Plasma or LED for Your Living Room Home Theatre
published onAugust 29, 2011

Are you installing a new home theatre system in your living room? Are you confused about whether you should purchase a plasma or LED TV? Not sure which will be best for your family’s viewing needs? It depends on your budget, viewing preferences, and HDTV mounting choices. If you want to create a full-scale home theatre system to bring your family closer together, JD Pro can help.

But here’s some information as a starting point when you begin your search for the perfect home theater components.

Plasma TV Pros

Plasma TVs typically provide brighter colors and more true-to-life images.

Plasma TVs have better contrast ratios – meaning you’ll get better black levels. Therefore, you’ll be able to see more details during dark scenes in movies and TV shows.

Generally, plasma screens have better wide-viewing angles than LED TVs. When you have multiple people watching your plasma TV from different angles, everyone will see solid, colorful images without any loss of brightness or color shift.

Plasma TVs have been around longer than LED TVs, so they are generally more affordable.

Plasma TV Cons

Since every pixel must be lit on plasma displays, these TVs consume more power than LED TVs. This means that a year’s worth of electricity can cost almost twice as much as for a plasma TV compared to an LED TV.

Plasma TVs are bigger and heavier than LED screens – making installation more difficult in some locations. In a small room, an LED provides a sleeker look and can actually make a room look larger.

Plasma screens give off more heat. This can really make a difference in a small room, like a bedroom. It could mean you have to run your AC more in the summer when you’re watching a plasma TV. However, in a basement home theater, this may not be as much of a concern.

LED TV Pros

Both LED and plasma technology has advanced substantially in the past few years. Higher-end, backlit LED panels offer individual control of different pixel clusters, so you will get contrast ratios (better blacks and brighter details) comparable to plasma models. Edge-lit LED screens, however, will have lower contrast ratios compared to backlit models.

LED TVs compete with plasma TVs in refresh rates – meaning they’re equally as good a choice for watching fast-action movies, sports, or video games.

LED screens are the thinnest, lightest flat screen models on the market – making them easier to install and more attractive in most home decors.

LED TVs are more energy efficient than plasma TVs – so they’re more eco-friendly and can lower your energy bills. They also give off less heat, resulting in additional potential cost savings.

LED TV Cons

LED flat screens offer narrower viewing angles, so if you’re sitting off to the side or lying on the floor, you may notice variations in the picture’s brightness and colors.

Since LED TVs are the newest innovation, they are more expensive than plasma TVs.

So What Should You Buy?

If you’re still unsure which is best – plasma or LED TVs – for your home theatre installation, contact our experienced team of audio visual designers and installers for a consultation. We’ll do more than help you choose the best screen, we’ll provide a custom consultation to create the home theatre of your dreams.