# 2014 TV advice please.



## Flibolito (Aug 3, 2014)

Hey guys,

Kind of in a dilemma here. My friend is looking into a TV for his living room. The purpose for the TV is movies and PS4 gaming. Size wise he wants 65" - 70" no less. Panel and input lag info is very hard to find for most TV models even on review sites. IPS is preferred but most manufacturers don't tell you much about panel type or input lag. LG or Samsung is preferred but open to other brands. Really need some help from people who have kept up with the market and know their TV stuff. Resolution needs to be 1080p.

Thanks in advance!


----------



## Aquinus (Aug 3, 2014)

I think for the most part input lag won't be a concern, I think you're misunderstanding that term and that you're really talking about refresh rate. IPS panels tend to refresh slower than TN panels which is why you tend to see more 120Hz TN panel displays. Considering you're looking at TVs and you're looking at 65"-70" I wouldn't rule out the possibility of plasma. A lot of the issues with burn in have been resolved in recent years and it will provide vibrant colors, excellent contrast (superior to even LED back-light displays in my opinion) and you won't be disappointed with refresh as ghosting practically doesn't exist on a decent plasma display. The downfalls of plasmas is that they're a little bigger than LCDs and tend to consume more power (and as a result, makes more heat) because each pixel is lit up individually unlike LCDs where back-lighting is used; this is where plasma's excellent contrast comes from. This doesn't say burn-in doesn't occur, it's just more likely to go away on its own and there are settings and tools for preventing and removing it respectively.

If power, heat, and size aren't huge issues, I would have to recommend a plasma. It will give you the best image but for a price (not actual price, but rather the cons I mentioned).

I know people will disagree with me, but I'm just speaking from what I've experienced myself.


----------



## andrewsmc (Aug 3, 2014)

^ agreed %100.


----------



## McSteel (Aug 4, 2014)

Well damn. Got in to recommend a plasma, beaten to the punch. I'll offer some insight into the other side of the coin, then.

It should be noted that Panasonic makes the best plasma display panels, and consequently, the best PDP TVs. Sadly and perhaps a bit ironically, they're stepping down and retiring from the PDP business. It seems that the LCD prices are a bit too low for plasma's production costs, and Panasonic were consistently losing money over it. That, and the fact that 4k resolution PDP would be economically implausible most likely killed it for good. The last generation has been made about a year ago, and is yet to be surpassed in quality, performance and longevity.

This makes Panasonic's plasmas pretty hard to come by, and they were expensive even before they became scarce - so unless you're willing to shell out north of US$1,500, you should probably look elsewhere.

That being said, if you have the money for it, there is no comparison in picture quality of a good plasma and pretty much anything else. It has the best color fidelity, the best contrast ratio, the best response times and the least input lag of all currently available tech.

As far as Panasonic's TVs are concerned, the model markings are as follows: TC-Pxxyyzz, where xx = screen diagonal, yy = series and zz = season/year it's made for (not necessarily made in). There are 6 series in total, and in the order of ascending quality, they are: X(T), U(T), S(T), G(T), V(T) and ZT (meaning low-end. mid-end, mid-high end, high-end, top-class and reference class). Having a "T" denotes being 3D-capable. the number after the series marking can tell you which season the panel was made for. 60 denotes 2014, 50 is 2013, 40 means 2012, etc. So if you see a TC-P50ST60, that's a 50" mid-high end plasma made for sale in the late fall of 2013 to mid-2014.

A couple more pointers: an S(T)60 performs about the same as a G(T)50. A GT60 is as good as a VT50, and an ST60 is better than a VT40. ZT was only introduced in the last generation, so there's only a ZT60.

LG and Samsung have made some forays into the PDP market, but I'd personally steer clear of them.


----------



## Flibolito (Aug 4, 2014)

Thank you so much for the wonderful input. You guys are great! I will pass this along to him to see what he says. I think he wanted to stay around $1000 so I will look at some TVs with him and let you know. Again thank you for the advice so far.


----------



## Jetster (Aug 4, 2014)

If you have sky lights or a bright room don't get plasma. The newer one do have correction for this but its still not the same. Other then that Plasma is the best price


----------



## eidairaman1 (Aug 4, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> I think for the most part input lag won't be a concern, I think you're misunderstanding that term and that you're really talking about refresh rate. IPS panels tend to refresh slower than TN panels which is why you tend to see more 120Hz TN panel displays. Considering you're looking at TVs and you're looking at 65"-70" I wouldn't rule out the possibility of plasma. A lot of the issues with burn in have been resolved in recent years and it will provide vibrant colors, excellent contrast (superior to even LED back-light displays in my opinion) and you won't be disappointed with refresh as ghosting practically doesn't exist on a decent plasma display. The downfalls of plasmas is that they're a little bigger than LCDs and tend to consume more power (and as a result, makes more heat) because each pixel is lit up individually unlike LCDs where back-lighting is used; this is where plasma's excellent contrast comes from. This doesn't say burn-in doesn't occur, it's just more likely to go away on its own and there are settings and tools for preventing and removing it respectively.
> 
> If power, heat, and size aren't huge issues, I would have to recommend a plasma. It will give you the best image but for a price (not actual price, but rather the cons I mentioned).
> 
> I know people will disagree with me, but I'm just speaking from what I've experienced myself.



I agree with Aquinus here- those Plasma Units are as close to CRTs in smoothness as you can get out of a thin screen.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Aug 4, 2014)

Basically, 2014 is looking like the last year you can buy a plasma TV.  Samsung is getting out of the plasma TV business in November.  That leaves LG, and most likely the writing is on the wall for them too.

I wouldn't rule out a 4K LCD if it's reasonably priced.  After all, there's perfect 2:1 scaling of a FHD source on a 4K panel, so you won't have any scaling artifacts.  I would decide whether to buy an LCD or plasma based upon how long your friend plans to keep the TV.  If your friend plans to replace his TV in a few years, get a good 1920x1080 plasma.  If this TV is expected to last 5+ years, then I would seriously look at 4K LCDs.



McSteel said:


> LG and Samsung have made some forays into the PDP market, but I'd personally steer clear of them.



I wouldn't write them off.  As an owner of a Samsung PN64D8000 I am extremely happy with the TV.  It doesn't beat the contemporary Panasonic competitor or older Pioneer Kuros in contrast, but it's much better than LCDs and it was also about half the price of the Panasonic at the time.


----------



## Solaris17 (Aug 4, 2014)

I own a 50" samsung plasma and as long as your not worried about heat (if your in a big room you wont notice it) than I recommend it. My plasma has been my best TV purchase to date and I do not have the newest model.

however please keep in mind last month samsung/LG/philips declared they are pulling the plug (pun not intended) on plasma tv manufacturing. If you want one now is the time.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 4, 2014)

I have a friend who has the Sharp Big Aquos 70 inch LC-70LE857, technical details aside, with my ageing eyes it is the most beuatiful TV and picture I have ever seen!  Not cheap though, but is any 70 incher with 3D & 240hz, dual core processor etc etc...........  That model has been replaced now but I think the current line up is worth a look.


----------



## Aquinus (Aug 4, 2014)

Flibolito said:


> Thank you so much for the wonderful input. You guys are great! I will pass this along to him to see what he says. I think he wanted to stay around $1000 so I will look at some TVs with him and let you know. Again thank you for the advice so far.



*That's a really big TV for such a small budget.* You might only be able to find poor quality TVs at that price range for that size. I'm not sure what prices are on Plasmas now, but I bought my 42" for 700 USD. I suspect a 65-70" Plasma could easily cost several thousand dollars, same with any 120Hz or 240Hz LCD-LED display in that size.

What size is the room that this TV is going into? Make sure 65-70" isn't overkill because that's a lot of money to be wasting if the TV doesn't fit will in the room it's going in. I know everyone thinks bigger is better, but that's definitely not always the case with TVs. Also for 70", a projector and a pull-down screen might be cheaper, but won't look nearly as good as a plasma.



Jetster said:


> If you have sky lights or a bright room don't get plasma. The newer one do have correction for this but its still not the same. Other then that Plasma is the best price


Why do you say that? Plasma gets just a bright, if not brighter than a lot of LED back-light LCD equivalents. I think this would probably be bad for any TV, also the finish on the panel you have could impact how much glare or the type of glare there is.


----------



## The Von Matrices (Aug 4, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> *That's a really big TV for such a small budget.* You might only be able to find poor quality TVs at that price range for that size. I'm not sure what prices are on Plasmas now, but I bought my 42" for 700 USD. I suspect a 65-70" Plasma could easily cost several thousand dollars, same with any 120Hz or 240Hz LCD-LED display in that size.



You do have a point.  I wouldn't expect to obtain a TV that is both very large and of the highest quality unless the budget increases to $2000-$3000.

However, for $1000, you can get something like a 65" Vizio, and their newest Vizio models get pretty good reviews for picture quality (especially when taking the prices into account).  The 70" model costs an additional $400-$500.


----------

