Flat-Panel TVs: Time to Go Skinny?
They're getting bigger and cheaper. No wonder more people are buying new-fangled LCD and plasma TVs. Which is better?Michael Desmond
Michael Desmond is a freelance writer and author of Office 2003 in 10 Simple Steps or Less. He still kicks himself for buying a 36-inch Sony CRT that weighs 230 pounds and takes up more floor space than a vintage Volkswagen Beetle.
Rob Enderle has probably forgotten more about flat-panel televisions than most people will ever know. The long-time technology analyst and consultant with the Enderle Group in San Jose, California makes his living riding the cutting edge of technology. So it's no wonder that Enderle owns not one or two, but three flat-panel TVs.
"I run LCD TVs in a couple rooms of the house, and I have a 42-inch plasma screen in the great room upstairs," says Enderle, who also has a 50-inch rear projection screen in a basement home theater.
Enderle's two LCD TVs use the same technology featured in laptop computer screens and flat-panel desktop monitors. Compact, lightweight, and sharp, LCD TVs provide a sleek and visually stunning alternative to traditional TVs, which use cathode ray tubes. His plasma display uses technology found in larger flat-panel screens, which typically start at 36 inches across diagonally.
The parade of flat-panel TVs may sound cutting edge to you and me, but Enderle says the gear he's using is actually getting long in the tooth. Mainstream LCD TVs have experienced a serious growth spurt in the past few months, expanding from a maximum size of 20 inches to more than 30 inches. And plasma screens, which use a different display technology, have dropped sharply in price. A 42-inch plasma model that cost Enderle $7000 three years ago can now be had for $3000.
All that is welcome news, of course. But for anxious consumers hoping to replace aging CRT televisions with sleek flat-panel models, it creates a lot of questions. Like when will the time be right to move to a digital, flat-panel TV? And which technology--LCD or plasma--will be the best choice when that time comes?
A Clear Winner
As it turns out, the answer may be a lot simpler than most people think.
Plasma screens initially seem to be the better deal because they offer the best bang for the buck on the showroom floor. Today, $3000 will get you either a 30-inch LCD or a much larger 42-inch plasma TV. But a number of issues with plasma technology make the screens a poor fit for consumers, warns Jon Peddie, principal of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon, California.
"They look great when they're new. It's a fantastic experience when you see one," Peddie says. But he warns: "The screen is hot, expensive, and noisy. It burns in; it wears out. For all those reasons, I don't think plasma is an appropriate solution for the home."
The difference between the two technologies is in the way LCD and plasma displays work. LCD screens employ millions of individual crystals, each of which responds to an electric charge to allow a specific amount and color of light to pass through the glass. Plasma screens use millions of tiny glass bubbles filled with a gas-like substance called plasma. When exposed to an electric charge, the plasma emits ultraviolet rays that cause the coating on the glass to glow the appropriate color. The problem is, the coating wears out over time.
That issue hit home for Enderle when he received a 30-inch LCD TV from Gateway to evaluate. Enderle had been quite happy with his three-year-old plasma TV--until he looked at it next to the LCD model.
"That's what really showed me how badly the plasma had degraded," Enderle recalls. "The LCD looked so much better. The funny thing is, the plasma degrades slowly over time so you don't even notice it."
LCD screens are immune to screen burn in and fade, which means they offer a significantly longer useful life than their plasma counterparts. In fact, the buttons and other components on LCD TVs are likely to fail before the screen itself does. Another advantage: LCD panels consume about half the power and produce much less heat than plasma displays. That means LCD TVs don't have to incorporate noisy fans to move cool air through the unit--a real problem with many plasma displays.
Try Before You Buy
Not that LCD TVs don't have flaws. Until recently, almost all LCD panels suffered from slow response times. The individual pixels on the screen couldn't change color and brightness fast enough to keep pace with the frantic action in many movies and sporting events. The lag can produce jittery or blurry video, particularly during sudden action. In addition, most LCDs used to fall behind traditional CRTs and plasma TVs in their ability to display true colors. Skins tones or subtle shades of gray might show visible artifacts, particularly when viewing from extreme angles.
Peddie says that engineers have solved both these issues, but consumers need to do their homework when buying a LCD TV. Many models currently offer response times of 25 to 30 milliseconds, but the best ones will refresh pixels as quickly as 16 milliseconds. Make sure to check the manufacturer's specs, and if possible, watch the TV in a store to see how it handles action-packed sequences.
In fact, all elements of image quality are best judged by viewing the TV itself. Different LCD TV models offer different levels of brightness, contrast, color fidelity, and pixel refresh. Personal preference really dictates what mix of capabilities works best for you. For instance, LCD TVs with extremely fast pixel refresh rates often compromise on their ability to display lifelike colors at sharp angles.
Buyers must also wrestle with more mundane issues, such as the shape of the screen. Many LCD TVs feature wide-screen designs, which provide the 16:9 aspect ratio that is optimal for viewing DVD movies. But those who spend the bulk of their time viewing TV programs might opt for a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio. Buyers should also ensure that any LCD TV they buy comes with the appropriate ports for connecting video and audio equipment. For instance, S-Video or high-end component video connections are best for handling DVD input.
Riddhi Patel keeps tabs on the flat-panel TV market for industry research firm ISuppli/Stanford Resources. She says that leading manufacturers like Samsung, Sharp, and Sony have dramatically improved the quality of their LCD TVs. The problem is, many buyers are being lured by lower-cost brands.
"You go to Costco, and there is a new brand every day," Patel says. "The performance on those brands needs to be improved substantially. It's not like all the panels have good response rates."
Still, those low-cost brands should help make LCD TVs a fixture in U.S. family rooms. According to ISuppli/Stanford Resources, LCD TVs represented a paltry 3 percent of TV sales in North America in 2003. By 2006, ISuppli/Stanford Resources anticipates that 25 percent of all TVs sold will be based on LCD technology. That figure should leap to nearly 40 percent in 2008, when LCD TVs are expected to surpass traditional CRTs as the most widely sold type of TV in North America.
The Buying Decision
Today, buyers can find LCD TVs offered by dozens of vendors, including consumer electronic stalwarts like NEC, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony. The Sharp Aquos line, for instance, includes LCD TVs up to 37 inches in diagonal. The 30-inch Sharp LC-30HV4U sells for about $3000 and offers a wide-screen design. The largest Sony LCD TV is the 42-inch LCD Wega, which costs a staggering $13,000. Fortunately, Sony also offers more reasonably priced 23-, 26-, and 32-inch LCD Wega models. Samsung's LTN line of LCD TVs includes 40- and 32-inch models, and a bevy of sensible models in the 17- and 15-inch range.
Even PC makers are getting into the act. Both Dell and Gateway sell a range of LCD TVs on their Web sites, including spacious 30-inch models.
Of course, any large LCD TV will cost significantly more than its similarly sized CRT TV counterpart. There's good news, however: Industry experts expect the prices on 30-inch LCD TVs to drop drastically as manufacturers ramp up production of oversized LCD panels: The market for TVs will soon look very much like that for desktop monitors. Over the period of just three or four years, flat-panel LCD displays went from being the height of cool technology to an everyday commodity.
When it comes to buying an LCD TV, the question really is: How long can you wait?