Looking into getting a new telly, preferably HD ready. Some of my friends are into plasma sets, while others prefer LCD. Naturally, being true to form, I'm completely flumoxed and haven't a clue which one to go for. Give me your plus and minus points of them, person experiences, and anything else which would be of interest.
The reason I say this, is because there have been horror stories of people paying so much money for Plasmas and then their TV sets get damaged from screen burn.
Last weekend my old CRT stopped working. I went out and bought a 32" LG HD ready LCD set.
It looked fantastic. I discovered that it had a software fault which caused widescreen switching to happen with a bright yellow flash. LG Support (which I can't fault at all - very fast and honest) advised me to return it as they knew about the problem and any others in the shop were likely to be affected the same way.
I wasn't annoyed by this. No matter how much I adjusted the picture, I couldn't get a picture I was happy with. I returned it to the shop and repaired the old CRT again. It may be 8 years old but the picture is more acceptable to me than the LCD I bought.
When the current TV finally becomes unfixable I'll be replacing it with a decent 32" 50Hz CRT. For the time being the other technologies can't match it for picture quality.
My vote is for CRT.
:-(
A former member
A digital signal displayed on an LCD screen
can
look absolutely appalling - especially when the data is compressed to the extent that the signal on DTT is. (Digital satellite may be a different ball game.) All the blocking and artifacting shows up greatly when compared to a CRT screen - and on a larger LCD, this will only show up more.
I much prefer the image my old Sony 14" portable CRT gives to the 23" Samsung LCD when used with Freeview.
As an aside - whoever designed the new ITV News titles and the ITV2 idents obviously didn't take into account the effect of compression on broadcast when they put them together.
Like Mark, i too would go for CRT. I belive even HD Ready CRT TVs are coming out, if they aren't out already.
I have looked at both LCD and Plasma TVs, and none of them go ANYWHERE near matching the quality of my Sony Trinitron CRT TV. I think it was Richard Hammond that said that like some cars made today, TVs nowadays are made more for fashion than function. It needs to have a flat ass and sod the quality.
Even the much talked about Sony Bravia LCDs i looked at even with a full HD picture, and the quality was not as good as my CRT.
Perhaps when HD takes off properly after the Digital switchover, and HDTVs are a bit better quality, then i might make the switch. But even though LCD and Plasma TVs look good in the shop. Once you get it home, and stick it on Sky with it's heavy compression or analogue then you'll know just how crap they are.
I cannot believe how good quality analogue TV is on my CRT tv, it's better than some DVDs.
Owning two Sansumg LCDs (one 26 one 15") I'd say that even thought the picture is better, it could be a bit "too" clear. In other words, my picture is too sharp, and therefore picture disturbance or RF pictures etc. can be seen easily.
However, my 26" (HD) TV has built-in Freeview, and compared to my Sky picture via SCART, the Freeview picture is alot clearer and sharper. So it really depends on what you want to watch, what you use, and the size. And try not to go for massive tellys like 60" ones. I saw one in Currys, and it was nice, but the picture was too disturbed, being stretched and all.
LCD v PLASMA - it probably depnds on the size of set you want... if you want a small-ish set then you are going to have to go for LCD, as PLASMA sets tend only to be available in quite large sizes.
When buying an LCD I think you generally need to find one with the highest Contrast Ratio and quickest Response Time within your price range. A high contrast ratio because LCDs tend to display black as grey (As the backlight light is always on) and a quick response time (The time it takes between one pixel turning on, and the next turning off. A quick response time should ensure the picture is not too smeary).
I've got an LCD TV, picture quality is great from a small distance but close-up it's a bit shoddy. I think what I love is the absolute flatness of the screen, it makes everything look so much sharper.
I always find that LCD screens never look quite as sharp as CRT for some reason - there just seems to be a certain 'softness' to the picture. It may just be down to what I'm used to, but I still prefer the quality of a CRT picture. So I'm already getting excited about this little baby.
I always find that LCD screens never look quite as sharp as CRT for some reason - there just seems to be a certain 'softness' to the picture. It may just be down to what I'm used to, but I still prefer the quality of a CRT picture. So I'm already getting excited about this little baby.
The detailed information I've found on that suggests it's 100Hz. If I can't switch off the 100Hz then I'll not be buying one.
I always find that LCD screens never look quite as sharp as CRT for some reason - there just seems to be a certain 'softness' to the picture. It may just be down to what I'm used to, but I still prefer the quality of a CRT picture. So I'm already getting excited about this little baby.
The detailed information I've found on that suggests it's 100Hz. If I can't switch off the 100Hz then I'll not be buying one.
Oh you've peed on my bonfire now - I didn't realise that. In which case I might wait til I've seen one in action before getting too excited.