Plasma/LCD TVs while gaming, pros/cons

Okay it's like this, I've heard many times from different people that LCDs are for gaming and that Plasmas are bad for gaming.
But I feel that most people who actually say this don't actually know shit about HD TVs and just say it because other people told them and because of the potential burn in issue, (which I heard you only really need to be cautious with the first 100 hours). I could've agreed with this a few years ago when the technology was still new and that Plasma TVs had an apparent lag while playing games, but today I'm just not sure about it.
Personally, when I've spoke with people who've got lots of experience with TVs I've generally heard better things about Plasmas then LCDs (with better black levels/contrast, better with non-HD signal) .

So is there someone who could enlighten me on this subject? How good are Plasmas and LCDs for gaming today, both with HD and non-HD signal?

even the high end of the latest pioneer plasma's do burn in, still the same story about plasma's, and they are not reliable

Even the game developers themselves acknowledge there can be lag with HDTV. There won't always be an appreciable amount of lag, but I suppose that depends on the quality of the panel. Guitar Hero III on the 360 even has an option which is intended to fix the lag issue, so it's real.

The quality of a non-native signal depends on the quality of the unit's scaler. I'll go ahead and tell you that they're all shit (although the scaler in my LCOS is somewhat tolerable). These days, it doesn't really matter, because there are a few audio receivers out there that do very acceptable upscaling, like my new H/K AVR 245.

I don't have much experience with plasma technology, but based on the burn-in threads here and there, I would believe that it does happen, even with pixel-shifting technology. If you're worried about black level, you might want to try an LCD that features a glossy screen, which is useful in hiding black level inadequacies.

Originally Posted by Megalith

The quality of a non-native signal depends on the quality of the unit's scaler. I'll go ahead and tell you that they're all shit (although the scaler in my LCOS is somewhat tolerable). These days, it doesn't really matter, because there are a few audio receivers out there that do very acceptable upscaling, like my new H/K AVR 245.

I don't have much experience with plasma technology, but based on the burn-in threads here and there, I would believe that it does happen, even with pixel-shifting technology. If you're worried about black level, you might want to try an LCD that features a glossy screen, which is useful in hiding black level inadequacies.

See: The newest Samsung models.

Keep in mind that compensating for lackluster black levels with glossy screens, you wind up with glare problem Plasmas have. As always pop into the store and check things out since it may not be something you'll tolerate well.

Forgot to mention that most display devices have some form or other of image retention.

Plasma Burn in is practically a non-issue and has been for a while. The major issue is that people confuse image retention with burn in and you'll see a lot of people freak out over image retention when they notice it.

Image retention isn't permanent and you'll probably notice it after every session using a plasma. Basic image retention will work itself out after a few minutes and bad image retention will still disappear if you run the tools that come with most plasmas.

To actually do some permanent burn in damage to a plasma screen you'd have to display the same static image on screen for days or even weeks straight before irreversible damage is done. Places like CNET have run such tests and it took their plasma nine straight days to burn in a static image.


As for input lag on plasmas, same deal. It's been a non-issue for a few years now and some plasma screens even have a gaming mode where it will basically bypass most of the image filtering circuitry and give you a near zero response time. You probably won't even need that though. Your going to get more latency though a HDMI cable and its encryption handshake these days than you will from a plasma screen.