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In Reply to: What should I buy ?plasma vs. projector ? posted by Dholai on March 23, 2004 at 16:07:53:
I've been on the fence on this for a long, long time waiting for HDTV to settle out and price to come down. One thing that concerns me about plasma is heat. For LCD, pixel loss and speed seems an issue. It seems like DLP technology could be the winner. New DLP projectors are down in the $1,000 range and proported to be quite good. The downside is replacing bulbs, I guess, and you need a dark room. I don't know if the new cheaper models are as good as the older top of the line Barcos with doublers, but John C has a system that is stunning.
Follow Ups:
The heat from some of the big plasmas is considerable. But, it seems that the newer models put out much less heat. I recall that 50" models use to be rated at 900 watts of draw from the outlet. A 50" pioneer I saw recently was rated at 375 watts. If the light output is comparable, the newer model is wasting less than have as much power as heat. Very good news.As for picture quality issues, the big plus for plasma is the high light output that makes them usable in a room with quite high light levels. But, they do have their problems in terms of visual quality. To me the most annoying are video noise (looks like millions of ants crawling around, particularly in darker portions of the screen), and visible pixel structure at even reasonable viewing distances.
I don't know of any decent DLP front or rear projector in the $1,000 range, but models that have prices comparable to plasmas are quite good. I like the fact that they have replaceable bulbs. When the bulb goes, you can pop in a new one yourself. When a plasma is used up, nothing can be done, it has to be replaced.
> > When a plasma is used up, nothing can be done, it has to be replaced.Yup, that's what scares me about plasma and none of them have really been on the market long enough to have a real track record on longevity.
I had heard a lot of buzz on the InFocus ScreenPlay™ 4800, but you're right, it's fairly low resolution. Prices then jump fairly quickly into the $3-6K territory.
Rod, 2K buys so much more than 1K does. While DLP projecctors in the 1K range do have a lot going for them. They also have some things working against them, like a single color wheel. Rainbow effect is a common issue for DLP, especially lower priced ones with less color wheels. The benefit is, they do the full color spectrum better than LCD. LCD redsd can typically wash out to orange some, and blacks aren't as black as DLP.LCD projectors on the other hand typically can have what's called screen door effect. I've not personally sat down and viewed budget DLPs, but I do own 2 LCD projectors. My entry projector is a 4:3 Best Buy special, View Sonic. PJ-51. I watch this projector the most. Let's call it my "daily driver". It's plenty viewable even on DirecTV satellite through my Samsung DTV receiver with component output. S-video would have major problems with the screen size. Put it on my Samsung DVD-HD1000 DVD player that does 720P or 1080i output with Faroudja processing though, and whala, we have a excellent image!
My second projector CERTAINLY does most things VERY right. The Studio Experience 2HD (limited supply), but same as Sanyo Z2 (fairly good supply, though in high demand) But I can't view any screen door from 14 feet with either PJ. Closer up, you can see some on the View Sonic which is 800 X 600, vs the Sanyo 1284 X 764. Would rainbows have been a problem for me? I can't say. But I can say, I am very happy with my 2 LCD projectors. I baby the 2K one though. I only watch premier movies on it, and actually haven't even fired it up in a while. The good thing about that is, though, I'll have it for a long long time I think. :)
Plasmas I understand are good for about 10,000 hours. I can't say that's true for sure, but I am pretty sure that's what I heard. My bulbs cost 300-500.00, but last for 3000-4000 hours on saver mode, which for me puts out plenty of light for a moderate lighted room or dark room.
Lex
Plasmas on the market are now rated to about 60,000 hours before the light output is half of what it was when new. Models released in the last two years were rated to about 30,000 hours -- the same rating for CRTs. Will it be of no use at 30,000 hours? Of course not! Along the way, you'll just nudge the brightness and contrast controls a bit. To put that into perspective, 30,000 hours = 4 hours a day for 20 years.Consider the fact that most people get a new TV every 7 - 10 years and I believe you will get my point. Even if the estimates are off by 25%, that still comes out to 15 years for a plasma to the half brightness point.
What precautions are in your best interest? You don't need an ISF calibration for a plasma (unless you want one), but you should get a copy of Digital Video Essentials or Avia to calibrate the display. Actually, this should be done for any display type -- not just plasma.
If you are a heavy gamer, watch mostly 4:3 aspect ratio material and don't want to stretch it to 16:9 or use your display for computer use, plasma is probably not for you. Although, if you read many of the comments in the Plasma and Flat Panel LCD Displays section of AVS Forum, this doesn't stop many people from doing just that.As for prices, you can get a 50" Panasonic TH-50PHD6UY, Sanus Systems VMPL2 wall mount and Panasonic DVI-HDCP card with a DVI cable delivered for $6175.
You have questions? We have answers:
Why don't you need an ISF calibration for plasmas ?Sure geometry and convergence problems don't exist with plasmas but they still have problems with colour temperature and gray scale tracking.
Unless you bought a new Loewe Spheros which has a great on-board colour calibration system.
BTW would you happen to know how the Loewe system auto-calibrates ?
cheers
I didn't mean that plasmas, or any displays for that matter, are perfect out of the box. It's just that the last 10% costs and very few people are willing to put out $300 - $400 when the picture they see looks great to them. The majority of the people that buy displays, including plasma buyers, won't really care about an ISF certification.I'm not anti-ISF calibration. I was just putting things into perspective for "most folks". The important part is that a calibration disc is necessary to get things at least close to what they should be and lower the risk of damaging the phosphors in a CRT or plasma.
I know very little about the Loewe products except that they are over-priced. Same as Runco's and Faroujda's plasma offerings.
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