Please back up your claims! I'm guessing you're going to claim black levels and motion resolution. Fair enough.
But here are my criticisms of plasma:
- ABL circuits: Noticeable by everyone who has seen my TV almost within the first few minutes! The screen dims the brightness on bright scenes and returns to normal when a darker scene is displayed. This is visible during the day and during dark room viewings. This is NOT like your typical clouding or ghosting of LCDs/LEDs which are NOT discernible during content display. The brightness jumping up and down is noticeable by people who aren't even AV enthusiasts.
- Image dithering: Horrible horrible artifacts that are visible even as close as 5-6 feet. I sit 6.5 feet from my GT30 plasma. And every time I get up from the sofa I notice image dithering instantly. And I like to game closer to the TV for immersion purposes. So this is a major disadvantage for me. Just like the ABL this is instantly noticeable by people who come visit my place and hear things like "Why does your screen look weird?"
- IR: I prefer my picture with spruced up contrast and brightness. If I crank the dials up I start getting IR shortly after. To keep things safe I have to keep everything on low settings which results in a picture that doesn't suit my tastes. And I cannot leave the higher contrast and brightness settings because my family will watch various programs in 4:3 a lot or programs with tickers or symbols/logos on-screen that are static for hours straight. Fear of burn-in is very real... contrary to what plasma fanatics tell you on the internet.
I suppose the problems you are discussing do actually apply to some plasmas. I use a Pioneer Kuro Elite which suffers from none of them.
First of all, there were a batch of Panasonic plasmas (mostly 2011 models) with faulty ABL circuitry which results in incorrect brightness shifting that is more severe than it should be. Are you sure your plasma does not fall into this batch? ABL should not be noticeable to the point that everyone is commenting on it. If you're seeing those effects something is wrong with your TV as ABL should not result in such severe shifts.
The Pioneer has ruler flat gray scale (professional monitor grade), fantastic gamma performance, accurate colors at all brightness levels, none of the awful Panasonic dithering (which I absolutely hate), and the deepest contrast ratio in any display I've used (both absolute black and ANSI). The "jumping brightness" you refer to is not an issue with the Kuro and is not something you will notice while in use (ABL circuitry is, of course, present but the effect is minimal). ABL was present in CRT displays as well, it should be noted. Also, using the ISF modes allow you to essentially "unlock" the plasma and raise the maximum brightness while mitigating the effects of ABL almost completely.
Image dithering is different from PWM noise that plasmas exhibit. Every Panasonic based plasma I've tested (including those from B&O) suffers from these flaws and they are indeed distracting. You will not find this issue with the Kuro.
Image retention is another area where the Kuro is strong in that you can leave a static image on screen for hours without a negative side effect. Obviously not the case with other plasmas.
So I guess that brings me to my issue: there is no replacement for the Kuro. If my display fails I will have nowhere to turn. Panasonic plasmas are not good enough for my use and I cannot stand LCDs.
LCDs rely entirely on a backlight in order to create colors (including black). You can make use of locally dimmed LED cells to minimize this effect but that only enhances blacks when displaying video black. LCDs have to rely heavily on dynamic circuitry to essentially "hide" its flaws by constantly adjusting various areas of the screen to compensate for the content on screen.
Motion handling also remains poor regardless of the fresh rate with extremely visible trails appearing as a result of the sample and hold technology used to drive these panels. You cannot eliminate this and it has not been.
LCD subpixels also tend to be very sharp which is great for reading text but unfortunate for gaming and movie applications. I prefer the results of plasma subpixel arrangement.
It's almost hard to list the specific points of failure but I know that, when I sit down with an LCD, the negatives all stick out like a sore thumb. Sure, the highest
The fact is, there are some displays which do things very well but there is only one display that does EVERYTHING well and that's the problem. There are areas where the Kuro has been beaten but none of those displays can match it in other areas. I would love to own a larger display and have options for replacement in case of failure but, at the moment, there isn't anything. I've done extensive testing with modern plasmas and LCDs and, while they've made strides in some areas, the overall result just doesn't match up to what I'm looking for. So I'm waiting for OLED in hopes that LCD will eventually be driven away.
By the way, a very well known professional display calibrator who goes by the name "D-Nice" over at AVS Forum has been quoted saying this;
I'll answer your question theis way:
I can have any display out there yet I own 5 Kuros with zero plans to replace them with any PDP from Panasonic, Samsung or LG... or any LED LCD currently on the market. Another individual's wallet and/or priorites can and will be different than mine.
...and I couldn't agree more. It's the best consumer display on the market even if it's no longer officially "on the market".
