What is the difference between LCDs and Plasma televisions?
Also, if you could provide me with pros and cons for both of them, that would be nice. Please include which one usually provides the best picture quality, which brands to buy, life expectancies of these televisions, average prices for a 40-46 inch set and where I could buy them for the least amount of money.
Tags: Plasma Televisions, Between, LCDsRelated posts:
- The Difference Between Lcd And Plasma Tvs
- What are the advantages of LCD televisions over Plasmas? And what are the adv. of plasma over LCDs?
- What is the difference between an LCD and a Plasma television?
- What is the difference between LCD and plasma Televisions?
- What is the difference between LCD and Plasma televisions? Which is better?
LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) as the name signifies has tiny liquid crystals to form an image when electric charge is passed through it which polorizes the crystals in the liquid to form different images.
On the other hand Plasma uses Gas(Xenon) as a medium for image creation. when the signals pass through the Gas tubes it heats the gas to create the images.
LCD’s have liquid inside them and Plasmas have gases. Plasmas are lighter, that is one reason why plasmas are preferred as they get bigger. They are both good and last a long time. The only difference is the brand. If you want something good get a brand name model, also get the extended warranty. Flat TVs are expensive to repair.
Plasma TV’s produce a lot of heat and they have a tendancy to pixel-burn where a permanent image can burn in to the screen if the same image is displayed for long periods. Some people report that they lose brightness with time.
LCD is the way of the future. They have a better picture, produce less heat and last longer.
Now that all the real problems have been fixed with plasma TVs
(for example: it now takes 16-60 straight hours of a static image being on the screen to get burn-in on any NAME BRAND plasma, and BURN-IN IS NOT PERMANENT ON PLASMA TVs),
the main differences between Plasma and LCD on a practical “What it means to you” level are:
1. Screen size: The biggest LCDs are 40″ and 46″ and tend to cost considerably more than their 42″ and 50″ Plasma counterparts.
ADVANTAGE: Plasma
2. Glare: Lcd’s have a soft screen that reflects little (if any) light; whereas plasmas have a hard screen that can reflect bright light sources.
ADVANTAGE: LCD
3. Picture Quality: Actually the picture quality is determined more by brand and overall quality of the TV itself.
In other words, there are some LCDs that look better than some Plasmas and there are Some Plasmas that look better than some LCDs.
ADVANTAGE: Varies, the best thing to do is go to a store and look around; see what catches your eye.
Best Brands (from my experience NOT Consumer Reports):
LCD:
1. Sony (XBR models)
2. Samsung
3. actually a tie between: LG/Toshiba/Philips/Panasonic/
Sony(non-XBR)/JVC/ and Sharp; each with its own pro’s and con’s
4. Nothing else is really worth listing.
Plasma:
1. Pioneer Elite
2. Pioneer Performance (Pioneer’s normal line)
3. Samsung/LG (but only the LG’s with the built-in DVR)
4. Philips
5. Toshiba/Panasonic/LG (without DVR)
6. HP
WARNING: AVOID VIZEO AND POLAROID TVs AT ALL COSTS!!
Generally, the best thing to do is go to a major retailer, such as Best Buy or Circuit City, they can generally offer you the best deals and get you set up with everything you need.