LED TV Or Plasma?

Updated on July 21, 2011
B.F. asks from Millbury, OH
11 answers

Our TV is on the way out and I was wondering if LED or plasma screen was better and how big to get? I think a 44 inch is fine but hubby wants a 55 inch..UGH

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C.B.

answers from Columbus on

Just like LED lights, LED TV's are much more energy efficient than Plasma and LCD. (lower electric bills, less heat coming off of TV). Also plasma can be hard to see if you're looking at it on a bigger angle.
Size would be more a decision of how big the room is you're putting it in. But we know guys always want it bigger.

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T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I looked at a lot of consumer reviews and they all said to stay away from Plasma, especially if you have little kids. If they touch the screen it can damage it. And I read that the picture quality isn't as good. I have a 44in LED and love it. The only thing I don't love is the sound quality. It stinks! I was told that they are so thin and light that there is no room on them for a quality sound system or even decent speakers. So, factor in the cost of surround sound stereo reciever and speakers, a sound bar, or high def bluray with surround sound and speakers.

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M.S.

answers from Dallas on

We have one of each. The plasma puts out a lot of heat. It makes the room really hot!

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C.M.

answers from Chicago on

My dad has both and I can't see too much of a difference. The TV guy told us that plasmas don't have as much problem with ghosting as they used to.

We have a LCD and love it! I agree with one of the posters, the sound system is TERRIBLE! You can barely hear it! After spending all that money on a nice TV we had to get a sound system too. But we do love our movie experience now!

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S.K.

answers from Chicago on

We have an LCD in our bedroom and a plasma in our basement family room. I know they say plasma is better in low light, its surface is more like a glossy finish picture and is prone to glaring from sunlight or bright room light. The LCD screen is more like a matte finish picture and works better in bright light.
We have had our plasma for almost two years, and a wii hooked up to it. We have not had any problems with images getting etched in. We also have children ages 1-9 that use the TV a lot for movies, shows, wii, etc, and they do get smudges on the screen, but it cleans easily with the soft cloth and spray that came with it, no damage to speak of.
I was worried about energy usage, I had heard that plasmas were the "gas-guzzlers" or TVs, but ours is labeled as EnergyStar (not sure what it takes to qualify for that), but we have not noticed any big changes in our electric bill since getting it, and as I mentioned it gets used A LOT!.
I do think the colors and picture quality is better on the plasma, esp HD, but I am not real picky when it comes to that. It was my husband that insisted the plasma image was better quality and worth the cost (he is a bit of a movie buff and wants them to look as good as possible).
I think our bedroom one is maybe 37"ish, can't really remember, but bigger than I had wanted for the bedroom (again husband got the final call on that). Our plasma in the basement is HUGE, I am pretty sure >50", when it was delivered it thought it was embarrassing large, but i have gotten used to it. It is in a large open space, so I think that helps. Consider the space you will put it in, how close or far you will sit from it. Somewhere I read some general guidelines for best viewing distance related to size of TV. Here is a link to one site that discusses this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-V4q3Ki4fRvU/learn/learningce...
That may help with your decision. Maybe even cut some cardboard or something to the sizes you are considering to see how the size looks in the space.

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S.S.

answers from Daytona Beach on

plasma is way better to look at. especially with HD. however, the image of the plasma if left on the screen too long can actually burn into the screen. and if kids touch it, it can ruin it. but it's also the same with LED. i have LED and it's ok. we will go with another one when this one calls it quits.

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N.P.

answers from Mobile on

LCD is better than both!

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D.N.

answers from Chicago on

My husband bought a plasma TV that he got a great price on. I hate that thing. Our electric bill has gone up and I seriously think it has to do with the TV. I have heard about images being burned into it and I was told that you cannot play any kind of video games on it because of that problem. We don;t have any game systems now but I would like to get a Wii eventually. I have already told my husband the next tv WILL be an LCD.

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M.H.

answers from Beaumont on

We considered Plasma until I found out to see the picture really well the room has to be really dark with no lights. We have an LCD and love it!

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M.L.

answers from Houston on

Plasma screen is good quality, but it has more ghosting problems with the image and if it gets broken or anything, it is extremely expensive to fix! Also, for some reason, they give me headaches when I watch them.

We have a 65' DLP and it's awesome. It has been hit with a baseball bat by my kids and still works great. My sis's plasma got hit with a flashlight and it has a major crack in the screen and no longer works.

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M.M.

answers from Dallas on

We have a plasma and love it! It is in a VERY bright room with lots of windows - no detail is lost. It also does not have the ghosting issue as some have mentioned. The colors are so much brighter and the edges are smoother w/ the plasma. I can't stand the digitizing and rough edges the LED TV's have. We had ours configured for our room and it looks way better than it did before they did it. On certain settings it can cost more to operate, in fact that is the mode I had it on before it was configured - he said it was the worst and most expensive mode to have it on. After 2 years of research and looking a lot of TVs we are very pleased w/ our plasma. And the bonus is - they are sooooo much cheaper than LED TVs. We have a Panasonic 50".

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