I am looking at getting a new TV for my living room, so I'd like it to be at least 42", and I have a budget of about $1000. The problems arise when I see all the LCD, Plasma, and DLP stuff. I don't really get all the differences and pros and cons of each type. I currently have a 37" LCD that is very good to me but I want something a little bigger. I noticed DLP seems to be the cheapest way to go but that makes me wonder if it isn't very good or something. So if anyone could help me out that would be awesome, even if its just simple link or explanation.
Need help understanding TV types (LCD, Plasma, DLP)
- Thread starter noone13
- Start date
It all depends on what you want out of the technology. I sold tv's for six months so I'll give you the outline of my sales pitch... or what i can remember...
Is there a brand you have a preference for? Sony, Toshiba, Samsung? yes I know there are other brands but these tended to be the biggest sellers...
Each technology works differently and each has pros and cons.
LCD are known as the more general or (now i can't think of the word.. so i'll say jack of all trades...) lcds tend to be more well rounded and suited for more people. at least that is my belief. becuase they have a plastic matte film, there is no glare, they do get what i can sunspots, which is just where there is a lot of light on one area, all it does is brighten that specific area, this is unavoidable on any tv and much preferable to glare. if i remember correctly, any given tv should last 10-12 years. depending on conditions it should last a little longer or shorter. in the 42" range, lcd and plasma tv's tend to be equal or close to each other in price. also the lcd screen can be punctured or scratched with sharp objects, so do avoid...
plasma has small "cells" that are filled with gases, a xenon, neon mix if i remember correctly, totally non-toxic... unless you're stupid enough to do something really stupid... make your own gas and inhale it... a lot of it... but that's besides the point.... behind these cells are "prongs", i always called them iodes... one positive the other negatively charged, they spin, creating heat and supper heating the gas into a plamsa like state, hence the name plasma. now because they create that heat, they tend to well... heat up a room... the heat created and dispersed in a room depends on a number of factors, tv model, space between the tv and walls or other large objects, air flow, etc... they have a glass screen which gives off glare and hangs on to finger prints... most plasma tv's have an anti-glare coating on them, depending on the coating, and the thickness, glare is either slightly to significantly reduced. this coating also creates a slight hazing effect which blurs the screen image, once again the amount of blur is dependent on coating type and thickness, most of the time it is very hard to see but if you look closely you can notice it. also with the plasma tv, if it falls backwards, the prongs/iodes, will puncure the cells releasing the gases, there by rendering the tv useless. also with a plasma tv, when they break, depending on what exactly breaks... but 99% of the time it is unrepairable, and the tv must be replaced.
a dlp tv is a rear projection type, it is also the lightest of all the mentioned technologies. this is because 80% of the tv is air. the image is created, at teh bottom of the tv, sent to the back, where it reflects off of a microchip with a whole bunch of mirrors. they lokk something like...
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*edit: yeha that picture looks nothing like it
*
except more square... the mirrors open and close diagonally, to allow or block light from coming through, which creates the image. because it is a projection tv, it's depth is greater and viewing form an angle can be a problem. viewing on a plasma is great, unless you have glare, then it gets poor, and viewing on an lcd is always good. also, samsung has what they call slimfit, which means tehy cut the back off the tv by about 30%, so they all less deep. the screen is a thin white projector screen basically so no real damage can be done, unless intentional... or crayon... also with a dlp tv, you wnat to sit a little further back, beacuse of the way teh technology works, bigger pixels, is the easiest way of explaining it... for an lcd or plasma tv you want to sit 2.5 - 2.7 times back the tv's size diagnally. or a projection, sit 2.7 - 3 times back.
i don't know if that makes sense or not... 50" tv lcd or plasma tv sit 125" back. about 10 feet. for a 50" projection tv sit about 150" back or... let me do the math... 12 feet back..
i think i got everything important in here... sorry if i missed anything... let me know if there is a specific thing you think i missed....
for a 42" tv around 1000, i would recommend a 42" plasma made by a company named vizio, i know that sears stopped carrying this tv a few months back, but i don't know if it's been discontinued all together or not... as far as i know, vizio still only makes 5-6 different styles of tvs. i think they're great tvs, not the best ever, as in not taking on a samsung or sony, but definitely the best tv's for the buck. IMO. so anybody feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, some of this info came from co-workers... and i can promise you that they were sometimes shady... but most of the info i can testify to is correct. that would be the important stuff... (didn't like lying to people and about stuff that mattered... let me co-workers fill in any questions i couldn't' answer...)
Is there a brand you have a preference for? Sony, Toshiba, Samsung? yes I know there are other brands but these tended to be the biggest sellers...
Each technology works differently and each has pros and cons.
LCD are known as the more general or (now i can't think of the word.. so i'll say jack of all trades...) lcds tend to be more well rounded and suited for more people. at least that is my belief. becuase they have a plastic matte film, there is no glare, they do get what i can sunspots, which is just where there is a lot of light on one area, all it does is brighten that specific area, this is unavoidable on any tv and much preferable to glare. if i remember correctly, any given tv should last 10-12 years. depending on conditions it should last a little longer or shorter. in the 42" range, lcd and plasma tv's tend to be equal or close to each other in price. also the lcd screen can be punctured or scratched with sharp objects, so do avoid...
plasma has small "cells" that are filled with gases, a xenon, neon mix if i remember correctly, totally non-toxic... unless you're stupid enough to do something really stupid... make your own gas and inhale it... a lot of it... but that's besides the point.... behind these cells are "prongs", i always called them iodes... one positive the other negatively charged, they spin, creating heat and supper heating the gas into a plamsa like state, hence the name plasma. now because they create that heat, they tend to well... heat up a room... the heat created and dispersed in a room depends on a number of factors, tv model, space between the tv and walls or other large objects, air flow, etc... they have a glass screen which gives off glare and hangs on to finger prints... most plasma tv's have an anti-glare coating on them, depending on the coating, and the thickness, glare is either slightly to significantly reduced. this coating also creates a slight hazing effect which blurs the screen image, once again the amount of blur is dependent on coating type and thickness, most of the time it is very hard to see but if you look closely you can notice it. also with the plasma tv, if it falls backwards, the prongs/iodes, will puncure the cells releasing the gases, there by rendering the tv useless. also with a plasma tv, when they break, depending on what exactly breaks... but 99% of the time it is unrepairable, and the tv must be replaced.
a dlp tv is a rear projection type, it is also the lightest of all the mentioned technologies. this is because 80% of the tv is air. the image is created, at teh bottom of the tv, sent to the back, where it reflects off of a microchip with a whole bunch of mirrors. they lokk something like...
_______
| \ |
| \ |
| \ |
| \ |
| \ |
| \ |
| \|
-------------
*edit: yeha that picture looks nothing like it
*except more square... the mirrors open and close diagonally, to allow or block light from coming through, which creates the image. because it is a projection tv, it's depth is greater and viewing form an angle can be a problem. viewing on a plasma is great, unless you have glare, then it gets poor, and viewing on an lcd is always good. also, samsung has what they call slimfit, which means tehy cut the back off the tv by about 30%, so they all less deep. the screen is a thin white projector screen basically so no real damage can be done, unless intentional... or crayon... also with a dlp tv, you wnat to sit a little further back, beacuse of the way teh technology works, bigger pixels, is the easiest way of explaining it... for an lcd or plasma tv you want to sit 2.5 - 2.7 times back the tv's size diagnally. or a projection, sit 2.7 - 3 times back.
i don't know if that makes sense or not... 50" tv lcd or plasma tv sit 125" back. about 10 feet. for a 50" projection tv sit about 150" back or... let me do the math... 12 feet back..
i think i got everything important in here... sorry if i missed anything... let me know if there is a specific thing you think i missed....
for a 42" tv around 1000, i would recommend a 42" plasma made by a company named vizio, i know that sears stopped carrying this tv a few months back, but i don't know if it's been discontinued all together or not... as far as i know, vizio still only makes 5-6 different styles of tvs. i think they're great tvs, not the best ever, as in not taking on a samsung or sony, but definitely the best tv's for the buck. IMO. so anybody feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, some of this info came from co-workers... and i can promise you that they were sometimes shady... but most of the info i can testify to is correct. that would be the important stuff...
(didn't like lying to people and about stuff that mattered... let me co-workers fill in any questions i couldn't' answer...)
For deals on LCD/Plasma/DLP, check out either fatwallet.com or slickdeals.com There are daily posts with deals on many types of TVs. If you're not in a hurry, you might want to wait till Blackfriday aka the day after Thanksgiving. Many TVs will be at rock bottom prices on that day. If you need one now, as makito stated, Vizio is a great buy. You can get the 42" Plasma at Costco for less than a grand. It is 720p though, not 1080p.
Dragon_Master
CAGiversary!
I got a refurbished 42" Vizio LCD for about $680 after rebates. I bought mine from onsale.com the model I got was the GV42L .
for a review
http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/VIZIO_GV42L_LCD_HDTV.htm
here are the specs off of cnet.com
General
for a review
http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/VIZIO_GV42L_LCD_HDTV.htm
here are the specs off of cnet.com
General
- Product type
- LCD TV
- Digital Television Certification
- HDTV
- PC Interface
- HDMI
- Dimensions
- With stand
- Width
- 42.1 in
- Depth
- 11.4 in
- Height
- 29.8 in
- Weight
- 73.4 lbs
- Diagonal Size
- 42 in - Widescreen
- Technology
- TFT active matrix
- Resolution
- 1366 x 768
- Display Format
- 720p
- Image Aspect Ratio
- 16:9
- Image Contrast Ratio
- 1600:1
- Brightness
- 500
- Progressive Scan
- Progressive scanning (line doubling)
- Widescreen Modes
- Wide, Zoom, Normal, Panorama
- Viewing Angle
- 178 degrees
- Viewing Angle (Vertical)
- 178 degrees
- Pixel Pitch
- 0.681 mm
- Display Menu Language
- French, English, Spanish
- Analog Video Format
- NTSC
- Analog Video Signal
- Composite video, S-Video
- Backlight Life
- 50,000 hour(s)
- Comb Filter
- 3D digital
- V-Chip Control
- Yes
- Color Temperature Control
- Yes
- Additional Features
- On-screen menu, Parental control, 3:2 pulldown compensation
- Type
- None
- Type
- None
- Analog TV Tuner
- NTSC
- Multi-channel Preview
- POP, Picture-in-picture (PIP)
- Reception System
- NTSC, ATSC, QAM
- Digital TV Tuner
- QAM, ATSC
- HDTV Ready
- Yes
- Input Video Formats
- 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
- Freeze Memo
- Yes
- Parental Channel Lock
- Yes
- Closed Caption Capability
- Yes
- Radio
- None
- Remote Control
- Universal remote control - Infrared
- Supported Devices
- TV
- Sound Output Mode
- Stereo
- Audio Controls
- Bass, Treble, Balance
- Speakers Included
- 2 speakers
- Output Power / Total
- 20 Watt
- Speaker(s)
- 2 x Right/left channel speaker - Built-in - 10 Watt
- Connector Type
- 1 x RF input ( F connector), 2 x HDMI input ( 19 pin HDMI Type A), 1 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2), 2 x Component video input ( RCA phono x 3), 2 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2), 1 x VGA input ( 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)), 1 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm), 2 x S-Video input ( 4 pin mini-DIN), 2 x Composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3), 1 x SPDIF output), 1 x Audio line-out ( RCA phono x 2)
- Antenna
- None
- Compliant Standards
- CSA, FCC Class B certified
- Power Device
- Power supply - Internal
- Power
- AC 120/230 V
- Power Consumption Operational
- 280 Watt
- Compliant Standards
- FCC class B, CSA
- Battery
- None
bread's done