3D TVs add a dimension to debate over plasma vs LCD
By Stuart Kennedy
THE arrival of 3D-capable TVs has reopened the long-running plasma versus LCD debate just as it seemed done and dusted.
Sales figures show viewers have voted with their wallets overwhelmingly in favour of LCD sets over plasma. According to retail tracker GfK, 2.7 million flatpanel TVs were sold in the period from March last year to February this year and of those, 2.1 million were LCD while only 600,000 were plasma.
The advantages of LCD over plasma include more model variety and range and the generally higher pixel resolution that makes LCD TVs better at displaying static digital content such as photographs and web pages.
Plasma holds its own in generally providing more convincing blacks and displaying fast action without motion blur.
We sampled the 127cm Panasonic VT20 3D TV.
After reviewing a bunch of extremely skinny LED-backlit LCD TVs, the 90mm deep Panasonic plasma looks like it has middle-age spread. A thick bezel adds to the set’s dowdy looks. Like its LCD competition, the Pansonic uses active shutter glasses to fool our brains into concocting a 3D image. The set comes with just one pair, and at $199 a pop, extra 3D glasses are expensive. They are large enough to be worn over the top of a pair of prescription glasses.
Read the whole story here.