UK Considering Ban On Plasma HDTVs

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by Craig Ruchman

The sooner the better. We have 4 HDTV's where I live - all DLP and LCD's. Hovever, only 1 in 5 americans own an HDTV (so they say), the boob tube is still king for now because of all the old sets sold years ago. Admit it, how many of you still have the old clunker in a room or two?

Not I. We have 0 CRT's. No monitors or tv's in that category anymore. Been that way for a couple of years now.

[Hussla]

Originally Posted by aristotles

I think a number of us with properly calibrated Sony LCD panel Bravias would disagree with you. I could easily tell the difference in a well lit store between full 1080p panels and the 1280X1080 Plasmas give that they were all being fed the same source. In fact, the obvious difference is what caused me to to look at the spec sheet to see why it looked so bad compared to the others. A harsh brightly lit environment is where you want to compare displays because not only will you see how bright they really are in less than ideal conditions but it will expose any display artifacts you might not see in a "theater" demo room.

An LG LCD is hardly a fair comparison with any plasma as they are notorious for poor colour reproduction. Take a look at the most recent Full 1080p LCD panels from the Sharp Aquos or the Sony Bravia line and you will see that the gap between plasma and LCD displays colour and black reproduction has all but disappeared.

My Display for example can adjust not only the contrast and brightness but also the black panel brightness. It also includes a number of dynamic colour processing filters to closely approximate what you might expect from a Plasma.

Resolution does matter and I can tell the difference between 1024X768 and 1280X786.

I'm sure that many would, and you make an excellent point when you say PROPERLY calibrated. Many displays in the shops are NOT! The LG isn't the best example, but on that same display I forgot to mention also had a Sony 1080p Bravia and it still didn't offer the same quality as the Pioneer set. Bear in mind NONE of the panels were professional calibrated!

Having worked in retail for the last few years from the time when CRT's dominated to leaving recently with flat panel domination, i've seen LCD move ahead in leaps and bounds.

Still isn't quite up to my tastes in large sizes but they have gotten significantly better, im still preferential to a PDP for large sizes to my eyes they look the best, im finding that many LCD's even when properly set up still suffer from a "not good enough" CR in dark environments.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

I was shocked to hear that the UK may force all retail stores and mail order stores from selling Plasma screens in an effort to reduce UK household CO2 emissions. I hope this Plasma ban does not happen in the United States or for people in the UK.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/ukplasma091007.htm

If one wants to eliminate C02 emissions and have cleaner air then countries should move to 100% Nuclear energy. Also one day many years in the future 100% electric cars once perfected would be ideal if 100% of power comes from Nuclear power. Then no one needs to worry about C02 emissions. France already generates around 80% of its power from Nuclear energy that is completely clean and free of C02 emissions.
Of course another way to get people to conserve energy is to increase the price of electricity then some people will decide to use less electricity. Banning Plasma screens is not the answer to the C02 problem.

quote
"The Quality of Life Policy Group, a think-tank for the Conservative Party, is expected this week to call for the ban on several electrical devices including Plasma TVs and certain PCs and DVD players. "

Only to build a new coal power plant. Hmm.. seems stupid if you ask me..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/6646315.stm

Let's replace one bad problem, for another.

[aristotles]

I think we have to agree to disagree on this Hussla. No amount of calibration will make a Plasma with stretched resolution look as good as a full res 1920X1080 panel be it LCD or plasma. The only way you could get it to look better if you calibrated the LCD wrong and were in a dark room.

Not all LCDs are equal and the PQ can vary between models and brands. You obviously prefer plasmas while I prefer the resolution and colour accuracy of an Full colour LCD panel over plasmas. To me, plasmas seem to look too dark in daylight and I could see lines between the pixels on the lower resolution models which really bothered me as it made whites look dirty to my eye.