Hey Madala - There is not much to pick between Plasma and LED, comes down to personal preferences really. Don't let anyone tell you that Plasma's have a shorter life span, that is just not true these days. A Plasma's total life span is calculated to be 33 years @ average 5 hours use per day. I own a 42" Plasma which is one of the very early models, it is getting a bit long in the tooth now but the picture remains terrific. If were to buy a replacement today, I would most likely go for LED, simply because there seems to be a much wider range of brands and models to choose from.
Personally I think the 200Hz is a bit of a marketing ploy. I seriously doubt the human eye could distinguish between 100Hz and 200Hz refresh rates, even in fast action.
Assuming there is a price differential, I would definitely go for the 100Hz and save some money.....I don't believe you are going to get any significant advantages with 200Hz.
Cheers.....Jim
Hey Madala - Yes, we here in Oz are crazy for our sports...just as you guys are!!
[quote:iekidmw1]is plasma and LED on a par for those purposes[/quote:iekidmw1]
Yes, definitely. Nothing to pick between them. Sport on my Plasma is fantastic to watch, great clarity and detail. My eldest son has a big screen LCD TV and we watch sport together on that too, it is also excellent.......as I said, nothing to pick between them.
I don't believe there is very much difference at all between Plasma and LED/LCD is terms of screen toughness. Both are essentially put together the same way with their displays sitting between two panels of glass. I think the fragility of both is overstated somewhat and they are more robust than generally given credit for.
Here is an excerpt from a Plasma review:
[quote:iekidmw1]Fragile, yes - as two sheets of glass are compressed together to form the plasma display element. While they must be handled with care, the main consideration is keeping them upright. The plasma glass is weighty and can crack if a plasma television when laying face down is jarred or dropped. Aside from that there is nothing really to be concerned about that you would not ordinarily consider.[/quote:iekidmw1]
I agree with that, and the same would apply for LED/LCD also.
There is not really any major difference (between Plasma and LED/LCD) that helps make the decision any easier. As I said, generally comes down to personal preferences and, of course, price!!!
One thing which might be specific to Australia; I have noticed that the LED/LCD TV's here are growing in popularity, they are certainly more prolific (than plasma) in the retail sores.
Cheers....Jim
Well, I thought I'd jump into the fray...
The most important "feature" to look for is resolution. You want a TV that can display 1080 video natively, which means the panel used in the TV must have a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
Now, Hertz, or Hz, refers to the refresh rate of the display - the number of times per second the picture is painted on the screen. Any TV you buy today will be capable of 60Hz and able to display movies, sports, etc just fine. 120Hz came along to combat a problem called the rainbow effect that was most prevalent with DLP TV's. Most people can't tell the difference between a 60Hz and 120Hz display. Now 240Hz is a little different. With the upcoming 3D push 240Hz is necessary to display it. If you see a TV that states 3D ready or capable then it will be a 240Hz TV. A TV can not "make" 3D so to have 3D you need to have 3D source material (3D Bluray, satellite, etc.). Personally 3D looks very unrealistic and gives me a slight headache so I have no interest.
The second point is there are two types of LCD display - Florescent and LED. I won't go into how they work, but Florescent will be cheaper and LED will provide a better picture with a longer life with a slightly higher cost.
Plasma does have some cons. The first is electricity use. The nature of the technology uses quite a bit more electricity than the average LCD type. depending on how "green" you are, how often and long you watch TV, and the rates in your area this could be a consideration. The second is called burn-in and causes images to be burnt into the display. This would only be a consideration if you watch the same channels for extended hours each day, or play lots of video games for extended periods. This has improved [b:3n1ftyun]drastically[/b:3n1ftyun] in the last 5-7 years and will not be a problem for the average user.
Plasmas also have some pros. The first is cost. Plasmas have fallen out of vogue and the prices have dropped accordingly here in the US. The second is called black level, or the ability of a display to show true black. Plasma wins against all but the best LCD displays. The better a display can display black the better color rendition, or pop, it will have.
The best thing to do is set a reasonable price range and go look at the TV's in that range. Remember that brightness and contrast will be much higher than needed when you see them at the store and unbox the one you buy, so some adjustments will be in order to achieve the best looking TV. Don't be afraid to bring a favorite DVD or Bluray - if they want to sell you a TV they'll let you watch part of it. Also, don't be afraid to change the settings (brightness, contrast, etc) on the TV - tons of people have looked at that TV and a bunch of them have messed with it before you, so who knows what the settings are!
And I'll add to all of this: your TV will only produce what you're inputting into it. If you're running off a cable box that only does SD at 60hz, then it doesn't matter what TV you purchase.
My DVR supports HD (1080) but can only output at 60hz, so my 120hz TV...not utilizing it so much.
Also consider this (and I wish I had) -- if you're hooking up boxes to your TV and not running a cable directly into the TV, consider instead a monitor. It won't have a TV Tuner in it, but if all you're doing is plugging in HDMI cables, you may not need the expense.
Hope I didn't muddy things too much.
--Zig
Madala, any of the [i:3jpc9c7i]modern[/i:3jpc9c7i] TV's will handle fast moving sport without any problem. The issues with residual trails, which were noticeable in some earlier models, have been overcome in the latest models.
Best advise from me is to stick with a big name brand and avoid the cheaper no-name imports. Not because of any issues with motion but because the resulting image (picture) will be more vibrant, clearer and sharper with the better (more expensive) panels.
Cheers....Jim
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