Consumers prefer Plasma against LCD – Study

Recent survey conducted by Synovate in five countries has shown that consumers have preference for the Plasma display screens over the Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD)-based television technology.

The release of the survey result coincided with the LG Electronics’ announcement of the global launch of its new PB4 series Plasma.

The five nation’s involved in the search included China, Japan, England, France and Germany, just as consumers were emphatic of their choice of Plasma over the LCD.

Part of the study revealed that the flat screen alone was an attraction to the Plasma Television (TV) products by the consumers, which screen according to them, provided the best overall image quality in terms of sharpness, colour, response speed, contrast, black quality and resolution.

Equally the study showed that respondents favoured Plasma screens almost two to one over LCD TVs, with between 70 and 80 per cent of respondents who viewed a side-by-side comparison rated Plasma as having “the best image quality,” ahead of LCD.

The preference for Plasma was universal, with 88 per cent of respondents in China, while first choice, compared with 80 per cent in Japan, 70 per cent in England, 69 per cent in France and 80 per cent in Germany.

Prior to the survey, it was gathered that respondents in four of the countries did not declare any preference for Plasma or LCD TVs.

However, after the direct comparison test, opinion shifted dramatically in favour of Plasma’s image quality.

Synovate also pointed out that its set up for the survey were identical in each country to measure consumer television viewing preferences.

The Plasma and LCD television, according to the study sets used in the viewing tests were set up on normal mode by Synovate technicians and four minute video sequences were played side by side on LCD and Plasma displays, with all brand names and identifying information hidden.

Synovate officials informed that the preference for the image quality of Plasma screens came through strongly in larger screens, “because viewers feel less fatigue with Plasma screens compared to LCD screens at the 40- and 50-inch level.”

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