Best Plasma TV

You want to buy a flat-screen TV and you don’t quite know if to go for a plasma TV or an LCD TV. Let’s start the plasma versus LCD TV analysis and see witch is best for you. If you prefer watching a video or you are in a hurry, press “play” and watch the important aspects of plasma versus LCD TV in this video (I didn’t posted it on YouTube but I found it good to complement this written guide). The video doesn’t cover everything I wrote in this guide, so if you want to really have a good understanding of the differences, advantages and disadvantages I recommend you to keep reading.

First of all I want to give you a heads up. I have found a large number of plasma TV guides discussing about plasma versus LCD TV that are not up to date. They compare the two types of flat-panel TVs based on older products, and because of that they are inaccurate when considering the newer models of plasma and LCD TVs. The most important fact that is presented incorrectly is the plasma TV burn-in which in today’s models is no longer an issue. Or at least not as bad as it was with older models of plasma TVs.

OK, let’s get to the point! When you have to choose between an plasma TV and an LCD TV you have to ask yourself three questions.

1. Is the room where I’m watching well lit or dark?
2. What am I going to watch on it?
3. What size I want my flat-panel TV to be?

It’s easy, right? Let’s see why those are the important questions to ask yourself.

Round 1: The Ambient Light Battle

First of all, the amount of light in the room is the most important factor when choosing between an plasma and an LCD TV. That is because they offer different image quality depending on the amount of ambient light. A plasma TV offers better image quality, has a better contrast ratio and deeper black levels than an LCD TV does. But this happens only in a room with low ambient light. If you watch it in a well lit room, it will look dimmer than an LCD (there is an exception and I will explain that in a moment). The reason this happens has to do with the type of material used to manufacture the screen. Plasma TVs are made from a type of glass that reflects light more than the one used to make LCDs.

In conclusion, if you know you will watch during evening/night or you don’t have a very lit room the plasma TV is better because it offers better picture quality than an LCD does. Now, don’t think that just because there’s light in your room your plasma TV will look bad. The light that mostly affects the way your flat-screen looks is direct light from sun passing through the window or light coming from powerful light bulbs. If you ever watched a regular TV while sunlight was coming from behind it or directly hitting the screen and reflecting (light coming from your back), then I am sure you didn’t liked it. It’s similar with a plasma TV. If you want the picture quality advantage of a plasma TV and you happen to have sunlight coming through the window you can always use blinds or shades to block the light and have a great experience. If a lot of sunlight comes in the room and you don’t want to use blinds, or if you want to watch TV with lights turned on, then the LCD TV is a better choice.

What to expect from an LCD in a well lit room? Can you have a lot of sunlight or powerful light bulbs and have a good picture quality on your LCD? No, you can’t! It will look better than a plasma TV - in some situations, much better - but it will still not be as good as if you would watch in dark or very low light. That is because, even though the LCD screen reflects less light, it does reflect a certain amount of it. More than that, there’s something that affects the picture quality, which has nothing to do with the type of glass used in the screen, the technology and the TV itself - that is the human eye. Your eye has to adapt to the amount of light it gets, and if there’s a lot of light, you will just not experience the same picture quality as you would in dark.

When I said that in a very lit room a plasma TV doesn’t look as good as an LCD does, I promised to tell you about the exception. Anti-glare is a special treatment that some plasma TV screens get. It’s purpose is to lower the glass reflectivity so the plasma TV can handle environments with a lot of light. If you have a “light issue” and you’re set for a plasma TV, buying one with anti-glare is a good idea. But, between a plasma TV with anti-glare and an LCD TV which is best? Good question! This is the point where manufacturing and design quality steps in. Even though in most cases an LCD will perform better in light, you will find quality plasma TVs that will do as well or at least well enough to eliminate this from the list of possible problems.

Round 2: The Response Time Battle

Plasma TV got a bit of a beating in the first round from the LCD, but now it’s time to fight back. The response time is one of the aspects where a plasma TV really shines. Plasma TVs have almost instant response time. That means they are great for movies and sports. LCD TVs are slower, and if you watch sports or action movies you might experience some blur around a fast moving image (like a tennis ball for example).

There are exceptions here also. You can find LCD TVs with fast response time on the market and they won’t have any blurring problem. If you decide to buy an LCD TV I highly recommend you to buy one with a response time of 5ms or lower. Anything higher than 5ms and you might be able to see the blur in fast moving scenes. The lowest response time today’s LCDs have is 2ms. There is also another feature LCD TV manufacturers developed to address the problems with fast moving scenes - the high refresh rate. This also helps an LCD TV to better handle the fast moving scenes we see in movies or sports.

Those are the most important things you should know in order to be able to select a winner in your plasma versus LCD TV battle. They are enough for most of the people and most of the usages, but there are still a few other differences between the two types of flat-panels.

Round 3: Size Matters

No funny jokes! We are talking about plasma versus LCD TV so keep your kinky mind on this subject . To cut to the chase, if you want a large flat panel, plasma TVs offer the price advantage over LCD TVs. Plasma TVs larger than 50″ are cheaper than LCDs of same size. On the other hand, if you need a small TV with a size smaller than 42″ the LCD TV is your only solution. At this point there are no plasma TVs smaller than 42″. In the future you can expect to find 32″ plasma TVs too, because LG has announced they intend to launch on the market models of this size. However, at the time I am writing this guide, 42″ is the smallest plasma TV you can find on the market.

Plasma versus LCD TV - Other Differences

Plasma TV High Altitude Problem

Most plasma TVs have a problem with high altitude operation. The panel of a plasma TV is made from many small containers filled with rare gases. Ideally this gas should have the same pressure as the gas outside the panel (the air you breathe). However, at high altitude, the air has a lower pressure; hence the rare gases inside the plasma TV panel have to “work” harder. That means the plasma TV will consume more power and it will require more cooling. If we are talking about plasma TVs that have fans to cool them down, those fans will spin faster and because of that, they can make a noticeable noise. The models without fans (that use air convection to cool down) will emit a buzz-like noise. Operating at high altitude will not degrade a plasma TVs image quality, but it will make it noisier. Also, because the panel operates in a harder environment, it can shorten the plasma TV life.

So, what means “high altitude” when talking about this problem? Pioneer plasma TVs are designed to operate up to 7,500ft (2,286m), Panasonic ones can handle altitudes up to 7,800ft (2,377m) and NEC Plasma TVs are built to work in normal conditions at altitudes as high as 9,180ft (2,798m). Some of the other manufacturers also produce models that work at higher altitudes.

LCD TVs have no problems operating at high altitudes.

Plasma TVs Produce More Heat

Compared to LCD TVs, plasma TVs produce more heat. This is not a problem, but something you should be aware of. When you install your plasma TV make sure you leave room around it for air to flow.

Plasma TVs Weight More Than LCD TVs

Another difference between plasma versus LCD TV is that the former is heavier. Again, this is a difference but not a problem. After all you don’t buy a 50″ plasma TV to take it with you wherever you go as you do with your notebook.

Plasma TV Burn-In and the Dead or Stuck Pixels of LCD TV

You will find guides on the Internet that will tell you that plasma TVs have a problem (some guides even say it’s a serious problem) called Burn-In. You will also find guides that talk about stuck or dead pixels of LCD TVs. I honestly don’t think either of the two “problems” worth mentioning here anymore. There was a problem with plasma TV burn-in and there was a problem with stuck or dead pixels in LCDs, but now the risk to get burn-in with a last generation plasma TV or to find dead or stuck pixels on an LCD TV is slim. So don’t worry about burn-in or about stuck and dead pixels.

Plasma and LCD TV Lifespan

What about lifespan of plasma and LCD TVs? Which will last longer? Well, most of the models last about the same amount of time (around 50,000-60,000 hours). There are news about Panasonic planning to launch a plasma TV line that will have a lifespan of 100,000 hours, but for now, none of the two technologies is better than the other. Please note that by lifespan I am referring to the industry standard of half-life - the period until the display will reach half it’s initial brightness - and not the period it will take it to stop functioning.

Let’s recap

Plasma TV Advantages over LCD TV

• Contrast
• Brightness
• Black levels
• Image sharpness
• Image quality for fast-moving scenes
• Overall picture quality (in low light)
• Cheaper if you want a large size

LCD TV Advantages over Plasma TV

• Overall picture quality (in well lit environments)
• Small sizes available
• No problems operating at high altitude

A Real Life Scenario

Personally, I went for the plasma TV. It happens that for what I intended to do with it was the best choice. In the room where I installed it I have a lot of sunlight after 1PM, but during the day I almost don’t watch TV at all. If I do, I just close the blinds and the room gets dark.

Though at the time I bought it, burn-in seemed to be an issue, because most of the time I watch movies or TV and I never stay on the same channel much time (it’s just me) I didn’t worried about this problem enough to make me give the overall quality advantage of the plasma TV for the LCD resistance to burn-in. With the newer plasma TV models burn-in is very unlikely. I do use my PC with the plasma TV but just to watch movies. I don’t play games on the plasma for two reasons: first, my video card produces lower frame rates at that resolution, and second, I just don’t like to play games on the plasma because I find it too big for this. So there goes another thing that might have made me change my mind for an LCD fearing of burn-in.

No matter what you choose, it will look GREAT!

The truth is that you really don’t see much difference between an LCD and a Plasma TV. Even if you see them side by side it’s hard to tell them apart. The important thing is to get a QUALITY flat-panel, from a good brand. I would have traded the plasma TV for an LCD that looked better in a blink of an eye (if I would also have had the extra money of course ). So, just make sure that no matter what your choice is, you read customer reviews and do some research on what’s the best flat-panel that meets your demands and your budget.