LED vs. LCD vs. Plasma - Which one should you buy?

Shopping at your local electronic retailer for a TV can be an overwhelming experience. The new fad for displaying Televisions seems to be a never-ending wall, 25ft tall encompassing the backside of the store. Yes, I understand they are wall mountable but did you really have to mount ALL of them? It does make for convenient side-by-side comparison however.

Hopefully by now you’ve determined you want a flat screen display which pretty much narrows it down to LCD or Plasma. LED is really just a subset technology of LCD that uses a different type of backlighting.

Most people make their decision based upon specs and features. Advertisers try to steer you away from common sense and instead focus on refresh rates, resolutions, and dynamic contrast ratios. Nonsense!

4 simple questions to ask:


What are you using the TV for?

If you play a lot of games on your Xbox or Playstation than you should stay away from Plasma’s. Games usually keep the same images on the screen for hours at a time and Plasma’s are susceptible to burn in. Manufacturers have improved this with anti-burn-in technology, but it still remains enough of an issue to avoid if possible.

If you watch a lot of movies and are budget conscientious then get a plasma. They have the best contrast ratios and deepest blacks. They also have the most fluent motion and suffer the least from motion blur. They perform the best in low ambient lighting like basements or home theatre rooms. If this TV is going in your four-season porch then get a LCD. Plasma’s have a glass screen and suffer from obnoxious glare in higher lighting. A special coating is applied to plasma screens to reduce glare but LCD’s still have superior glare resistance.

If you’re willing to spend an extra $200-500 then get the latest and greatest and buy a LED TV. They provide the brightest picture of the three, are the sleekest, and the most energy efficient.

What size TV do you want?

Plasma’s only really come in 42” on up. If this TV is going in your kitchen or den it’s probably going to be smaller than that. Remember, bigger isn’t necessarily better. The bigger the picture the more imperfections in the picture quality you’ll see. There is such a thing as optimal size based upon viewing distance. The rule of thumb is you should view at twice the distance of your screen size and no further than 5 times this size. For example, a 46” TV should be viewed from at least 92 inches or 7 a half feet away.

What is your budget?

LED TV’s are by far the most expensive right now. Screen sizes 40” and up you can expect to pay a premium of $200-$500 over LCD or Plasma. The smaller the screen size, the less the difference in cost will be. In the 42”-55” range LCD and Plasma’s are very comparable in price but plasma’s give you better value in the 60 plus inch range hands down. Here is an example of what you can expect to pay for the three technologies:

LED 46” Sony - $1,299.99
LCD 46” Sony - $899.99
Plasma 50” Panasonic - $799.99

Thin or ultra thin?

Plasma’s are the heaviest and thickest of the three technologies while LED’s are the lightest and thinnest. Most LED’s are around 2.5 inches thick while a Plasma is usually 3.75 inches. Some LED’s as thin as 1 inch but you will pay a hefty premium for this. With Plasma’s you can usually add about 10-20lbs of weight. LCD’s fall somewhere in the middle. In my opinion, these differences are negligible and all three types of displays can be wall mounted.

Other considerations – energy efficiency, viewing angle, life span

Best to worst list 

Energy efficiency: LED, LCD, Plasma.
Significance level: Moderate

Both LCD technologies are roughly twice as efficient as Plasma but usually only amounts to a difference of $1-3 per month in savings. LED’s consume the least amount of electricity.


Viewing angle: Plasma, LCD, LED.
Significance level: High

Newer LCD and LED TV’s have an acceptable viewing angle of 75 degrees before picture quality begins to diminish. Plasma’s have a near perfect viewing angle of 160 degrees.


Life span: Plasma, LCD, LED.
Significance level: Very Low

Plasma’s advertise 100,000 hrs, LCD’s 60,000-90,000, and LED’s 40,000. It’s far more likely your TV will break or you will upgrade before its lifespan is up. Even if you’re a couch potato and watch 5 hours of TV a day, your LED TV should last over 21 years. The construction quality of your television is far more important than the advertised lifespan.