Are Plasma TVs Any Good?

A few years back, the Plasma TV was the favorite kid on the TV block. Almost everyone owned one, and those who didn’t saved up so they could one day be proud owners.
Well, that was a long time ago, and since then, the TV world has seen revolutionary lineups of TVs with mind-blowing features. Manufacturing of plasma TVs officially ended in 2014 in the US.
Since the market has moved on. However, Plasma TVs are still available in the secondary market, but are they worth it? Should you buy it, recommend it? Gift it? Or dispose of it? We’ll see about that.

[@Stoddardian]

Good is an understatement. They still have far better motion handling than any TV on the market today.

[@MrTomengle]

Mine was great up to the day I gave it away. I got too old to move it. I gave it to some friends of my daughters and I told them they had to provide the labor as I just couldnt lift it anymore. They were very happy to get it.

[@michaelwyckoff7593]

They were good when they were' around

[@Kosmophilos]

Perfect motion resolution is good, yes. At 1080p you get the full 1080 lines in motion. On an OLED it's barely 300 lines. This is the magic of impulse displays like plasmas -- and CRTs. My Panasonic plasma had a refresh rate of "only" 60Hz, but the subfield had a refresh rate of 600Hz. This means that every frame was flashing 600 times a second, which basically means that it was redrawn 600 times a second. That gave plasmas phenomenal smoothness in motion, even with low frame rate content. Playing 30 FPS games on my plasma looked like 120 FPS. On an OLED it stutters. You need high frame rate content, and even then it still isn't as smooth as a plasma.

[@NazSBG]

There is a 42" panasonic TV for sale in very good condition here in the UK. Price £70. Is it worth having still?

[@mikafoxx2717]

If the alternative isn't an OLED, then yes.

[@2kBofFun]

@@mikafoxx2717 70 is a bit steep, I managed to get a fullHD Pana for 25€. Nothing can beat plasma for those on a budget. I even dare to say an LCD can be an alternative to an OLED. Just found a Sony 40W5500, and men that is an amazing LCD TV. The wide gamut CCFL is still completely even and bright after 13 years. Motion is awesome, ports are great (4x HDMI, 2x SCART, composite, S-video, VGA) and even the speakers sound pretty awesome. Best of all for both my Pana Plasma and Bravia are they have absolutely 0 junk software nor planned obsolesence. They just work every bit as much in 2050, when your new OLED has died from virtual rabies.

[@Kosmophilos]

In motion plasma is still much better than OLED.