Plasma And Lcd Televisions: Making The Right Choice

By Author: Alex Bradbury
Total Articles: 21
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People should never put plasma and LCD televisions together because these are two different things. While both are nice to have, you have to consider various factors before choosing which one to buy.

Lets start with the most important factor namely price. Between the two, both are quite expensive. Because LCD's cost more to produce, you can get a plasma television for less than the price of an LCD.

In terms of picture quality, the plasma television is able to give you better picture quality in normal to low room lighting conditions and are better in 4 out of 5 picture quality categories. In fact, you will enjoy watching shows and movies when you close the curtains or during the evening.

LCD's on the other hand are ideal for sunroom/breakfast room type environments. This is why it is often used as an airport or retail store signage due to the bright room light environment.

Both televisions are compatible to use with your computer. However, the LCD television is able to display static images from the computer or from VGA sources in full colour detail, no flicker, and no screen burn-in compared ...
... to the plasma TV.

This is because there are more pixels per square inch which enables it to display a large amount of data like for instance a spreadsheet or for video gaming.

When you connect your video camera to these two types of televisions, the plasma television is much better because it is able to display fast-moving images with high contrast levels.

Although LCD televisions are trying to remedy this situation, it has not been perfected yet since there is still the slight "trailer" effect, as the individual pixels are slightly out of step with the image on the screen. This simply means there a slight delay that is noticeable.

Naturally, you want to know which television lasts longer if you were to buy one. A study shows that an LCD can be used for 50,000 to 65,000 hours before it is replaced compared to a plasma that is only good for 30,000 hours.

Along with the issue of how long it can operate is screen burn in or ghosting which is the premature aging of pixel cells. The LCD television is not prone to burn in but the plasma television does. In fairness, it has to be pointed out that improvements are being made to prevent this from happening but it has not yet been perfected.

Do both consume the same amount of electricity? The answer is no in fact LCD's are more power efficient because it uses florescent backlighting to produce images. Plasma televisions on the other hand require electricity to power each of the pixels on the screen.

In terms of screen size, you will find that there are bigger plasma televisions compared to LCD's. If you look at Pioneer or LG, they have a 61 inch plasma TV while Panasonic has a 65 inch TV.

The reason why LCD's have not been able to cope with this gap is because it is difficult to produce large sizes without compromising pixel quality. The best that companies can do right now is make a 40 to 46 inch screen which is what Sony and NEC have been able to come up with.

There are pros and cons in buying either a Plasma or LCD television. You should just weigh them out and decide which one you want to buy.
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