I love my new Samsung 42' Plasma Never ever will go back to LCD!

I agree .

My father in law has a 40" LCD picture frame Toshiba ...picture is nowhere as good as my Plasma ...

plasma > lcd.

Welcome to the club!

Have to agree, plasma still rules for PQ there's no doubt about that. The picture on my Samsung PS42Q97HDX is stunning with HD material but just as importantly it looks fantastic with SD material, which is where LCD tends to struggle IMHO.

I've also just joined the happy ranks of plasma owners having recently bought a Viera PX80- finally a TV which can do great HD and also give the SD picture from my trusty old CRT a run for its money

If only they did 32" plasmas I'd be tempted to trade in my Bravia D3000!

so is plasma better quality picture than lcd.

Many Plasma owners seem to think so, and appear to be trying to convince the rest of the world so, as Plasma screens are dropped by more and more manufacturers.

In essence Plasma tends to be slightly better on SD pictures, because it's not as sharp, so (just like a CRT) it tends to blur the defects together. On HD it's a different story, you NEED the sharpness, and LCD are usually better on HD than Plasma's.

Both have advantages, and both have disadvantages, it's really down to what you want.

BTW - I have a 42 inch Plasma - but only because it was free!

Depends who you ask!
Plasma vs LCD

For my living room a plasma was the better choice due to amount of SD we still watch. Room is north facing and generally quite dark so I find it less tiring on eyes as plasmas aren't so bright as LCDs and the blacks are less grey than my D3000.

However if you're watching lots of Blu-Ray movies then a pin sharp 1080 LCD will come into its own.

Going from LCD to plasma was also a move i wouldn't regret.

Plasmas do offer exeptional picture quality on both SD an HD.

Also the argument of pin sharp LCD pictures is doubted. - The new 1080p Plasmas have a very high pixel count and many plasmas don't produce 'soft images' Because of the superior contrast and colour handling artifacts and noise are made less apparent more colours and subtle changes in contrasts reduce the artifact problem. LCD's are unnaturally sharp and produce heavy pixalation. This couples with poor contrast and unnatural colour handling makes the situation worse. In the real world things dont have a sharp halo or speckle-sharpness that LCD produce.

Picture processors also come into play. the Panasonic VIERA engines and Pioneer Kuro plasmas have exceptional image processing with only Sony in the LCD word having the similar engines. Samsung DNIe makes things to sharp and unnatural.

Haven't seen a LCD that matches a Plasma on Black and motion response either. - although some advice to anyone looking for a Plasma- they still produce motion blur! (only very slight) - dont believe the Plasma nuts!

We have had the Plasma for 2years now & never regret it, we also have a LCD and find SD far better on the Plasma. We bought plasma over LCD due to the lack of HD channels as most were SD, in 2yrs this hasn't changed all that much to be honest, sure there is more HD material around but most is still SD. I'm sure I won't be able to say the same in another 4-5yrs tho.

I wouldn't bet on it! - they are still showing B&W programmes!

Totally agree with everything there mate...the point about LCD's being overly sharp is true, it creates edges that shouldnt be there and makes the pic look unnatural, whereas the plasma just looks like it would in real life. As for the motion blur, would it depend on 100hz? 100hz supposedly doesnt mean anything for the hd side of things but I'm not so sure...intelligent frame creation on the pz81 is insanely good

the motion blurring is mainly down to a combination of phosphor lag and image processing. response time on a plasma is very good. The motion blur does exist but isnt anywhere near LCD's crap efforts.

like for like plasma is better than lcd at sd and hd. you put a £2000 plasma up against a £2000 lcd and there's is no competition.

and other than sony how many major manufacturers have dropped plasma?

I've yet to see a Plasma that's better on HD, if it's better on HD then why is it better on SD? - please suggest a practical reason for this.


Pioneer have stopped making Plasma screens (and are now buying them in), Hitachi/Fujitsu had stopped making Plasma screens long before Pioneer did.

Plasma is fading away!

I am going to ask a question which is meant as a serious point and not as a wind up or to be provocative.

Is there an LCD or Plasma which can beat a good CRT?

I have not yet seen one.....

For SD stuff? No idea.

But once you've watched HD stuff, the best CRT in the world is a pile of poo!

HD is the future .....

(I am aware there are one or two HD CRT's kicking about out there but I've never actually seen one myself)

Perhaps I did not make myself clear, my criticism is that LCD and Plasma don't seem to handle motion very well. There is still "smearing" on the pictures. Is this a feature of these devices which is not going to improve?

Ah right.

Well, personally, I have a 40" Sony LCD. It's only a U series, so the cheap end of the Sony range but I can't say I have any problem with smearing on it .... and I watch plenty sport.

Watched the F1 race (in crappy SD .... come on F1 people! Your sport is the pinnacle of technological development yet I'm still watching it in SD! .... next year hopefully.) and had no problems with that and I doubt there is a much faster moving sport out there.

Ball motion in golf, tennis and football is also fine.

If my low end U series can manage it, the high end Sony LCD's, Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas must look absolutely exceptional!

can you tell me which lcd is better at high def than the new kuro 50" plasma? i really want to check that out.

and i can't answer your other question as i didn't understand it.

pioneer are letting panasonic make their plasma screens with pioneer technology. seems like a shrewd move to me.

Sounds like the beginning of the end to me!

Perhaps you might like to view any properly set up Pioneer 8G or 9G Kuro, then give your opinion.

My (very biased) opinion is that you will be hard pressed to beat the SD picture on the Pioneer.

As for LCD, I have a Toshiba 32" and the picture on SD is very good, the HD picture is great.

i'm sure you hear all kinds of "propaganda" over in your trenches