Plasma vs LCD - Plasma best?

I have to admit, I've always had a preference for plasma over LCD. Every time I've gone into any large retailer and looked at all the sets, plasma has always seemed to produce more realistic colours, deeper blacks and much less blur in fast moving scenes, in my opinion.

In recent years, however, LCD has considerably closed the gap and the top manufacturers are consistently producing sets with better contrast ratios and lower response times.

So it was with much interest that I found and read a piece of research on the subject that looks at the views of 603 people in London, Paris and Cologne directly comparing the two technologies in a controlled environment.

The research was commissioned by Panasonic, Pioneer and Hitachi, some of the largest and most respected plasma manufacturers, so clearly their objective was to highlight plasma's superiority. Having said that, Panasonic and Hitachi both also manufacture LCD.

The research was conducted by a completely independent and well respected research company, Synovate. Having checked them out, they do seem to be completely legit.

Onto the results of the research then, this is taken directly from the executive summary:

The results reveal a strong preference for the contrast, black tone, resolution, image depth, sharpness, colour and response speed of plasma.

More importantly, opinions among those who had some prior knowledge of the two technologies swung dramatically toward plasma once they viewed the content side by side in an environment similar to their homes.

Some specifics from the report:

• 65% favour Plasma over LCD for best Colour Quality
• 61% say Plasma delivers the best Sharpness Quality
• 62% indicate that Plasma has the best Response Time
• 72% deem Plasma to have the best Black Quality performance

So, the results of this survey seem very clear then, plasma is superior in almost every way. I have to say, I'm not particularly surprised, as I said, it's been my feeling for a long time.

It's a very interesting read though and even if you don't agree with the results, there are some excellent explanations of the differences between the two technologies and various myths are also dispelled.

I definitely learnt a lot reading the report and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject.

If you're in the market for a new big screen HDTV, you should definitely read the report thoroughly and then go and make your own judgement on all the sets in your nearest big retailer. The best judge will always be your own eyes.

You can read the report here.

HD: More 1080p TVs from Fujitsu, Sony, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba

I've been trying to keep up with HDBeat's coverage of The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo - admittedly not something I'd heard of before - where there has been tons of HD stuff announced.

Your best bet is to head on over to HDBeat for all the details but from what I can tell, some of the best stuff announced (TV-wise) is as follows:

• Fujitsu 50" and 65" 1080p Aviamo plasmas
• Sony 52" 1080p LCD
• Hitachi 42" 1080p plasma
• Sharp 42" 1080p Aquos LCD
• Toshiba 42" and 47" 1080p REGZA LCDs
  

Of course, these are all US focused announcements but even since my last post on 1080p TVs in July, there are quite a few available in the UK now by the above manufacturers.

Personally, I like the look of the Toshibas and Sonys.

Update: Found the 42" Sharp LC42XD1E on the UK site, looks very nice. The screen has a 4ms response time as well. I think it's the same model as referred to above in the US. Also, having looked into the Toshiba WLT66 series LCDs currently available in the UK, I don't think they can accept a 1080p signal, even though they have 1920 x 1080 resolution. So the Sharp is my new favourite!

Tags: hd, highdefinition, plasma, lcd, 1080p, fujitsu, sony, hitachi, sharp, toshiba, tech, technology, gadget, schmadget, scb