LED vs Plasma, 60" vs 65"

Akg_ca: I would suggest getting an ISF certified calibrator. THX is a rather ridiculous specification as it's also a label that any manufacturer can throw on a product if it's even remotely capable. I've had all of my televisions calibrated by an independent IHF-certified technician and couldn't be happier with the results. It's real science, and not questionable at all.

Sorry to go OT. Plasma TVs historically run hot, there's no denying that. The originals used fans for cooling, but were too noisy. When they stopped using fans and tried convective cooling, the displays had less life, and the circuits suffered from potential heat damage and component lifting in some cases. Plasma TVs have been considered the best-performing displays in terms of black level and color reproduction. I would argue, however, that modern LED sets are approaching plasma TVs in performance. My calibrator told me that my Samsung LED had the best black levels he's seen outside of a plasma, and it was very close. LEDs are slim, cool, and preform very well.

The only potential drawback would be the back light. In a dark room, when a passage in a film goes black, you can see faint white light in some areas of the screen due to the edge light.

Two cents.

I currently own two Panasonic Plasma sets and have had zero issues with either set. My 42 inch is 6 years old and still going strong and my 54 inch is 2 years old and is THX certified, so far no issues with the newer set. We watch TV, movies, sports and the kids play games on it all the time.

I wouldn't own anything else but a Plasma.

So now we are saying get LED cause its "almost as good"? Buy this car, its "almost" as safe. Buy this house its in "almost" good neighborhood. Hey order this heart valve, its "almost" as good. A technology is either best or playing catch up, Plasma is king.

What about energy consumption with plasma? Are any of them energy star rated?

John

Yes there are several that still are engery star rated. I think the 65" ST series is rated for 32 bucks for what the energy sticker claims. I saw it the other day when shopping, and personally don't pay much attention to it.

I love my VT25 and feel it gives me the best pic that I can get. I did a cali disk but also got more out of it once it was calibrated by ISF cert.

I have been thinking of getting the new VT50 once it hits and seeing how that is. Samsung higher end Plasma's are very nice but there are some good deals to be had right now on the 2011 Pannys.

LED while giving a good picture quality is still not as good as the Plasma IMO. Samsung is to release the OLED later this year however price is said to be very high. I would really like to see the OLED and how it compares as it should get closer to plasma.

Your current LED sets are still LCD panels with LED lighting. It is an improvement over regular LCD's but still don't have the PQ of plasma.