ok ive been shopping around for an HDTV and ive been wondering about contrast ratio for gaming how importent is it i found a nice LCD for 830 1080p and it's ratio is 6500:1 and i found a plasma thats 1080P for 1100 and its ratio is 20,000:1 so whats the best ratio for gaming note both these tvs are 42"
I wouldn't pay attention to contrast ratios - they are mainly just used for marketing. Most manufacturers nowadays are quoting a "dynamic" contrast ratio number which is pretty worthless. What matters is the true black level performance, which you can see by comparing TVs side by side in a store or reading in depth reviews on Cnet.com, etc. You will generally get better black level performance out of a plasma, but I'd recommend an LCD over a plasma for gaming to avoid any issues with burn-in.
You should really be looking at response times and motion handling capabilities instead of Contrast ratios. a 10,000:1 Ratio drops to about 1000:1 or even as low as 500:1 the minute you turn on a light. Contrast ratios are only relevatant in pure darkness so unless thats how you game any brand name tv nowadays will have a decent contrast ratio. Also, some contrast ratios are quoted with differnt measurements, ANSI ratios are more true to form, dynamic contrast ratios are over blown and Full On/Off is the normally qouted number. The Full on/off contrast rating yields a larger number than ANSI. In general aim for a tv with 10,000 or higher and a response time of 6ms or lower [LCD monitors tend to be 5ms to 2ms]
Also for gaming, like the previous poster said, go with LCD over Plasma.
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