Plasma vs. LCD - Which Is The Best Television?

When the first Plasma television was produced back in the mid 1960s there was little indication that they would become a household item 40 years later however, while Plasma has certainly come of age, so to has LCD.

The Plasma vs. LCD debate has gathered momentum during the past couple of years and while plasma has generally kept it's nose in front, LCD has just about drawn level.

Shoppers today are often faced with the vexing question of "Should I buy Plasma or LCD?" The truth is, it's up to personal taste but in reality, it wouldn't really matter.

Plasma televisions have had the advantage of being bigger and this has been one of the drawbacks with LCD but even that is about to change. Not everyone wants a huge 50 plus inch screen but LCD manufacturers have realized to corner more of the market, they really need to take LCD into the area of big screen television.

Plasma vs. LCD

The Plasma vs. LCD debate started several years ago. Television technology has increased at a rapid rate and in the main, home theater enthusiasts will generally look at Plasma because of the bigger screens.

A few years ago tests showed that Plasma was far superior to LCD in virtually every key area, including contrast, color accuracy, picture uniformity, and picture detail. Because of the results of these tests, LCD manufacturers have worked very hard to address the shortcomings of LCD.

The most serious problem with LCD was motion lag - obvious trails on moving objects created by the panel's relatively slow response time to the video signal. Another problem was LCD's inability to reproduce deep blacks, a critical element for delivering natural, saturated colors, and striking, lifelike contrast that adds depth and dimension to the image.

Recently the Plasma vs. LCD TV quality race has been very, very close. Now we see LCDs with faster response times and improved contrast, coupled in some cases with 120-Hz screen-refresh circuitry, twice the conventional 60-Hz rate, and virtually no motion lag.

What's Your Television Preference?

When you line a plasma set up alongside an LCD set there is very little difference in appearance. Both run somewhere in the vicinity of 2 million pixels providing full high definition 1080p image. That's where the similarity ends.

There has been a concern about the lifespan of Plasma and it's somewhat humorous when someone says they'll only last about 15-20 years. That's changing rapidly and new technology is producing sets with a reported lifespan well beyond this.

Here's how each model works:

Plasmas break pixels into sealed red, green, and blue subpixels, or cells that contain an inert gas. The video signal generates an electrical current that excites the gas, causing colored phosphors in each sub-pixel to glow.

By exciting each subpixel until it reaches a desired level, the signal determines the pixel's exact color and brightness. By putting enough of these pixels close enough together, an image is created.

LCD

With a liquid-crystal display, a backlight that is typically a fluorescent lamp sits behind the pixel grid and shines through to the viewer. Just like plasma, each pixel is broken into red, green, and blue sub-pixels, but the phosphors are replaced with colored filters.

The video signal is processed to address each sub-pixel, causing its liquid-crystal structure to open and close like a shutter. This allows light to pass at the appropriate brightness and with the correct color to create the image.

The Plasma vs. LCD debate is still alive and raging but don't get too hung up about whether one is better than the other. Each has it's own characteristics and traits and as we mentioned earlier, it's your decision in the end.