Difference Between LCD And Plasma TV

Technology has most definitely been making far too much advancement over the years, some of which the general consumers can barely keep up with. Television, by itself, was a fantastic and revolutionary invention. However, as the market for technology boomed, high definition TV sets inhabited the electronic domain. LCD and Plasma TV have, of late, become all the rage! Both come at a high price but promise to offer infinite customer satisfaction. Moreover, unlike the traditional tube bulky television sets, LCD and Plasma TV occupy very little space. The picture quality is flawless and for most of the modern day TV viewers, regressing to the older sets is close to impossible! Nevertheless, they may rave about the high resolution of the flat panel television sets, but how many of them know the actual difference between LCD and Plasma TV? Most consumers resort to price as the determining factor for their purchase of either one. Nevertheless, a buyer should bear in mind that the distinguishing factors for the two go beyond ‘differences in price’.

LCD Vs Plasma TV

Brief Overview

Although you might find it difficult to spot the differences from the outward appearance, you will soon discover that there is a vast distinction in the technology that is used. Plasma television employs the use of a fluorescent light bulb and consists of cells. Glass panels within each cell have a narrow gap injected with neon-xenon gas. This is all sealed with plasma, hence the name! When we use the set, the gas gets electrically charged and an image is soon created once the red, green and blue phosphors are powered. LCD panels, on the other hand, are composed of two layers of transparent material. These are polarized, and stuck together. The individual liquid crystals are held together by a special coating of a special polymer on one of these transparent layers. Images are created when current passes through the crystals and accordingly enable them to pass or block light to create images. Since the crystals do not produce their own light, an external light source is required.

Why Plasma Is Better Than LCD

The size of the plasma TV screen is generally bigger which works well for big houses.
The display comes in a wide range of rich colors. The color accuracy and saturation is much better. The color black is vivid and striking on plasma screens!
Since each of the pixels is individually lit, there is a higher contrast ratio. The ability to render deeper blacks is also magnified. As far as appearance is concerned, images are very realistic thanks to the higher contrast ratio.
Wide angle viewing is a very preferred feature of plasma television. It supports large groups of people watching movies together and so on.
As opposed to LCD, Plasma offers better motion tracking with minimal motional lag when it comes to fast moving scenes. However, implementation of 120Hz screen refresh rates and 240 Hz processing in newer and higher end LCDs are narrowing this gap.
Plasma TVs do not suffer from the disadvantage of containing individual pixels, which could get burned out. No doubt, chances are slim but if it does occur, the tiny black and white dots will distort the images on the screen!

Why LCD Is Better Than Plasma

Since LCDs do not use phosphors unlike the plasma or CRT TV sets to create images, the chances of overheating and screen-burn of static are nil. Moreover, the nature of LCD sets is such that no radiation is emitted from the screen!
On a similar note, less power is needed due to lack of phosphors for image generation.
LCDs have a longer display life span although technology improvements are now hiking up the life span of the plasma sets.
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV sets project better images under the sun’s glare.

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Difference Between LCD And Plasma TV

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