HDTV Buying Guide: Plasmas

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Plasma Display Panels (PDPs)

When Plasmas first came into the market, they had all sorts of problems. Those stories have manifested themselves into urban legends, which many people believe to be true. Plasmas use gas to create their picture. The answer is no! If the gas leaks it will not kill your family; they do not have to be recharged; and they do not only last one year. With that said here are true facts about plasmas:

Pros
Plasmas deliver the best all around picture quality. They have the capability of showing true and deep black levels, which give them the highest contrast ratios. Contrast Ratios are the measurement of the blackest blacks and the whitest whites that a television can produce. The higher the ratio, the richer and deeper the colors appear. Plasmas also have the fastest refresh rates, meaning that if you are watching sports, or action movies—something fast moving—plasmas can display these images seamlessly. Sometimes on LCDs when images are fast moving it looks as if a screen door has appeared over the image, which makes the image very blocky and not smooth. Plasmas are also, on average, less expensive than LCDs.

Cons
Plasmas are available in a variety of sizes, but the smallest sizes begin at 42”. So for someone who is looking for a bedroom television or a smaller flat panel, plasmas are not even an option. You can get them as big as 103 inches! Plasmas have a pane of glass on the front of them so if there is any ambient light glare and reflection will be issues that will affect your viewing pleasure. Also, how plasmas work depends on sending an electrical charge through the phosphorus cells, and there is no intermediate state… a cell is either fully charged or not as charged (to get darker shades). Consequently, Plasmas use a lot of power and produce a significant amount of heat. Plasmas are also not good for video games. Because plasmas are a fixed-pixel display—one pixel is equal to one cell and the cells don’t move; they are static—they are susceptible to burn-in or image retention. If this occurs, you will see a ghost image of a static image behind what you are trying to watch. However, Plasmas these days have built in protection against this, but for the first 100 hours or viewing do not have the television on the “Dynamic” setting, instead put the contrast and brightness down while the phosphors are new.

Who buys a Plasma?

A Plasma buyer is someone who wants a larger size television. With glare and reflection being either non-existent or a non-issue, this person wants image quality and performance over inconvenience. This person might also be getting this TV for a basement or home theater room where controlled lighting can easily be adjusted for optimal viewing. The next display technology is a Liquid Crystal Display or LCD. Continue to Part 3.