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

Showing 3 responses by learsfool

I concur that plasma is still quite a bit better. The color seems better than LED because the plasma actually does blacks quite a bit better. It also still looks better for motion, especially sports. Since I watch mostly sports or classic films, plasma is the clear choice for me.

About the rumors that plasma will not be made by Panasonic and Sony, I believe that that is only for models smaller than 50".
Another advantage of plasma over LCD or LED is that it can be viewed from any angle - the picture does not look wrong even viewed from an extreme angle, as it does with LCD and LED. This is quite important at my house, where I am usually viewing at an angle.
Chazro, the size thing usually has to do with distance from the screen. If your TV is in your bedroom, you are probably viewing from a closer distance than normal, so the smaller size may very well be better. For those of us that watch in the living room from a much further distance, you might be very surprised at the difference the bigger screen makes, especially on the eyes. You can look up guidelines for screen size vs. viewing distance from several different great sources on the web. For my viewing distance of 9 feet, my 50" plasma is barely big enough. I used to view a 32" from that distance, though, and was amazed at how much easier it is on the eyes to watch with the bigger screen.

Another big factor is whether or not your 50" plasma has been calibrated correctly. After you have had it on for at least 200 hours, you should have it professionally calibrated, and watch the guy do it so you can do it yourself in the future, as I did. This was some of the best money my wife ever spent, let me tell you - it was a huge difference! Those things are calibrated initially so they look good in a salesroom - they look quite a bit different in any home environment, and need to be calibrated accordingly. I think the same goes for the LEDs, etc., but I know it is true of the plasmas in particular.