In my experience, no.

I have a 50" Panasonic plasma bought in '05 (new model at the time, 720p/1080i) and a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD in '07 (new model at the time, 720p). I know that there will be people saying they are too different blah blah. Whatever. I "calibrated" the sets as best I could using Digital Video Essentials and no matter what I do, I can't get the LCD to look as rich or vibrant as the plasma. However, this was not a surprise to me as I was always well aware of the potential video quality differences between the two technologies.

To address some of the other comments in this thread, I experience no ghosting or bleeding on either TVs. Also, hours upon hours of PS2/PS3/Wii games were played on the plasma and I never had any burn-in issues. In the research I did prior to purchasing the Pany, it appears that it was no longer a big issue with that generation of QUALITY plasmas from QUALITY manufacturers.

Either way, the people buying nowadays are lucky that the sets are getting "cheap" considering what the money spent in '05 for my Pany can buy today.

 

I'm saying you can't make an accurate comparison between two sets in a big box store, or one at your house and one at a friends. There are way too many variables that you cannot account for when viewing two sets with random settings and a random feed.

Example: you walk into Best Buy and look at an expensive Plasma right next to an expensive LCD.. you may think the LCD looks better, but that is in no way a valid measure. You have no way of knowing which set will actually look better when the LCD is taken out of torch mode, they are both calibrated, given a clean feed, and are in your house under your viewing conditions.

 

Well, yes, but no.

Think of it this way:

Example: you walk into the car dealer and look at an expensive Corvette right next to an expensive BMW.. you may think the BMW looks faster, but that is in no way a valid measure. You have no way of knowing which car will actually be faster when the BMW is taken out of M mode, they are both modified, given an alignment, and are on your track under your conditions.



IOW, for a few people, and technically, your statement is absolutely correct. But for the vast majority, like the guy who is thinking of buying a $1200 TV and asking about it on a car forum, they probably aren't going to go through all that anyways. Basically, the OP said "I'm thinking about a Miata, they look kind of fun" and some of you told him "God, no, you NEED a Corvette, it's so much better, faster, and more capable. Oh, and it's 3x as much." All true, but the guy probably doesn't need, want, or plan to use all that extra capacity...so the Miata is probably a better buy for him, even if it is a technically inferior product.

 

I have a 37" LCD Vizio and am very happy with it except for the speaker which is Most all of the brands others have listed are good with Sony being the best, I believe, but also really expensive

The deciding factor for me was that LCD is not a shiny/reflective screen. I don't like seeing reflections on lamps, sunlight, etc. in the screen. LCD is flat with no reflections. Maybe Plasma is faster with better blacks, etc., but I think you need a comletely dark room to appreciate a plasma. My 2 cents.

 

[QUOTE=Chris Stack,Sep 17 2008, 02:02 PM] Well, yes, but no.

Think of it this way:

Example: you walk into the car dealer and look at an expensive Corvette right next to an expensive BMW.. you may think the BMW looks faster, but that is in no way a valid measure.

 

I'm just saying "manage your expectations." The average flat screen buyer isn't going to do any adjustments, and he's going to put it in a less-than-stellar spot in his house light-wise because his wife told him to, and he's going to run it attached to the DVD player he got two years ago when he opened a checking account, etc.

So YOU'RE RIGHT, but whoopie if Joe Schmo isn't going to do any of that stuff anyways.