Plasma TV or Projector

Okay, so the recent thread on /g/ has gotten me thinking about getting a new large display. Since LCDs are still too expensive for the size I am looking for (at leat 42 inches), the only other options are plasma and projectors.

I have almost no experence with projectors aside from in school. They seem like a decent way to watch videos from what I have seen. If I do get a projector it would be about 3m from where the image will be displayed (a yelowish wall). It'll be my living room so it wont be a sealed off completely dark room, and most likely alot of my watching will be done in the daytime. For the same price as the 42" plasma I could get a pretty good projector I think, but would it be a better choice?

Now with the plasmas, I already know that they are lower rez than LCDs. But the big thing I worry about with a plasma screen would be burn in. I hear that the newer screens will not burn in unless you leave a static image on for hours and hours, but would the black bars from watching non 16:9 stuff on it cause burn in of lines? Also, this thing would be my second monitor for my computer, so I guess there wouldnt be a taskbar, but if there was a taskbar, would I have to worry about that burning in?

You would have to worry about color intensities for certain colors on a projector. Not to mention the obvious lighting issues.

>>2
Well I mean, its not too bright in the living room, I have blinds.

I'd stick with the plasma, its more reliable if your going to watch tv in the day time, and not to mention it looks better in the room.

>>4
I would get it right now if I wasnt worried about burn in.

if you play games,be carefull if you have a plasma.my cousins went thru one thts less than  a year old cuz they left their gamecube on.idiots.

heh, it wont be used with gameing systems because I dont own any, lol. I will use it with my computer and such though. The burn in I am worried about is with the black bars that show up when you watch somthing that isnt in proper ratio to the screen.

you sohuld be okay with those..................for some reason computers dont seem to burn the image in. *shrugs* could jsut be me tohugh.

>>8
really? o.0 Be great if that was the case

So, umm, is it true?

did it do it to you?

>>11
eh? 0.o

Anyways, it seems like with all the shipping costs I will have to get what I get localy. Walmart has a 42' plasma for $1700 and a 32' LCD for $1300, not super high rez and its a brand I never heard of, but cant complain about the price.

If you want to watch lots of TV, get a plasma. If you want to watch DVDs and very few TV, get a beamer. Beamers are a better choice for watching movies (100' beats 42' by a looong shot, and that's what you can get with a 3m throwing distance), but since they are not equipped for TV (no tuner, usually no speakers) watching TV is quite a hassle. $1700 buys you a nice beamer like Panasonic's AE700 (the one I use) or Sanyo's Z3, both fully HDTV compatible.

>>13
I will probly be watching very little TV or DVD on the thing, most of my stuff is digitized on a HTPC.

With my current set up I think a projector may be a hassle to set up. I would have to run alot of cable to get it on the other end of the room.

Seems like my options now are a 42' plasma for $1700, that is big and has a wall mount but I will be worrying about burn in, or a 32' LCD for $1300 that is smaller but has higher rez and no burn in issues.

Both TVs are Digistar, never heard of the brand before but the scattered reviews I have read seem good.

Seems like my options now are a 42' plasma for $1700, that is big and has a wall mount but I will be worrying about burn in, or a 32' LCD for $1300 that is smaller but has higher rez and no burn in issues.

Both TVs are Digistar, never heard of the brand before but the scattered reviews I have read seem good.

Well I bought the 32' LCD, and after all the shit that was talked on other forums from people who never saw the thing, its suprisingly good. I'm runing it at 1280x720 off of a DVI to HDMI cable (would be able to go higher if my computer had a HDMI port, lol) and it looks dandy. If I can ever find a VGA cable longer than 1m I'll give that a shot as well (since $80 for a cable is painful).

I decided to take it easy on the thing and keep the brightness and contract down, and it is still pretty bright with everything on 0. I have been trying, but I cant get the thing to ghost, even running the only two games I own, doom3 and f.e.a.r (games on this thing ruuuuuule!).

Its no monitor though, I gave it a shot for awhile but you'll get headaches if you sit too close to this thing @_@ I recomend anyone looking for a cheap HDTV to give it a try, because it is walmart and you can return it easy.

P.S. I dont really know what TV is like on it, didnt buy it for that purose and I dont have cable.

I don't know what kind of VGA cable you are planning to buy (solid silver wire with gold shielding ?), but I paid something like $40 for 15 metres, and I don't see any signal degradation from PC to beamer. BTW: If you can play games on the LCD, TV will most likely look good on it.

>>18
I used a VGA cable off my monitor for awhile, but I couldent find another long enough, VGA dose work fine. I just cant find that cable around here :/

If you ever have burn problems with a plasma, you can leave it on overnight in negative mode with the exact same image and it'll reverse-burn the image out of the glass.

>>8
lol screensavers
Computers with bright desktops and no screensaver could leave a burn. Don't worry about the black bars though, they're black to *prevent* being burned into the glass. Light is not emitted from black, so I doubt it would light-etch into glass if there's no light to begin with.

>>20
Wrong about the black bars. The point is that the rest of the screen is lit while the black bars are not, meaning the phosphors eventually respond differently due to how much they are/aren't used.

>>20 If you ever have burn problems with a plasma, you can leave it on overnight in negative mode with the exact same image and it'll reverse-burn the image out of the glass.

All that does is burn in the rest of the screen to make what already is damages less noticeable, basicly really causing the lifespan of the unit to lessen o_0


The problem with the black bars is not the black or the image, its the 1 or 2 pixles that end up being lit unevenly, they are the ones that have the potential for burn in.

Hello,
Plasma is not a good choice for you >>1 . Yes it makes for a nice display but if you are planning to use it as a computer monitor you will have a nice windows taskbar burnt into the screen. If your local airport uses plasma screens, you can see the "burn in" effect when viewing arrival/departure times. You might even notice that some of their screens maybe flipped upside down. I believe plasma displays still do not come equipped with any sound unit...

>>23
my town dosent have an airport... or a porn shop. It really is quite a shitty place.

Little update, the Digistar is now down $200 to $1199 (was 1399 before) ^_^