Tony Sarno17 August 2007, 11:38 PM
They are the best all-round TVs, with a bright crisp picture that works in all lighting conditions and is great for computer graphics and games. Why you would buy anything but an LCD HDTV? This is the case for LCD, part of APC's comparison of Plasma and LCD HDTV technologies.
 A 32in Toshiba Regza HDTV - an LCD standout |
A stronger picture in all light conditions
Plasmas may have the more subtle film-like pictures, but they can only be fully appreciated when the lights are turned down. And who watches TV with the lights always dimmed?
When we turned up the lights in the APC Labs, something unexpected happened: the plasmas started losing their advantage and the picture on the LCD HDTVs got better.
The strong backlighting in an LCD HDTV makes for a brighter image that cuts strongly through ambient light. If your HDTV is going to sit in a well-lit room or one with lots of light streaming through windows, an LCD HDTV will give you a stronger, more intense, sharper picture.
Toshiba put it well in their recent advertisements for their new range of Regza TVs: they call it “Pure Intensity.” Intensity is a good way of describing the LCD picture.
Picture intensity is one reason that LCD HDTVs outsell plasmas in retailers' showrooms – LCD HDTVs just look brighter and sharper in well lit environments.
If you want an all-round TV that works well in all lighting conditions, and you rarely do the home theatre thing, then an LCD HDTV is the way to go.
LCDs are overcoming poor contrasts due to lighter blacks
The way blacks are generated at pixel level gives plasmas an inherent advantage when it come to showing detail in dark scenes – but LCD HDTVs are dealing with the problem with on-board processors which analyse the picture and improve the contrasts in the dark areas.
The newest LCD HDTV reveal plasma-like detail even if the blacks aren’t as dark as those on the plasmas. In a scene in Apollo 13, in which an astronaut drags his fingers through the dark lunar soil, the plasmas consistently showed fine detail in the dark edges around the fingers.
Some of the older LCDs TVs struggled to do the same – but the newest ones such as the Toshiba 32in Regza, the Samsung 40in LCD (LA40M8), and the Philips 32inch (32PFL7532D/79) showed more of that detail, even though the surrounding blacks still weren’t as dark as on the plasmas.
The signs are that as more processing power is brought to bear on the images, LCD HDTVs will almost certainly overcome the key advantages plasmas enjoy in picture quality – and do it in a much wider variety of conditions.
LCD HDTVs pack more resolution into a smaller space
LCD HDTVs generally have more resolution than similarly sized plasma sets because they can cram more pixels into a given space. The smallest plasmas on the Australian market able to display full 1080p resolution are 50in (127cm) sets. The smallest LCD HDTVs that can do that are 37in (94cm).
LCD HDTVs come in all shapes and sizes to better suit your needs
Plasmas in the stores range from 42in to 50in –but anything above 40in is a big TV and not everyone needs one. It’s LCD that gives you far more options when it comes to selecting a TV that’s the right size.
LCD HDTVs start at 26in (66cm) and go up to 50in and beyond. On paper, a 32in (81cm) LCD HDTV may seem small compared to say a 42in (116cm) plasma, but in reality it’s a good size for many people, not to mention one that’s 37in.
When it comes to getting a second TV for the bedroom, the kitchen or even the bathroom, LCD gives you more options. Since other rooms are also more likely to be well lit compared to say a lounge room designed for home theatre, LCD will also work better in them.
LCD HDTVs also provide a lower entry price for those wanting an affordable HDTV set. You can get a quality-brand 26in 1,366 x 768p LCD TV for around $1,500-$2,000 (make sure it’s got an inbuilt HDTV tuner and speakers).
The cheapest entry-level HD plasmas with HD tuners will set you back around $2,000-$2,500.
LCD HDTVs are better for viewing computer or console games.
LCD screens were originally created to show computer graphics – so they excel when you’re displaying a computer-generated image. That’s why retailers always show animations on their demo LCD TVs.
The ultimate experience in computer gaming must the playing of a PS3 game on a Sony Bravia 52in (133cm) 1080p HDTV. In our tests, the Bravia was simply spectacular in its display of computer-generated graphics and animations.
LCD HDTVs are overcoming the motion blur issue
The very nature of LCD screens means their response times are slower than those of plasmas, but LCD makers aren’t standing still. Response times are dropping, with most LCD HDTVs now down to 8ms and even 6ms.
Even faster response times, such as 2ms, have been achieved by some LCD monitors, though these numbers are often fudged and manipulated by the manufacturers who constantly change their measurement methods.
LCD HDTV makers are throwing more processing power at the problem with each new generation of panel. One popular solution is to double the HDTV’s refresh rate. Standard PAL TV refreshes at 50Hz but HDTV makers are introducing sets with a rate of 100Hz, which allows for the addition of an extra, interpolated frame in each frame pair.
The improvement this brings was starkly highlighted by the Toshiba Regza 32in HDTV in our Labs, which handled motion blur better than most other LCD TVs, although the Philips and Samsung also come with their own motion blur attenuation technologies and weren’t that far behind.
LCD HDTVs last longer. Period.
Lifespan in TV terms means how long it takes for the screen to dim to half its brightness. So while plasmas now have a longer lifespan (at least 20 years of watching TV five hours a day) they still dim faster than LCD HDTVs, which are guaranteed to last at least 60,000 hours (or 30 years at five hours a day).
The picture you’re watching on your new LCD HDTV in ten years from now is likely to be closer to the quality of the picture when the screen was new than than the one on a plasma HDTV.
Talking of screen durability, it might take four days for a static image to burn itself into a plasma screen these days, but on an LCD HDTV it is not even an issue . LCD screens were made for showing computer graphics and static images on screen, so they have strong resistance to burn-in.
They can suffer from a problem known as imager persistence, in which the liquid crystals retain a “memory” of their position if stuck on an image for too long, but this is not considered permanent and can be reversed.
LCD HDTVs are better for the environment
While our tests show that there is little difference between the very latest LCD and plasma HDTVs when it comes to power consumption, consider that plasmas generally range in size between 42 in and 50in.
They are big sets with commensurate power consumption. On the other hand, most LCD HDTVs are smaller, ranging between 26in and 40in, which means that on average, they will consumer less power due to their smaller screen size.
Summing up the case for LCD HDTVs
If you want an all-round TV with a strong picture in all lighting conditions (and which comes in a wide range of sizes) then an LCD HDTV is your best option.
In fact, LCD HDTVs are the only option if you want something smaller than a big TV, say 40in less. LCD HDTVs are also the better choice for displaying computer-generated graphics.
Industry insiders - whether in the plasma or LCD HDTV camps - concede that LCD probably has more potential for development in it, so we think that the plasma vs LCD battle will probably be irrelevant within a couple of years.
Do you have an LCD HDTV? Tell us of your experience with it.
The faceoff