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PLASMA SCREEN HEAD TO HEAD
STANDFIRST
A large plasma screen is at the top of most home cinema enthusiast’s
wish list but until now they’ve been for rich kids only. That’s starting to
change now that the Koreans are getting in on the act so we’ve been taking a
close look at two 42-inch panels from LG and Samsung, which if past experience
is anything to go by, could herald the start of big changes in the flat screen
TV market…
COPY
The thin flat, hang on the wall TV is not exactly a new idea. Back in
the 1930s pundits were confidently predicting they’d be all the rage by the
nineteen sixties… They also reckoned we’d be taking holidays on the Moon and
flying around with jet-packs, but the point is, after a few false starts, flat
panel TVs are now a reality.
Over the past twenty years various flat screen technologies have been
developed but the only one to have come through in a serious way -- so far --is
gas plasma. Plasma display panels or PDPs are made up of a sandwich of glass
plates, in between there’s thousands of tiny gas filled ‘cells’ connected to a
grid of electrodes. When a current passes through a cell, or picture element
(aka pixel), the gas turns into a high-energy plasma causing red green or blue
phosphor stripes on the inside of the screen to glow. The glowing stripes are
the building blocks for the picture that you see on the other side of the
screen and that’s basically all you need to know of the technical front.
It all sounds reasonably straightforward but at the moment only a
relatively small number of manufacturing plants around the world are making
PDPs in volume, and they’ve got a problem. It only takes a couple of dodgy
pixels close to the centre of the screen to render the whole panel unsaleable.
Panel makers are naturally cagey about the numbers but there have been reports
of rejection rates as high as 75%, which makes them very expensive. Prices are
starting to fall as volumes increase, more manufacturing plants come on stream
and they get better at making them, but until recently the bottom line was that
a basic 42-inch PDP was going to cost you the thick end of four and a half
grand.
New technology is always expensive but for those early adopters tempted
to take the plunge it helped to know that they were not just buying into a flat
pack design statement but a big elegant and technically advanced video monitor
with a wide range of inputs for PCs and other devices. It’s been that way for
the last couple of years and for anyone into home cinema, high-end DVD and
class gadgetry, who wants to see the big picture, it’s still the only way to
go!
Deciding to buy a plasma screen is the easy bit; choosing between the
various models on offer is where it can get tricky. The good news is that it’s
getting easier now that more companies are getting involved and the competition
is hotting up. As well as helping to drive down the cost it’s also forcing
manufacturers to take the home cinema market more seriously and design products
for the living room, rather than the boardroom or railway station platforms.
One of the most significant developments in the past few months has
been the arrival of the Koreans and it looks as though history might be
repeating itself. It happened with TVs, VCRs, hi-fi and camcorders when for the
first few years a handful of Japanese and European brands dominated the market
then in sail the Koreans with more keenly priced products and established
makers are reluctantly drawn into a price war.
The Korean assault on the plasma screen market has now begun and we’ve
been looking at two 42-inch panels from LG and Samsung and if you shop around
both models can be found selling for a little over £3000.
The LG MZ42PZ10
‘Flatron’ is joined by similarly specified 36 and 60-inch
models and unlike a lot of other manufacturers LG is fabricating its own
panels, in partnership with Philips. This joint operation looks set to become a
major force in PDP production over the next few years.
The second panel is the PS-42P2SB and Samsung has also hit
the ground running with a range of three very smart-looking screens, the
smallest of which is the 42-incher that we are looking at here.
FEATURES AND CONNECTIONS
As far as looks are concerned the Samsung panel is a
relatively plain workmanlike design that looks little different from many other
commercial displays. LG has clearly put a bit more effort into their design
with a crisply styled brushed alloy surround, which really enhances the shape
and fits in easier with domestic decor.
Apart from the cosmetics the only obvious difference between
the two models is that the LG MZ42 is a ‘stand alone’ design and not reliant on
a separate tuner/control box to provide the external connections. This also
means that without the box the features list is quite sparse. It has a modestly
powered built-in audio amp but there are no speakers, just a set of spring
terminal outputs, (matching speakers are available as optional extras). It’s
quiet, virtually silent in fact, thanks to LG's decision to do away with
cooling fans and rely on natural ventilation and heat sinks. It gets quite
warm, however, not enough to fry an egg, but you’ll probably be able to turn
the central heating down a notch or two in the winter.
An optional tuner box is available for the LG MZ42 but for
basic connections to the outside world it’s not necessary. There’s a useful
range of input and output sockets on the back panel but only when the panel is
fitted with an ‘AV Board’, (be aware that some dealers may class this as an
optional extra). This includes a standard composite video input plus a set of
component video sockets (all phono). There’s also a 15-pin D-Sub connector for
a PC VGA input but no sign of any S-Video or RGB inputs, which seems like a
major oversight on a display now being pitched at the home market. Picture
settings are controlled from a set of on-screen displays. They are clearly
presented and reasonably intuitive.
The Samsung panel is sold with the tuner box or ‘Media
Station’ as standard – it’s not much use without it -- but the matching
detachable speakers and a table stand may be offered as options. The Media
Station box is quite well specified and in addition to tuner functions it also
has teletext, NICAM stereo sound, a Dolby Pro Logic surround sound decoder,
picture in picture, a 5-mode audio processor and an on-board 2 x 7 watt
amplifier, to drive the stereo speakers. There are no cooling fans on this
model either, so it’s more or less silent and it gets no more than lukewarm,
even after several hours use.
The Media Station connects to the panel by a single thick
cable. On the back there’s three SCARTs (composite, S-Video and RGB) plus a
bank of phonos for AV inputs and outputs and separate sockets for S-Video and
PC/VGA input. There’s also a set of AV inputs on the front. Installation is
largely automatic and everything is controlled from an easy to use menu-driven
on-screen display.
PERFORMANCE
The LGMZ42 screen has a standard 852 x 480 pixel resolution
but it’s not especially bright with a rating of just 250cd/M2 and our sample
had little or nothing in reserve when set for normal living room lighting
conditions. Contrast ratio is also lower than we would have preferred at 500:1,
this shows up as a loss of detail and texture in darker scenes and shadows.
Changing to a component video input helps puff up the picture a little but it
still looks a tad dull, compared with some of its costlier rivals. Things start
to look up when it’s connected to a PC though; the image is bright and crisp
and close to the flicker-free solidity of a regular computer monitor, which
suggests the panel may still be optimised for this sort of application.
The Samsung panel also has a native resolution is 852 x 480
pixels with a claimed contrast ratio of 700:1 and a brightness output of
600cd/m2. This adds up to a mostly good looking picture though in common with a
lot of other similarly specified panels its main weakness is an inability to
resolve fine detail and colour in darker parts of the picture. Switching to an
RGB or component input helps but it’s only really comes alive when connected to
a PC, graphic displays are bright and vibrant with an almost 3D quality.
CONCLUSION
The LGMZ42 looks fantastic, even when it’s switched off, but
the on-screen results are a little disappointing, at least when fed with a
normal composite video signal. An S-Video or RGB input might have helped, using
a component, progressive scan input certainly does but that’s not much use to
the majority of DVD player owners. It’s in its element as a PC display though and
that’s one area where it should do well but LG still has some work to do before
it can become a serious contender in the demanding and increasingly
discriminating home entertainment arena.
Samsung’s first serious foray into home plasma shows a great
deal of promise. The panel is a quality item and works well moreover the
bundled Media Station takes the sting out of installation and setup,
particularly when used with high-end components like DVD, giving the user
plenty of connection options and a good choice of audio configurations. There
are also plenty of extras and features like picture in picture and Dolby Pro
Logic surround are a definite bonus.
The
Koreans are coming and these two panels should make established companies sit
up and take notice, not so much for what they can do now – they’re cheap but
performance is mostly average -- but this is only the beginning and we suspect
just a tantalising taste of things to come.
THE DETAILS
Make/Model LG
MZ42PZ10
Price £3200
Screen size 42-inches
Resolution 852
x 480 pixels
Contr. ratio 500:1
Brightness 250cd/m2
Features PAL/SECAM/NTSC
operation, VGA, component & composite video inputs, built in speakers,
silent fan-free operation,
Dimensions 635 x 105
x 82
Weight 33kg
Contact LG Electronics
01753 50047, www.lge.co.uk
SAMSUNG PS-42P2SB
Price £3200
Screen size 42-inches
Resolution 852
x 480 pixels
Contr. ratio 700:1
Brightness 600cd/m2
Features PAL/SECAM/NTSC
operation, VGA, S-Video, component & composite video inputs, component out,
detachable speakers, NICAM stereo, Teletext, sleep timer, picture in picture
(PIP), audio processor (5-mode), Dolby Pro Logic surround sound, 7 + 7 watts
amplifier, silent fan-free operation.
Dimensions 1107
x 660 x 84mm
Weight 36.8kg
Contact Samsung 0800
521652, www.samsungelectronics.co.uk
BOX
COPY 1
Plasma screen technology is still a work in progress, they’re improving
all the time but they’re still not as bright as a conventional TV picture
tubes, so check the numbers, brightness is shown in the specs as candelas per
square metre, aim for at least 250cd/m2, but more is better, especially if its
going to be used in a well lit room. Contrast ratio determines how well the
screen handles deep blacks and bright whites; the best panels are rated at
3000:1 but anything over 300:1 is acceptable. Check for plenty of video inputs
and your budget should allow for a tuner box and mounting hardware/stand, which
may not be included in the basic price.
BOX COPY 2
Before PDP the great white hope in flat screen technology
was the liquid crystal display or LCD. They’ve been around for years, on
laptops and PC monitors, and small ones, under 17-inches, are relatively cheap
to manufacture – compared with a plasma panel – but manufacturers have had a
lot of trouble scaling up to living-room sized displays. This has a lot to do
with the economics of high reject rates but sizes are starting to creep up;
30-inch displays are available now and a joint venture by Philips and LG plans
to introduce a 42-inch panel before the end of 2003, but for the time being
prices will remain high.
BOX COPY 3
Thanks to a new technique developed by Philips LCD panels
might one day become a viable alternative to plasma panels. Photo Enforced
Stratification (PES) is a way of making very large scale displays that could in
theory be ‘painted’ onto flat surfaces. The coating, containing the blend of
liquid crystals, is converted onto a display matrix by exposing it to UV light
of various wavelengths, through a series of photographic masks. This causes the
exposed areas of the chemical to polymerise and form cells that bond with the
underlying surface or ‘substrate’ layer. PES-LCD is still a very long way from
being a marketable product but it is possible that one day instead of hanging a
flat screen TV on the wall, after a lick of paint the whole wall becomes one
giant display screen…
BOX COPY 4
One of the most common complaints about plasma screens is
that most models are clearly designed for a corporate or public display
environment. The plain boxy utilitarian appearance of a 42-inch plasma panel
can be difficult to integrate with modern living room interiors, but maybe not
for much longer. Several companies are now making concerted attempts to
domesticate the PDP with more imaginative cosmetics and softer or more
curvaceous lines. One new British company, Vivadi, has taken the plasma screen
concept to a new level with a range of stylish and highly customisable
enclosures that can be configured to house a range of home cinema components
and speakers. Based around a high-performance 42-inch PDP the console is made
from aluminium, glass, steel and wood, the latter available in a choice of
finishes. Modular construction means that
it’s effectively future-proof and new or upgraded component can be fitted in
just a few minutes.
---end---
Ó R. Maybury 2002,
2111
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