Looks can be highly deceptive; you must have heard this adage often. And it holds so true in this case as well. Both, LCD and Plasma are flatter and thinner versions of your age old television. The outward appearance might be similar but the technology used in both is quite different.
First things first, plasma television does away with the bulky picture tube and electron beam scanning of traditional televisions. The technology it uses instead is based loosely on the fluorescent light bulb. Cells form the entire display and within each cell two glass panels are separated by a narrow gap in which is filled with neon-xenon gas and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process itself. The gas gets charged automatically at specific intervals, whenever the plasma is switched on. The charged gas then strikes red, green, and blue phosphors, which we call s pixels, and thus a television image is created. Screen-burn of static images and generation of heat after excessive use are certain drawbacks that plasma has not been able to improve upon.
Two layers of transparent material that are glued together form the LCD panels. Technologically, it differs from the plasma in many ways. Out of the two, one layer is coated with a special polymer that holds the individual liquid crystals. Current is then passed through these crystals allowing them to pass or block light. An image is thus created through a different technology in LCD screens. An external light source is needed in case such as this as the LCD crystals do not produce their own light. A fluorescent bulb is hence needed to view the image created by the LCD.
Since no phosphors get burned up in case of LCD screens, the heat generated is much less. Also, there is no direct emission of light from the screen itself. Keeping the budget and requirements in mind, one can now easily decide which one to go for-LCD or Plasma...what do ya say?! (Andrena Markley)
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Andrena Markley is the webmaster of http://gazette-world.blogspot.com . Get updates on Cool Gadgets and latest gizmos from the site.
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As you search for the perfect HDTV, you'll come across dozens of different terms that explain different types of technology, different styles of display and different levels of quality. One term that you will need to be familiar with is the screen resolution. An HDTV picture is made up of many small dots, or "pixels", and the amount of pixels that are used to make the picture is referred to as the resolution. In general, the more pixels, the better, and since an HDTV has more pixels than a regular TV, that's one of the things that makes it better.
There are two different levels of resolution commonly used in modern HDTVs. The lower one is called "720p", which means that there are 720 rows of pixels and it's a progressive display. In a typical widescreen HDTV, each row has 1280 pixels. The higher resolution, 1080p, means 1080 rows of pixels, usually with 1920 pixels per row.
What, you may ask, is a progressive display? In a progressive display, 30 times a second, the screen shows the full picture, then erases it to make room for the next frame. The other way to show a picture is with an "integrated display". That's where the TV draws the even rows of the picture on the screen, then the odd rows, then the even rows of the next frame, and so on. This technique has been used in regular TV sets for decades, because it takes about half as much effort and looks almost as good as a progressive display. Now that we have better technology, though, we can make every HDTV with a progressive display and bring picture quality up to the highest possible level. TV shows are still usually broadcast in an integrated format because it takes less bandwidth, but an HDTV will always "de-interlace" these shows to display progressively on screen.
If you want to get a really big HDTV, you'll want to seriously consider 1080p resolution. In any set larger than 50 inches, a lower resolution will look choppy, since you'll be able to see individual pixels.
So, it would seem that 1080p is clearly better, and 720p is not really worth considering. But, there are actually some good reasons to choose 720p over 1080p.
Input source.
You will only get the full benefit of a 1080p HDTV if you are watching 1080p content. Almost all TV broadcasts are still in 720p or 1080i, so a 720p set will handle them fine.
Screen size.
If the screen size is smaller than 50 inches, it will be very hard to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. At a normal viewing distance, they will look essentially the same.
Cost.
A 1080p set will almost always cost more than a similar set built with 720p resolution. If you can't see much difference in picture quality, why spend more?
Other factors.
When looking at the big picture in your HDTV purchase, the screen resolution is only one factor. Contrast ratio, black level, likelihood of problems and even customer service can all be more important factors than screen resolution. Don't let one exciting feature convince you to buy an inferior set.
The best way to get that big picture is to do research on the internet, look at HDTV reviews, see the sets in person if possible, and think about the factors that are really important to you. Using an online HDTV tutorial can also help point you in the right direction.(By Tom Webster)
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About the Author
Tom Webster is a researcher and copywriter who writes for FlatHDTV.net, a guide to the HDTV revolution.
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What are the inherent differences between a Plasma screen TV and an LCD screen?
A plasma screen is based similar to a fluorescent light bulb where the image displays make up of cells. The images consist of pixels and they display images using a combination of colors.
LCD uses a completely different technology compared to the typical plasma screen. It consists of 2 layers of transparent material. One of them is polarized while the other is coated with a special polymer that binds together sets of liquid crystals and they depend on an external light source, unlike the Plasma screen, to produce sparkling images.
Basically, plasma screens are larger, have deeper colors and are more accurate in terms of color and saturation. They are also better at tracking pictures (not as prone to lag). However, they are actually more susceptible to the burn-in of static images and generate more heat in general. There are also screening altitude problems - especially when you place them at higher altitudes. Prolonged usage of plasma screens also causes them to burn out quickly.
LCD on the other hand has no burn-in problems. They are also able to run at cooler temperatures and are not as prone to altitude problems compared to Plasma screens. The images are also considerably brighter compared to plasma screens. LCD screens are has more lag problems compared to its counterpart.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether you choose a Plasma screen or an LCD screen, the best option is to see which of these screens fall within your budget because you have to factor in maintenance costs as well.(Rachel Summers Green)
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Rachel Summers Green is an avid blogger and a passionate Infopreneur. Check out her publications and offerings at http://www.plasmavslcdreviews.com
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