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LCD Vs Plasma in 2007


As long as we can remember people have debated; what is the best HDTV technology? Sure every technology has it downsides, but when we are talking about picture quality above all else, which is the best? In the past people would debate LCD vs Plasma which really left us scratching our head because at the time the smallest Plasma was 37" and the largest LCD was 32". Well those times are over and many LCDs and Plasmas are the same size -- well almost the same size, while Plasmas are 37", 42", 50" and 60" LCDs are 32", 40", 42", 46", 52" and a host of other sizes. There is little doubt that LCD has more sizes available and arguably more detail, it also costs more, but we aren't talking about size here, we're talking about picture quality. Plasmas have been able to boast better blacks and better colors than LCD, but in recent years LCD technology has made leaps and bounds in this area as well as the new 120Hz models, which begs the question do Plasmas still have better blacks and colors than LCDs? Sure they are susceptible to burn in and many are only 720p vs 1080p, but most ISF engineers agree that accurate colors and black are more important than resolution. We thought that a quick trip to the big box stores would help clear things up, but we noticed something very odd, while they carry the top of the line LCDs, they only carry the very inexpensive Plasmas, so of course a $4000 52" LCD will look better than a $2000 Plasma, right? But would it look better than a $4000 Plasma and if so why do the big box stores push LCD so much? The one thing we do know is that this debate is far from over and that when shopping for a TV it is important not to get to so caught up in the technology that you forget to look at the picture.