LCD Tvs

[Bahco]

I've been looking at purchasing a new Tv and like the look of these LCD newbies that are on display in shops.
Any body know anything about them and are they worth the premium price being asked for them.

 

[2scoops0406]

Lack of bulk apart, no, wait a while, I reckon the days of the CRT may be numbered.

 

[Bahco]

Hi Eddie.

No spyware this time

What is Crt?

 

[2scoops0406]

Cathode Ray Tube (normal telly)

 

[kendor]

The new screens based on carbon technology will be manufactured soon they are far superior in picture quality to plasmas and the like and are much more comparable to CRT but opposed to plasma lcd etc they will be far far cheaper to produce and also more efficient with very low power requirements so more saved on power supplies etc.
I feel a bit sorry for those that lashed out thousands on their inferior plasma's

 

[Bahco]

Are you saying the carbon ones will supercede the LCD tvs?

 

[Diyisfun]

If you are after the difference in 'Plasma' & 'LCD', Do search there are many sites that tell you the pros & cons, basically its to do with size versus Plasma or LCD then life expectancy (I think that’s immaterial as technology moves so fast), resolution. Again its you pay you money take your choice. I have just bought a 22 Lcd that has a pc input, great as a 2nd tv in the kitchen, pc installed in cupboard & then you can do picture in picture. (I dont use the pc much at home)

 

[AdamW]

If you are drawn between CRT, LCD and plasma, what you really need to do is compare the pictures of all three in your price bracket. Some people prefer the picture of LCD over plasma, personally I prefer plasma. It's a matter of taste. Go and stand in Dixons/John Lewis for an hour just watching all the TVs!

LCD prices do periodically undergo step-changes in price as some new manufacturing technique comes out, or when there is an improvement to the technology. I would have to urge you though, hang on if you can because...

Tadaaaa! HDTV. High Definition TV (in real terms, a much better picture quality that requires a special digibox and a special TV) is being rolled out on a large scale towards the end of this year. The main manufacturers have signed up to a scheme where they will label equipment as "HD ready", I am not sure when this will come into force though. Apparently a lot of people have spent shedloads of money on a new TV, which often claims to be HD "compatible", but will be finding that it really isn't!

What I wrote probably sounds scarier than it is. For a more level-headed account, see http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds18570.html

 

[felix]

If you're looking into flat screen TV, here are a couple of points to watch out for:

1) Some of them have rather noisy cooling fans. You might not notice this in a busy shop but you certainly will when you get the thing home.

2) An article on LG's website made slightly ominous reading. They explained that a flat screen could be EXPECTED to have a number of defects in the form of black spots. I took these to mean duff pixels. They added that unless there were more than some specified number of these 'spots' (64 I think) your flat screen was not faulty and you would not get a refund or replacement.

Although the CRT's days are numbered, flat screen technology is clearly not as good (yet) as it should be. Unless you simply have to have a flat screen RIGHT NOW I would hang onto your money a bit longer. They'll be better and cheaper next year.

 

[nstreet]

In my opinion they are nowhere near as sharp as a crt, the edges between high contrast areas are often blocky and you get a lot of picture lag (trailing effect) on moving objects on the screen. They are also not as bright.

Dead pixels are a problem with an lcd monitor as you are so close to the screen and most of the image is static. I don't think you would notice them on a moving picture, especially as you would probably sit some six or more feet away from the image.

However if you do make the decision to purchase one, check the number of dead pixels the manufacturer will allow before changing. I purchased an LCD screen from PC World sometime ago and they told me they a 10% dead pixel exchnage policy. Thats a lot of dead bl**dy pixels before they will change it.

I would still buy a crt for the next year or two.

 

[Richardp]

I got a 'LOGIK" 27" wide-format LCD telly I got it from Dixons and its flipping brilliant, I think it was about £700 I did abit of research on the net and it seems that LCD comes out on top of plasma, the life expectancy is the same as a normal tv set, I got it on a wall bracket and although the screen is bigger than my old one it is less imposing, but the best thing to do is abit of research yourself on the net.which I guess is what your doing

 

[2scoops0406]

The life expectancy is the same as a normal tv set

Not if you've got small kids it aint !!

 

[Richardp]

I'll bare that in mind, I've got two small grandchildren coming over from Australia to stay for a year

 

[AdamW]

Two common complaints about LCDs and Plasmas that really get my goat

Plasma life-expectancy
Plasma Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is up to 30,000 hours now, according to the internet. Now, assuming you watch quite a bit of TV, let's say 4 hours a night on week days, and 8 hours a day on weekends: 36 hours a week. So that is an operational MTBF of 16 years. We have all had a CRT that lasted a really long time (I had a Sony Trinitron that was 12 when it died, and a mate of mine has a 14-year old telly), but who do you know with a 16-year old TV that they watch everyday (i.e. not the portable they watch once in a blue moon)

Remember that is MEAN time, but I know a few people with plasmas and am yet to hear anyone complain about screen burn or the screen dying.

LCD dead pixels
I scratch my head over this one every time I hear it. If you buy an LCD TV, get it home and find that it has dead pixels, take it back. But when they ask "Why are you bringing this back?" DO NOT SAY "because it has dead pixels". I was queueing in Watford Electronics and saw a guy arguing with the counter staff about this one, and I vowed on that day that if I ever buy an LCD with dead pixels, I will lie my a** off when I take it back.

Instead say "Cos it's too big for the room", or "the sound quality is rubbish", or "the contrast isn't high enough for the ambient light". If they test it and find dead pixels "Well, if it satisfies YOUR dead-pixel criteria, then it can't have bothered me, could it?". Then buy it elsewhere, use their price promise to make sure it is just as cheap. Saying that, last person I knew to have a dead pixel was 7 years ago, a laptop with a red dot in the middle of the screen.

So, I think it is quite safe to buy a plasma or an LCD, safe in the knowledge that dead pixels and MTBF are no big deal. I have heard that the most common cause of damage to plasma screens is falling from a height: people hang them from a wall without taking into account the fact they are rather heavy, and the fixings end up pulling out.

 

[kendor]

Are you saying the carbon ones will supercede the LCD tvs?

according to the reports yes, they will be cheap to produce and have quality comparable to CRT <-the best quality screen produced at this time this is why tv broadcast companies still use them for picture quality control as they are far superior to plasmas etc and don't suffer as much from their pitfalls.