Home audio & video forum: Is LED worth the extra price?

You're talking about the back light on an LCD screen. LED (tuned to the white frequency) uses less power and is longer lasting than the florescent back lights. LEDs are more costly to build. Let your eyes and your pocketbook be your guide.

I just spent the weekend with a new 55" LED TV. It was certainly bright and the colors were brilliant. I personally did not care for what LED did to the color, but that's my eyeballs, so you may love it.

Do yourself a favor and do not buy a TV that is rated at 240hz. That relates to how many times a single image is displayed every second as compared to a traditional 60hz TV. The 240hz displays a single frame of video 4 times more a second than a traditional TV. This all sounds good, but it ruins how the picture looks on the TV, especially film-shot movies. Movies look like a poorly shot TV sitcoms, meaning lousy video and instead of film.

how that worked.

LCD TV = toyota corolla
LED edge lit LCD = mazda 3
LED backlit LCD = lexus
plasma TV = porsche/mercedes
pioneer plasma = Rolls Royce

I bit the bullet and went for a Pioneer Pro151fd since I found it for $4400. Unfortunately, when it arrived, screen was shattered and I could not find another one available for less than $6500 anywhere and the store that sold it to me had given me their last one. What a bummer.. I was determined however and instead ordered a pdp6050, which is next lower model down in the pioneer line..

I already own a Samsumg LN46A850 LCD which has a very nice pic...

But man.. Pioneer is just something else. There is simply no comparison... I have been missing out on a great picture for so long. I am very happy with my purchase and recommend plasma to everyone. There simply is no comparison.. It is sooo unfortunate that plasma is pulling out of the market. Only panasonic seems to be determined to stay but I wonder how long for. I am so sorry that pioneer is not manufacturing these any more.

Happy viewing

Sorry, but the two numbers really cannot be compared since it's two different technologies. OTOH, I do agree though that plasma has the potential to do things more correctly when implemented well.

There are three areas where Plasma TVs are better than LCD and the LED-backlit models you mentioned.

1. Natural, true-to-life color. Nearly all modern flat-panel TVs have bright, vivid color. However, if you want the most natural color and skin tones then Plasma is still the best, even better than the recent LED-backlit sets.

2. Motion blur. Plasma TVs do not have any motion blur at all. None whatsoever. This is definitely a plus when watching fast-moving sports. Early LCD models did suffer from motion blur but, to be honest, it's very hard to notice any of that on any major brand TV these days regardless of what technology they use.

3. Wide-angle viewing. Plasma TVs look great whether you sit directly in front of them or off to the side. However, when you move off to the side of an LCD or LED-backlit model the picture fades noticeably the further you move.

Salespeople may tell you that Plasma TVs don't have a bright enough picture to watch in a brightly lit room. This is nonsense! Our friend's 50-inch Panasonic G10 model Plasma has a clear, fine picture even with the blinds open on both sides of his living room, and our Pioneer 50-inch does the same with daylight streaming in three big windows. Sometimes we use the "Standard" (rather bright) picture pre-set if it's really sunny outside, but most of the time we're on the "Movie" pre-set which is really the most accurate setting (but not the most eye-dazzling!).

Plasmas have a break-in period. Choose the Movie or THX picture pre-set (the least vivid setting) and leave it that way as much as possible for about the first 200 hours of use. The picture quality will gradually improve over this period of time. Try to resist the temptation to adjust the picture controls during the break-in period.

The very earliest Plasma models could suffer image retention like a ghost image if left showing an unmoving picture for hours on end. Recent models do not have this problem at all, period.

Now, having raved about Plasma TVs let me mention that another friend bought a 46-inch Sony LCD about a year ago. It has a very good picture indeed. Bright, sharp, and crisp color. If we weren't spoiled to that more natural color of the Pioneer I would seriously consider buying a Sony. In other words, you won't go wrong with any major brand these days.

We purchased a Sharp Aquos 46" fully backlit LED hd tv and hooked up to directv's hd service and love it!!!!! The picture is so clear, it is like looking out your window onto the world. Every morning we watch sunrise earth on channle 281 HDTheater and the detail and colors are simply amazing. Also it uses less than half the electricity our Philips 42" set uses. The other nice thing is it weighs half what the philips does, 43 pounds for the Sharp and 83 for the Philips. That might not seem like much, but when you wall mount your tv, it means quite a lot. One thing you will notice when you go to buy an LED tv is some are thicker than others. The Samsung for instance is very thin but it is only edge lit by LED's, our Sharp is 3.9 inches deep but is fully LED backlit.
Computers also work very well with LED tv's, We have a dual core computer with 2 terabytes of disk space and when we switch to it using the Sharp as the monitor it makes you want to buy 2 so you can use one for your pc monitor. The Sharp has 4 hdmi inputs as well as analog pc and all kinds of composit type hookups so setting up a kicka-- home theater system is a snap. As for price, Amazon had the Sharp for 1275.00 when we purchased our set in January of 2010.
One last thing, ALL!!! flat screen tv's have crummy speakers built in. Personally if I didn't have a home theater amp to hook my tv to, I would recomend getting a reasonably priced, 2.1 speaker system for a normal gaming computer and plugging it into the tv's speaker out plug and turning off the internal speakers.

Your Sony TV may have Bass and Treble controls. Check if the Treble is turned way up. Exaggerated treble would emphasize 'SSS" sounds. Also, there may be a control to enhance dialog on your set. This, too, may emphasize sibilance. Adjust thiose controls, reduce the Treble to make voices more smootherer.

Go & watch a plasma like Pioneer (if any still left around) or Panasonic TCP65V and you will see what u have been missing....