The Best Guide Before Buying Plasma Tv

By Author: Kaisar Adnan
Total Articles: 38
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Plasma TV Or LCD TV

Plasma TV or LCD TV? It's no doubt that there's still a lot of confusion and misinformation when it comes to the differences between Plasma TV and LCD TV. Well, it's not a simple matter of Plasma TV is better, or LCD TV is better. Many people confuse Plasma TVs and LCD TVs because at a quick glance they look the same.they're both flat screen TVs, with a thin profile, which can be mounted on a wall. They're definitely both very cool technologies. They share other similarities, of course, such as screen resolution, input types, and a few others, but Plasma TVs and LCD TVs are totally different technologies, and there are differences that you should be aware of.
The purpose of this article isn't to explain the technical operation of Plasma TV and LCD TV, but rather to talk about the practical, real world differences that will help you in your decision making process. The pixels in a Plasma TV consist of phosphor lined cells filled with xenon and neon gas. Plasma TVs are an "emissive" display technology, which means it's self-lighting.
LCD TVs are different in the sense that they are a "transmissive" ...
... display technology. Meaning the light is not produced by the LCD crystal, but rather from a light source behind the panel. A diffusion panel is used to redirect and scatter the light from behind the LCD panel. The LCD Panel itself is formed by two transparent panels with a liquid crystal solution between them. Keep in mind that within both technologies, there is a huge range of quality, so our comparisons will be comparing Plasma TVs and LCD TVs which are of equal quality.

The advantages of Plasma TV

Probably the three most notable advantages Plasma TVs have over LCD TVs are their ability to produce very good black levels, their wide viewing angles, and a faster response time.
Better black levels mean that when you're viewing a black image, the Plasma TV reproduces closer to a true black than an LCD TV, and you'll also see better contrast in the black images. If you're viewing a dark scene in a movie, you'll notice the color on a good Plasma TV appears black, whereas on even the best LCD TV is appears to be a very dark gray or dark blue. You'll also notice more detail in the Plasma TV on dark scenes. A tiny amount of light is able to leak through, which is why LCD TVs are not able to reproduce as good of a black level as Plasma TVs. LCDs have made big improvements in their black levels, but Plasma TV is still better in this area.
For the same reason, Plasma TVs have a wider viewing angle. This means if you're viewing the TV from the extreme side, or above or below, the Plasma TV pictures will remain bright and sharp. Plasma TVs have a better response time than LCD TVs, which means that they do a better job with fast motion images, such as sports and video games. LCD TVs have been know to produce what's know as "ghosting" because of a slower response time. The gas inside of the plasma panels is sealed in during the manufacturing process and there are no issues with the gas leaking and having to be replaced. Since the Plasma TV is a phosphor based image, it is susceptible to screen burn in, meaning if you leave a static image (CNBC Ticker symbol, video games, etc) on the screen for long periods of time, it will become permanently ingrained into the TV, effectively ruining your TV. Manufacturer's Warranties do not cover this and this was a concern in the early Plasma TVs.

The advantages of LCD TVs

Some of the advantages to LCD TVs are they are more energy efficient than Plasma TVs, they are physically lighter, they produce a brighter picture, and most LCD TVs have an anti-reflective screen.
Plasma TVs tend to be less efficient and produce more heat than LCD TVs.
LCD TVs are lighter than Plasma TVs, because Plasma TV panels are made with two glass panels, which add quite a bit to the weight, particularly in larger sets. For the same reason, LCD TVs are often a better fit in bright rooms. The glass that's used on Plasma TVs is most of the time very reflective, which means if you have a lot of direct light, then you'll experience a lot of glare with your Plasma TV. Most LCD TVs have a flat-finish, or anti-glare screen which deflects glare making it almost a non-issue. There are some LCD TVs that use a reflective screen over the panel, so if this is an issue, be sure to check before you purchase your TV.
LCD TVs are also brighter than Plasma TVs, which can be an advantage, but not always. In bright rooms, this will help with viewing but in low light situations, often times a TV with lower brightness will display a better picture.
LCD TVs were priced quite a bit higher than Plasma TVs even up to a year ago, but their prices have rapidly declined as manufacturers figured out how to manufacture larger panels, which means they can "cut" more of the smaller LCD panels out of a larger panel. This has driven the prices down significantly and now prices are much more in line with Plasma TVs.
LCD TVs have also gotten the jump when it comes to the newer 1080p resolution, which displays a progressive 1920 x 1080 resolution. There are more LCD TVs available in 1080p, although in the last 6 months there have been more Plasma TVs coming out with this resolution.
In my opinion, Plasma TV still has the better picture. To me, the Plasma TV picture is more natural, with a more accurate color reproduction, and it still has much better black levels than LCD TV.
But it's a tough decision, because LCD TVs have dropped in price quickly and the outstanding issues with LCD TV have been greatly improved so that the two are very close. Will your TV have direct light shining on it? If you're watching a lot of sports, strictly concerned about picture quality, and you'

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