Consumers Choose Plasma Over LCD in Side-by-Side Tests

New research shows that consumers in Europe favour plasma screens in side-by-side tests with LCD screens. The research, which was commissioned by Panasonic and ourselves, surveyed random consumers in France, Germany and the UK.

The results reveal a strong preference for plasma – particularly the contrast, black tone, resolution, colour and response speed performance over LCD.

Claimed to be the first authoritative analysis of how consumers rate the two technologies, researchers canvassed 603 randomly-selected people in Paris, Cologne and London.

Respondents were asked to enter a ‘comparison suite’, where a range of un-branded plasma and LCD TVs displayed the same content. The participants were then asked a series of questions based on the image performance of the displays.

Top-line conclusions showed that consumers believe that plasma provides the best quality viewing experience in
comparison to LCD.

More importantly, opinions among those who had some prior knowledge of the two technologies swung dramatically toward plasma once they had viewed the content side-by-side.

Plasma displays are deemed to be superior to LCD across all of the image categories. 63% of respondents marked that plasma provided the best quality for sharpness, compared to 21% for LCD.

Plasma also scored particularly well with regard to black performance, with close to three-quarters (71%) commenting that the technology delivered the ‘best black quality’.

‘Colour’ and ‘contrast’ metrics were also strong assets for plasma: 67% and 64% of respondents remarked that the displays provided the best quality in these areas.

An extract from the research report:

“Consumers are faced with conflicting media stories, analyst debate and aggressive manufacturer’s promotions that extol their technologies’ merits. Lost in this cacophony is the consumer’s opinion. And there’s no doubt that, given the plethora of confusing messages in the media, finding the best display can be daunting. The research shows clearly that seeing is believing.”

Panasonic makes both LCD and Plasma screens, whereas Pioneer make plasma TVs and screens.

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Published: 5 September 2006