Plasma or LCD for my Wii?

[Mokong]

I'm thinking of getting a new TV and my 1st flat screen, my giant fat box is starting to annoy me.

 

Saw some good deals on 2 TV's in a store yesterday but one is a plasma the other an LCD, mostly I'm concerned with how my Wii will look.

 

The Plasma is a 42 inch Samsung and the LCD is a 32 inch Samsung

Any recommendations, I'd likely have to get a component cable to get the best quality of course but I remember reading somewhere the Wii can look very jaggy on larger screens?

[Goafer]

I don't know how well newer plasma screens cope with screen burn nowerdays, but back when I had one it was always an issue.

 

I'd go LCD every time for gaming.

[marcel]

your going to walk into 2 problems with lcd and plasma,

mainly for plasma is the burn in problem, some wii games are not totally full screen and the black bars may burn in. Thats also the case with minimaps and such.

 

LCD mostly because of the miliseconds (look for it on the internet, ive got a 8 ms model and havent got a problem), But the main problem with some of the lcd tv's is the jaggier graphics. But thats only the case when your sitting right in front of the tv (0.5 - 1.0 meters).

 

So if your sitting more than 1 meter from the tv go with lcd, but the best advice what i can give you is look how other peoples reactions (about the upscaling and wii, google "brand, serial nr and wii and upscale after that if it doesnt work)

 

Also is the samsung lcd a 1080p or 720p version?

[Nolan]

For picture quality, I say Plasma everytime. LCDs are usually less though. I've never had an issue with burn-in for games on PS3/360, nor my Wii that I remember, but any consoles older than that seemed to burn immediately.

[Emasher]

You will absolutely need component cables on either to be able to play games like Guitar Hero and FPS on either as they are required to run the Wii in progressive scan, and on an HDTV, you will get lag with an interlaced signal. This is a bit worse on LCD TVs from my experience.

 

In general you get better colours and better refresh rates on Plasma TVs. The burn in is only really a problem if you have Pillar Boxing or letter boxing, or something else up on the screen for a long period of time. It it burns in a little bit, most Plasma TVs have a white screen that you can leave on it overnight to get rid of this. Pillar boxing and letter boxing can also be set to have white boxes as-well to reduce burn-in. Unless you're gaming for very long periods at once, burn in shouldn't be an issue. The Wii also has a burn in reduction setting. The only reason I would go LCD is if you're going to leave the same picture up on the TV for hours on end.

[Konfucius]

I heard that Plasmas get incredibly hot. A friend told me he got a big plasma and had to move all of his furniture in the livingroom two meters back because it was too hot to sit closer.

[Ten10]

Well they say the general rule of thumb is <32" get a plasma 32"> get a LCD

[Nolan]

I heard that Plasmas get incredibly hot. A friend told me he got a big plasma and had to move all of his furniture in the livingroom two meters back because it was too hot to sit closer.

 

Your friend either got a defective model or is making shit up. It's true that they put out heat, and I can fell the heat....if my hand is 6 inches away and over the vent. That's after hours of run time.

[RoadKill]

Also is the samsung lcd a 1080p or 720p version?

 

Because that matters in the slightest for the 480p output of the wii, but hey, yeah, lets talk about image quality like we're all qualified to do so

 

I heard that Plasmas get incredibly hot. A friend told me he got a big plasma and had to move all of his furniture in the livingroom two meters back because it was too hot to sit closer.

 

Maybe he had a really old one. I have a friend whose family have a 42" Hitachi plasma in their lounge that I helped wall mount, and it doesn't put out significant heat

Edited July 11, 2009 by RoadKill

[Emasher]

Because that matters in the slightest for the 480p output of the wii, but hey, yeah, lets talk about image quality like we're all qualified to do so

 

Wii games look better on 720p TVs as its closer to 480p.

[RoadKill]

Wii games look better on 720p TVs as its closer to 480p.

 

Surely untrue: 480p at 16:9 is 852x480 - neither resolution TV (1280x720 or 1920x1080) has pixel doubling (to anyone counting at home, 1704x960, which would be achievable on a 1080p TV with 1:1 scaling, albiet with big ass black bars all sides) - they're all using fractions of a pixel, so both will look slightly fuzzy (still fine though, in practice, you're sat way back).

 

Also, most TVs still overscan, losing any benefit of matching native resolutions (although it's always worth looking through the menus!)

 

To ignore the rest of this petty argument, the main question was a decision between a 42" Plasma and a 32" LCD - honestly, I'd take the plasma anyday (especially since it's much, much larger!), the burn in issues are no longer so bad, and almost all now should have a feature that makes the image shift by a few pixels every so often, not noticeable, but prevents each element from being in the same state for too long.

 

Also, I've played Wii on a 42" plasma, and I honestly thought it looked perfectly acceptable in 576i over composite

Edited July 11, 2009 by RoadKill

[Goafer]

the burn in issues are no longer so bad, and almost all now should have a feature that makes the image shift by a few pixels every so often, not noticeable, but prevents each element from being in the same state for too long.

 

I noticed the pixel shift once in a while when I had my plasma. Plus shifting by 5 pixels (the standard option on mine. Could be changed) wasn't enough to completely shift all pixels, since health bars etc are bigger than the shift so some pixels would still be green (or whatever colour)

 

Using a plasma screen for gaming depends on the type of games you play. If you want to play casual games where you'll only spend up to an hour playing at a time, plasma should be fine. If you play more hardcore games where you'll be spending a few hours playing at a time, best get an LCD.

 

And from what I can tell, gaming modes on TVs just make the colours/contrast duller to lessen burn.

 

I've owned both plasma and lcd (both Samsung, so good to compare same brands). I noticed the LCD seems brighter, whereas the Plasma handled darker colours better. I personally prefer the LCD since I found the image more vivid and colourful, plus I don't have to worry about screen burn at all. I may have been over protective of my plasma, but seeing as I spent £800 odd on it, I damn well wanted to look after it.

[McPhee]

We've got two plasma screens in our house. Both are made by Panasonic, a 2005 model and a 2008 one. I've never had any problems with image burn on either. I did get image retention on the 2005 model once but that was after leaving a TV show on pause, nipping up to my room to get something, falling asleep, getting up the next morning, heading off to work and stopping off at the pub for a few on the way back. Easily 20 hours of the same image displayed on screen. I completely freaked out when i realised and was pretty much in panic because the image was still on screen. A few hours of TV though an it faded, the image was retained but it didn't burn in.

 

Other than that little incident i've had no issues. I wouldn't say i only game for a few hours at a time either. I've completed both Devil May Cry 4 and CoD:WaW in a single sitting each on the newer TV without any problems from it.

 

Personally i'd go for a Plasma. The blacks tend to be deeper resulting in more accurate colours and they don't suffer from the ghosting you get on cheaper LCD sets. LCDs do tend to have brighter, move vibrant colours and a sharper image but i can't say i see either as an advantage.

 

That said i have heard mixed reports about Samsung plasma screens. Their technology isn't up to the same standard as Panasonic or Pioneer (or rather just Panasonic now as Pio left the TV game). The TVs generally aren't as good and you do still hear the occasional horror story about burn-in on Samsung/LG/Hitatchi models. If you can't grab a good deal on a Panasonic then it might be better to get the Samsung LCD set.

 

Surely untrue: 480p at 16:9 is 852x480 - neither resolution TV (1280x720 or 1920x1080) has pixel doubling (to anyone counting at home, 1704x960, which would be achievable on a 1080p TV with 1:1 scaling, albiet with big ass black bars all sides) - they're all using fractions of a pixel, so both will look slightly fuzzy (still fine though, in practice, you're sat way back).

 

This. Was about to say the same thing.

[Ten10]

Hmm speaking of what Mcphee said, if you happen to see a Pioneer plasma out in the wild get it. Its a rare occurrence, to find one but they are considered to be the best money can buy. But as for burn in just turn on the wii's burn in reduction settings. if things ever get bad just hook up a laptop to it and run Jscreenfix If you have sky plus and put something on pause for an extended period of time turn off the TV. Girlfriend's plasma has a lovely burn in of the the pause button from that, not too annoying but visible none the less. If you want to have a go at being patient you could try waiting for OLed HD tv's to come out at a reasonable price.

[david.dakota]

There's some great advice here.

 

I'm opting for a Panasonic G10 plasma myself. I'll run down the reasons for this choice:

 

• Darker Blacks. If you watch film, as i do, a deeper black should be considered. Plasma inherently has deeper black than LCD, and the Panasonic range has a spectacular 'infinite black', while not truly infinite, its an impressive contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.
  
• Smoother images Plasma deals with movement far better than LCD. Fact.
  
• Upscaling. My link above was specifically about how TVs deal with upscaling (you'll need a decent upscaler for Wii). Panasonic do indeed have a great upscaler.
   
  

The only real drawback i can see with plasma is screen glare, which you may wish to consider if you're in a brightly lit room/windows (since we rarely use the TV in daylight, its not a concern). Screen burn and excessive power consumption in plasmas have been reduced thanks to new technologies.

 

LCD is a technology which stems from the stationary screen of a calculator. Plasma was specifically designed for moving images. I'd always consider LCD as a cheap, secondary TV for a kitchen or bedroom, but not as a main TV. You'll get more bang for your buck with plasma.

 

However, the best advice i can give is to call an independent retailer, ask them for a demo with your Wii. They're also more flexible on price too, and far more knowledgable than the monkeys in Comet.

Edited July 12, 2009 by david.dakota

[Nolan]

Our Panasonic Plasma is in a brightly lit room, with light coming in from 4 windows at multiple angles. I've never had a problem with glare. Even when watching from the kitchen from a 100+ angle the picture is fine.

[Wesley]

I've skimmed over all these posts talking about technical advise, sorry. But I just wanted to say, I just bought a 32 inch Samsung a couple of weeks ago and use the Wii on it; looks pretty good. Up close you can see it blurs, but I guess that's because what the Wii outputs at. But all in all it's great, and my girlfriend, who plays it most of the times anyway, seems very happy with it.

[Choze]

Samsung are terrible. The Panasonic equivalent for the plasma will blow it out of the water. Same goes for LCD but Sony.

 

p close you can see it blurs, but I guess that's because what the Wii outputs at.

 

It blurs because your tv is not good.