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Has LED caught up to Plasma?

I know that the plasma tv's in the past were always considered to be better than the LED or LCD formats. I'm wondering if this is still the case. With improvements in technology, has the gap narrowed? I bought a 42" Panasonic Plasma over 8 years ago (and yes, it's still working...wished it would have died by now! lol) and am looking to upgrade to a new 55" tv. In all honestly, when I chose plasma back then, I thought the picture quality of both the plasmas and the LED/LCD models were both very good. Even though my plasmas has lasted all these past 8 years, my big concern is that they do heat up quite a bit....where LED's run much cooler. I'm thinking this might translate into a longer life with and LED tv instead of a plasma. What would you buy today if you were buying??? Plasma or LED?
calgarian5355
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Extended warranty is in almost all cases simply to remove more money from a customers wallet. My Panasonic plas has a in home 12 month warranty parts and service. Studies show this type gear if its going to fail it will right away, well within provided warranty or its most likely to work just fine, problems crop up quickly with few exceptions and extended service plans are almost pure profit as retailers know these facts.
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Yes, definitely put a power conditioner on whatever TV you buy. The difference and improvement is immediate and obvious. Plug yout TV converter box and DVD player in also while you're at it.
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Calgarian5355 - Samsung's are very sexy looking, but I do not think think they have the best picture. I think the current Sony line-up is better than Samsung. To me, Samsung is the brightest of the LCD/LEDs but not as crisp. When you turn the brightness down to normal levels, they just do not have the cripsness. But, if you room light levels allow and you do not mind the power drain the V series Panasonic plasma's are very, very good.
calgarian5355 OP
146 posts
 
Ptm, yes, I already have a power conditioner, and yes, it does do amazing things for the video quality.

There has been a few responses referring to the power usage of plasma screens vs LED...so I was doing a bit of comparison. A 55" LED screen used approximately 38 watts, while a similar sized plasma screen used 120 watts. Yes, it appears that LED tv's use much less power, but I was rather surprised by the numbers to begin with. It's hard to believe that a big plasma screen only uses 120 watts....that's like little more than your typical light bulb.

On another topic, has anyone upgraded their power cords on their tvs? Since the screens are so thin, it's kind of hard to do if you wanted it mounted very close to the wall.....
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Right angle cords can be had for those installs
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