Buying Plasma or LCD ?

Watching Television is one of my greatest hobby (if you could call it a hobby??) After a hard day at work, most of us would head home to unwind and enjoy activities such as watching some television with the family. We would naturally watch our favourite programs, the news or the latest movies on cable; maybe even catch a live football or golf tournament with our friends.

Therefore when the opportunity arises, consider to treat yourself to a new television set, (if you don't already own one??); especially since the prices have dropped drastically over the last couple of years. However, with many wide, varied style and technology available in the market, the search can be some-what quite daunting. Brands can be very personal to certain people and many diehards who had good or bad experience with a particular brand would have already made up their minds on this. Nonetheless, within any particular brand, you have decided or are open to compare; you still have the choice of technologies like LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or Plasma to choose from!

1. Is one better than the other?
2. What is the difference in their performances?
3. Cost difference?

They are two competing technologies, yet both have some similar features or designs and serve the same function of enabling you to watch High Definition Television (HDTV). In spite of this, Plasma and LCD TVs are very much different in terms of how they deliver the image or picture to the viewers.

What is HDTV?
High Definition Television is a set of digital television (DTV) standards in a television broadcasting system or TV Programmes that offer the highest resolution, sharpest film-like picture quality and finer detail. It provides an almost cinematic experience broad-casted with full 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. In the future, HDTV will allow the connectivity of computers, indeed, impressive!


Overview on LCD TVs
It has normally two sheets of polarized transparent material. In the spaces in between the two are liquid crystals. On each of this crystal, electric current passes through in response to the signal received and thereby helps create the right amount of light in order to emit in creating the image. LCD pixels are normally comprised of three sub-pixels in the elementary colour. And these crystals do not produce light, but fluorescent tubes/bulb that are used in illuminating the image inside. In this process, you find that less power is consumed for it to operate.

Overview on Plasma TVs
Plasma has a flat but characteristic lightweight surface that is covered with millions of tiny glass cells like little bubbles. Inside each of these glass cell, there is a gas-like substance, known as Plasma and is added with a phosphor coating. These are chemical compounds that emit light when energized. Each bubble is called a pixel (picture element) and pixels comprises three smaller bubbles in each of them, and they come in three colours green, red and blue inside them. And when a digitally controlled flow of electric voltage runs in the flat screen, the plasma gives off ultraviolet rays. It then emits a light to cause the coated phosphor to glow and thus form the image you see on the screen.


The key importance to a good buying decision, know the limitations and advantages of each technology and apply it to your specific needs. Quality-wise, in it's final function as a TV, there is not much difference between them in a normal family usage. Remember the price is not to be the end of all of your buying decisions. Whatever you choose, make sure you have picked out the most suitable type and of the right size which you could enjoy at home with your love ones.