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Picture a better way to watch TV or your favorite movies.
Lifelike images. Crisp, full sound. A cinematic, widescreen display that
draws you into the drama and blends stylishly into your home's decor at
once. Flat-panel plasma and LCD technology introduces an exciting new era
in home entertainment. Use this simple guide to help decide which display
will be best for you and your family.
Plasma & LCD Advantages Over Tube TVs
Before going into the specific differences between Plasma
and LCD displays, here's a quick glimpse at some advantages both
technologies have over traditional, or CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TV sets.
Widescreen Aspect Ratio
One of the most exciting, cutting-edge features of this new generation of
TVs is their widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio. Compared to the boxy (4:3)
look of traditional TV sets, this horizontal design is more
"cinematic" in nature, perfect for watching DVDs, sporting
events and all the latest HDTV (high-definition television) programming.
Slim, Space-Saving Design
The other most exciting feature: they're flat! At only a few inches deep,
flat-panel displays can be hung on a wall or from a ceiling and easily
blend with any design scheme. A revolutionary improvement upon the
"big-belly" space-eating design of CRTs.
No Scan Lines
Conventional TVs use an electron beam to scan the picture tube from top to
bottom. If you look closely, you can see these lines on the screen. Since
flat-panel screens use pixels to generate color, they don't have these
scan lines and deliver a smooth evenly-lit image across the entire
display.
Uniform Screen Brightness
Unlike some rear and front projection TVs that suffer from uneven screen
brightness (commonly known as "hot spots") in the middle of the
screen, flat panels offer a smooth, even picture across the entire screen.
Perfectly Flat Screen
Flat panels have screens that are perfectly flat, with no curvature
whatsoever. This eliminates the edge distortion that can occur in standard
TVs and also lets you view it from practically anywhere in the room.
How Plasma & LCD Panels Work
Now that you have an understanding of why a flat-panel set
is a great way to go, let's summarize the specific differences between
plasma and LCD displays. First, a brief explanation on how the two
different technologies work.
How Plasma Panels Work
A plasma display is designed with two parallel sheets of glass, between
which a mixture of neon and xenon gas, called plasma, fills thousands of
grid-like chambers.
When electricity hits the gas in the chambers, a tiny
discharge of ultraviolet light is released and strikes a phosphor coating,
creating a "pixel" which produces red blue, or green light
(RGB). Hundreds of thousands of pixels across the screen combine to create
the images that you see on your TV.
How LCD Panels Work
LCD panels contain a layer of hundreds of
thousands of liquid crystal cells placed between two layers of polarized
glass. Light from powerful bulbs in the back of the panel moves first
through a "diffuser plate" which distributes the light evenly
across the screen.
The light then passes through a layer of Thin Film
Transistors (TFT) plus color filters which control the amount of
electricity passed into each liquid crystal cell. The result is hundreds
of thousands of LCD "pixels", each generating red, blue or green
color to give you the final image.
Which One To Buy?
Now it's time to get into the different benefits each type
of flat-panel display offers so that you can make a smart purchase. Truth
is, you can't go wrong either way. But there may be one or two factors
listed below, based on your specific viewing habits, that will tip the
scale toward one or the other.
Start With Size
Plasma displays tend to be a bit larger than LCDs, with the largest ones
running between 65 - 71 diagonal inches. LCD panels currently top-out at
around 45 or 46 inches. Dimensions are almost sure to change in the coming
year as manufacturers continue to roll out new models, but in general a
plasma TV offers your largest size option.
Picture Quality
If you placed an LCD and a plasma display
right next to each other, it would be hard to tell the difference in
picture quality. Getting picky, you could say that LCD TVs have a slight
resolution advantage over plasmas, particularly when viewed in a bright
room (see below), but it is slight. Simply put, both look great.
Brightness & Contrast
Sitting in a completely darkened room, plasma TVs have a brightness and
contrast advantage over LCD monitors. That's because with LCD panels some
of the light does not get fully blocked and appears to your eyes as a
background glow instead of full black.
But in the real world where ambient light and other
factors can affect the TV image, LCDs fare better. That's because plasmas
tend to reflect more outside light, brightening blacks and dark colors
thereby reducing total contrast.
So just ask yourself whether you'll usually be watching TV
or movies in the daytime or in the evenings, and you'll know which type
wins this round. Still, both produce very high-quality images.
Burn-In
A few years ago, plasma screens sometimes had an issue with
"burn-in," where images or text seemed to be lightly but
permanently etched into the display panel. Recent significant developments
in plasma technology have essentially eliminated the problem. LCD displays
were never subject to localized image burn-in.
Lifespan
The life span of a TV is measured as a "half-life," or the
amount of time it takes to lose half its original brightness (luminance).
Every TV set, even standard CRT sets, lose brightness over time.
Manufacturers of plasma and LCD TVs generally specify a
lifetime to half luminance of up to 60,000 hours, although some specific
models may be lower. 60,000 hours gives you a useable life of more than 25
years if the TV is watched six hours per day. These numbers are for one
light source only; on many models of both plasma and LCD, the bulb(s) can
be replaced after it's dimmed, and performance restored.
Viewing Angle
Both plasma and LCD specifications often list a 160- to 170-degree viewing
angle. The quality of a plasma TV image remains very high even when viewed
from the side. However, the image of an LCD loses some contrast and
brightness if you move away from its center. So this could be an important
factor to keep in mind if you have a lot of furniture arranged around the
sides of your entertainment center.
Panel Thickness
Plasma panels (screen and frame) are as thin as three inches deep, and
even the largest ones don't project more than five inches from the wall.
LCDs can be as thin as two inches deep, with the larger ones increasing to
no more than three inches. Both types are dramatically slimmer than
standard CRT sets (which can be as much as 22 inches deep or more) and can
even be wall-mounted as an additional space-saving option.
Weight & Installation
Plasma displays are fairly heavy (an average 40-inch weighing about 70
pounds). LCD panels generally weigh about 10 to 15 percent less than
plasmas, with a comparable 40-inch size weighing in at around 55 pounds.
Because plasmas tend to be heavier, they require more
planning when mounting or positioning on a stand or in a cabinet. With
either type of screen, anything larger than you feel comfortable moving or
hanging on a wall is best left to professional installers.
Power Consumption
Older plasma displays used to need more power than similarly sized LCD
panels under the same conditions. Recent advances in plasma technology
have removed this condition, and today both types of screens use about the
same amount of power.
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