Comments on: Sales of LCD TVs going like crazy

Shipments of liquid crystal display televisions jump in the first quarter, along with revenue.

[bobby_brady]

What is better, LCD or Plasma?

If I want a 40"?

[chuchucuhi]

Well

It depends on what you want. As with many things there are pros and cons.

[Christopher Hall]

Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to that

It all depends on what you want to do with it.

Over the years, plasma televisions have really stepped up to the plate and improved the overall quality, making them easier to recommend. Before, they were status symbols and little else. Now, though, they're actually a viable force in the market place.

Many of the issues with the early generations of plasma TVs have been addressed. Insanely noisy fans, your TV doubling as a space heater, and low plasma half-life have all been addressed. Though the one issue that is still unresolved is the issue of burn-in. Things like cable news channels, sports channels, or market-watch channels that all have some sort of static, non-dynamic part of the screen (like a ticker background) will, depending on the quality of your television, most likely leave that image permanently or semi-permanently burned into the screen. Along those lines, video games with health bars or targeting reticules as well as TV channel logos are likely to burn-in, which can be frustrating, to say the least.

However, for consistently dynamic viewing experiences, like most movies, plasma technology offers some of the best color clarity and definition around. Higher resolutions with a plasma display don't cost nearly as much as they used to, and the price is always going down.

For things like ESPN, CNBC, and video games, though, I still find it hard to recommend plasma to anyone, mostly because of the burn-in issues. LCD televisions have good clarity and color depth (as compared to greats on some plasmas), but have no risk of burn-in. Your primary enemies when it comes to LCD televisions, then, are response time, dead pixels, and viewing angles.

The best way to judge buying the right television is to balance user reviews with how you actually think it looks. Don't buy if the salesman won't let you play around with the settings and tinker with it in the store, because that's definitely the first thing you are going to do when you get home and a navigable interface these days is almost as important as the set itself.

Bottom line: there's no easy answer to your question. Sorry!

:)

Disclaimer: I do not own either of these television technologies. I'm a dinosaur with a tube. That doesn't stop me from constant window-shopping, though.