma (not 3D) off the shelf at ASDA for £279.

Can't fault it, brilliant.

OK so I'm comparing it to a CRT.....

dlatch - 18/6/12 at 05:41 PM

very happy with my panasonic plasma it's been fault less for tv and gaming

i think the new LED tv's are much bettre than the previous LCD but i still prefer the picture on a plasma all down to personal pref i guess.

best advice is go to a shop and have a look

iank - 18/6/12 at 06:21 PM

Also worth auditioning a decent quality projector, especially if you want a big image, but don't want a huge 50" TV overpowering the room.

Not for everyone or every room, but worth a look to see if they float your boat.

alistairolsen - 18/6/12 at 07:58 PM

Just got a panasonic p42st30B and I have to confess it's good. All the reading I did suggested that the plasma screen was superior, even if the case ends up bulkier and heavier as a result.

Jasper - 19/6/12 at 09:20 AM

quote:
Originally posted by RIE
I went for a Panasonic plasma. Most manufacturers have gone over to LCD, however when I was comparing screens plasma was still superior. LCD screens (especially LED) look oversaturated and just don't give a natural picture.




Not true, it depends on the way you set up your picture. I'm really fussy about natural picture quality, and my LG LED is set up to give a very soft cinema like picture and is miles different to how it played out of the box and how they are usually set up in shops.

If you can get yourself to a Richer Sounds, it's where I buy all my audio visual gear, they tend to sell only decent quality gear and the salespeople in there are proper nerdy techie blokes.

A cheap LCD/LED will always look worse than a comparable price plasma - I reckon you need to spend at least £650+ on an LCD (over 47" to get a decent picture quality, a couple of my relatives bought cheap LCD/LED TV's and the picture quality on those is saturated and terrible.

Nowadays if you're spending that sort of money they are nearly all backlit LED and all are now 3D too. I wouldn't spend less than £600 on a +47" TV.

RIE - 20/6/12 at 01:33 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Jasper

If you can get yourself to a Richer Sounds, it's where I buy all my audio visual gear, they tend to sell only decent quality gear and the salespeople in there are proper nerdy techie blokes.


That's where I got mine from.

loggyboy - 20/6/12 at 01:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by RIE
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper

If you can get yourself to a Richer Sounds, it's where I buy all my audio visual gear, they tend to sell only decent quality gear and the salespeople in there are proper nerdy techie blokes.


That's where I got mine from.


I went to get mine from them, as they were cheapest, but they were out of stock and all I heard from them was get an LG, LG this LG that....

I went to John Lewis, who offered price match AND a free 5 yr warranty (which was £70 extra from richer sounds)

Jasper - 21/6/12 at 09:55 AM

That's 'cos LG make the best TV's!!

And to be fair to Richer Sounds on the web site it does say to call the shops first to make sure they have stock and they will then hold it for you - and Richer would have price matched John Lewis as well

loggyboy - 21/6/12 at 09:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
That's 'cos LG make the best TV's!!

And to be fair to Richer Sounds on the web site it does say to call the shops first to make sure they have stock and they will then hold it for you - and Richer would have price matched John Lewis as well


True, but I hadnt made a special trip to buy it from them, I just called in a few times asking if they had them when I happened to be passing. And looking at the LGs, they were good, but not as good as my Panasonic!