Plasma or LCD - which is better?

Your in Depth Guide to HD & Plasma or LCD TVs.

Site last updated: Saturday, 17th January, 2009 11:30 a.m.

Latest News!

***Many of our visitors are missing out on these deals we are posting. Quick example, the other week the Samsung UE40B8000 would have cost you £1129.99 from Comet and you would have got a Free Samsung Blu-ray Player. Now it would cost you £1224.99 and no free blu-ray player. Remember these offers don't last long so hurry before they disappear.

***OFFER OF THE WEEK***

***>>>Sony KDL40W5500 40" Full HD LCD TV (with Motionflow100Hz) - £799.99!!!<<<***

Plus get £40 off the price with this 5% Comet Discount Code AWJAN5 (can also be used on any product at Comet).

The Ulimate Samsung Series 8 TV -

£1399.99 - £70 (5% off code) = £1329.99 - £200 = £1129.99 + Free Blu-ray Player

Although this offer has gone it is still the best LED TV (in our opinion) with £200 cashback, plus use our 5% Comet Discount Code AWJAN5. You can't ask for much more...well maybe a 5.1 Home Cinema System would be nice too but you can't get everything. That said, with the 5% discount of everything at Comet, you could always buy one of these too at a good price.

In addition John Lewis has this Toshiba 32AV633D TV on sale for Clearance - at only £379! This is not a Full HD tv but is perfect for those who are going to be mainly watching standard definition Freeview or DVDs, plus is HD ready for when you do upgrade to HD...and at £329 this is a rare bargain for a Plasma or LCD tv - oh and you get a free 5 year guarantee!

They also have the Samsung LE40B530-P7 LCD HD 40" 1080p Digital TV, £499! This is Full HD and a great price for a Samsung 40" TV and again with the 5 year guarantee included.

Talking of HD - if you do want to upgrade this could be a good time - at the moment Sky are offering a FREE SKY HD Box, plus FREE BROADBAND & CALLS and to top it off £50 worth of M&S Vouchers when you join online.

>>>***Click here for the Best Prices on Samsung LED TVs***<<<

That's right, we are launching a new site that will be solely based around reviews and providing a price comparison tool for all our visitors to find the best prices on the best plasma and LCD tvs. Right now we have price comparisons only on:

The Samsung Series 6 UE32B6000, UE40B6000, UE46B6000, & Series 7 UE32B7020, UE40B7020, UE46B7020 LED TVs

Lots of people have been asking questions about the latest LED LCD TVs. A full review of these latest LCD tvs will appear on our sister site LCD or Plasma - Where to buy? in the next few days. In the meantime, for those who already know about them, then you will be pleased to hear that the Samsung and Sony LED tvs are now on sale at John Lewis, Comet and 1st Audio Visual to name a few.

...and finally don't forget for peace of mind, John Lewis offer a FREE 5 YEAR Guarantee on all their plasma or LCD tvs. Well worth it if you are going to be spending several hundreds on a new flatscreen tv.

High Definition (HD) has now made it's mark in the UK. Every day more and more programme content is filmed in HD and whether we want it or not, HD is here to stay. So what exactly is HD?

As the name suggests high definition basically impoves your viewing experience. This is done by increasing the image resolution i.e. the number of pixels on your screen. In the UK, the resolution we have been use to over the years on Pal TVs is 720 x 576 (SD). This basically means that there are 720 columns of pixels and 576 rows of pixels. Now it's difficult to use pixels when understanding the human eye but basically our eye is amazing in the amount of detail it can see (far more than a few megapixels). Ever wondered why in the past, watching your holiday videos on TV was never quite the same as being back there - well apart from the obvious reasons, the old video cameras were just not doing justice to the images captured on tape. High definition is now beginning to do it justice.

In the UK, the only way of watching HD is via Sky, Virginmedia, Blu-ray Discs or HD-DVD (although this format will be slowly dying out like Betamax did in the consumer world of VHS versus Betamax). However, it is now possible to receive free HD via FreeSat - a satellite version of Freeview where you pay a one off installation fee for the dish and digibox but there is no contract. (You can buy a Freesat digibox and dish from the following stores: Comet, Argos, or Currys). There is one tv in the UK with a built-in HD tuner - the Panasonic PZ81B series that is available in 42", 46" & 50". Unfortunately, it seems that HD will not be available via aerial - at least not until everyone has turned digital. In addition to this as you are probably aware you need to have a flat screen plasma or LCD TV to watch HD. In the television industry, HD Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) TVs/monitors are used but these never caught on in the commercial world. Flat screens just look a lot sleaker and better in people's living room.

Plasma or LCD - which one is right for you?

The quick and easy answer to this one is this:

1) At present if you have the money to spend, to get one of the best quality tvs out there, then plasma still wins. However, to enjoy one of these types of TVs there are certain prerequisites:

The TV has to be 42" or more
You need to be watching HD content on a screen this big - preferably from a Blu-ray source.
Finally (and this one is debated among a few techies) the plasma TV needs to have a resolution of 1920x1080.

We say this last one is debated mainly because there are a lot of good makes of plasmas out there that only offer a resolution of 1024x768, which some people like for picture quality (mainly due to the great contrast ratios they offer - see our 'Guides to Buying' section). However, high definition means higher resolution and if the plasma or LCD isn't substantially increasing the resolution then you're not getting 'True' or 'Full' HD, no matter how good the TV.

2) If you don't want to spend a lot of money and 42" is too big a screen for your living room then LCD is the one for you.

Now as mentioned earlier. This was the quick and easy answer. If you want to make up your own mind, then please read our 'myths & facts' section where a detailed explanation of the technology behind plasma and LCD can be found that will shed some light into the reasons why one type is better than the other in specific situations.

Important Point to Remember before buying a plasma or LCD tv!

Even if you have money to spare do not automatically think that buying the most expensive tv will give you a better picture than your old CRT tv, especially if you are only ever going to be watching non-HD programmes for the foreseeable future. The reason comes down to resolution again. Freeview and normal terrestrial TV are broadcast at 720x576 resolution. Therefore this size image will have to be blown up to fit on a full HDTV of 1920x1080. If you can imagine it like blowing up a passport photo of yourself to a poster size image. The image will deteriorate as lines of pixels will have to be duplicated to fit the image onto the screen. Now some good make plasma or LCD tvs do this extremely well - namely Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic - but they still won't produce a picture that is better than your old CRT.

Therefore rule of thumb is if you're only going to be watching Freeview or terrestrial TV then don't get a Full HDTV - only get a full HDTV if you are going to be watching HD content. If you still would just prefer to get rid of your old TV and buy a flat screen then choose an LCD with a maximum resolution of 1366x768. At least this way the problem of blowing up the image will be less significant and you are future proofing yourself if you do decide to go HD in the end.

What make and model TV should I buy?

Well in the end this will always come down to personal choice. However, here at "Plasma or LCD" we review many of the latest tvs on the market at the moment. These reviews can be found in our 'product reviews' section. Here you will also find some of the best deals around from a wide range of suppliers.

Testimonials:

'Firstly congratulations on your excellent site! A very welcome oasis of clarity in the currently muddled and often inaccurate Hi def TV world.' - Neil.

'Plasma or LCD has been extremely useful in buying my new LCD TV' - Anna, Bristol

'Anytime a site provides independent reviews and advice on a subject I'm interested in, then it always gets the thumbs up for me!' - Ed, Cumbria

'Thanks for the discount codes' - Lex, Bristol

'.....very useful site, thanks for all the info.....' - Chris, Surrey

'i have found your website very informing thanks,ive been struggling along wondering which tv to go for lcd or plasma for a while now,and your information has shed some better light for me,thank you!!' - Boyd

'THANK YOU!!!! I finally feel like I understand a little about plasma and LCD TVs!!.....Its so nice to have it explained properly without feeling like an idiot.' - Julia

'Excellent Web Site. Many thanks' - David H.

'I found your site after quite a bit of searching and found it pretty useful, especially the reviews.' - David.

Plasma or LCD....which is better?

The number 1 resource on HD, plasma and LCD tvs.