Plasma Displays - Where are we ?

I was just wondering the state of plasma displays. I know they are basically on the verge of extinction, but a friend of mine had a 1080p plasma and we did some PC gaming on it, and I was stunned by the perfection in color and contrast, I found it looked nicer for gaming than anything else I've experienced. So how far did plasma technology go, did we ever get a 2560 x 1080p plasma? Google didn't turn up anything for me. I'm not thinking on buying one, I'm just curious what happened to this technology.

I'm not aware of anything past 1080p plasmas otherwise you'd be looking at plasma computer monitors which I've never heard of existing. Basically Plasmas are on their way out, I would imagine this year (or last) would be one of if not the last year they are manufactured by the majority of the producers (panasonic already threw in their towel).

Pretty much fizzled out because of power draw, heat output, and weight.

For anyone wanting the best LCD results, look for an LED backlit screen with direct backlighting instead of edge backlighting.
Most of these will have "zones", the higher the zones the better.

Plasma's not totally dead, but it is certainly on its way out and will be replaced with OLED displays. It's unfortunate that LED backlit displays were successfully marketed as "LED" displays, even though they are not and cannot hold a candle to emissive displays. @ATMINSIDE, while directly backlit LED LCDs are an improvement, the sets with zone lighting often crush black/dark details. These days, I'd strongly recommend waiting for OLEDs to come down in price (and they're already becoming affordable - here's a 55" for $2300 http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronic...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437408778&sr=8-1&keywords=oled ).

Cyrix_2k said:

Plasma's not totally dead, but it is certainly on its way out and will be replaced with OLED displays. It's unfortunate that LED backlit displays were successfully marketed as "LED" displays, even though they are not and cannot hold a candle to emissive displays. @ATMINSIDE, while directly backlit LED LCDs are an improvement, the sets with zone lighting often crush black/dark details. These days, I'd strongly recommend waiting for OLEDs to come down in price (and they're already becoming affordable - here's a 55" for $2300 http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronic...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437408778&sr=8-1&keywords=oled ).

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I'd still go direct LED for now.
OLED is definitely superior, but I got a 55" 4K direct LED smart TV in November for $995.

That's a far cry from $2300.

For people on a budget that want a TV today, I'd still recommend going plasma unless there's a specific reason an LCD TV is needed (display of static images or it's being used in a brightly lit room). For those who really don't care about IQ, just go with whatever is cheapest.

Cyrix_2k said:

For people on a budget that want a TV today, I'd still recommend going plasma unless there's a specific reason an LCD TV is needed (display of static images or it's being used in a brightly lit room). For those who really don't care about IQ, just go with whatever is cheapest.

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IIRC nobody is making plasmas over 1080p, so anyone wanting to "future proof" can't with plasma.

ATMINSIDE said:

Pretty much fizzled out because of power draw, heat output, and weight.

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Like good ol' CRT.

(BTW, I still use CRTs!)

Anyone remember CRTs? I sadly never got to get hold of a plasma.

I have a Dell Ultra Scan P991 Trinitron and a Dell M992.

And I would make sure to not get a bottom-of-the-barrel model for a plasma screen! They're prone of their version of the RROD!

ATMINSIDE said:

IIRC nobody is making plasmas over 1080p, so anyone wanting to "future proof" can't with plasma.

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Unless it's being used as a computer screen or you're immediately in front of it, 4k has little advantage. Most people should prioritize color/contrast, the display of motion, viewing angles, etc well before resolution. Even 720p is perfectly adequate for most home uses.

"Generally speaking, if you sit more than 10 feet away from your TV, and your display isn’t bigger than 50 inches diagonally, you won’t be able to tell the difference between 720 and 1080."

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-t...tell-the-difference-between-hdtv-resolutions/

RJARRRPCGP said:

Like good ol' CRT.

(BTW, I still use CRTs!)

Anyone remember CRTs? I sadly never got to get hold of a plasma.

I have a Dell Ultra Scan P991 Trinitron and a Dell M992.

And I would make sure to not get a bottom-of-the-barrel model for a plasma screen! They're prone of their version of the RROD!

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VERY old ones, nothing even moderately recent has any kind of longevity issue. My current plasma is from 2008. And yes, we used to have a CRT RPTV that was awesome. Unfortunately, it developed a fault and we replaced it with a 60" plasma.

when we bought the tvs for the last house and then this house they brought in both led and plasma, we went with plasma, the motion was better and what we watch has lots of motion, don't know why it just looks better on plasma.