subject: Television Technologies Compared [print this page] For years, the only type of television you could buy was a cathode ray tube model, a bulky, heavy, and inefficient technology when compared to modern equivalents. These have all but died out in recent years, to be replaced by a multitude of high tech alternatives such as plasma and LCD. Most people will be familiar with LCD display technology, as it is used in most flatscreen desktop and laptop computer monitors.
The benefits of LCD displays over the old CRT ones are that they take up a lot less space and are a lot lighter, which means that they can be mounted on a wall. In addition, they are also by far the most energy efficient type of display that is widely available at present.LCDs also use less power than plasma TVs, minimise glare and do not suffer from burn in to the same degree. When a bright image, such as a static graphic in a computer game, is on the screen for a certain length of time, it will leave an impression on the screen that takes a long time to dissipate, and this problem is especially pronounced with plasma TVs.
Plasma TVs are also available in a much smaller selection of sizes, usually between 32 and 62 inches.However, it is not all bad news as far as plasma displays are concerned. The colours are much richer, and the blacks are a lot more solid, which gives the picture a lot more depth and clarity. Also, the viewing angle is much larger.
In order to get the best results from an LCD display, you have to be looking straight on at it, or the black areas may appear grey, and in extreme cases brighter than the light areas of the picture. Plasma TVs also suffer a lot less from motion blur than LCDs due to to their higher refresh rate.
In the end, if you want a large screen TV with the best picture quality possible, then a plasma TV would seem to be the best way to go. On the other hand, if you play lots of computer games, then that picture quality may be spoiled by screen burn. Nonetheless, the smaller space requirement, lighter weight, lower energy usage, and the variety of sizes on offer do make LCDs a somewhat more convenient choice than Plasma TVs in most circumstances.
