Have your say & ask the experts

Good point Cofnchtr. As we always say, we can give you guidance in the magazine and online, but ultimately it's your own money and choice, so there's nothing to beat auditioning a couple of products on your shortlist to see which one suits you best.

After all, you wouldn't buy a new car without taking a test drive first, would you?

Andy Clough:

Good point Cofnchtr. As we always say, we can give you guidance in the magazine and online, but ultimately it's your own money and choice, so there's nothing to beat auditioning a couple of products on your shortlist to see which one suits you best.

After all, you wouldn't buy a new car without taking a test drive first, would you?

actually my bro did that....most reliabel car he has ever had and it was french..........

but then he is one of that jammy folks, i always say if he ever Cr***ed himself he would be wearing someone elses trousers.......

he knows nowt about hifi or TV's though, he told me that he wated the latest Sony with the flatter squarer tube a month or 2 ago...i almost wet myself laughing

This is the point of the whole debate. After reading so many great reviews on the Panasonic px80b Plasma, I secured a good price and took it home full of anticipation. After setting it up with the thx calibration disc I settled down and watched. Faces in the "mid distance" on sd were blurred and the whole picture had an appearance of being washed out. So I put it side by side with my 3 year old lcd and, using the same feed watched freeview tv,dvd and sky. There were six of us all watching and to a man all agreed the plasma didnt come near. Granted, the plasma had deeper blacks but the lcd simply revealed so much more detail.This was proved when freeze framing a dark scene on the latest Bond movie. What the lcd revealed just wasnt visable on the plasma. I dont care if its plasma,lcd or whatever else is out there. I simply want the best pictue for my money. So I took it back and the salesman agreed with me.It all comes down to what YOU like not what others think.
try before you buy.

murg:

It all comes down to what YOU like not what others think. try before you buy.

You've hit the nail on the head there. The only times I tend to get involved in TV recommendations on these forums nowadays is when someone says they're not interested in a plasma TV. When it comes down to it, this is normally because they have been misinformed by someone on it, so I advise them to at least check out the difference and quite a few people, once they've got over the fact they were misinformed about screen burn, re-gassing etc. do actually prefer them.

I still prefer plasma TVs on the whole as, on the whole, they do provide the better motion handling and more natural colours for the price. This doesn't mean every plasma is better than every LCD of course - that would be a silly thing to say. However, if I was buying a TV today, I certainly would take a look at the best LCDs and plasmas, compare the price etc. and then make my decision and I'd advise everyone to do the same.

I personally did a lot of research before moving on from CRT. i read plenty of opinions on different forums and heard bad things about both LCD and Plasma technologies. What put me off plasma was the burn in when playing games so i decided to go for LCD, the high price (i was looking at KUROs which at the time were considered as the best) and there was a lot of talk and predictions by experts that plasma technolog was going to be phased out gradually. I bought a Toshiba 37Z3030D and ever since i have been very very happy with it. Superb picture both on SD and HD. It has all the latest technology and a great price at £800.

 During my research i noticed that Samsung lcds were very popular and i must say that every Samsung and LG lcd tv i have viewed have nice designs but the screen quality is horrible.

Having sold Sony TVs (and other Sony gear) for a living before moving over to the car industry, I've always thought that both technologies had a lot to offer. Sony, of course, phased their plasma range out completely and so I only really ever sold LCDs but, having seen both technologies in action, I think a lot of it is down to the qualities of an individual make and model rather than the specific technology it uses. I always thought the 32D3000, 40W3000, and 40X3500 were outstandingly good televisions but never thought very much of the 32P3000 or the 26" versions of the S3000 series (viewing angles seemed problematic on these but not on the larger ones).

I think the Pioneer plasmas are glorious and probably the best screens available ultimately, but that is down to excellent execution and product development rather than the fact they are plasma. The latest Sony W4000 series LCDs run them very close indeed.

Personally I use a Sony LCD (32S2510) and I'm very satisfied with it.