What is the difference between an LCD TV and a Plasma TV? Which is better?

Question

What is the difference between an LCD TV and a Plasma TV? Which is better?

Answer 1

lcd uses less energy and lasts longer. plasma is thinner and therefor can be put on walls easily. if you want a better tv go lcd. if u dont have extra space go plasma

Answer 2

This is a complicated topic: when choosing between LCD and plasma TVs, you're actually selecting between two competing technologies, both of which achieve similar features (i.e., bright, crystal-clear images, super color saturated pictures) and come in similar packages (i.e., 3.5 to 5 inch depth flat screen casing). To complicate the decision-making process further, price and size are two previous considerations that are rapidly becoming non-issues as LCDs are now being made in larger sizes and at competing prices with plasma TVs.

Despite all these similarities, these technologies differ in how they process and display incoming video/computer signals.

Plasma flat screen technology consists of hundreds of thousands of individual pixel cells, which allow electric pulses (stemming from electrodes) to excite rare natural gases-usually xenon and neon-causing them to glow and produce light. This light illuminates the proper balance of red, green, or blue phosphors contained in each cell to display the proper color sequence from the light. Each pixel cell is essentially an individual microscopic florescent light bulb, receiving instruction from software contained on the rear electrostatic silicon board. Look very closely at a plasma TV and you can actually see the individual pixel cell coloration of red, green, and blue bars. You can also see the black ribs which separate each.

Whether spread across a flat-panel screen or placed in the heart of a projector, all LCD displays come from the same technological background. A matrix of thin-film transistors (TFTs) supplies voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. When hit with an electrical charge, the crystals untwist to an exact degree to filter white light generated by a lamp behind the screen (for flat-panel TVs) or one projecting through a small LCD chip (for projection TVs). LCD monitors reproduce colors through a process of subtraction: They block out particular color wavelengths from the spectrum of white light until they're left with just the right color. And, it's the intensity of light permitted to pass through this liquid-crystal matrix that enables LCD televisions to display images chock-full of colors-or gradations of them.

Good luck and I hope this helps!

Answer 3

There's quite a few differences, most importantly is how each works and their picture quality.

Plasma:

The basic idea of a plasma display is to illuminate tiny, colored fluorescent lights to form an image. Each pixel is made up of three fluorescent lights -- a red light, a green light and a blue light. Just like a CRT television, the plasma display varies the intensities of the different lights to produce a full range of colors. The central element in a fluorescent light is a plasma, a gas made up of free-flowing ions (electrically charged atoms) and electrons (negatively charged particles). Under normal conditions, a gas is mainly made up of uncharged particles. That is, the individual gas atoms include equal numbers of protons (positively charged particles in the atom's nucleus) and electrons. The negatively charged electrons perfectly balance the positively charged protons, so the atom has a net charge of zero.

Pros:

They have a large screen size.

They have a slim profile (3 inches thick!).

They can be wall mounted, ceiling mounted, or placed on a stand.

Cons:

They are relatively expensive (though prices have fallen in the past few years).

They are susceptible to burn-in (damage done to a TV screen as a result of the long display of a static image).This can be avoided by limiting the length of time that images stay on the screen, especially for the first few months of using the plasma.

They have a poor black level (ability to render the color black, which affects picture detail).

LCD:

The combination of four facts makes LCDs possible:

Light can be polarized. (See How Sunglasses Work for some fascinating information on polarization!)

Liquid crystals can transmit and change polarized light.

The structure of liquid crystals can be changed by electric current.

There are transparent substances that can conduct electricity.

Just as there are many varieties of solids and liquids, there is also a variety of liquid crystal substances. Depending on the temperature and particular nature of a substance, liquid crystals can be in one of several distinct phases.

To create an LCD, you take two pieces of polarized glass. A special polymer that creates microscopic grooves in the surface is rubbed on the side of the glass that does not have the polarizing film on it. The grooves must be in the same direction as the polarizing film. You then add a coating of nematic liquid crystals to one of the filters. The grooves will cause the first layer of molecules to align with the filter's orientation. Then add the second piece of glass with the polarizing film at a right angle to the first piece. Each successive layer of TN molecules will gradually twist until the uppermost layer is at a 90-degree angle to the bottom, matching the polarized glass filters.

As light strikes the first filter, it is polarized. The molecules in each layer then guide the light they receive to the next layer. As the light passes through the liquid crystal layers, the molecules also change the light's plane of vibration to match their own angle. When the light reaches the far side of the liquid crystal substance, it vibrates at the same angle as the final layer of molecules. If the final layer is matched up with the second polarized glass filter, then the light will pass through.

If we apply an electric charge to liquid crystal molecules, they untwist. When they straighten out, they change the angle of the light passing through them so that it no longer matches the angle of the top polarizing filter. Consequently, no light can pass through that area of the LCD, which makes that area darker than the surrounding areas. The electrode is hooked up to a power source like a battery. When there is no current, light entering through the front of the LCD will simply hit the mirror and bounce right back out. But when the battery supplies current to the electrodes, the liquid crystals between the common-plane electrode and the electrode shaped like a rectangle untwist and block the light in that region from passing through. That makes the LCD show the rectangle as a black area.

Pros:

They have a slim profile (2 inches thick!).

Their retail price is falling (still pricey, though).

Bright and sharp images, especially for video games or connecting your PC to your home theater.

Cons:

They have limited screen size.

They have poor black level.

Images might not look as realistic as on a plasma.

Answer 4

Plasma TVs are big, heavy, fragile, and consume a lot of electricity. But they come in three sizes. Large, larger, and extremely large. And they are expensive. Beautiful picture quality but they can suffer from "burn in" and the color can degrade after two or more years.

LCD TVs are smaller, less expensive. Colors are less brilliant, and they consume less power. They don't have the viewing angle capabilities, the contrast, or color gamit of plasma TVs but they are getting close. Contrast ratio of 1:700 or even 1:1000 is not too uncommon anymore. Should the backlit CFL thin light tube burn out after a couple of years, it can be replaced.

A few years from now we'll have OLED TVs. These will have the sharpest and most intense colors of all, and will be the thinest, cheapest, and will consume the least amount of power. You'll be able to roll it up like a poster after you're done watching it.

Answer 5

lcd can play games on it and it looks nicer and doesent burn out

Answer 6

ell, the main difference is in the way the picture is created on your TV screen. (For all you techies out there, the plasma is made up of thousands of phosphor-coated bubbles that emit light and create the picture. An LCD or liquid crystal display, on the other hand, has tons of pixels in the screen with a light source behind it.)

This probably means nothing to most of you, but it makes a big difference when it comes to cost and performance. You can get a big screen plasma TV for the same amount of cash as a smaller LCD (like a 32-inch LCD versus a 42-inch plasma) because LCDs have a longer screen life and provide a slightly sharper picture. Plasmas also have the drawback of "burn in," which happens when an image becomes frozen onto the screen if the TV left on the same channel for a long time.

If you’re still watching House on an old tube that requires an antenna, though, both of these are definitely well worth the upgrade.

Answer 7

LCD TVs are better. They last longer. Plasma TVs seem to burn out.

Answer 8

LCD TVs use electric lights to backlight the television, while plasmas use gas lit up by electricity to light it.

For smaller TVs, plasma is better, but LCD is better in anything over 36".