Which type of television has the longer life span LCD or Plasma?

Answer

Hi,

That's relatively easy to answer. It's LCD. Since I worked on them for the last couple of years, I've personally decided that Plasma sets tend to break down much faster than LCD sets.

Even LCD sets don't last as long as a CRT TV without developing problams of one type or another.

Here's the problem as I see it: Planned obsolescence. I personally believe that manufacturers are going for a four to six year designed lifespan of a TV set, but they can't seem to get there, yet. Because it's a new technology, many of the problems will always show up the first few model years, and unfortunately, it's an expensive purchase for something in my opinion isn't dependable.

If you do decide to buy a high tech TV, buy the extended warranty with it. It's your only protection against some very expensive repairs if you have to shell it out of your pocket.

I've got a 27" Hitachi set that's 12 years old and it's still running strong. What I don't know, is what I'd buy once it goes out. There's nothing on the market today that I'm even remotely interested in purchasing simply because of dependability issues.

Hope this helps,

Cubby

Another View

I work at a consumer electronics store which has it's on service department. The true answer depends on the manufacturer. As rated by consumer reports flat panel failure rates are equal no matter which technology. Tube televisions have twice the failure rate. If you go by manufacture ratings you will see that the Panasonic plasma has the longest lifespan. It is rated at 100,000 hours. 40,000 more then the nearest rated LCD.

However if you break it down by repairs vs sales Panasonic plasma's tie with Samsung and Sony LCD's as equally reliable. Even though Sony is not in the plasma business anymore I own a five year old plasma that is as beautiful as the day I purchased it and it did not suffer from the same first year drop off in color and brightness as my Sony LCD and Sony projection. Plasma's tend to wear even like a CRT.

For my money and seeing that the trends lean towards even reliability, I would go with a Plasma rated at 100,000 hours over an LCD.