Diesel or gas? That analogy might have worked in 2007 when choosing a high definition disc player, or in 2000 when choosing a high resolution audio disc player, but it doesn't make sense for display technologies at all as you can feed any of them the same signals, SECAM and some others notwithstanding.
Choosing between LCD and plasma is a perfectly acceptable place to start and only someone with a vested interested in one technology or the other would disagree.
Motion resolution - LCD required motion interpolation to get anywhere above 600/1080 lines of moving resolution.
ANSI contrast ratio - the only contrast ratio that actually matters and most LCD's are stuck around 500:1~1,000:1, a far cry from the "2 million to one" that most consumers hear about. The current crop of plasma's are managing from 3,000:1 up to 14,000:1 which is unheard of in LCD world.
Price - in order to acheive results that try to compare in these key critical areas you have to spend almost twice as much.
So there's very little reason here to not choose plasma before you ever visit the store, providing you're not looking to install in a greenhouse. There aren't many good options you're missing out on, only particular brand names like Sony, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Vizio, etc.
Sony isn't the only company to get out of plasma you're right. but I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean? They still dropped two technologies that were better than 99% of their current offerings with plasma and FP SXRD. The 60A3000 is a better set than all but the XBR8 line.
Are you asserting that Sony projectors are used for the presentation of all the latest 3D movies in North America? Barco, Christie and NEC would be interested to hear that! I'm pretty sure I saw Beowulf in DLP 3D digital, same for Up. AMC have only just started outfitting their cinemas with the 4K SXRD projectors, with an estimated finish time in 2012 how many screens are they currently installed in? 500? Don't get me wrong, I look forward to the results and I'm sure they're going to be spectacular! But I think you're jumping ahead of the facts here. Even three years down the road the SXRD projectors will not quite be in half of the screens in North America. The majority of 3D Blu-ray discs being released at the moment are being done in post processing facilities at PHL using Panasonic professional plasma displays and I think the majority of tech that will finally be approved by the BDA for 3D Blu-ray systems will come from Panasonic.
Yes you're right there are lots of reference LCD panels, they are also usually 22~23" in size and cost more than a 60" reference plasma monitor (note, I said reference, because Pioneer, Runco, Fujitsu and Panasonic have all made reference plasma monitors) no? Do HP and Cenital really sell more professional LCD panels than Barco?
I don't think there's a lot more to add to LCD that would be of any benefit to the consumer. Does the consumer need a reference display to accurately display 1080i50, 1080i60, 1080p24 content natively? Do they need to be able to watch NTSC, PAL and SECAM signals? What exactly are the other features that could be added...and can they be added to 50" screens? If so, why aren't there reference monitors available in that size? Unfortunately for the expense there's not much you can do, just putting SONY on the set seems to raise the price substantially over competitors, some that are using the exact same panels.
LCD's key weaknesses are motion resolution and contrast ratio and even the reference panels don't compete with the reference monitors from Pioneer and Panasonic at half the cost and twice the size. When LCD is able to resolve 1080 lines of motion (heck even 800 would be great) without using interpolation I'll take note.
As for your closing paragraph - unless you're looking at the sets in the same viewing environment as your home you're not getting an accurate assesment of the set. LCD makers love this, because LCD's look great at the stores. Manufacturer provided specs don't mean squat either, no doubt...but calibrated testing of sets is very important and when it's specs provided from unbiased sources like Gary Merson and others then it's very important and if price : performace ratio is important to you you'll definitely head to the store having already made the decision between LCD and plasma unless 42" is too big of a screen for you.
Message Edited by dobyblue on 10-28-2009 08:43 AM
