Ask Dethroner Grab Bag: Which HDTV Technology; Playstation 3’s Blu-ray Drive; 1080p
Published by Joel November 28th, 2006 in Ask Dethroner, Gadgets. Share ThisAnonymous wrote the following series of questions:
I know this doesn’t have a simple answer as I’ve tried to answer it for friends and relatives, but I’d like to get your input, what has a better picture: plasma or LCD?
They’re both roughly the same, really. Plasma has deeper blacks and a better contrast ratio, while LCDs tend to offer true 1080p for far less money. You’ll be happy with either.
Also, is there a new technology being introduced in the near future that is superior to either of these?
LCoS (a.k.a. HD-ILA or SXRD) is pretty bangin’ if you want to spend the premium price. It’s not way better than plasma, LCD, or DLP, though.
SED may be nice in a few years, once Canon figures out how to actually produce it in quantity.
Do you believe that CRTs continue to have superior HD pictures than plasma or LCDs?
Not really.
What are the best thin-TVs at the various sizes, 50′, 42′, etc.?
I don’t know and I don’t care.
AFAIK from reading AVS Forum, Panasonic has a lock on the 50′ size with their plasma.
I’d buy that. Panasonic makes quality products. But see above.
With the PS3’s inability to scale to 1080i, and the inferiority of 720p to 1080p, is it worth holding out for a 1080p television, specifically in relation to the PS3 and in general?
1080p is pretty affordable these days. Personally, I’d go for 1080p if you can afford it, even if it means getting a slightly smaller TV. But I’m a resolution junky who sits eye-searingly close to my displays. From 10 feet away, telling the difference between 720p and 1080p is hard, especially if you’re not pumping a pure 1080p signal from a Blu-ray or HD DVD player.
The Playstation 3’s Blu-ray drive is a cheap option for early adopters (if you can find it), but it’s likely that it will be viewed in the near future the same way the Playstation 2’s DVD drive is today: A basic model that gets the job done, but just barely.
It’s worth noting that only a fraction of the current PS3 games are rendered at 1080p internally. Most are rendered at a lower resolution, then scaled up to 1080p, just like the Xbox 360.
Thanks for the answers!
Actually, a while back I was researching HDTVs. And out of all the LCDs and Plasmas I looked at, I ended up buying a 51″ HITACHI CRT-based projection TV. The picture quality is astounding, easily trumping many LCDs and plasmas on the market. Blacks are super black, the sharpness is incredible, speakers are pretty kick ass. If you’ve got the space for a 14″-deep cabinet, I highly recommend checking them out. Mine ran me $1300 for 51″ of HD bliss!
Recently, I upgraded another old 27″ Sony CRT with a 37″ LCD - from Vizio. For the money (got it for $675 refurbed, but its $999 new) and after calibrating it, it’s a total steal. Even the built-in speakers are pretty good, which was a real surprise. My only complaint is that the contrast could be better, but it’s perfectly acceptable - games with dark areas such as Gears of War are playable just fine.