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| Sports and HDTVs - May 11, 2006
Somebody asked me the other day which plasma I would rather own – a Pioneer or a Panasonic. What everyone needs to realize is that choosing a TV ain’t that easy. So settle down chiefs!
But seriously, if I were going to get a plasma, Pioneer and Panasonic would be 2 of the top 3 HDTVs I would consider purchasing. Why you ask? Well, before I get into the details of plasmas, let me ask you a question: How much time do you spend watching sports, watching movies, and gaming? My preferences go something like this: 40% sports, 40% gaming, 20% movies. Then tell me where you plan on watching your new TV. Is it going to be in your basement? Or will it be in your brightly lit family room? Having a solid understanding of how you will utilize your new TV makes a big difference. For example, if you spend 80% of your time watching sports and 20% gaming in your large brightly lit living room, you may want to consider an LCD. But if you spend 70% of your time watching movies and 30% gaming, you may want to consider a plasma. If you are going to put the TV in your basement, you may want to consider a DLP.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the basic breakdown described above – sports, movies, gaming. The most important requirement for watching and enjoying a sporting event is a high refresh rate. A high refresh rate, simply put, is how fast your TV can accept the feed from your cable box or satellite box, reprocess the image, and display it on your TV. You can imagine why this would be important for watching sports – the action is fast with people always moving and cameras often panning. As such, televisions with slow refresh rates tend to cause motion blur or ghosting. Essentially, this is when you seen a slight trail or ghost of a player as he moves quickly across the screen. Although faint, this effect, for me at least, is highly undesirable.
In general, plasmas, due to their gaseous nature, have the quickest refresh rates. DLPs and LCoS sets have refresh rates slightly slower than plasmas. LCDs typically have the slowest refresh rates. As the technologies continue to converge, higher quality LCDs are getting better refresh rates. From what it seems, top end Samsung 1080p sets have the best refresh rates for LCDs. With that being said, still realize that a high end Samsung will run you over $2,500 whereas a comparable plasma will cost you $1,600.
A second consideration with sports is the brightness of the TV. LCDs, without question, are the brightest sets. Even the crappiest brand LCDs, like Westinghouse, are brighter than the fanciest Pioneer Elite plasma or Samsung DLP or Sony SXRD (a kind of LCoS). Brightness is great for those who live in rooms with lots of natural light for it allows you to easily discern the image on a daytime Sunday football game. (Keep in mind, however, that while brightness is preferred by some sports fans, to others it can be fatiguing, especially at night. Imagine sitting in front of a bright computer screen all day with the lights off.)
One final consideration with sports, albeit inconsequential, is viewing angles. The viewing angle of TV is the degree (literally) to which you can move to the side of the TV and still see the image clearly. Plasmas have the greatest viewing angle, while LCD, DLP, LCoS, have significantly worse. (If you want to test this, just got to Best Buy and walk to the side of an LCD and see if you can see the image. Then do the same on a plasma.) While in most cases this doesn’t really matter, for those few times that you have a large gang of people over to watch a sporting event, it ensures those poor souls shoved to the sides a clear view of the TV.
So what should I get? Well if you are that much of a chaunce that you haven’t seen my preference, let me spell it out for you. Plasmas won’t ghost but have a harder time than LCDs in bright rooms. They will combat this consequence, however, by not fatiguing your eyes. LCDs, unless you shell out a ton of cash, will blur and will hurt your eyes. DLPs and LCoS sets? They work best in your basement when you want a huge cheap TV. But even then, I’d still probably get a plasma.
But Maven, you didn’t answer the question – what kind of plasma should I get, a Pioneer or a Panasonic. If you want the most bang for your buck, get a Panasonic. You want the best plasma made, get a Pioneer. And if you game a lot, get the darkhorse (sort of), a Samsung. But more on this, along with a similar analysis of movies and gaming, in the near future. April 20, 2007Maven’s Introduction to Home Theater
Maven spends a lot of his time researching home theater. Today, you’ll get an introduction to high definition television.
Before you head to a Best Buy and throw down mad cash for super pretty 40 inch Samsung LCD with 1080p resolution, you’ll need to know the basics between the four main types of HDTVs. Two of them, LCD and plasma, are super thin displays ranging in size (approximately) from 23 inches to 50 inches. DLP and LCoS offer the largest screens, typically 50 inches and bigger, yet are a bit thicker than LCD and plasma TVs.
LCD: LCD TVs are made by placing a screen of pixels in front of a light source. They can be made in various sizes ranging from the screen on a video iPod, to a 20 inch computer monitor, to a 50inch display in your living room. They’re also very bright. One of their biggest appeals it that they can achieve insane levels of detail. That is, it can fit a ton of pixels on a screen resulting in super high resolution.
Plasma: Plasmas work by exciting tiny gas bubbles which results in the emission of light. Plasmas can be considered the original HDTV. They can’t be made as small as LCDs (37 inches is the minimum in most cases) While they aren’t as bright as LCDs, they achieve better blacks (more on this later). They also sport wider viewing angles (more on this later).
DLP: DLPs are maybe the most versatile and cost effective HDTV (with the exception of their size). They can display very bright, like an LCD, yet still display good blacks like a plasma. They’re made in huge sizes (45 inches and up), but they are also the thinner of the large TV sets.
LCoS: LCoS is a form of LCD that uses a mirror to tighten up the pixels and achieve super fine resolution. While they aren’t as bright as DLPs, they can achieve superior blacks. They are a bit more consistent and reliable DLP, yet they aren’t as cost effective.
With that quick overview, you can get excited for the next installment when maven will help you decide which type of HDTV is best for you. April 15, 2006- THEY CALL ME MAVEN:
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