Thankyou!

because SD on a decent plasma screen looks very good

Dal

A couple of years ago, Sharp released a LCD TV (the P-series) that had a 540-line resolution that required no upscaling of the signal and was designed primarily for SD feeds only.

It had one of the best SD pictures I'd ever seen on a LCD, albeit a bit blurry as all LCDs were then (and in some cases still are).

Isn't this old argument a bit tired and to some extent pointless?
I believe that each individual experience will colour views. The technical arguments are rubbished by peoples experiences.
My LCD gives a far better SD pic than the CRT I replaced it with. Now this may mean my CRT was rubbish (Sony). or, it may mean my LCD is better. Either way I don't care. In My case I would argue LCD beats the CRT I had, so is the better.
I certainly would not comment on Plasma as I have only seen it on demo in stores. I know from experience that this is not the way to form an opinion. Should I need to change my TV I will find at least two people with Plasma in a home environment and try watching more than ten minutes worth of programmes before making a decision.

Must admit I feel sorry for a friend of mine.

He went to Curry's last week and went in the store with the intention of buying a plasma but the salesman persuaded him to buy an LCD saying that the picture quality was superior.

I went round his house and watched some of the Sky footie games over the weekend and we watched the broadcast in SD and the picture quality was crap, kept going blocky and pixelated.

He now wants to take the TV back and get a Plasma.

Are LCD TV's normally that poor when watching fast moving action in SD, as this is my first experience and having seen the picture quality I would never buy an LCD.

where CRT really scores is in flesh tones and luminance. Some high-end plasma's compete well with CRT in this area, but LCD is less convincing.

My friend switched from a Panasonic series 8 plasma panel (1080i) to a Sony W-series 1080p 46" LCD. Whilst he was initially impressed with the clarity of the Sony, he misses the warmth and depth of the plasma, and he feels the LCD has 'too much contrast' and produces an 'artificial' image.

That sounds more like Freeview poor signal problem? - what make of LCD did he buy?.

It was a Samsung, sorry cannot remember the model number around 40inch screen.

How would a poor Freeview signal affect a programme broadcast on Sky?

some LCD's do suffer from motion blur. i choose plasma because they seem to handle sport better and dont suffer from these issues.

they have got much better but you have to pay big money for decent LCD that handles sport well - new Sony range for example

like someone has said this type of topic has been done to death time and time again.

as long as we are happy with whatever type of technology we use to watch our TV then thats all that matters -

get your mate to check out a panasonic PX70 for the money they are a cracking screen. if he wants true 1080p then he will need to pay a bit more and go for a PZ700. also Pioneer do great plasma screens

all the best!

Dal

I am guessing from many of the threads and my very limited experience, Plasma is superior to LCD?

Can anyone recommend a good small sized plasma or do they all have to be 40 inch +

Is there any standout Plasma in the 32-40 inch size range that offers a good picture?

Personal recoomendations appreciated.

plasma start at 37" anything lower go lcd. nigel knows his stuff on lcds that are good at the moment.

for plasma check out the ones i mentioned above.

Dal

That's bizarre! The specs, and most people, would say it's the *lack* of contrast (as compared to CRT) that's the remaining technical issue with LCD panels. And that's because the LCDs don't do black properly. Look at any mostly black or dark image on an LCD (HD included), and you'll see it's only dark grey.

Thanks.

I will let my friend know about the personal recommendations.

I will be looking to buy a smaller sized plasma for myself in the next few weeks.

great screens those 8 series panels used in most blockbuster video and tescos - some say there bullet proof!

not HD but stick a component board in there and run a ps3 or 360 at 720p and it will look stunning

Dal

no worrys. check out the 37" PX70 for youself mate

Dal

Just my twopenneth as a recent switcher:

My Panny 32" CRT was wonderful on anything that was thrown at it and I was apprehensive about making the change especially with so much SD still around.

An unexpected bonus in the Sky HD area was the driver behind a change to a Panny TH42PX70.

Verdict (obviously personal):

HD - mainly wonderful (Sky edging BBC, I'd say)
SD (via Sky HDF) - Variable: the HD box upscales via HDMI and gives unexpectedly good pictures on some channels (Sky Movies etc) yet downright awful ones on some downmarket '+1+ channels.
SD via freeview - again variable but most of the programs are not as clear as when presented over the Sky platform.

All in all, I'm happy with the change but only because i have an HD box to help the process.

Rgds,
Scorp

OK, poor Sky reception!

I was well aware there could be a criticism like that, so thought twice before starting the thread. I just thought it interesting that knowledgeable shop staff were attesting to the superiority of CRT over LCD or Plasma for SD, despite everything we are bombarded with in magazines, advertisements etc etc.

My Philips 36" has Pixel Plus and it's fine. I can switch it off, and go to 50Hz, but then I see a shimmer and the line structure. Watching programmes like "Home and Away" (sorry) which has obviously been made for HD (with gratuitous living room panning shots included...) and crisp studio feeds from BBC News 24 make me think, I couldn't do better than this.

I don't believe the "incorrectly set-up" argument works, as in proper department stores or showrooms, I have seen them displaying Freeview pictures (generated internally) or Sky pictures where available. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but problems with a Freeview signal would result in wholescale blocking or freezing wouldn't it? Not irritating buzziness or noise around scrolling text or footballers in motion. And yets what they all seem to have (granted the Sony ones I have seen seemed to me to be some of the best of the bunch as far as LCD was concerned).

It's true I would like a bigger picture but am in a quandry as I really don't want to see artefacting or pixellation where there was none before. That really would be a problem purchase!

Is this the one......

http://www.johnlewis.com/Technology/...x?source=22009

what you forget to mention there is that in these stores with all the bright lights and that they have them set on the brightest settings possible - which you would never have at home, you need to spend some time playing with the settings and getting it just right to your environment.

a Panasonic screen out of the box is set to dynamic - its terrible the colors are too rich the brightness is too high and generally look terrible. go into currys or comet and there running in dynamic mode - most of the peeps working in there wouldn't even know how to change the screen mode

i have most of my settings on -

im sorry but again i say go-to a proper AV specialist where they have rooms in a similar environment as you would at home and you can bring your own dvd player etc and watch.

i went here - http://www.av-sales.co.uk/ for my demo and had 3 screens setup with my dvd player and at the time playstation 2.

if your serious about upgrading then i suggest you go to a similar place otherwise your gonna be with your crt for years and years to come if you just keep going to currys to look at the latest technology.

Dal

Thats the one matey

Dal

I can't see a flicker on 50 Hz sets. The only 100Hz TVs that I have watched for any length of time were a pair of identical Toshibas that a friend's parents bought a few years ago for different rooms in their house.

On the 100Hz sets, I actually notice zig-zag lines running down the screen, which is not something I have ever seen on a 50Hz set. I think that I may have noticed something similar on 100Hz sets in shops a few years ago.

Am I one of the few people to see this, in the same way as others are part of the few that notice 50 Hz screens flicker?

In any event, my Sony KD32DC11 (32" Wega flat screen 50Hz CRT DTT) is safe in my front room for the foreseeable future. The picture quality never fails to impress me, provided that the source is good (last night's coverage of the Chelsea v Rosenborg game on ITV4 certainly wasn't - but that's nothing to do with the TV!), with DVDs looking spectacularly good.

Having said that, I'm really tempted to get a 20" Sony LCD for the bedroom - reasonably big bedroom screen in a reasonably small bedroom space! It will happily sit on top of the DVD player that's been in retirement since I bought a RDR-HXD710...and it looks good when it's switched off!

Actual signal problems would result in blocking and freezing but low bitrate causes the problems around moving footballers etc. This is not usually a major problem on Sky or the BCC (though it is sometimes) but is a regular occurrence on ITV especially on ITV2. This is a problem on any TV including CRTs.

Is your handle because you work for yourself,as the employees own the shop, or has a member of DS just called in to browse and asked you the question.

Anyhow as a dept store, J L is top end.

Bob Wrexham

just to throw in my experience-when i had only 50Hz TV, i never noticed any flickering, however when i bought a Sony Wega 100Hz, and set it to the 50hz setting, it was so apparent as to be unwatchable!
Agree the Feed from channel 4 footy was nearly as bad as Chelsea were at playing, both Freeview and V-Plus box!:yawn::yawn: