LCD or Plasma? Buying a flat-screen TV (Buyers Guide: Televisions)

Member Name: Babylion

Product:	Buyers Guide: Televisions
Date:	30/01/02 (8339 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Flat screen, great looking

Disadvantages: pricey

OK, so you have some £££s burning a hole in your pocket. You fancy a swish new telly. Oh, the choices!

Firstly, do you want plasma or LCD? Both are 'flat-panel' technologies, but they are VERY different, in terms of price and performance. Generally speaking, LCD TVs go up to about 30-32" in size, while plasmas start at about 43" and go up to about 60" (very big, very heavy, very very expensive).

LCD is lighter, and much more economical, the downside being that you simply can't get it in as big a size as plasma. Power consumption is considerably lower, and LCDs are generally designed to last about 10-15 years. The actual LCD panel itself will go on and on, usually - it's the backlights that illuminate the panel which gradually dim and then don't work. The good news is that backlights are usually dead cheap to replace (maybe £50 including parts and labour), and wham! spanking new-look telly with no LCD replacement!

Plasmas are bigger, and often rather brighter than their smaller LCD counterparts. The big drawback with plasma is what is known as 'burnout'. The display technology is basically a piece of glass covered in chemicals called 'phosphors'. With increasing use, these gradually burnout, and sometimes this means a detectable image has been burned on to the screen, which is then visible even when you turn the TV off, or is overlaid on the current image. As a result, plasma displays generally don't last as long as LCD ones do, and are fiendishly expensive to repair. BUT - they're very big and very bright!

If you've decided to go for LCD, or if you've decided you want plasma, here's a few things to consider:

Candela: This is a measurement of brightness, a bit like watts on lightbulbs, the higher the number, the brighter the display will be.

Contrast: An example would be 400:1, which means that the 'white' tones in t
he display are up to 400 times brighter than the 'blacks'. The bigger the ratio, the sharper and clearer your image will look (i.e. 500:1 is better than 300:1). Look for things like 'Black TFT' technology, which reduces glare and reflected light and improves the contrast.

Viewing angle: Incredibly important. Some manufacturers have been marketing PC panels as 'LCD TV' by just sticking a tuner in there. PC panels are generally much lower spec, and are designed to be viewed from usually straight on. Which is fine if you're sitting at a PC, but not so good if you want to watch from across the room! Move to the side a bit, or look upwards at them, and the colours go all funny, and sometimes even look like a negative image. When watching TV, usually you'll want to be able to see the image clearly from wherever you are in the room, so viewing angle is very important.

Compatibility: Does it have the right connections on the back? Look for s-video, composite (RCA/phono), and SCART (which can carry RGB signal as well).

Cheap plasmas, and particularly cheap LCDs are just that - beware of a price that looks too good to be true, because it probably is. But you know that, or you wouldn't be on dooyoo! :)

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