Why do (good) Plasma screens appear so dull in Store?

[admin_exported]

Finally on the verge of buying a new TV and have (more or less) decided to go for a Panasonic 42" PZ70 (with a budget of £1k).

One niggling doubt remains though - everytime I see this TV (or any other good Plasma, including Pioneer) lined up next to a similar price/spec LCD TV (eg Sony x3000 series) the LCD always look far brighter (with the same source feed) - the Plasma without fail appears to be noticably "duller". Now I know brightness is only one element of the picture but you (me anyway) tend to expect these new gen screens to be crisper and brighter than the older CRTs.

Is this simply how they are set up as default/in-Store or is this how they are likely to be once set up correctly in a typical living room?

 

[Anonymous]

For those like me who don't like too much brightness anyway it wouldn't matter. As things are Plasma displays are superior though with the advent of the TH37PX70 being discountinued Plasma Displays will only start at 42inches

 

[Andy TW]

Most stores tend to be brightly lit and as LCD's tend to be brighter than Plasma's they will often look better in this enviroment particularly with the sort of test pictures available in most showrooms.If you feed the TVs a largely dark picture (i.e. Bladerunner) you would see that the LCD picture is shades of grey rather than the blacks you get with a good plasma.Once you turn down the excess brightness of the LCD the plasma will almost always have the better picture.