Went into Currys today on another errand, had a quick look at TVs as I’m possibly in the market for a bigger one. Now, I was aware that 3D is where it’s now at, but didn’t realise that plasma had become redundant or that’s how it seemed (the only one was reduced to clear). Is the quality of a plasma picture now inferior to LCD/LED?, I’m not arsed about 3D.

Dunno. I’d still go for a plasma over an LCD, certainly if it was bigger than 40″

No way-Panasonic plasma sets are superb. The old plasma screens were power hungry & difficult to make but newer generations are much better. Only trouble is plasma screens look a bit dull in the showroom compared to LED/LCD but set up properly at home are much better

Plasma ftw. This year’s top end plasmas look awesome.

Now, I was aware that 3D is where it’s now at

Who told you that? the spotty teenage currys salesperson?

If you like looking like a member of the blues brothers and motion sickness is your thang, then, yes 3D tv is where it’s at!

What happened to Plasma TVs?

No one bought them because they died within 3-5 years?

Loving my Panasonic Plasma here. Way smoother picture than LCD.

Bought a year ago ish for about £350? 37″

Shame if Plasma has gone off the shelves from the mainstream shops.

Richer Sounds seem to be selling them still though.

Richer Sounds clicky

Anyone who thinks plasma is redundant is welcome to view BBC HD on my Pioneer 😉 . I think they lost money on every one they sold. Newer Panasonics use their technology and are highly recommended.

No one bought them because they died within 3-5 years?

loblocks, they have a life span of 60000 hours. At 5 hours a day that equates to 32 years. Not bad and on par with LCD

See it here

Click me for the truth

I’m afraid the old plasma myths live on

More expensive to produce, hard to justify the extra cost to the general public.

I went for an LED purely for the fact they’re easier to hang on the wall. Much lighter, much thinner. Can’t tell the difference in quality between my 46″ LED Samsung and my Dads 50″ Plasma LG.

My understanding is that 3D hasn’t caught on as expected and is already dying out in Japan. Maybe that’s why there’s a push to get rid of the 3D sets.

Problem with 3d is the cost to actually watch owt in 3d!!!!
Funnily enough I was in a tesco superstore and was having a quick look at the tells, the one that looked to have the best pic was a 600hz plasma.

Problem with 3d is the cost to actually watch owt in 3d!!!! it’s a gimmick designed to prevent cinema piracy and fleece you for more money

I recently bought a Panasonic Plasma, I had a budget of around £500 and after trawling all the shops Mrs L & I agreed that the picture quality of the Plasmas was noticably better than the LCD/LED TV’s at a similar price point. (I saw some really superb LCD stuff priced at £1000 +) Our only concern was size, Panasonic Plasma TVs start at 42 inch.

The size turned out to be really good, and I am really pleased with the picture and sound quality, it is also very good with non HD channels.

Some say that a Plasma could last only as long as 5 years… TBH, and that is a poor scenario, £100 per year sounds good to me !

Loving our plasma, another Panasonic.

+1 For Panasonic Plasma, the contrast, motion and colours look fantastic compared to all of the LCDs I’ve seen. Saw and Ad last night for a 50″ for £600 which is about what we paid 3 years ago.

Also, don’t bother with a 3d TV, if you want that you need a projector to fill the wall and make the effect immersive.

They handle motion better than led, I say that sitting here with a new led tv. But to me the brightness and clarity of led was what I preferred. If you buy one, buy Panasonic.

loblocks, they have a life span of 60000 hours. At 5 hours a day that equates to 32 years. Not bad and on par with LCD

See it here

I didn’t realise it was bollocks (well it wasn’t, the first plasma’s did last 5 min), some manufacturers claim a 100,000 hour life span now.

I bought a Panasonic plasma with 3D and Smart TV gubbins the other week and the picture is fantastic and i’m very happy with it.

I agree that 3D is a gimmick though (i didn’t realise my tv had this until the sales guy pointed it out) and in the daylight the background flicker makes it unwatcheable in my opinion. At night is ok but the whole sitting in your lounge with glasses on thing is just not right. Plus mine are £70 each (thankfully i got 2 sets thrown in with the deal).

Problem with 3d is the cost to actually watch owt in 3d!!!! Funnily enough I was in a tesco superstore and was having a quick look at the tells, the one that looked to have the best pic was a 600hz plasma.

trouble is you never know if all the sets have been set up correctly

we’ve had our plasma telly (panasonic) for 9yrs now, still doing just fine and prob averaging 4hr a day or so

I’d guess that plasma will “die” when the cheaper-to-mnufacture stuff becomes as good as it – probably around nowish maybe ?

My first flat tv was a Hitachi 37″ plasma display and my brother in law is still using it nearly 10 years on.

Agree with most on here that 3d is a gimmick that I won’t be subscribing to. The only thing that I have seen in 3d that looked any good was a football match.

my folks have just been out TV shopping, 7/10 didn’t even have an HD feed into them – hard to compare

I know bugger all about TVs but everyone kept banging on about Panasonic Plasmas (if going over 32″ at the time). I have an old Viera TH-42PV500?B that I bought from a mate about 4 years ago. Its been, and still is, brilliant.

Another Panasonic Plasma here, plenty of Plasma TV’s still available you just got to look for them.

LED is all about the backlighting not really about the panel itself.
3D is pretty guff IMO ,still haven’t seen a picture from one that I would bother changing my current tv for.
Quad HD is probably going to be the next generation of TV,4x resolution of a current Full HD tv,that and SMART TV’s becoming more common.

Interesting article on Screen Size VS Living Room Size for viewing distance etc

I’ve had my Phillips 37inch plasma for 7 years and never had any problems with it

Couple of years ago now but I had to buy a 50″ TV for a student hall. Went with a 720p Panasonic Plasma as they were absolute bargains due to all the newer ones being full HD. TBH due to previous experience with Panasonic TVs it was an easy choice. Had an absolutely brilliant picture, even when I only had a 10m long phono lead to connect to the DVD player – no component or HDMI at that point. Hooked up with the monster surround sound I installed I enjoyed the installation and set up sessions using Top Gun to make sure the surround sound worked. 😀

Another bigup for the Plasma TV crowd. My Panny is 8-9 years old now, used about 6hrs a day, still looks awesome.
Does anyone know of a Plasma TV that has actually reached its lifespan?

Pioneer 50″ Kuru. My Granda has one bit mad I know at 80 but if you can then why not eh.

Still brilliant.

Stopped them now but think Panasonic are using their panels.