Was wandering around the local Asda and they have a 43" Samsung plasma TV for £250.

That seems like a very good price compared to the other stuff I've seen in the supermarkets.

I'm looking for something to upgrade my 10ish year old HDTV. And something to play games on.

Plasma uses a lot more electricity than LCD...

Which in turn uses more energy then LED backlit LCD.

Don't do it!
I've made the mistake of buying cheap flat screen TV's (well, one. I wasn't making the mistake twice) in the past.
The viewing angles were crap and the image quality wasn't great (not sure how digital manages that).

Our main TV is now a Samsung. You really can tell the difference over a cheap brand like Logik.

I'm assuming cheap brand plasma TV's will be similar to cheap brand LCD TV's.... a big let down.

You get what you pay for. Unless it's an end-of-line model, there's probably a good reason it's just £250. If you know the model number, try googling for reviews of it. 'What TV & HiFi' might be a good start.

For gaming you probably want at least a 100Hz TV for smoother playback on fast moving games. Most cheap TVs will be just 50Hz frequency.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-PS43F45 ... ung+plasma

?

Yep. That's the one. Anyway. I got it

I didn't know about the electricity usage. But I'm actually not that fussed. I don't really watch TV that often and with using it for gaming.

I'd read somewhere that plasma TV usually have less ghosting and better blacks.

Anyway, so far it is awesome. As for viewing angle. I've been all around it up to almost 90degrees each way and I can still see full colour.

I've yet to see a similar TV for the price.

(This was £100 off in Asda hence £250)

If it's a Samsung it should be good. I thought you were talking about a cheapo brand.

EDIT

Don't know why I thought that as you clearly said Samsung in your original post.

Yeah. There were plenty of Technica and Logik and stuff like that. Made that mistake in the past though

The key there is "HD Ready" which is marketing speak for 720p and/or 1080i.

It's fine for TV though - HD broadcasts are limited to 720p. Not sure what the quality is like for gaming.

? - Sky HD is 1080i, generally.

Really? I was under the impression it was generally 720p and ocassionally 1080i. Either way, that's what HD Ready usually signifies.

As I remember the 'premium' channels (sports & movies) are 720P and the 'free' stuff is 1080i. Allegedly they've been pushing more down to 1080i as more and more HD channels come online as it uses less bandwidth. They can switch it on the fly for a given show on any channel though.

Jon

Hmm...

I've had a look online and in the specs (that I can find) it says 1024x768 resolution.

But when I plug in a blu ray it switches over and I'm 99% certain (will have to check tonight) that it pops up as 1080i on the screen.

Either way, it looks fricking sweet