Flatscreen LCD v Plasma

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

Our tv has gone green and occasionally mute..

Does anyone know what's what, vis a vis lcd and plasma flatscreen tvs? LCD seem to be cheaper, are they therefore crapper? Does one last longer than the other?

We want a small wall-hung one - any particular brand to look out for?

TIA to anyone who knows anything about anything. Anything at all.

[DisastrousNuclearAccident]

Small ones are LCD. Big ones are Plasma.

I think the boundary is about 32"...where you can get both.

[scorpio1]

Ours is LCD, and 40 inches.

LCD has better picture quality afaik

[TequilaMockinBird]

It depends on what size you want.

I think its recommended that if you want anything over 37", you should get plasma - for picture quality, something to do with pixels!

Sorry, I'm not very techy but have been asking around about these as I'm dying to get one!

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

Oh I seeeee. Thanks.

Any brand recommendations?

Can they all be wall-hung, do you think?

[foxinsocks]

ah ha

I am researching this at the moment :-)

LCD are lighter and thinner than Plasmas on the whole. Doubt there is much difference as to which lasts longer. I would go for something with a guarantee though (or good after sales service). If you have satellite, might be worth getting HD ready or if you can afford it 1080p HD though I don't think the channels are broadcasting in this yet.

Plasma were designed for good colour definition and fast moving action but tbh, I think the latest LCD ones are v v good and quite hard to tell the difference (between LCD and Plasma, though I'm sure true geeks might disagree).

Look around in the sales. I'm looking for one at the mo. Sony has some fab sales on. Richer Sounds is a good shop for advice for TVs. Not sure where abouts you are.

[scorpio1]

i think they can, you get brackets and stuff in the shops at the time of buying. Ours isn't hung though.

We have a Samsung; its lovely. just a big telly really! Make sure you get HD ready

[scorpio1]

We have Sky HD+, you get HD channels on it

[TequilaMockinBird]

See here for that pixel thingy I was talking about

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

Oh foxinsocks, brilliant!

I'm in London, I can get to a Richer Sounds. The wall-hung bit is crucial so I guess that will reduce the bewildering choice.

[foxinsocks]

this argos guide is quite good actually

yes, good thing about Richer Sounds is I've always felt they were truly independent iyswim and although I've not bought anything from them yet (am still dilly dallying on which one to buy!), we have engineers at work and they always buy from them as they say their after sales care is v good

[ChasingSquirrels]

my dad got a 32" Sony LCD for £299 in Richer Sounds on Boxing Day. Don't know if they still have that deal on.

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

oh thanks everyone! We don't have satellite - will I really regret it if I don't get HD?

[scorpio1]

I think you may regret it....Though if you get HD tv, you will need a blu-ray dvd player (£££) or a ps3 to play blu ray dvds on, or a sky hd box (££ and subscription) - its not a stand alone thing iyswim

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

that argos guide is quite good, actually, isn't it?

I thought that only the ones where the cables point downwards could be wall-hung though? If they point backwards, as some seem to, they're going to hit the wall if they're hung, surely?

[foxinsocks]

I think if geeks could turn their heads away I will say that I really can't tell the difference between HD and non HD but my eyesight is VERY poor so that may account for it .

BBC has bought out something called Freesat. You need a dish for it (you pay a one off charge and then get the channels for free) and it is broadcasting a lot of HD channels and I think as time goes on, a lot more channels will be broadcast in this format.

I think you'll find most good brand LCDs are HD ready anyway so I don't think it will be something you have to worry about too much.

I didn't hang our old LCD one on the wall so I'm not sure about the cabling but they come with special brackets (think they are called VESA brackets) which give space for the cables.

[foxinsocks]

brought out not bought out grr

[tassisssss]

man, WW, did your dh dictate your post of 19.37 or do you just know that stuff??! I'm well impressed.

[Quattrocento]

Your TV has gone green because you keep throwing it at people

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

yes Q. and it has gone mute because I have won the argument

[WilfSell]

onebat! We are researching the exact same thing!

DH has found a Sony Bravia Randombutnotreallyrandomlistofnumbersandletterstodenotemodel summat or other for around 300 quid which comes highly recommended. It is 32 inches LCD. But is out of stock EVERYWHERE because it is good.

Fight you for the next one we find...

[onebatmotherofgoditschilly]

Ah Wilf - because we live in a very very small house we have to have a teeny-weeeny one - to get a 32 incher in we'd have to fire one of the kids..

I've found a bit of a bargain LG one at Richer Sounds though - I looked at LG ones at the Mega-Tesco's and the quality looked pretty good..
It's £199, HD, freeview, with 5 yr guarantee for another 20 quid.

here