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Has LED caught up to Plasma?

I know that the plasma tv's in the past were always considered to be better than the LED or LCD formats. I'm wondering if this is still the case. With improvements in technology, has the gap narrowed? I bought a 42" Panasonic Plasma over 8 years ago (and yes, it's still working...wished it would have died by now! lol) and am looking to upgrade to a new 55" tv. In all honestly, when I chose plasma back then, I thought the picture quality of both the plasmas and the LED/LCD models were both very good. Even though my plasmas has lasted all these past 8 years, my big concern is that they do heat up quite a bit....where LED's run much cooler. I'm thinking this might translate into a longer life with and LED tv instead of a plasma. What would you buy today if you were buying??? Plasma or LED?
calgarian5355
narrod
1,064 posts
 
In my opinion, plasma is still superior to LCD. The LED lighting is more energy efficient than plasma but I wouldn't make a decision based on that. Modern plasma does run cooler than the older models. Remember, it's no an LED display. It's still LCD with LED lighting.

Wendell
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Besides what Wendell stated LED's tend to be brighter where Plasma has a better color contrast. Depends on your preferences.

That being said I read OLED should be arriving soon. That would be a true LED TV. Supposed to be brighter and richer without any backlight. I still have a tube set and am personally waiting for the OLED LOL.
theo's avatar
theo
2,659 posts
 
In a word, no. Plasma is still the closest display to the standards set by direct view CRT. I too have high hopes on the OLED technology and hope that my current tv holds out till the OLED tv's are priced low enough for me to afford.
I have looked at the different LED, LCD and DLP displays and always migrate back to the plasma. The sad news is that (rumor only at this point) Panasonic and possibly Sony have plans to stop making TV's. I have only heard that from one source, a dealer, and haven't researched it. Maybe some else here can chime in with more valid evidence of this actually happening. In advance I appologize to anyone offended by my plasma preference, I mean no discredit to your buying decision. All is my opinion based upon what I see. YMMV
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