A Quick Guide in choosing an LCD/Plasma TV

Plasma televisions (also known as ‘PDP’) are the result of taking noble gases (helium, xenon and neon) and trap them between two glass layers with electrodes. When electricity passes through the gases, they turn to plasma that stimulates phosphors to emit light.

The first plasma television (experimental black & white model) was discovered in 1964; in 1983 it was IBM that made the first orange-black monochrome display commercially available. Fujitsu achieved the first full-color plasma television in 1992.

The pros of plasma televisions are that they’ re slim, light, and can therefore be mounted more easily on the wall. Also, color reproduction is great, producing very good blacks and enabling higher contrast ratios. Typically they have much higher refresh rates than other types of flat panel displays and therefore there is absence of motion blur, which is something typical of an LCD television. They also have much wider viewing angles, typically reaching 180 degrees.

The cons of a plasma television are that they reflect images because of the glass front-end, they use more energy (although this is already being dealt with) and they are not available in less than 32 inches in size.

Typically plasma televisions support better resolutions: from 1024×1024 to 1980×1980 so they are the ideal platform for HDTV followers.

If you are a particularly environmental person, you should be aware that plasma televisions are not friendly to the environment because of the gas used for manufacturing the screens, which is nitrogen trifluoride. Take also into account that many people leave their sets on for long periods of time (adds heat); also it takes more energy to power plasma televisions for larger sizes.

However, most of the problems that I mentioned are more or less getting extinct; already, the newer models consume 50% less that those one or two years ago. So plasma panels currently in the market leave a significantly smaller footprint on the environment.

The most important plasma television brands are those of Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Toshiba and LG.

I decided to give more attention to Panasonic models because I got the impression (at least by discussing with people who are experts in this Market) that they are the leaders.