Downsides to plasma TVs?

How long does it take for image retention to occur, and how long does it take to wear off?

I see some people saying burn-in isn't a problem anymore, then I see other comments from just months ago saying that channel logos are getting imprinted on their plasmas after just 30 minutes. How exactly do you calibrate your TV for the first 100 hours to prevent this?

And I also hear from some people saying they have lots of sunlight in their homes, and yet the glare isn't that bad, no worse than a CRT. Yet others are saying to get an LCD if you have light coming into your house.

Are there any other big downsides I should know about? Specifically for PS3 gaming, cable and Blu-rays.

I have a 720p 42' Panasonic Viera from 2007 and I'm having no problems except glare from direct sunlight. It could easily be taken care of by closing your blinds. Lights from other sources don't seem to cause as much glare for some odd reason.

For the 100-hour thing, you could either use a DVD and loop a bunch of colors or insert an SD card into your TV and do the same thing.

I'm looking at a Panasonic Viera 1080p 42" plasma.MaxPred2010

Well, plasma displays have slower response times, although more recent ones have less so of a problem with that. They do have burn in if you leave them on, again an issue you can avoid if you just turn off the tv when you arent using it. Plasma displays are generally cheaper :)

almost every name brand that i was shopping for last year in my price range 900-1100had user reviews of buzzing or humming noise.

the only upside to them really is *deeper blacks?*

other downsides they use to much power which would hurt me since i cant run the ac and the microwave at the same time without the fuse box shutting off.

another one is they are heavy. and they have really bad glare problems. to be honest plasmas are like upgraded crt tvs. which is a good thing for most people

Well, plasma displays have slower response times, although more recent ones have less so of a problem with that. They do have burn in if you leave them on, again an issue you can avoid if you just turn off the tv when you arent using it. Plasma displays are generally cheaper :)

Baselerd

Well, plasma displays have slower response times, although more recent ones have less so of a problem with that. They do have burn in if you leave them on, again an issue you can avoid if you just turn off the tv when you arent using it. Plasma displays are generally cheaper :)

Baselerd

1. You should ALWAYS do a 100 hour of burn in before using your Tv for regular use, which is roughly 4 straight days. 2. Don't buy cheap. The best Plasma tv's in comparison to the best LCD's in the 50+ inch range are vastly cheaper, so it's cost effective to buy Plasma if you want the best picture quality from 50+ inches. 3. After the 100 hour mark, the only concern for image retention is movie and video game menu's. TV stations are basically fine because there's a commercial break every 5-10 or so minutes. ACTIVATE YOUR TV SCREENSAVER, most Tv's in general have this and it's a godsend.

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hdtvs/

That link, just like most of Cnet's top "whatever's", is kept up to date.

The biggest downside to Plasma TV IMHO is the heat generation. It gets hot enough to keep a medium-sized bedroom pretty warm during the winter, and during the summer it can result in your AC having to work a lot harder. The energy usage of current-gen Plasma TVs is not that big of a deal... it will probably cost you about $30-$40 extra a year over a comparably-sized LCD/LED set... anyone who can afford a $1000 TV should have no issue with that.

All of the advantages to Plasma TVs--deep blacks, full motion resolution, negligible input lag, wide viewing angle, no motion estimation trickery and lower purchase cost--more than outweigh the disadvantages, IMHO.

Plasama = reflection...have fun with it.

I dunno what all the fuss about viewing angles is. If its your tv, you are obviously sitting infront of it. If you have friends over, I doubt there are 10+ people all staring at the same screen spread from one side of the room to the other.

I dunno what all the fuss about viewing angles is. If its your tv, you are obviously sitting infront of it. If you have friends over, I doubt there are 10+ people all staring at the same screen spread from one side of the room to the other.

dxmcat

This is the specific TV:
http://tinyurl.com/ykvpbc7

Is that a good choice for PS3/Blu-rays/cable?