New Options In Tv Technology

By Author: Emily Sanderson
Total Articles: 32
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Every once in a while it's a good idea to take a look at what kinds of TV
display technologies are out there and run through how they're doing
compared to each other. The most basic technology used in TV screens of
course is the cathode ray tube. This is the big vacuum tube like
monstrosity that's been around since the TV was first conceived of well over
half a century ago. The cathode ray tube produces pictures by firing
electrons at the screen of the TV where they're converted into photon of
various colors, which in turn produce the pixels that the pictures that we see
are composed of. This type of technology is still available, but has largely
fallen out of favor in recent years because it's difficult to manufacture in the
16:9 aspect ratio that's now preferred for devices like HDTV sets (though
there are HDTV sets that take advantage of cathode ray tube technology),
because cathode ray tubes take up a lot of space, and because they
consume significantly more power than newer technologies. While it
would be nice to think ...
... that we're above such things, it's worth pointing out
that cathode ray tube TV's have also fallen out of favor because flat panel
TV displays are much more stylish.

The flat panel displays that are so much in favor these days actually come
in two varieties with the possibility of a third variety on the horizon. For a
long time the leading type of flat panel TV display on the market was the
Plasma screen. Plasma screens are composed of tiny pockets of gas that
glow when excited by an electrical current. Each pocket of gas represents
one pixel and the result of having them combine to form a picture is a
screen capable of rich colors, deep blacks, and an ability to display quick
movement. Another advantage of the Plasma screen display is that there's
now physical limit on the size of a Plasma screen TV (although there are
economic limits). Plasma screens do have a decent number of
disadvantages though. Plasma screens consume a lot of energy, they fade
in brightness over time, they don't look that good at higher light levels, and
if you try to use one at an altitude in excess of six thousand feet it will make
an annoying buzzing sound.

The most popular type of flat panel TV these days is the LCD display. LCD
displays have longer theoretical life spans than Plasma screens. They also
consume less energy, function well at any elevation, and look better in a
wider variety of light levels. LCD screens work well with computers and are
becoming increasingly affordable. They do have some problems with
displaying deep blacks and have some trouble with blurring while
displaying fast moving objects. Both of these issues are less of a problem
on newer models.

The flat panel TV technology that's in the pipeline is called Laser TV. This
type of technology uses actual lasers to produce images on the screen. It
promises to get around some of the problems of the LCD technology while
consuming less energy than the Plasm screen. It should also be lighter
and more durable than earlier types of screens because of greater use of
plastic in the design.

Clearly, no matter what kind of TV you end up with, there are some
interesting options out there.

E.Sanderson writes articles about the latest developments in technology, electronics, and satellite TV. She'd like to inform you about the latest Dish TV services.