Plasma & LCD Buyer's Guide
The following information provides high level information relating to the pros and cons of both plasma and LCD screens, both monitors and 'IDTV' (Integrated Digital TV), that include digital tuners.
This information is designed to give the reader an understanding of the differences in the technology and the facilities offered by each. For a comprehensive view of Plasma vs LCD, please see the ' facts' link.
A Guide to Plasma TVs
Why should I consider a Plasma TV?
The technology behind plasma TVs has been around since the mid-60s, but the first displays were nothing more than points of light created in laboratory experiments. Recent advancements in high-speed digital processing and high-tech manufacturing processes have made compact, full colour plasma displays possible, not to mention increasingly affordable for the average consumer.
What exactly is a plasma TV?
Most people know plasma TVs as those incredibly thin display monitors that can be hung on the wall just like pieces of video art. The display itself consists of thousands of ‘cells’ which are individual glass compartments injected with neon-xenon gas suspended in plasma-hence the name ‘plasma’. These cells are the basic elements comprising the picture you see on your TV screen. When the gases (plasma) are electrically charged, they strike red, green, and blue phosphors. In other words an image is nothing more than the sum of the coloured elements, commonly known as ‘pixels’.
Plasma is easier to watch. A plasma TV will perform exceedingly well under most ambient light conditions. A very bright light does not ‘wash out’ its picture, nor does backlighting cause a glare on your TV screen. The beauty of these plasma flat screens is that, unlike front view projections screens, you do not have to turn out the lights to see the image clearly and easily. Moreover, you can watch TV from almost anywhere in a room, since plasma screens have a 160° viewing angle.
Plasma displays have a 16:9 aspect ratio i.e. 16 units wide to 9 units high, which is the standard for viewing HDTV and most DVDs.
Plasma display is multi-functional. A plasma display is a television monitor, capable of displaying HDTV, standard TV, and home video. It is also a computer monitor. In fact, it can accept most video formats (assuming your set has the right sockets). Plasma displays typically include inputs for (a) composite video, (b) S-video and component video, (c) one or more RGB inputs from a computer and (d) HDMI and/or DVI for HDTV input.
The average life span of a plasma displays is 30,000 hours which equates to about 3.5 years of all day usage.
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