We bought this plasma since there was a good Diwali offer from LG:
free HDMI DVD player
free HDMI cable
free 50 movies
Reliance also added a good exchange offer for CRT & 0% emi on hdfc cards for 6 months.
We also got the extended warranty for rs. 5.6 k which took the exchange price from 28 k to 33 k delivered & installed.
My benchmark for value has always been rs. 1 k /inch for TFT which we missed when we bought our 32" Panasonic LCD for rs. 40 k but almost reached it with this plasma purchase.
The strengths of the plasma vs LCD are:
thinner by 1" [2.5" vs 3.5" for LCD]
lighter by 5 kg [17 kg vs 22 kg]
no blurring of night scenes from the same Phillips DVD player & discs
cheaper than LCD of same size & brand
smaller & better designed wall mount [it’s half the size of the LCD mount]
wider viewing angle then LCD
The weakness is more with LG & user interface than with plasma technology [except for the last 3].
LG cons:
the channel up/down buttons don’t flip through the AV inputs unlike the LCD or even my 2002 Akai 29" CRT so you have to move your thumb from the bottom of the remote to the top ’input’ button which is just poor design
unlike my old CRT, there are no memory settings for each channel’s volume which is a major pain since DVDs have to be played at higher volumes [around 50-60 setting] compared to cable TV [about 20-30]. so you have to keep adjusting the volume as you flip.
unlike my LCD, there is no auto detect feature for the AV inputs and it blindly flips through all [about half a dozen] inputs even if they are unplugged/empty sockets
if there is no AV input on the screen and the screen saver comes on, there should be a user option to auto power down after a set time [e.g., 1 hour of screen saver] since I accidentally left the plasma on overnight without realising it!
The speakers are tiny and the sound quality is not great - LG should have provided side mounted speakers if they were running out of space underneath the screen.
My 7 year old AIWA 29" CRT had better speakers!
Plasma Cons:
glare during daytime from sunlit windows on the glass screen which the matte screen of my LCD does not have
not available below 32" sizes
’HD ready’ but NOT ’full HD’
I feel most of these silly problems are easily fixable by LG and better distribution/availability would go a long way in improving plasma sales.
The avg screen life of 60 k hours is identicle to my LCD.
Assuming 8 hours/day of use, they would last over 20 years [but that’s in clean lab conditions not dirty urban air].
I would be more than satisfied with 10-15 years of use @ 6 hours/day [22 k - 32 k hours].
You will not be able to distinguish between HD ready & full HD unless you use a HD disc, player & cable.
The same applies to 1 mega pixel vs 2 Mpixel resolutions [you can’t tell the difference visually].
Due to the high costs of blu-ray, it will take another 3-6 years before the players crack the mass market rs. 3-4 k barrier.
Updated Oct ’09:
Viewing life
Many makers claim around 50-60, 000 hours which is misleading for most customers since its a best case in clean, dust-free lab conditions and NOT real world conditions.
Just like the claimed mileage by auto makers is obtained by driving at a steady speed of 50-60 km/h without AC running AND windows up!
Its much better if you look at the cost of purchase to see which amount is lower.
In our case, the lower number would come to 33 k.
Now divide by 24 hours/day x 30 days/month = 720 hours/month.
The final figure is 46 months ACTUAL life span for us [estimated].
For each month beyond 46 months that the Plasma lasts, we consider it a bonus.
Another milestone you can set could be Rs. 1 k/month, so it would be 33 months for us.
Now if the Plasma gets spoiled in less than 33 months, it was a bad deal.
33 - 46 months = average life span.
Above 46 months = good life.
At least this is far more realistic than the 15-25 years people estimate based on 6-8 hrs/day of viewing time.
So far we have done 13 months and counting ...
that’s 13/46 = 28% of our cost recovered/amortised.
Update Nov ’09
The LG just stopped working abruptly - no power on.
We have put in a call to the LG service centre but it costs Rs. 700 + taxes for just a visit!
That’s the highest charges of any service provider we know and seems like extortion.
There is no way it should be above Rs. 500 including taxes = 450 + taxes approx.
Fortunately, we had paid for a ’protection plan’ from Reliance Digital for Rs. 5.6 k which extended the warranty for the 2nd year.
Croma also offers extended warranties which is a must for ANY plasma TV.
Not only did it save the cost of an LG home visit but also the power coil inside which was burnt out after 54 weeks of use was covered.
The entire circuit board has to be replaced and was also under the plan.
Had we not got the ’PP’, we would have had to pay Rs. 6-7 k for the replacement!
So we saved Rs. 700 + 400 = Rs. 1, 100 by going for the PP from R-Digital.
No one tells you this at purchase but its very important to switch off LG plasma TVs from the mains nightly to avoid burning out the coil in standby mode.
Why not design a power saving option that automatically reduces the load on the coil 1 hour after power off?
My Panasonic LCD has been on standby for 2 years without the coil burning out yet.
If your plasma coil burns out and its out of warranty, before wasting money on calling LG for replacing the circuit board, do check with your local TV repair shops which might be able to repair or replace just the coil for only Rs. 1-2 k instead of Rs. 6-7 k for the entire board.
I’m going to test out this theory and buy a spare coil for future burn outs when we are not covered since the PP is only for the first 3 years after purchase.
