Plasma TV
vs.
LCD TV

Using the sliders, set the importance of each aspect.
Choozza will then find the best product for you.

Plasma TV

2
Viewing Angles
2
Sustainability
2
Small Screen
2
Low Cost
2
Picture Quality
2
Light and Gaming
2
Big Screen

LCD TV

Plasma TV

Plasma televisions use a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells to display the pictures. The electrical voltage these cells are charged with creates the colors you see on the screen.

LCD TV

LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions contain liquid crystal between two glass plates (this is sometimes referred to as the LCD sandwich). Pictures are created by a changing electrical charge that is applied to these crystals.

Viewing Angles

A plasma TV's picture remains fairly solid even when you sit quite at an angle to the screen (That is - sitting to the side of it). Plasmas also produce a brighter colour than LCDs, which is due to light leakage on an LCD affecting its colour saturation.
On most LCD TVs you see some brightness and colour changes when you sit at too much of an angle to the screen. The newer LCD screens are getting better and better, but they are not as good as plasmas yet.

Sustainability

Plasmas consume considerably more power than LCDs - up to 30% more. This makes plasmas a seriously more wasteful technology. The life of a plasma screen used to be about 20000 hours. It is now usually between 30000 and 60000 hours. Plasma screens are in danger of suffering Screen burns. A screen burn is when an image is left too long on a screen, resulting in a shadow of the image burned permanently onto the screen. However, the newer generations of plasma screens do not get the image burnt permanently, and it will disappear after a few days of normal use. Last but not least - plasma screens are heavier and thicker than LCD screens - which makes them not as good to hang on your wall.
LCDs consume considerably less power than plasmas - up to 30%. This is a seriously greener technology. The life of an LCD screen is usually guaranteed to be 60000 hours. LCD screens also hardly ever have Screen burns. A screen burn happens when an image is left too long on a screen, resulting in a shadow of the image burned permanently onto the screen. Last but not least - LCD screens are lighter and thinner than plasma screens - which makes them better suited to hang on your wall.

Small Screen

Plasmas are heavier and are just not a good fit with smaller screens.
LCDs are the way to go with smaller screens.

Low Cost

Plasmas usually cost less than LCDs for the same feature set and screen size.
LCDs usually cost more than plasmas for the same feature set and screen size.

Picture Quality

Plasma screens display the black colors accurately. For you as a viewer, this means that you get better contrast and details in the darker scenes. The reason for this has to do with the technology used in plasma TVs, which does not use backlight. Also, because of the front pane, the colors seem richer and warmer on plasmas than on LCDs. Plasmas do not usually blur the picture. Blurring occurs with fast moving scenes and especially in sports. This is because the pixel response time on the plasma is short. Plasma TVs have less screen pixels than LCDs of the same size. This means the picture you see is not as sharp.
LCD Screens can not display "true black" yet. This is because they use backlight that shines through the LCD layer, and there is "light leak" between the pixels. For you as a viewer this means that LCD screens do not have the best contrast, and darker scenes on the movies or series you watch will not look as good. This is changing, and every generation of LCDs is a bit better with blacks. Older generation LCDs used to blur the picture, especially for sports, because the response time (the time it takes a pixel to respond to being told to change its color) was long. Current models don't usually have this problem (look at response time for the specific TV when you check the LCD out). LCDs have more pixels on the screen than plasmas of the same size. This means that the picture you see is sharper.

Light and Gaming

Plasmas offer better picture than LCD but this comes with a price. The viewing experience is not so good if your TV room has lots of light or you watch a lot of daytime TV with the shades open. Screen Burns (see Sustainability category) are an issue with Plasma TVs (although much less so with the newer models). This means you should consider other options if you plan to use your TV for playing lots of video games where parts of the screen constantly display the same image. Plasmas are usually the way to go when you have a controlled viewing room, where there is not a lot of ambient light.
LCDs use backlight - so the picture has more "presence". This makes them the better choice if your TV room has lots of ambient light or you watch a lot of daytime TV with the shades open. Screen Burns (see Sustainability category) are not an issue with LCD TVs. This makes them the better option if you plan to use your TV for playing lots of video games where parts of the screen constantly display the same image.

Big Screen

In the larger screens, Plasma is really the only way to go. The better picture quality ensures that the viewing experience remains good.
With few, expensive exceptions, LCDs are not a good match in the larger screen sizes. This is mainly because of the better picture quality that plasmas offer.

Plasma TV

LCD TV

Plasma TV

Average rating: 4.5 / 5
based on 130 customer reviews
Feel factor: 1


Don't get screwed by Samsung like I did.

(Score 1/5)

BEWARE! I am WARNING you now. Don't buy this TV or in my book, any tv from Samsung. I was really excited when I got this TV since it was my first big flat screen I'd ever owned. For the first two years it was okay. It had some screen retention on any visuals that would linger on the screen for around 5 or 10 minutes but slowly would go away in a minute or so. However, my big problem was about 2 years after I purchased the TV. One day I came home and noticed that none of the HDMI inputs were working and neither were the component hookups. The only thing that would work was the Coaxial cable input. Called Samsung, only first year is warrantied so I'm screwed. PAID $1000 for a TV that delivered for less than 2 years. Don't be like me. Get an extended warranty or buy another brand!!!

Posted on: 2010-08-07
By Disappointed



Legacy 3D HDTV that will support Full Blu-ray

(Score 4/5)

Hey, here's a great 3D-HDTV. The PN50A450 (and PN50B450) are fantastic deals. Yes, they are 720p, but the picture's great and the human eye can hardly see the difference between 720p and 1080p! Also, they are 3D-Ready HDTVs (Checkerboard format). Now, it's been said that these televisions can't play the new full hd blu-ray-3d disc, but that's not true. I watch the new Blu-ray 3D discs via my pc (you need a strong graphics card that supports 3D) in the "Checkerboard format" through "Cyberlink's PowerDVD 10 Ultra 3D software" ($99). I use the 3d-emitter and battery powered shutter glasses ($60 each) that I bought from "Tridef" (DDD) when I bought their 3D Experience software (Non-3D) to watch the old fashion Field Sequential-3D dvds back in 2009. It's true that a new stand-alone-3D blu ray player won't work with these hdtvs, but I've watched the new full Blu-ray 3d disc "Cloudly with a Chance of Meatballs" via my computer with Cyberlink's Blu-ray 3d software (which will play in checkerboard) and the 3d was great with no visable ghosting!

Posted on: 2010-07-20
By Patrick 3D



Mine completely died after 2 yrs

(Score 1/5)

I would not buy this Samsung model. Mine has completely died after 2 yrs.

Posted on: 2010-04-21
By Gines Flaque
Helpful index: 100%



Two Years Later...

(Score 2/5)

I have had this tv for about 2 years now. At first, I liked it. When my dad would come over though, he would complain that it didn't look like HD...but that never bothered me enough to figure it out.
What does bother me, however, is that now there is a picture that is burnt onto the screen. I must have had the tv/cable on pause for a few minutes. It was on one of those news shows that have the red toolbar looking thing on the bottom of the screen (Nancy Grace, I think). Well now, no matter what channel or what dvd I have on, you can see the red toolbar from the news show on the lower 1/3 of the screen. You dont see the actual toolbar, but the picture in that area gets discolored and looks red. I am very disappointed.
I guess this tv is ok if it goes in the bedroom or kids room. I would not recommend putting it in the living room where guests watch tv.

Posted on: 2010-04-21
By Cheryl Rodrigues



Dead Pixles after one year

(Score 1/5)

After a year TV pixles die and not covered by manuf DO NOT buy insurance through CPS Central because you get ripped off. Once it is determined the TV is bad CPS Central makes you ship the TV back before a replacement is shipped and the cost of shipping is extremely high and you loose on ther replacement value.

Posted on: 2010-03-04
By Mark C. Bradford
Helpful index: 100%

LCD TV

Average rating: 4.5 / 5
based on 535 customer reviews
Feel factor: 2


Livid

(Score 1/5)

This TV is great, and worked very well for about 24 months. Then it began having trouble turning on. The led light in the front would just turn on and off. You could hear a bit of noise as the TV tried to turn itself on. Eventually it would turn on... after about 4 minutes of this nonsense. Obviously, I'm about a year past the warranty. I did a Google search and realized there is an entire of community who now hate Samsung TVs. Apparently, the company is putting cheap capacitors in these TVs. When the capacitors begin to fail, which tends to happen at some point past 12 months, the TV begins to have problems turning on and staying on. When you spend $1,000 on a TV, you don't expect it to die just past the warranty. This is, obviously, the last time I buy a Samsung product. Just remember, when you buy something these days, customer reviews on a website like Amazon pretty much mean nothing.

Posted on: 2010-08-25
By E. Brown



Lemon

(Score 1/5)

This product has a defect. People writing good reviews about it just haven't had their TV break yet. The power will eventually cut on and off, and you get green static. Apparently, the TV uses 10V capacitors in the power supply, which are inadequate. My TV lasted 18 months. If you are set on buying this TV, get an extended warranty.

This is the second and last TV I will buy from Samsung. Both broke under two years of ownership.


Posted on: 2010-08-24
By GraduateStudent



40 inches of entertainment!

(Score 5/5)

Plenty of features, I use this TV as my main TV and as a secondary PC monitor for my PC. Easy to hook up and to switch from over-the-air signals, to cable to PC and it still has 4 video inputs available. It's a sleek looking unit.

Posted on: 2010-07-16
By Jimm



Watch out for infrared (IR) interference with

(Score 3/5)

Overall I have been pleased with this TV, until I bought a Roku media player. After buying this player came to realize that whenever the screen is dark, this TV generates IR interference and makes the Roku remote unusable. This means that if the TV is displaying the Roku's dark screen saver then you can't wake up the Roku device with the remote. After researching this issue on the Internet I see that many people are having the same issue with different Samsung TV's interfering with Cable/Sat set top boxes and DVD players. I called Samsung and they won't do anything about this issue because it is out of warranty and not enough people have complained about the issue for "this model" to warrant a recall.

Posted on: 2010-04-26
By R. Fallin



Love it..

(Score 5/5)

Sturdy and quality item. Purchased it over a year and a half back. No issues so far. I had also purchased additional warranty for this, hopefully won't need to use it!!

Posted on: 2010-04-17
By A. Oommen

Latest products Departments Hot products