SAVE THE PLASMAS | The 'CRT TV' of 2025

Plasma TVs are dumped and given away for free today. Nearly all gamers overlook them. They're worth your consideration! Especially Panasonic plasmas. I'd argue that Panasonic is to plasma as Sony is to CRT. These old Panasonic plasmas have a unique look, much like a HD CRT but without the geometry issues. They have a beautiful glow and incredible motion clarity that brings aged games to life -- especially Xbox 360 and PS3. Other brands can be good too. They have some shortcomings, but overall are excellent. I'll address some of the shortcomings and caveats in a future video.

The tiny (but hopefully growing) Reddit community:

0:00 - 480p Plasma Monitor Intro
0:34 - 720p Plasma TV Intro
1:42 - In Search of a Solution to Play Xbox 360 & PS3 Games
2:55 - My Office, a Mess in Progress
3:29 - Plasmas are Being Dumped and Overlooked like CRTs Once Were
4:29 - Admiring My TH-37PX60U & Mid-2000s Electronics
5:15 - Future Plans
6:19 - Plasma Macro Footage

[garydiamondguitarist]

Reading the comments here and comparing against my own experience, I have to say there's some inaccuracies and maybe stigma around plasma displays, both of which probably will disappear with time. I have a Panasonic TX-P46S20B which is 1080p plus a smaller Samsung one which is the not so good 1024x768 but in widescreen, and have had a couple of others before .

Latter era plasmas don't use nearly as much wattage when on as early ones, and they're heavy because of the solid metal frame construction but more akin to an early LCD than a CRT. Mine I think only uses 200w or so when in Cinema mode, a bit more in Game mode because I set that to run super bright with slightly more vivid colours, partly because I set the Energy Saver to on as it actually works and only reduces peak brightness a little bit, it's a fair trade-off. They don't get as warm as a few people here have said, really no warmer than an LCD from the same era in my experience.

There are definitely weaknesses to plasma technology, for example they can't dim down as well as LCD or other flatpanels without crushing a lot of the darker areas into complete black, so they're not great for low brightness nighttime use. Their overall contrast also changes depending on what's being displayed. If you stand or sit close enough you can see the plasma dots moving around too, distracting if you sit very close to a bigger size plasma. Image retention does happen but again, on latter era ones with technology like NeoPDP this is kept under much better control and is barely noticeable. The screen is ultra reflective so it can't face a window or anything like that, really.

Every display tech has it's weaknesses, but not every type has the strengths of plasma or at least not to the same extent. They have pretty low latency (mine is about 16ms maybe less in Game Mode), the motion clarity for 60FPS content is often stunning. Persistence blur is still a problem on LCDs to this day, but plasma basically lacks this entirely, so 1080p still and 1080p in motion look about the same. Colour vividness is wonderful - reminds me of a good early OLED screen but less prone to oversaturation and for whatever reasons reds especially look eye-poppingly gorgeous in the right circumstances. They upscale 480p and 720p pretty well, to the point where for most things 720p into a 1080p plasma, I struggle to spot the difference on anything that isn't a wall of text. Really ideal for PS3 and Xbox 360 era gaming as the video points out. If you get a Pioneer or Panasonic plasma you're almost always getting rock solid build quality made to last - not Samsung though, their displays in general aren't as robust as I've found from those two or Sony.

I think what really killed plasma other than the expense and the weight when they were current era tech which was already causing dwindling sales as cheaper LCDs became "good enough" for most people as they improved, was the jump to 4K. From the little I've read, getting the pixel density needed was next to impossible in any cost-effective sense in the 30"-50" range, when plasmas were already struggling to get 1080p sets viable at smaller sizes. I expect a 4K plasma would have had to have been around 80" if it was even possible at all, and then you *would* be talking about weight and size that was unmanageable. When you put all this together you can see why they died, but that doesn't mean they weren't among the most interesting and impressive display tech ever made. I personally find them more of an achievement than a 3DTV or HD CRT partly because of that stunning picture which is usable and enjoyable on a daily basis. If you want to watch a 1080p Blu-ray at native resolution rather than upscaling, or do some retro arguably also modern gaming on a big screen with vivid colours and exceptional motion clarity even given the 60Hz limitation, a 1080p plasma is a really good way to go, for my money one of the best actually.

One day working ones will get expensive, like CRTs did. Right now they're not, they're going for so little maybe even free, therefore it's a good time to grab one or two.

[TheWretchedWorld]

A family member has a very high end pioneer plasma he paid 10k aud for back in 06. 55inch. Still works and uses it to this day.

[marciomaiajr]

I remember the PS3 image looking so good on plasmas. For me it is still the best way to enjoy 7th gen consoles, the image looks great.

[Shadepariah]

"What do you look for in TVs at estate sales?"
"If the TV screen looks gray, I'm interested" - Me, 2021

[Edwardi]

Aw yes the thinness of a LCD, but the weight of a CRT.

[InsideTheScull]

A nice bonus of keeping you warm this winter if I am not mistaken. Looking forward to more plasma videos, might even have to track one down myself

[logan.]

Me and my family still use a 55” hd plasma from 2008 to this day lol. Still looks and works perfectly fine

[garrettstrutz]

I still have a Fujitsu plasmavision from 2003 and a pioneer elite pro from 2006 that work perfectly. Both were $10k+ TV’s when new and only 50 inches. Really shows how cheap big high quality TV’s have become and how lightweight they have become also. Plasma was such a neat era for TV’s but such a short era they will always have a special place in my heart

[bctalicorn]

When my brother first got his plasma it was when they were THE TV to get. He recently upgraded to an OLED TV but he put the plasma in his bedroom, and he says he's blown away by the image quality on it still, even after 17 years.

[travisnorman]

I have an unused plasma TV in my basement. My monthly energy bill dropped significantly when we stopped using it. Yes it looks great, but ugh they use so much electricity, especially in a home where the TV is almost always on.

[Geardos]

480p plasma is one of the best ways to play 480p gen but mostly widescreen game consoles like the Nintendo Wii

[mramaretto]

Remember Pioneers Plasmas was the god tier

[chandlerbing]

We gave our Plasma TV from 2004 to our aunt back in 2016 and she used it well up to 2021. Was used every single day of it's life and eventually started tripping the breaker so we had to get rid of it. That thing was a tank and was one of the first Plasma TVs with HDMI.
I remember my dad buying a component cable for the Xbox 360 and hooking it up to that TV. The quality was a massive upgrade for the time from AVI

[ronniesosin]

Good stuff! I have Panasonic 65” Panasonic VT30, Pioneer 141fd, Pioneer 151fd and Pioneer 111fd. Love love love my plasmas! Some people think I’m crazy but I prefer watching them over my LG G4 sometimes. Everything on them just looks more natural and organic.

[damian]

If you’re playing on a plasma HDTV, at least be sure to utilize the digital A/V out for a sharper & cleaner image. What I like about these too is how they often include a VGA port for if you play on Dreamcast, I just don’t like how most third party cables have the RCA jacks for audio when most of these TVs by default use AUX.

[dylanmooney]

Wow, my grandma had that same panasonic plasma back in the day lol. We inherited it from her and used it for a few years and left it behind when we moved in 2012. We also had a newer 3d 55 inch plasma from 2011 that we used for 6 years before it died. I also recently joined the plasma community on reddit lol.

[mikeymacaque]

I have a Panasonic 50” plasma that I bought around Christmas because I gave my mom my Sharp bedroom TV because she needed a Roku TV. I hooked up my Wii U, Switch, PS3, and Xbox 360 to it and it looks amazing. I played through Oblivion on it, and there’s just something about 720p that looks smoother to me. I have a Sony 4K LED TV (OLED is still out of my price range), and I’ve been watching Blu Rays on my PS3/plasma and I prefer that to the upscaling done on 4k devices.

[tylerbrunton]

This black Friday we finally bought a 4k TV for the living room and the old Panasonic Vieira is now in my game loft next to the CRT. That TV displays PS3 and 360 so beautifully.

[llynellyn]

In 2011 I bought a PlayStation 3 because it was the cheapest BluRay player on the market and I wanted to play GT5. To go with it I bought a 42" Panasonic Viera plasma TV, it cost £550 (~$650). I'm still using it because LCD just looks washed out/fake to me and OLED is still stupidly expensive.

[coldspring]

Yes old plasma tvs are great. I don't play games, but I watch travel videos on my 50" Panasonic viera from 2005 and it's awesome. Somehow, plasma tv has much more depth and realism than any LCD Tv that I have, so even with plasma's lower resolution (1080i vs 1080p) it's no contest. Plasma tv wins hands down in my view.