That's exactly why we bought an LCD. The Protron was a $500 special on 'black friday' 2006.

Now, knowing the outrageous specs of plasma energy - I wonder just how many of these have or may cause a fire - or shorten the life of the TV?

Also, the tight housing on entertainment centers should be considered a hazard from lack of air circulation.

Don't get all upset about the power, if you look at it larger TVs generally use less power per area. What does that mean? It means that they are a better technology and those TVS.

Area of the 42 inch: 731.2 inch^2
Area of the 71 inch: 2153.7 inch^2

Now, lets look at the power per area of the TVs,
Low--Power 42: .314 Watt/Inch^2
High-Power 42: .499 Watt/Inch^2
Larger--TV 71: .395 Watt/Inch^2

So really, in terms of area the largest TV wasn't that bad, and you made no mention of whether this was a higher-power usage or lower-power usage at this size.

People love to go on and on about how much power plasma takes and how much damage it must do to itself (above) but really, they don't draw much more power, and some models are designed to draw less. They lose half their brightness over time, but they start out brighter to begin with. And they are cheaper! Rear-projection screens, for all their aspect displeasing-ness are really more efficient overall then smaller TVs, and can even use less total power.

Finally, if you really want to save money, then you should look at the IDLE power usage. Since a TV spends the majority of its power on idle in a normal life (residential VS a bar) having a TV that uses more power while running, but less at idle can save you money, which is very possible for the rear projection TV as compared to the LCD/Plasma screens. Finally, if you really just want to save money, get LED lighting. It has no massive start-up spike (CFs generally use 30 seconds of running power in the first second of starting) and they use less power per watt when running. Even better they have higher color temperatures and last over 10 years compared to the 5-7 for CF. And by supporting the industry now you will help to improve it as prices of LED per watt of light produced drops every 2-3 years as it's a semi-conductor.

Thank for the information

While the above post makes a good point about the TVs I would like to address the lighting question.

The poster is right that LED's are the way to go but I want to correct a couple of things. Yes the inrush of current is avoided when using LED vs. CFL. You also tend to have a green product as everything contained in the LED product can be recycled and is considered green. This is opposed to the CF Lamps that contain mercury and need special disposal techniques.

As for the color, The temperature is not at issue with LED lighting, it is the Color Rendering Index or CRI. This is a scale that goes from 1-100, with 100 being the most desirable, that rates how accurately a light can reproduce the color red for our retinas. CFL and standard fluorescent lamps range from somewhere in the high 60's to mid 80's on the index, but most commonly available consumer fluorescent lamps live in the mid 70's on the index. As a contrast LED lighting generally lives around 92 on the CRI. Addressing the longevity question, the good CFL units can last up to 20,000 hours before burning out, where an LED will go for a minimum of 50,000 before beginning its gradual decline to end of life at 100,000.

Generally the good LED units are available for cove lighting and other applications. The downlighting application is still making its way into the market but there are options. A good general rule of thumb is that if you can see the individual diodes then it is not a quality product that is truly lower in power consumption. The other thing you should ask about LEDs are if they are tested end of line or component tested. If they are component tested you will be looking at a product that will not perform as specified.

When I bought my new LCD TV I was thinking that should be a mistake in manual. But seems to be true and it consumes a lot of energy! Give me back my old CRT 'tube' televisions.!

If you are so concerned about power usage you should probably just unplug your TV and sell it. I am willing to pay for the pleasure of viewing an incredible HDTV image.

Most larger TV's whether Plasma or LCD both use more power than older CRT TV's while running and while on Standby.
Some folks may say that the bigger TV's are more efficient on a per square inch basis - which may be true - but you're using more square inches (not less) and so you're going to use more power period.

The power consumption of big Plasma and LCD TV's is becoming a hot issue for manufacturers right now and they're scrambling to redesign their sets to reduce power, especially on standby.

My current wide screen CRT TV uses 180 Watts on standby which is outrageous - meaning it uses more power during the total hours it's turned off then it uses in the total hours it's usually on.

Message is - turn it off at the switch, not just with the remote control.

How much radiation is being turned out?? Whats this going Green?? Is it only for the people out here? Was in The Sears Store,Wilkes-Barre,Pa, counted over 100 TV sets on. Boscovs,Wilkes-Barree,Pa over 60 sets on Can go , on and on, Same thing in almost all stores. When are they going to start doing there part to save energy.

I have one of the big flat panel plasma screens and I have to honestly say that most people who look to buy these televisions are not concerned about the energy usage they are concerned with HD picture and conservation of precious room space.

Sorry to be so old!
I remember when the 13 inch color TV that I bought in 1968 cost $219 and used 1350 watts of power as it was a tube type set. Years later in 1981 I bought a 25 inch color set that cost $599 and used 750 watts of power. In 1990 I bought a 25 inch color set for $299 and it uses 250 watts of power. Technology advances and we will see the watt consumption decrease over time. I am waiting for one of my 5 TV sets to quit so I can get a new flat screen. I also have a 32 inch tube set that I bought for $299.

More on this topic please! Plasma, projection & LCD are both equally hungry or not?

No one has addressed the heat generated. Here in Arizona it is a very important factor. A friend is in the HAVC business. He has installed many homes with additional ducts to cool the TV!

i have a 50 1080p plasma at 695 watts. same tv in 720p only 595 watts. also having a tv calibrated should reduce the power consumption by at least ten watts or more and add 30% longer life to your set. the 50 plasma i have consumes a lot of power but its the first tv on the market rated at 100,000 hours to the half life. the rest at 60.000 hours to half life. plasmas dont have a bulb inside them so i wouldnt except the increased power to shorten the life, the new 120Hz LCD's on the other hand might have a better picture but shorter life because you are making the bulb blink and work twice as hard.

There is some misleading information in this article. First of all, power consumption for tube TVs isn't compared with that of LCDs or Plasmas. Secondly, the SIZE of the TV does make a big difference. Want an accurate power comparison? find a 32" Tube TV's power rating, and compare that to a 32" LCD and a 32" Plasma.

Keep up with the comparison all the way as high as you can go. You'll find that a Tube TV is still about two to three times more power hungry, and goes up from there the larger you get. There's a reason why no one makes 65" Tube TVs, aside from the fact that they would weight about a ton too.

My 26' LCD uses 127 watts on full power and One fifth watt on standby.
My 36" LCD uses 157 watts on full power, and 1 watt on standby.
The manuals do not give the specs for the wattage on "power saver" mode, which would be less, and is what I use.
By unplugging (as some folks reccommend), one would use the standby battery power to maintain their personal settings. Many of these batteries are non-replaceable, and some must be replaced only by a tech center.When one considers the energy used in manufacturing, disposal and replacing these special batteries(which are designed for emergency power outages) this is false economy.
My 42" plasma neglects to give full use, power saver use or standby wattages. hmmm

When the opportunity and dollars permit, why not consider an HDTV projector or entertainment center. Heat, mercury, weight and many other issues become negligible when using a dlp/lcd projector. Only issue then becomes ambient light.

My wife has a very poor view and she tried for a while the biggest plasma TV that was available for that reason.

We were astonished by the heat coming from the screen or by the upper vents. Electricity consumption is quite high, sure, around 500 W ...

Yet, people always complain about plasma heat but they always forget that at certain period of time, this is not a bad issue at all. In winter, your TV becomes simply a heater. Same with halogen lamps...

Why not use those items in winter time ? instead of simply heating you get nice comfort with the resulting bright light ! Same with Plasma TV : you get nice programs & heat instead of "sad" heat from your heater.

People and "experts" never mention that fact.

Of course, Simply do not watch TV in summer (anyway, TV programs are very bad during the summer, in France especially, and why not going to the park instead ?)

does anyone read anymore? my compact fluorescent uses 13watts while reading, imagination does the rest. it can be quite relaxing and super green!

i have a 46" LCD flat screen tv which pulls 240 Watts. That is excellent!

I have a 56 inch Hitachi Plasma that only draws 320 watts. My old RCA 27inch drew 280 watts . So who are you kidding? I can'n tell any difference in my usage of electric bill. I have seen this ad some time ago and found out that, all sets are not power users. So pick your set accordingly and be happy with your great picture instead of moaning over a small price increse. Look at it this way. How much time would you have to run a 100-200 watt bulb 6/8 hours a day to cost you a large sum of money. A long time. Point made, thank you.

We purchased a Sony Bravia 50" DLP in Dec 2007 and absolutely love it. Power usage was major factor in this purchase and after weeks of research, decided to check out DLP TVs. After seeing that the image was just as good as on the LCDs plus price was 30% to 40% less than comparable LCD screen sizes and slim design (Best Buy also happened to have this on a great sale), we were SOLD. Unit uses 240watts while running and standyby mode only uses .1W (this was one of few energy-star qualified units we found). This Sony hardly feels warm to the touch when running so heat factor is minimal which is important since we live in Phoenix AZ. It replaced an old 30" CRT that finally died which used about 220Watts. Its too bad Sony has discontinued this model and hope they bring it back. They did an outstanding job on this TV : great picture quality, great price, and decent energy usage.

Hello Bob

I just bought a flat screen TV (first one) 32" Sony Bravia. My question is it seems to be very warm around the TV and I was wondering if that is normal. I'm hoping that it's not a problem. Any information about this would greatly be appreciated

Hi Don,
Yeah, flat panels produce some heat, sometimes quite a bit.

For example, I have a small - 23" - LCD in the equipment room (actually a closet) for my home theater. I have installed thermostatically controlled fans to exhaust heat in this closet.

The only time that the fans are operating above a low speed is when the door is closed and I leave the 23" LCD on. The fans then ramp up to full speed.
Don't worry if the set is warm.