Jack Burden, of the Consumer Electronics Advisory Group, has addressed the critical question in TV technology that will be on the minds of TV shoppers in 2013. Plasma or LED? Which is better? He conducted in-depth tests to determine just that. Some of the main points the test addressed are contrast, black levels, color accuracy, brightness, viewing angles, and energy consumption. Burden states, "New LED backlighting is changing the nature of how we view LCD TV in such a way that we must re-assess the advantages of LED-LCD and Plasma over one another," in his LED TV vs Plasma TV article. He goes on to say, "LED TVs have LED bulbs (light emitting diode) as the backlight for the LCD panel. This has been a godsend for LCD TV manufacturers as it has allowed them to better compete in picture quality against plasma TV technology – eliminating some of the issues that LCD TVs have endured."
Top Tier LCD/LED TVs
Burden looked at top of the line LED models from Samsung and LG to help determine the strengths of LED TV technology. First was the Samsung UN55F8000. Robert Wiley did the review on this TV. When commenting on the picture quality of this TV, he said, "Obviously one of the key ingredients for the great success of these top tier LEDs from Samsung is the picture quality. That's just as true of the UN55F8000 series. The picture quality is excellent due to the clear coat screen, super LED edge lighting yielding incredible peak whites, and surprisingly very decent black levels. Side angle viewing quality is also much better than most LED-backlit TVs on the market."
Burden also looked at the LG 55LA8600 as an example of LED TV technology. The TV has local dimming, an important feature in achieving better picture quality for LED TVs. "The picture characteristics of the LA8600 are excellent with superb clarity, deep blacks, contrast, and good color rendition. The only negative we noted was some jittery picture effects from over-processing, not something the average person will notice," he said.
Top Tier Plasmas
Plasma TVs have always enjoyed a good reputation in terms of picture quality. Burden used two plasma TVs, one from Panasonic and one from Samsung, to make evaluations in his article. The Panasonic TC-P60ZT60 "offers what Panasonic calls 'Beyond the Reference' level of picture quality. It has the Studio Master Panel to produce 'ultimate' black color, contrast and crisp image edges. The new Studio Master Panel has been developed by a craftsmanship application technique when applying the outer front glass directly to the plasma panel, thus eliminating any gaps which cause picture interference," Wiley said in his review of the TV.
The Samsung PN51F8500 is Samsung's top tier plasma for the year and it features picture upgrades similar to the top tier Panasonic. Robert Wiley outlined some of the new features in a writeup on the TV. He says it has, "excellent upgrades from the prior E8000 series that it replaces such as 400 percent better black levels, 2.5 times better brightness (peak whites), an excellently revamped voice recognition feature, and OLED like contrast and rich, deep colors."
About CEAG Inc.
Consumer Electronics Advisory Group Inc. operates several premier buying guide websites, including plasmatvbuyingguide.com, lcdtvbuyingguide.com, and 3d-tvbuyingguide.com among others. Online since 1999, the company provides objective and thoroughly researched information through professional reviews performed by seasoned reviewers. Editors Robert Wiley and Jack Burden have been reviewing televisions since the first commercial plasma TVs hit the market in year 2000. ISF calibrator John Wirtz has been calibrating televisions professionally for 10 years. The company adheres to strict testing guidelines using the highest caliber equipment. Company web sites have more than 15 million unique visitors each year in the fast growth consumer electronics industry.