Plasma VS LCD TV How do you know what is right for you? Hopefully the information below will give you the knowledge you need and help you to make the right decision when shopping for a new LCD Or Plasma TV.
What Are They?
Plasma TV's are a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells charged with precise electrical voltage to create a picture.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TV's are made up of of liquid crystal pushed between the space of 2 glass plates. Images are created by varying the amount of electrical charge applied to the crystals.
Is There a Difference in Picture Quality?
Opinions on this vary, and the best thing to do is go to your Electronics Store and decide for yourself. At one time, the plasma screens handled contrast (darks) better than the LCD, but with the advances made in the technology in the last two years this is longer the case.
What are the advantages of Plasma or LCD TV?
Historically plasma screens had better viewing angles than LCD. You would tend to see color variations with side viewing of the LCD's, while the Plasma screen colors remained more solid. This has "mostly" been overcome by LCD screen manufacturers. Make sure you test this [visually] when looking for a new flat panel. Plasma's at one time, would produce a brighter color - LCD screen manufacturers have since overcome the problem of 'light leakage' with the LCD's that effected color saturation. At one time, LCD TV's had a problem with fast moving images being somewhat blurred - another problem the LCD manufacturers have somewhat overcome. I would suggest that when shopping for a LCD TV, look at the refresh rate, the less this number is, the better the image quality of fast moving scenes. You wouldn't think that a lower number would be better, but it is. Plasma screens, in general, handle faster moving images better than LCD's. Plasma screens are a bit 'softer' and are more easily scratched. Because of this, manufacturers cover all Plasma screens with protective glass. This is very important because if you have a room that has a primary light source opposite the screen, the plasma screen will have glare issues! Remember this if you are considering purchasing a plasma screen TV online, sight unseen. Plasma screens are heavier, making wall mounting a bit more of a challenge. The biggest advantage a Plasma TV has over LCD is in the price of larger flat panel TV screens. Any cursory investigation into prices of larger screen Plasma vs LCD TV's will illuminate this fact.
What advantages do LCD's have over Plasmas?
LCD's tend to have higher "native resolution". In other words, higher definition. If you are a "high resolution" junkie and you have a source that produces 1080i/p images, and you want that reproduced, pixel by pixel, then LCD is the way to go.
When Plasma TV's were first produced, their life expectancy (at full brightness), was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 hours. The LCD screens have always been guaranteed for about 60,000 hours. With the newer generations of plasma screens however, their "full brightness" life span is more in line with the 50-60,000 hours seen in LCD's . So the old myth of Plasma TV's having half the life span of LCD's doesn't really apply anymore.
Which is better for you?
If you are looking for a larger screen (43" or above) and have somewhat of a limited budget, then the plasma screen is most probably the TV for you. It will give you excellent picture quality at an affordable price. If you are a hi-def junkie and have deep pockets, then the larger LCD's is most probably your best bet.
For the 15"-36" screen, LCD is the way to go. They offer better resolution, and the best thing is their prices are going down all the time.
Common Myth's
Response Time
Myth
Flat TVs have trouble retaining resolution when displaying fast moving images.
Fact
Plasma TVs can present moving objects without loss of crispness or detail.Plasma technology needs only one impulse per pixel to produce an image therefore its response time is almost instantaneous.
LCD technology requires pixels to go from active – to inactive -and back to active again, to achieve a single response cycle; their response time can measure anywhere between 4 milliseconds to and 25 milliseconds. Even the fastest LCD screens can suffer with some degree of movement blurring.
Viewing Angle
Myth
Flat TVs have poor viewing angles, meaning pictures lose much of their quality unless you’re sat directly in front of the screen.
Fact
Plasma TVs can actually be watched from very wide viewing angles without any significant loss in color or contrast, thanks to the fact that they emit light directly from each of their screen cells or pixels.
However, LCD pixels merely ‘pass on’ a light originating from a single point behind them, therefore LCD screens can lose contrast and color if watched from angles as small as 45 degrees
Screen Burn
Myth
Plasma TVs are seriously prone to burn in.
Fact
In the early days, plasma TVs were susceptible to screen burn. However, this issue has been largely eliminated thanks to greater use of built-in screen-saving systems and major phosphors improvements.
Energy Use
Myth
Plasma TVs use more power than their LCD rivals.
Fact
The reality is that plasma TVs don’t necessarily use any more power than LCDs – a fact which makes perfect sense if you think about how each technology works.
Plasma TVs, for instance, require just a single ignition of a plasma cell to cause a pixel to illuminate. Since darkness is achieved in plasma pixels by stopping electrical current getting into them, it follows that plasma TVs need relatively little power to reproduce dark scenes.
LCD's by comparison run at a constant power regardless of whether a scene is dark or light, due to their use of an always-on back light.
Results from an independent research conducted by the AVT.O.P. Messetechnik laboratory in Germany, showed that plasmas tend to use the same – and sometimes less – amounts of power than LCD screens.
Lifespan
Myth
Plasma screens have a shorter lifespan than LCD screens.
Fact
Plasma TVs actually have a lifespan that’s at least equal to that of LCD TVs. TVs using either technology will provide at least 60,000 hours of life under normal viewing conditions before they lose more than half their original brightness. This translates to 27 years of continuous viewing for six hours a day.
Plasma screens can actually be made to last even longer depending on the picture settings you use. For instance, keeping the contrast low could potentially extend a plasma screen’s life.
End to end production
Myth
Plasma and LCD TVs alike are built using bits and pieces sourced from a variety of different manufacturers.
Fact
Generally, Plasma TVs tend to be developed and built completely ‘in-house’.
In the early days of plasma TV, most manufacturers tended to develop their own plasma research and technology, leading to a situation where many companies now have plasma production as an integrated business model. This means that from the panels to processing, plasma screens are generally made entirely within each particular company, giving them total control over the quality of their products.
LCD TVs, on the other hand, are generally built by using a variety of third-party components, with all the quality assurance issues that entails. And even more confusingly, LCD TVs are traditionally ‘OEM’d’ –some companies buy them from another manufacturer and simply put their own brand logo on them. So with LCD, the name on the front of the TV screen you buy may not necessarily be the name of the company that built the main part of the product.
Personal Input
Here are a few key things to look for when purchasing a flat screen TV.
Resolution:
Make sure the monitor you are going to purchase has at least 1080 line most top brands like Sony and Sharp will exceed this with around 1366 x 720
Refresh Rate:
It is the common belief that plasmas do this better however anything with a refresh rate of less than 16ms is fast enough for the human eye to not even notice because with NTSC there are only 30 frames in a second "unless you are talking about "PAL" format. Most TV's are around 12ms. Make sure yours is under 16ms and you should be fine.
Glare
If you plan on having your TV in a room with a lot of windows you will definitely want to go with the LCD. Due to the glass face on plasma monitors you will have problems with glare.
True HD
lastly with everything going to HD within the next year you want to make sure that your new TV is true HD if it says ED TV you will need an additional box to run any HD programs.
I have spent hours comparing the different monitors and of course I have my own opinion just like everyone else regarding Plasma VS LCD TV In side by side viewing I prefer the plasma for watching movies and fast action. The colors look better to me and it definitely handles the fast motion much better. Now the LCD does have it's strong points as well. Because it is capable of running a native resolution of 1080ip it's much sharper. You will notice this when you are playing video games or using it to view something from your computer and of course they seem to be getting less expensive all the time. Another thing I found is if you walk up to anyone and ask which one is better they will tell you what they have and why it's better than the one they don't have. So once again with Plasma VS LCD TV it's best if you just go look at them side by side and decide for yourself.
Good Luck!
