BBC South- new TV studio needed.

Hmm - then someone needs to look at them. They are a country mile out in terms of colour balance.

If they're the same plasmas as those in use at the Mailbox they suffer hugely from appearing to have a different colour balance compared to the camera angle.

Strange - it's usually LCDs that suffer from that, and one of the major reasons plasmas are usually preferred over LCDs in studios.

Now that plasmas are effectively out of production, it's a potential issue in new studios. Even the most recent LCDs suffer noticeable saturation changes as you move horizontally and vertically off-axis, though the colour shifts seem to be less bad than they once were.

Poor choice of terminology on my part there, I have a habit of calling any flatscreen TV a 'plasma'.

It probably won't make a difference as only a select few manufacturers got up to 103" (seems to be the standard size to screens these days).

Slapped wrist!

Ah - if they are LCDs then chances are they also having to be routed through colour correctors (plasmas are usually OK on-camera with the standard 'in display' adjustments, though getting them dim enough can often require finding a hidden menu and don't usually require a CoCo, but LCDs almost always do) - at that point you really need to know what you are doing and to be careful, as well as coping with off-axis stuff.

Plasmas are still definitely better on-camera than LCDs in most situations.

Not sure what you mean?

You said the colour shift on recent LCD's isn't as bad as older ones, I was saying that since most manufacturers don't make or release new 103" LCD's (which is what is most commonly used in studios), that it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Ah - couldn't quite work out what you were referring to. My point was that LCDs are getting better - and so you are seeing them used for down-the-line screens more than previously (when plasmas were used). The BBC studios in W1 use LCDs for their down-the-line screens, with plasmas and LED matrix for the larger "architectural" screens.

Now that Panasonic and Samsung (and I think soon LG) have ceased plasma production, there is a bit of a gap over 80-85" in the mainstream display market for the time being - as most manufacturers top out their LCD ranges around there. The 103" Panasonic was a workhorse in TV studios for many years.

I guess fine-pitch LED matrix (not LED backlit LCD) is expected to pick up the larger screen displays now - though 100+" LCDs are beginning to be demoed.

I saw a couple of very fine pitch modular LED screen being demoed at PLASA last week. A couple of metres away you couldn't see the individual pixels. Still low-res compared to a 100+" plasma, but probably cheaper than an LCD of equivalent size, but with all the advantages of modularity.

I saw some very good stuff at IBC last year (couldn't get to Amsterdam this year as was working flat out). Fine for large screen backdrops - but the big advantage of the 103" HD plasma is that you can shoot them quite tightly and they go nicely soft rather than pixelly.

I think An Lá is in most need of a whole new studio.