LCD TV recommendation (2013)

[Leo_A]

Being that I'm most likely going to be buying an LED LCD TV in 2013, thought I ask, what about Plasma? I've heard some but not many Plasmas do accept the old 240p low resolution signals old consoles produce you just have to watch out for burn in and they are still expensive than LCDs. Do hey have any lag time? Either way I'm still keeping a CRT.

Most any HDTV will accept a 240p signal (Although many will hardly do a decent job of displaying it). Plasmas aren't unique in that regard and still have a fixed resolution just like a LCD has with all content not matching that having to be scaled by a scaling chip (Which doesn't care in the slightest what the screen technology is). So there's absolutely no advantage over LCD technology there.

They're generally a bit better with colors (Particularly deep blacks) and motion blur but LCD technology has also advanced greatly so those advantages aren't what they once were. And if you want to play classic games on a plasma while pillarboxed for any length of time, you will suffer from temporary image retention that sometimes can require several hours of widescreen programming to erase the ghosts. There's no way around it unless you just play for a few minutes at a time and then move on to something that's 16:9.

And despite great strides, permanent screen burn-in can still happen on a plasma. Particularly during the first 1,000 hours or so of use and if you're not following the instructions on breaking in your set.

So if you want to play classic games at their OAR on one, I'd give it careful consideration. I watch many 4:3 television shows and Academy ratio movies (The standard before widescreen processes took over in the early 1950's so I've stayed away from plasmas. Not only would I regularly be suffering from IR, I imagine that pillarboxing would've became permanent fixtures by now since I watch relatively little full screen 16:9 programming (Particularly during the winter months when motorsports takes a hiatus around the world).

[alec006]

Most any HDTV will accept a 240p signal (Although many will hardly do a decent job of displaying it). Plasmas aren't unique in that regard and still have a fixed resolution just like a LCD has with all content not matching that having to be scaled by a scaling chip (Which doesn't care in the slightest what the screen technology is). So there's absolutely no advantage over LCD technology there.

They're generally a bit better with colors (Particularly deep blacks) and motion blur but LCD technology has also advanced greatly so those advantages aren't what they once were. And if you want to play classic games on a plasma while pillarboxed for any length of time, you will suffer from temporary image retention that sometimes can require several hours of widescreen programming to erase the ghosts. There's no way around it unless you just play for a few minutes at a time and then move on to something that's 16:9.

And despite great strides, permanent screen burn-in can still happen on a plasma. Particularly during the first 1,000 hours or so of use and if you're not following the instructions on breaking in your set.

So if you want to play classic games at their OAR on one, I'd give it careful consideration. I watch many 4:3 television shows and Academy ratio movies (The standard before widescreen processes took over in the early 1940's) so I've stayed away from plasmas. Not only would I regularly be suffering from IR, I imagine that pillarboxing would've became permanent fixtures by now since I watch relatively little full screen 16:9 programming (Particularly during the winter months when motorsports takes a hiatus around the world).

That made up my mind, I myself do watch some old academy aspect ratio movies too, along with childhood cartoons, anime and sitcoms that are all in 4:3. Not to mention all my home movies are mostly in 4:3 as well. An LCD would be a better value it looks like, not to mention easier on the wallet, and I do plan on getting a XRGB Framemeister since most of my consoles have RGB cables already and that will help the TV so it doesn't have to use it's own scaler. Thanks so much Leo!

[plc268]

Some people might think I'm crazy, but if you're going to play on a modern TV, a proper video scaler is a must. And in my mind, there's really only one scaler worth buying, the xRGB mini. It's not cheap though (~$450), and you'll have to import it from Japan.

Now, you may be thinking, why the hell do I need a 500 dollar box from japan to play my old consoles? Well, there's a couple of reasons.

1. It'll standardize and convert all your inputs (rgb/scart, component, composite, svideo) into HDMI. Let's face it, HDMI isn't going anywhere soon, and analog connections on new TVs are starting to fade away. Sure, most TVs still include composite connections, but SVideo on TVs are getting harder and harder to find.

2. It'll reduce your input lag a little, especially if your TV is a horrendous internal scaler. Now, it won't do nothing to fix the inherent display lag that's evident in lcds themselves (depending on the panel technology, some lcds have much lower lag/refresh rate than others). Chances are, your TV has a poor scaler and will introduce extra frames of lag. Ever play something like super mario world, and something feels off? Like you press the jump button and the action is delayed ever so slightly? Chances are, it's the internal scaler.

3. It'll just make the picture look better. A lot of TVs introduce extra artifacts into the videos. It's just a product of...again... a bad scaler. If you have Final Fantasy 3/6, look at the opening scene in the game where you're walking around the town. There's grates on the floor. When you move vertically, everything looks fine. Move in a horizontal motion, and the grates blur. This shouldn't happen. I've seen it happen on every LCD I've ever plugged my SNES into, but it shouldn't be there. However, with my SNES plugged into the xrgb mini, this artifacting and blurring does not occur any more.


In my mind, there's three choiced: save up and buy an external scaler (there's others, but the mini just happens to be the best), live with a terrible picture on an lcd/plasma, or find a corner to stash an old CRT into.

[otaku]

I've only owned a sony bravia from 07 which I sold last year nice set I'd consider one again. Samsung seems to be the best/most popular brand with vizio being close and best in price. If I were buying it would all depend on finances I'd go as big as I could which could lead to a vizio

[Ed Oscuro]

Some people might think I'm crazy, but if you're going to play on a modern TV, a proper video scaler is a must. And in my mind, there's really only one scaler worth buying, the xRGB mini.

Of course it depends on what you use it for - if you have an old VGA monitor, then another scaler is a better choice (since the Mini doesn't have its own VGA output). Still, I forget that Fudoh gives it the top recommendation in his scaler ratings (from May 2012), especially for LCD sets.

Its only real downside is 480p content, which is admittedly rarer to come by but can be a real concern

Some sets do pretty well without scalers - Fudoh's plasma mention (Pioneer PDP-V402) handles 480p (i.e., GameCube) as well as 240p very well. This is a rare set though, and not really likely to fill the other uses of an LCD screen well.