Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Member since:
July 2006
July 2006
I know this question has been asked one time or another, but a friend of mine wanted some opinions about using a LCD or Plasma display and playing video games (WII, X-Box or PS1/2/3). I told him it's generally not a good idea to use these displays for gaming, but he's not a serious "gamer", rather a HT enthusiast who loves movies. Any thoughts?
Geo
Geo
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Member since:
January 2006
January 2006
I've always thought plasma's are the worst things you can get if you're going to be playing games because of burn in and such. There's lots of good info out there on all kinds of TVs if you can wade through the mud and the muck. (For the record, my LCD of choice is going to be the Sony Bravia XBR4 or the KDL-40V2500.)
Jason
Jason
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Member since:
May 2007
May 2007
As far as burn-in goes I think plasmas are the ones to look out for, but so long as you don't leave the same image on for extended periods of time you shouldn't have much of a problem.
With your LCDs, look for lower refresh rates to avoid becoming succeptible to seizures caused by flicker. :)
[Post edited by JPSofCA on Aug 29, 2007]
With your LCDs, look for lower refresh rates to avoid becoming succeptible to seizures caused by flicker. :)
[Post edited by JPSofCA on Aug 29, 2007]
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Member since:
June 2006
June 2006
- PLASMA vs LCD -
Fast moving images usually look better on a plasma display, than LCD (which can have a blurry effect on some displays which may or may not be noticeable to the viewer). However, if you visit YouTube and search under "Panasonic plasma" or "plasma problem" you will see examples from some gamers who've used plasmas, showing examples that on fast game images there is actually some "ghosting coloring" in the back-grounds [appearing on game movement, then disappearing when still] - strange effect indeed.
IF you use a plasma regardless, you MUST do a proper "break-in" of the phosphers, especially during the initial first 100 hours (and Panasonic has a "white paper" about this on their website). Contast and brightness should be lowered to less than 50%, avoid any continuous stactic images like DVD menus, game menus (etc), and especially to avoid viewing any content that's not using the full-screen (either by stretching the image for 4:3 content, or playing only 1:78:1 or 1:85:1 type content, so as to avoid any dark sides or dark letterbox images) - all during the first 100 hours.
One guy on a Best Buy review, said he broke in his plasma in about a week, keeping the Panasonic set on for about 8 hours a day, and playing a continuous loop of PLANET EARTH on HD-DVD or Blu-ray [1:78:1 content], and with a lower contrast and brightness.
After 100 hours, you can increase the contrast and brightness somewhat, but still keep at a reasonable "theater-room" level [avoiding a high brightness for instance], for the next 900 hours, so that by then the plasma is totally "broke in" and probably immune from ever suffering any permanent type of "burn in" from a static image. But if it happens, just play some different material (movies, TV shows), and the temporary burn-in image should disappear.
FYI: it's not widely known, but I recently read that all of Panasonic's 2007 plasma line has a built-in protection to help avoid "burn-in" as much as possible, using the "shifting pixel" method, whereby the small pixels are actually slowly and continuously moving around slightly [never stationary], and if you sit a reasonable distance from the display you won't notice the effect.
For 42" plasmas, sit no closer than 5 to 6 feet. And for 50" and above, try to sit at least 8 or more feet away from the screen (and with plasma's excellent image quality, a reasonable distance from a 720p set will look just as good at the same distance if you had a more expensive 1080p set - your eyes can't usually see any difference unless you sit closer).
With plasma displays being priced lately at amazing sale prices [as LCD popularity grows], within 3 months (Black Friday, after Thanksgiving), look for name-brand 42" models for under $1000, and 50" models for under $1500]. Great deals! Especially when you realize that during Christmas 2005 [less than 2 years ago], 37" plasmas were betwen $2000 to $2500, 42" plasmas were from $2500 to $3500, and 50" plasmas were from $3000 to around $7000 (depending on the model and specs). So the pending plasmas bargain days (and excellent image quality), should attract many during this 4th quarter.
PIONEER and PANSONIC are the best (along with a more expensive high-end line made by FUJITSU), followed by models from SAMSUNG, TOSHIBA, HITACHI, LG, PHILIPS, and then finally lower-tier brands like HP, VIZIO, MAGNAVOX, AKAI, DELL, and MAXENT.
-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Aug 29, 2007]
Fast moving images usually look better on a plasma display, than LCD (which can have a blurry effect on some displays which may or may not be noticeable to the viewer). However, if you visit YouTube and search under "Panasonic plasma" or "plasma problem" you will see examples from some gamers who've used plasmas, showing examples that on fast game images there is actually some "ghosting coloring" in the back-grounds [appearing on game movement, then disappearing when still] - strange effect indeed.
IF you use a plasma regardless, you MUST do a proper "break-in" of the phosphers, especially during the initial first 100 hours (and Panasonic has a "white paper" about this on their website). Contast and brightness should be lowered to less than 50%, avoid any continuous stactic images like DVD menus, game menus (etc), and especially to avoid viewing any content that's not using the full-screen (either by stretching the image for 4:3 content, or playing only 1:78:1 or 1:85:1 type content, so as to avoid any dark sides or dark letterbox images) - all during the first 100 hours.
One guy on a Best Buy review, said he broke in his plasma in about a week, keeping the Panasonic set on for about 8 hours a day, and playing a continuous loop of PLANET EARTH on HD-DVD or Blu-ray [1:78:1 content], and with a lower contrast and brightness.
After 100 hours, you can increase the contrast and brightness somewhat, but still keep at a reasonable "theater-room" level [avoiding a high brightness for instance], for the next 900 hours, so that by then the plasma is totally "broke in" and probably immune from ever suffering any permanent type of "burn in" from a static image. But if it happens, just play some different material (movies, TV shows), and the temporary burn-in image should disappear.
FYI: it's not widely known, but I recently read that all of Panasonic's 2007 plasma line has a built-in protection to help avoid "burn-in" as much as possible, using the "shifting pixel" method, whereby the small pixels are actually slowly and continuously moving around slightly [never stationary], and if you sit a reasonable distance from the display you won't notice the effect.
For 42" plasmas, sit no closer than 5 to 6 feet. And for 50" and above, try to sit at least 8 or more feet away from the screen (and with plasma's excellent image quality, a reasonable distance from a 720p set will look just as good at the same distance if you had a more expensive 1080p set - your eyes can't usually see any difference unless you sit closer).
With plasma displays being priced lately at amazing sale prices [as LCD popularity grows], within 3 months (Black Friday, after Thanksgiving), look for name-brand 42" models for under $1000, and 50" models for under $1500]. Great deals! Especially when you realize that during Christmas 2005 [less than 2 years ago], 37" plasmas were betwen $2000 to $2500, 42" plasmas were from $2500 to $3500, and 50" plasmas were from $3000 to around $7000 (depending on the model and specs). So the pending plasmas bargain days (and excellent image quality), should attract many during this 4th quarter.
PIONEER and PANSONIC are the best (along with a more expensive high-end line made by FUJITSU), followed by models from SAMSUNG, TOSHIBA, HITACHI, LG, PHILIPS, and then finally lower-tier brands like HP, VIZIO, MAGNAVOX, AKAI, DELL, and MAXENT.
-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)
[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Aug 29, 2007]
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Member since:
March 2002
March 2002
Luckygeo,
It's all opinion based when it comes to games. If you prefer sharper detail and darker gamma then LCD is perfect. I prefer softer tones and lighter gamma settings, so my good old JVC tube works best for me. Being the gamma on LCD (when playing games) is too dark causes dark environments (caves, dungeouns, night time, etc.) to be completely black, which can be a real pain especially in racing games. This causes for adjustments to be made before playing video games on the LCD. Then you need to remember to go back and readjust for regular broadcast or DVD. The advantage with a regular tube TV is you don't need to make adjustments to gamma so, convenience wins for me.
[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Aug 30, 2007]
It's all opinion based when it comes to games. If you prefer sharper detail and darker gamma then LCD is perfect. I prefer softer tones and lighter gamma settings, so my good old JVC tube works best for me. Being the gamma on LCD (when playing games) is too dark causes dark environments (caves, dungeouns, night time, etc.) to be completely black, which can be a real pain especially in racing games. This causes for adjustments to be made before playing video games on the LCD. Then you need to remember to go back and readjust for regular broadcast or DVD. The advantage with a regular tube TV is you don't need to make adjustments to gamma so, convenience wins for me.
[Post edited by Tim Raynor on Aug 30, 2007]
