Id always opt for a LCD over a Plasma personally.
Whats wrong with a projector? Even a HD projector?
Why?
Most new LCDs have the LED backlighting for example - Sooo nice. The new Samsungs are not only insanely thin, they are really good.
Dont get sucked into the marketing speak which Samsung puts out.
Theres three types of LED backlighting:
Side lit LED
Local dimming LED
RGB local dimming LED
Side lit is when the outer frame of the set has LEDs pointing inwards, then they use diffusers to carefully spread the light around the set evenly. The main benefits of doing this are:
1) Much thinner sets
2) Super high contrast
3) Lower power consumption
All the current so called Samsung LED TVs are using side lit LED backlighting - that includes the 6000, 7000 & 8000 series LED TVs.
The main problem with these sets though is the same as every other CCFL backlit (i.e. classic) LCD on the market. The set has to use the LCD panel to block the light coming from behind when it needs to show something dark. Its pretty much impossible to stop all the light due to leakage between the dots on the LCD. This is why you end up with greys instead of blacks and much lower definition within darker scenes. Also the super high contrast might sound great on paper, but real life just isnt that bright and saturated. If you look on the likes of AVForums or AVSForum for an owners thread detailing how to properly calibrate an LCD for TV, movie and games viewing, the first thing they all mention is TURN DOWN THE CONTRAST.
Heres a detailed review of the current side lit Samsung LED TVs :
Samsung UE40B7020The yet to be released Samsung 8500/9000 series LED TV will use locally dimming LED backlighting, which is where the fun really starts.
It uses an array of white LEDs, which it can dim or switch off to show true blacks.
Problem is the LEDs are obviously much bigger than the pixels, so you dont get exact line definition between the dimming/switched off areas and the content.
I was all set to buy a Samsung 52" F96 local dimming LED TV, until I encountered this problem when demoing the set. The blacks are quite franlkly amazing BUT, with more detailed sequences where the gap between black and light is much smaller it tends to fall over. The Pioneer just walked all over it.
In hindsight Im not surprised, after all it was the first commercially available local dimming LED TV.
The tech has moved on now with larger arrays using smaller LEDs + other techniques. One of which is :
RGB (or tri colour) local dimming LED backlighting
Instead of using white LEDs the set uses clusters of red green and blue to control the dimming more accurately. To say they separate themselves is an understatement. First time I saw one in person I had to blink.
Currently only Sony use this technology, in their Bravia X4500 range. (Although Samsung may do with the 9000 series).
That all aside a Samsung 9000 series or Sony X4500 series 46" will probably set you back 2500 pounds!
And once you weigh up ALL the factors, I still think the
Pioneer PDP-LX5090 (their last one), will beat them. Its pretty much seen as reference level.
With the likes of the
Kuro PDP-508XD being around the 1300-1400 mark now, its an insane deal for a set which isnt that many steps down the from the 5090 latest version.
As Eggtastico has mentioned Panasonic are awesome as well. Their new NeoPDP are great + you can get a 5 year warranty quite easily from Panasonic. Ive got one in my bedroom.
All in all LED TVs are cool + great... as long as theyve got the right bits in the back. If not theyre not much different to CCFL backlit screens.
