plasmas brightness,power consumption,energy star

adder

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well as you guys may have noticed plasmas now days look even more dim in showroom,more so in 2009 plasma why?

well the reason mainly due to new energy efficiency norms.now u may have noticed even some power hungry sets get energy star certified.plasma no doubt have improved their power efficiency standard,but not all are really truly energy star complaint

David Katzmaier, who tests televisions for the technology review Web site CNET, agrees that manufacturers sometimes game Energy Star. Last year, he was surprised to see that some large plasma televisions had earned the designation. When he tested those televisions himself, the pictures seemed awfully dim.


"You get that washed-out look to the picture, and that was definitely a tip-off to us," Katzmaier recalls.

A lot of the energy that televisions use goes to make them bright, and Katzmaier says manufacturers were setting the default modes on the sets unusually dim to qualify for stars.

"I think that some people might see that dim standard mode and turn up the brightness on their televisions and all of a sudden your TV isn't Energy Star-compliant anymore and you're really not saving any power," Katzmaier says.

Katzmaier says many people are using more electricity to watch their favorite programs and play video games than they did in the past, even when they buy Energy Star TVs. That's because people are buying much larger televisions to replace their old 27-inch box TVs.

This week, the Energy Department's inspector general released a report that agreed with some of these criticisms. It found that the department has not verified that products with the Energy Star label actually meet the specifications for earning the rating. And it called for a better testing program to ensure that products live up to their promised energy savings.

The department has already begun responding to the critics. It has announced it will make it harder for those large-screen TVs to earn the Energy Star label
Questions Linger Over Energy Star Ratings : NPR


whats with plasma brightness?

well in order to understand why plasma intensity of whites decreases as the area of whites shown increases,we must note that every plasma have a ABL circuit or (automatic brightness limiter).
now as the percentage of white in the screen increases ,when about 30% of the screen is showing white ,the ABL will kick in , from then on the whites looses its intensity.
when at 90% of the screen is showing white,the brightness of white will be as low as 1/3rd of what it was when at 20% or 30% white .
now if u look at scenes showing snow ,u will notice that snows whites doesn't really look like they are supposed to look.

now the only way for plasma manufactures to overcome this is by making plasmas more efficient,even then they still need ABL circuit to limit the brightness,if it doesn't have a ABL circuit the plasma cells will indeed show really bright white before it goes stone dead or kaput or even explode.

now the new energy laws aren't helping this either,the only way they are getting it certified is by rigged tests TVs showing really low brightness,by default.
or in places where they have tougher testing standards ,plasma manufactures have no choice but to restrict the brightness of their plasma,in which case it may stop plasma from loosing its brightness when percentage of white shown increases,but at the cost of brightness which will be low.
 
Tell me one thing, Adder. If there are so many issues associated with a Plasma, why are companies like Panasonic and LG still focussing on them? Do they perhaps know something else that we dont?
 
Tell me one thing, Adder. If there are so many issues associated with a Plasma, why are companies like Panasonic and LG still focussing on them? Do they perhaps know something else that we dont?

well its business,plasma still sell right.just like one would say even if lcds have problems with viewing angle and lg and panasonic lcd has poor blacks,they do sell right.
panasonic says that it will primarly push plasmas,but in the future they will be pushing lcds,there alpha lcd will soon start manufacturing 42" lcds.

why is samsung concentrating on so many different display tech OLED,Blue phase lcd,SPVA lcd and plasmas.
well its because of us consumers see this video http://www.hifivision.com/general-chit-chat/6756-story-stuff-must-watch-imo.html
 
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because in spite of all this plasmas produce better and more natural images than the best LCDs :) and therefore there will always be people who are happy to buy plasmas. As LCDs get cheaper and brighter (with LED backlights and so on), more and more of the less-informed masses will migrate to LCD and plasma will likely become a niche segment.
 
why are companies like Panasonic and LG still focussing on them? Do they perhaps know something else that we dont?

Cause plasma is as of this day a superior technology in comparison to LCD's, in fact OLED is said to be preceding the plasma and not the LCD.

LCD is cheap to make and companies such as samsung and sony although cannot make descent LCD which can show descent colors or have descent viewing angle or decent contrast,blacks are still minting money due to the huge profit in LCD's.

a few companies such as pioneer and Panasonic believed in providing quality flat screen televisions to consumers and did not bother about huge profits, so they did try and concentrate on plasma's but since its all bout making money even these companies are focusing their attention towards other technologies to stay in the game.

One more thing for LCD's to gain popularity is because of the marketing gimmicks made by major LCD TV makers and the common man not knowing some in depth information about both LCD's and plasma blindly chooses LCD,But still people who want the best in picture quality through a flat panel television prefer plasma's over LCD's any day.
 
because in spite of all this plasmas produce better and more natural images than the best LCDs :) and therefore there will always be people who are happy to buy plasmas. As LCDs get cheaper and brighter (with LED backlights and so on), more and more of the less-informed masses will migrate to LCD and plasma will likely become a niche segment.

You said it right!!:thumbsup:
 
well its business,plasma still sell right.just like one would say even if lcds have problems with viewing angle and lg and panasonic lcd has poor blacks,they do sell right.
panasonic says that it will primarly push plasmas,but in the future they will be pushing lcds,there alpha lcd will soon start manufacturing 42" lcds.

why is samsung concentrating on so many different display tech OLED,Blue phase lcd,SPVA lcd and plasmas.
well its because of us consumers see this video http://www.hifivision.com/general-chit-chat/6756-story-stuff-must-watch-imo.html

Did you have a look on the LG 2009 Plasmas? I would recommend you do that.
I dont know how they did it, but the screens are brighter! Also they are supposed to be energy efficient.. (which is contradictory, but who knows how)

Also, I think this brightness thing is over magnified. Frankly there is not so much difference between an LCD and plasma in terms of brightness for normal viewing.

For someone moving from a crt, he will not even notice.
 
this review (from another thread by reds4ever) seems to rip one of the new LG plasmas LG 42PQ6000 42in Plasma TV Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews

I personally have no experience with LG plasmas but I can certainly say that Samsung and Panasonic ones are excellent and a better bet than any comprable LCDs.


Did you have a look on the LG 2009 Plasmas? I would recommend you do that.
I dont know how they did it, but the screens are brighter! Also they are supposed to be energy efficient.. (which is contradictory, but who knows how)

Also, I think this brightness thing is over magnified. Frankly there is not so much difference between an LCD and plasma in terms of brightness for normal viewing.

For someone moving from a crt, he will not even notice.
 
well i wouldn't rate one tech as superior to the other both plasma and lcds have their owns pros and cons.in what way can u tell one is superior.
by saying statements like this is anyday superior then that,isn't going to help.
i can say the other way round.it won't stop.

so the purpose of this thread is to be informed.

currently plasma still have the price edge.so i don't think lcds are remotely close to cheap and i don't think all companies are making profits some are making historical losses.
lcd panel vendors occasionaly post profits and equaly post loses because of the tight competition.

again some people or some individual in this forum again is plain ignorant continue to talk trash about one tech and company,well they can talk all the trash they want,but that doesn't stop the tech and the company from making one hell of a products.which majority appreciate.


Did you have a look on the LG 2009 Plasmas? I would recommend you do that.
I dont know how they did it, but the screens are brighter! Also they are supposed to be energy efficient.. (which is contradictory, but who knows how)

Also, I think this brightness thing is over magnified. Frankly there is not so much difference between an LCD and plasma in terms of brightness for normal viewing.

For someone moving from a crt, he will not even notice.
i have seen every LG plasma out there.the blacks again are not so great, its bright too as long as u don't compare them to a lcd.
panasonic and samsung plasma easily have the edge compared to LG.
and if u feel the brightness thing is magnified and then everything is magnified from colors,black levels that kuro shows,so i guess their isn't much difference b/w kuro and LG plasma.

anyway this thread is about what the topic says.lets keep it that way,looks like lot of pro plasma people are getting the knifes lol.
 
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Thankfully, every 2009 Model of plasmas have an OFF mode to ECO options.

So In my LG I set ECO mode only to "tone down" the image for night time viewing. :D

In any case, LG's blacks are pretty good, once you learn that you can set the "Black level" to Low. Apparently Black Level "High" is for punching through reflections a bit better.

They are not better than Panasonic, but they are quite there and frankly does a good job of image processing overall.
 
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