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The big picture

Posted by Daylene on 20 August 2006 - 19:59 · 62 comments & 29705 views

A ghost appears on the battlefields of competing technologies. It's the ghost of Beta, the home video technology that succumbed in the 1980s to rival VHS. It haunts garage sales where battered Beta versions of movies like Stripes and Police Academy bake in the sun alongside Peter Frampton 8-track tapes.

The ghost might have some company soon. Another home entertainment technology death duel is under way as two different TV technologies — liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma — vie for dominance of the big-screen, flat-panel television market.

Until recently the technologies weren't really in direct competition, as plasma was more suited to bigger screens while LCD had the edge on smaller ones. Giant LCD sets were available, but they relied on bulky image-projecting equipment behind their screens, and thereby lacked the fashionable thinness of plasma flat-screen units.

But LCD technology is evolving as manufacturers turn out increasingly larger flat-panel units. LCD manufacturers can now make a flat-screen TV as big as 46 inches without compromising picture quality. And they say even bigger sets are in development.

LCD is now in plasma country, and this means war — a war some say plasma can't hope to win.

Electronics giant Sony stopped manufacturing plasma TVs 18 months ago. John Challinor, Sony Canada's general manager of corporate communications, calls plasma a "high maintenance" product.

"The (sets) offer a very good picture, a very bright picture," he says. "But they have serious problems as relates to burn-in." (Burn-in is where an unchanging image stays on your TV screen so long that it gets burned onto its surface.)

News source: Toronto Star

Challinor says the static on-screen layout of round-the-clock news channels, where the screen is divided into boxes, is especially problematic. The black bars on a widescreen movie can also burn into a screen.

Challinor describes some other problems:

Plasma sets are very susceptible to temperature fluctuation in a room;

You've got to have it in a location with a consistent temperature range.

They don't like direct sunlight — it distorts your ability to see the screen-face clearly.

The sets don't like to be moved from room to room, because of the sensitivity of the gases inside the screen.

Another factor in Sony's abandonment of plasma was its shorter lifespan. "Plasma has about a 40,000 hour life. LCD has about a 60,000 hour life."

Meanwhile, Challinor says, LCD manufacturers are rapidly correcting the product's deficiencies in the large, flat-panel format.

"LCD technology has advanced significantly in the last 18 months. There were issues with ghosting. LCD couldn't handle fast movement — in a hockey game you'd lose the puck. That's no longer the case."

Challinor is confident plasma's dominance of the flat-panel large-sized TV market is almost over. "LCD does not (currently) have flat panel in the 60- or 70-inch range, but a year from now you'll see that in the marketplace."

The outlook for plasma televisions isn't any sunnier in the office of John Birks, a home and consumer technology specialist at market research firm NPD Group. He points to big changes in Canadian television sales over the past 12 months.

Of overall television sales, 13 per cent were big-screen rear-projection units. These are too chubby to hang like a picture frame on your wall, Birks says, but they do have the giant screen.

Plasma sets, which achieve that elegant, slim look on huge screens, accounted for 6 per cent of unit sales. LCD sets of all sizes accounted for 18 per cent. (The rest of the sales involved other types of televisions, like the old-fashioned cathode-ray tube models and portable transistorized units.)

Birks says TV sales in general are up 9 per cent in the past 12 months, with 2.5 million sets sold.

"If you look at it from the standpoint of LCD and plasma, the percentage increase in plasma was 283 per cent. The percentage increase in LCD was 330 per cent."

Birks, however, warns that such comparisons must be put in context. Yes, LCD sales increased more than plasma sales. But LCD sets are currently smaller than plasma. Plasma competes in the large-size market, where sales are fewer.

Nonetheless, Birks says plasma is in trouble.

"Probably the best analogy people are using is Beta and VHS from the early VCR days," adds Birks. "Some people think that plasma is the Beta. The reason plasma sets exist is they were the only ones with big, flat screens, until recently. LCD (increasingly) offers big screen TVs with a nice format."

Birks says LCDs are a bit expensive right now, so there will be a transition period.

"There's a future for plasma, but I don't think it's strong," he says. If plasma endures, Birks sees it as a lower-cost alternative to LCD in the big screen sizes. "But you can also see prices on LCD dropping. So it's going to be competitive with plasma."

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(3 replies) #1 Posted by boogerjones on 20 Aug 2006 - 20:14: Hmmm, weird article. Too many paragraphs. And the ghost intro is weird, too.

Quote -
The thing about home technology as a whole, the greater the adoption of it, the more people who want it, the more the price goes down," she adds.
Obviously this moron failed Econ 101, 'cause an increase in consumer demand always increases the price. The prices drop because manufacturing costs drop, supply increases, and competition from other manufacturers puts pressure on the numbers.

Last edited by boogerjones on 20 Aug 2006 - 20:21

#2 Posted by NI3NOR on 20 Aug 2006 - 20:14: The Big Picture = The Big News?
I think it's too long on the main page...

#3 Posted by CDog on 20 Aug 2006 - 20:22: Good We just recently bought a new Sony Bravia 42" HDTV LCD (which is fantastic) so this is somewhat reasuring.

(1 reply) #4 Posted by purplehaze32 on 20 Aug 2006 - 20:57: I don't see the comparision to Beta/VHS. Plasma/LCD isn't a media format - if one dominates, it doesn't make the other useless.

#5 Posted by Digital Oracle on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:07: Removed...

Last edited by Brian B on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:30

#6 Posted by Yukon on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:07: good read

#7 Posted by PureLegend on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:19: Plasma. Eww.

Burn-in is an awful effect, and is very common, especially with logos and such.

#8 Posted by DomG on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:50: I'm still happy with my two tube TVs. I don't see what the big fuss about this HDTV is, we don't even have a digital setup here yet.

(1 reply) #9 Posted by eilegz on 20 Aug 2006 - 21:55: lcd and plasma still have one problem heat, both overheat and use too much energy, its some issue that in the future lets hope they fix, not everyone got a AC.

(1 reply) #10 Posted by ryanfourtwenty on 20 Aug 2006 - 22:16: GOD i hope i find a lcd or plasma at a garage sale

(2 replies) #11 Posted by MightyJordan on 20 Aug 2006 - 22:37: I'm not too fond of plasma screens myself, but my family has a Samsung 50 inch HD plasma screen TV in the living room with a Sky HD box hooked up to it, and it works really well, and it is excellent for the Xbox 360, but I also have a Samsung 32 inch CRT HD TV in my room (I thought it wasn't possible to get HDTV from a CRT screen). Plasma screens do have the problems of "burn-in", but it doesn't happen on Samsung TVs. They have a special tool built in that moves the screen by 1 pixel a second to avoid burn-in, and it doesn't disrupt your viewing, because a movement of 1 pixel is almost invisible to the naked eye.

(1 reply) #12 Posted by strekship on 20 Aug 2006 - 23:11: Is there a quality difference between plasma and LCD?

#13 Posted by The Cub on 20 Aug 2006 - 23:19: FFS! If one more hack uses the VHS / Betamax comparison, I think I'll ****ing hang myself. It was what, 20 years ago or more? And they still use it every single bloody time there are some sort of competing products on the market (which is like every other week). Please, for God's sake let it go, move on, use something else. It's just so ****ing boring.

(2 replies) #14 Posted by dagamer34 on 20 Aug 2006 - 23:54: Oy, LCD vs. Plasma isn't likr VHS vs. Beta. Whoever thinks that needs to go back to their hole.

(4 replies) #15 Posted by Xionanx on 21 Aug 2006 - 00:03: Perhaps I should have proof read my own writing for stupidity; I stand corrected.

However, I have personally never encountered this phenomenon, so perhaps I've been extremely lucky.

Last edited by Xionanx on 21 Aug 2006 - 20:54

(6 replies) #16 Posted by Trong on 21 Aug 2006 - 00:29: At least in these wars they can both coexist. Doesn't work that way with Blu Ray and HDDVD. I've got a 27 in. LCD in my room though so I hope LCD "wins."

Also, to whoever posted it, there are black bars when watching widescreen movies on a widescreen TV.

#17 Posted by Julius Caro on 21 Aug 2006 - 00:33: As somebody has already stated, the difference between Betamax/VHS war and LCD/Plasma is that it won't matter who wins this "TV" battle, since the other will not be obsolete. Betamax ended beeing completely useless since no titles would be published in that format.
Both LCD and Plasma should follow the same High Definition standards anyway.

I'm personally an LCD fan, and the truth is that I haven't seen many HD plasma panels here in Spain. Fine, there's no High Def channel here in Spain, but I dont think it would be a good inversion to buy a non-HD panel anyway. People here don't care about what they buy, they just want BIG tvs in their living rooms.

I think the quality in LCD sets is VERY good, and very crisp. Colors blow up already, compared to standard definition TV. I think plasma has different lighting things, they look kinda different.

#18 Posted by bangbang023 on 21 Aug 2006 - 01:14: Didn't Sony cut back on plasma because they simply couldn't get panels from NEC fast enough? For some reason, that's what I've been thinking. I'm groggy, though, so who knows.

(3 replies) #19 Posted by Un-Dead Soldier on 21 Aug 2006 - 01:45: as long as i can view porn!

(3 replies) #20 Posted by hardgiant on 21 Aug 2006 - 03:39: Forget LCD and Plasma, SED is the future.

(2 replies) #21 Posted by rIaHc3 on 21 Aug 2006 - 04:27: Forget LCD, Plasma, AND SED, OLED is coming!

(1 reply) #22 Posted by badazzEVO8 on 21 Aug 2006 - 07:12: i thought blue ray was heading towards betamax. thats a better comparison

(1 reply) #23 Posted by wicker_man on 21 Aug 2006 - 07:30: Sony has pulled out of plasma market simply because of what Bangbang23 said and because quality of their products just couldn't stack up to the quality of 2 major plasma market leaders like Panasonic and Pioneer.
Whatever the execs say, plasma technology offers far more superior image quality than LCD. The reason for that is because plasma (just like OLED) is a self-illuminating display, id est the colour is produced by the cells themselves during an electronic discharge of the cell, whereas LCDs are NOT self-illuminating displays, ultimately offering ihnerently worse picature quality as far as contrast ratio and brightness goes. This has been the problem for LCDs since they hit the market - everyone remembers burned pixels, low contrast, etc. on LCDs even a year or two ago. The credit is due to be given to LCDs though as manufacturers have advanced the technology further to iron out those problems, but even then as I have said they would not be able to touch plasma's picture quality for quite a long time. And this is why Panasonic and Pioneer haven't pulled out of plasma market yet, and that's why Panasonic has invested into another plasma production plant in Japan - because they know plasma has future.

#24 Posted by Galley on 21 Aug 2006 - 09:40: Widescreen-o-Rama: All About Aspect Ratios
The Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen DVD

#25 Posted by caravela on 21 Aug 2006 - 09:49: this is more an article to SELL more LCDs.
VHS vs BetaMax the two technologies played diferent tipes of tapes.
LCD and Plasmas do the same thing with the same inputs, even if Plasmas are wiped out there is no problem for who as one. They both fine to watch tv,dvd whatever...
Now if you tell me Blue-Ray vs HD-DVD that is another story, not LCD vs Plamas.

#26 Posted by Angel Blue01 on 21 Aug 2006 - 13:33: Whichever is better theyre too expesive.

I'm not buying either until a 27" costs less than $400.

#27 Posted by fr33k on 21 Aug 2006 - 15:22: The last time I walked through the TV section of an electronics store, one thing I noticed was how hot the Plasma TVs were. You could probably walk through blindfolded and be able to pick the Plasmas just by the heat they give off.
If I lived in some winter wonderland I might pick a Plasma just so I could save on heating bills, but I live in california, and don't need to make my little apartment any hotter, so when I do upgrade to flat panel I'll be getting a 37" to 43" LCD

#28 Posted by ltworf on 21 Aug 2006 - 15:48: Ironic this was posted and now Samsung announces this:

70" LCD

#29 Posted by ghos on 22 Aug 2006 - 01:52: Personally I prefer DLP and not sure why the article doesn't go to mention it at all. It has large screen sizes and is HD as well.

#30 Posted by rIaHc3 on 22 Aug 2006 - 03:13: Just to inform everyone:

LCD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD
OLED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_light-emitting_diode
DLP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLP (Projector)
CRT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube
Plasma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display
LCOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_on_silicon
SED: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-condu...emitter_Display

Sorry Sp3ctranova didnt mean to forget SED. Dont take it as a insult.

Last edited by rIaHc3 on 22 Aug 2006 - 16:54

#31 Posted by Sp3ctranova on 22 Aug 2006 - 08:08: Here's some info on SED:

Canon website
Wikipedia (more links at the bottom)

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