HDTV: 2008 Closeout vs New 2009 Models

[Woochifer]

The recessionary economy has apparently pushed up the release dates on a lot of new HDTV lines. Panasonic, Sony, and Samsung have all accelerate their schedules for new model introductions. In past years, TVs unveiled at CES would typically wait until summer before arriving in stores. This year, many of the new HDTVs started arriving as early as February.

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In Panasonic's case, more than half of their new TV models will be in stores before the end of April, with the entire lineup in place by July. Last year, it wasn't until September that all of their latest TVs were already in stores.

This means that a lot of 2008 models are/will be going on closeout in short order. This brings up the question of whether to go with a closeout deal on one of last year's models, or wait on one of the 2009 models to arrive. The average price points on HDTVs actually went up during the month of February, as holiday and Super Bowl deals reduced inventories, and retailers held the line on pricing. But, as March arrives and new models begin appearing in stores, it seems that a lot of downward price pressures are coming online.

LOWER PRICE POINTS

For one thing, the new TVs are arriving with lower price points than last year. For example, last year's entry level 1080p 50" Panasonic plasma came in with a list price of $1,900. I got one for $1,400 last October, and I've seen some web sites closing them out for $1,200. This year's 50" 1080p plasma will arrive with a $1,500 list price, which means that the street prices on the latest models might actually be very close to the closeout prices on last year's TVs.

LCD FEATURE CONSIDERATIONS

The flipside to the price consideration is the feature/quality consideration. On the LCD side, the most prominent new feature is the 240 Hz refresh rate and the expansion of LED backlighting, much like the proliferation of 120 Hz sets was the big story from last year. But, as with many decisions in tech, buyers need to look beyond the spec sheets for the full story.

The 240 Hz number is going to get tossed around a lot, but according to a PC Magazine article, only the high end Samsung and Sony LCD TVs will actually do a full implementation with 240 Hz applying to both the screen refresh rate and the motion interpolation processing. All of the other LCD TVs coming out this years advertising 240 Hz are only using a scanning backlight that strobes at 240 Hz. The native refresh rate for the screen and the interpolation processing remains at 120 Hz. Furthermore, that scanning backlight has the side effect of reducing the brightness by 50%. Seems that unless you plan on going with a high end Samsung or Sony, it might be better off to wait until next year to go 240 Hz.

On the other hand, this year might be the time to go with a 120 Hz model. I'd read on the AVS Forum that most of last year's 120 Hz LCD sets did not implement the 5:5 pulldown that reduces juddering on film-based sources, thus negating one of the primary reasons to go 120 Hz in the first place. But, it seems that this year, more of the 120 Hz LCD sets will use the 5:5 pulldown.

LED backlighting inherently reduces energy consumption and increases contrast. However, the biggest performance improvement comes from those LED backlighting setups that use sequential local dimming. This has the effect of bumping an LCD TV's motion resolution into plasma territory, and further increases the contrast. LED backlighting will be more widely adopted with this year's models, with many of them using the sequential dimming feature. It should be noted that many LCD TVs will use LEDs only along the edge, rather than in an array directly behind the screen. These edge-lit LED LCDs are built for thinness, and negate many of the performance advantages from LED backlighting.

PLASMA FEATURE CONSIDERATIONS

The primary improvements coming out of the new plasma TV introductions is thinness and greater power efficiency. Both Panasonic and Samsung have introduced new plasma TVs that are less than 1" thick, and implemented significant reductions in power consumption.

Panasonic has greatly expanded its plasma lineup for this year, with all but the two entry level series using their new NeoPDP panel. The Neo panels are half as thick as last year's G11 panels, and they reduce energy consumption by upwards of 33 to 50%. They also purportedly greatly increase the maximum light output.

Samsung has introduced similar thin panels with reduced power consumption. They are now claiming higher native contrast ratios for their plasmas than the Pannys.

It seems that on the plasma side, the performance improvements are minimal with the entry level TVs. The main improvement is at the pricing end, where list prices are already close to last month's street prices. Meanwhile, the midrange and high end TVs bump up the maximum light output while greatly reducing the energy consumption. The tradeoffs seems more pronounced with the higher end models, as the new 2009 models present more notable improvements while the 2008 model closeout prices are steeper.

[Smokey]

LED backlighting inherently reduces energy consumption and increases contrast. However, the biggest performance improvement comes from those LED backlighting setups that use sequential local dimming. This has the effect of bumping an LCD TV's motion resolution into plasma territory, and further increases the contrast.

It might be worth mentioning that LED backlighting also improve LCD color accuracy by using an array of red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a [single] white pixel with three tiny filters. With three different LEDs representing a pixel, LCD will have pure, saturated primary colors which till now one would get from plasma only.

Another bump into plasma territory

[RoadRunner6]

I like my Panny 50" plasma (TH-C50FD18) from Costco so much that I just replaced my old 42" plasma in the bedroom with the identical but smaller 42" TH-C42FD18. I got the last one Costco had in stock for $899. It was slightly cheaper several weeks before but both my wife and I love the satin black non-glossy finish on the bezel and the picture quality is superb. The contrast is plenty bright and we don't do games so I don't think we will miss the new slightly faster moving definition spec.

RR6

[Woochifer]

It might be worth mentioning that LED backlighting also improve LCD color accuracy by using an array of red, green, and blue LEDs instead of a [single] white pixel with three tiny filters. With three different LEDs representing a pixel, LCD will have pure, saturated primary colors which till now one would get from plasma only.

But, not all LED arrays use the three-color approach. For example, Samsung's LED TVs use "white" LEDs, while Sony uses the three-color arrays.

Another bump into plasma territory

And at a higher price point.

I like my Panny 50" plasma (TH-C50FD18) from Costco so much that I just replaced my old 42" plasma in the bedroom with the identical but smaller 42" TH-C42FD18. I got the last one Costco had in stock for $899. It was slightly cheaper several weeks before but both my wife and I love the satin black non-glossy finish on the bezel and the picture quality is superb. The contrast is plenty bright and we don't do games so I don't think we will miss the new slightly faster moving definition spec.

Wow, you've been busy! Isn't this like the third Panny you've purchased over the last few months?

At the entry level, it seems that Panny didn't do much other than bump up the contrast ratio and lower the price points. The brighter energy saving Neo panels start at the midrange price points. Those are also the sets that use the new 600 Hz subfield processing that purportedly boosts the motion resolution from around 900 lines to 1,080 lines. The higher (nee "perfect") motion resolution is more or less a response to the LCD sets with the sequential LED backlighting, which have tested with very high motion resolution (the HD Guru got a perfect 1,080 measurement on his motion resolution test on Samsung's model).

[Smokey]

But, not all LED arrays use the three-color approach. For example, Samsung's LED TVs use "white" LEDs, while Sony uses the three-color arrays.

You mean Samsung is back to using three tiny color filters. Wonder why Samsung did not take advantage of inherently better color with LED technology by using thee color-arrays. As you said, LED TVs are already at higher price point.

[RoadRunner6]

Wow, you've been busy! Isn't this like the third Panny you've purchased over the last few months?

The first of those three was the Costco TH-C50HD18, 768p model. I finally returned it for the 1080p and now have both the 50" and 42" 1080p.

From the photos at the Panny website it looks like the new models once again have the glossy bezel. Costco might have the satin finish again with their new Panny models but I don't want to risk it. I am 100% happy with the Costco FD series. I doubt whether the newer motion resolution will be visable on most of our sources.

I was in Fry's today and looked at the plasmas. The glossy black bezels in their darkened viewing area give off very objectionable reflections. I'll really be glad when this latest glossy black fad in electronics is over. It's now on almost every laptop, finger prints galore!

We just bought my sister a 22" widescreen LCD TV for her retirement present. It will go in her small bedroom. They all had the glossy black finish except for the Sony Bravia which luckily we found at Costco for a great price.

RR6

[Woochifer]

You mean Samsung is back to using three tiny color filters. Wonder why Samsung did not take advantage of inherently better color with LED technology by using thee color-arrays. As you said, LED TVs are already at higher price point.

IIRC, they claim that the "white" LEDs they use result in a purer light output. And it's not about cost savings either given that one of these LEDs costs about the same as three of the colored ones (although I would suspect that other things are greatly simplified).