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Plasma TV question
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Steve Bosell
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Dec 8, 2006, 04:19 PM
 
Can someone please explain to me why the resolution of a 42” plasma tv is 1024x768 ? It seems that that is not the resolution for a screen with that aspect ratio, plus if you are going to watch native 720p content the resolution should be 1280x720. Regardless, I have noticed that the plasma picture quality seems better than LCD.

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Rumor
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Dec 8, 2006, 04:22 PM
 
It has a more vibrant color at first but starts to fade.

Don't buy a plasma, it's already a dying technology.
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design219
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Dec 8, 2006, 04:44 PM
 
TVs don't use square pixels.
     
smacintush
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Dec 8, 2006, 05:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by Rumor View Post
It has a more vibrant color at first but starts to fade.
Modern plasma's have a 60,000 hour half-life. That's 20 years at 8 hours a day.

Don't buy a plasma, it's already a dying technology.
They aren't dying at all. They are superior to LCD in color, black levels and response time and they are continually getting better and cheaper.

LCD's are great but so are plasmas, for different reasons.
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Rumor
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Dec 8, 2006, 05:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by smacintush View Post
Modern plasma's have a 60,000 hour half-life. That's 20 years at 8 hours a day.



They aren't dying at all. They are superior to LCD in color, black levels and response time and they are continually getting better and cheaper.

LCD's are great but so are plasmas, for different reasons.
Oh yeah? Well
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Steve Bosell  (op)
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Dec 8, 2006, 06:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by design219 View Post
TVs don't use square pixels.
That could answer the aspect ratio question, but 720p = 1280x720 still does not make sense.
     
tooki
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Dec 8, 2006, 07:45 PM
 
Uh, yes it does. It's just scaling the 1280 down to 1024 pixels that are wider, and the 720 up to 768 shorter pixels.

You could make a set that is 10,000x250 if you wanted, and it could be anything from tall like a pencil to wide like a movie screen, depending on the shape of the pixels. (In fact, analog video has no fixed pixels, it's got a fixed number of horizontal lines, with the analog signal modulating what appears on that line. When you see the "number of lines" listed for an analog system, it's actually referring to horizontal resolution, or the number of identifiable pixels on a horizontal line. VHS, for example, was only around 250, so its resolution, in computer terms, is 250x480 -- more resolution on the shorter side than the long one!)

On a cheap plasma, you get that less-than-HD resolution, because it's cheap. For more money, you can step up to 1366x768 screens that actually show the full HD picture, or to really expensive full 1920x1080 ones that can show 1080i without scaling.

Plasma, because it uses phosphors, has the most CRT-like color, both in terms of outstanding color purity, black point, response time and viewing angle, and also in terms of comparatively low brightness and contrast.

LCDs, on the other hand, are the opposite: high contrast, very high brightness, but reduced viewing angle, response time, and color.

Both technologies have advantages and disadvantages, and because they are now competing over the same market, they're pushing their costs down while improving image quality.

The real question is, what's gonna happen when OLED TVs hit the streets?

tooki
     
   
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