As the times of black-and-white TVs imperceptibly “sunk into oblivion”, apparatuses with an ordinary picture tube are gradually falling out of fashion. A new generation of flat - panel TVs is gradually gaining ground in the television market. Their prices have already dropped significantly, and many consumers are thinking about what to change their morally obsolete "box" for. And here a logical question arises: which is better - a plasma or an LCD TV.
And to solve this dilemma, you need to understand what are the differences between them. But there are differences between them, and they consist in completely different principles for filing an image on the screen. Each of these technologies has its own disadvantages and advantages. And to find out the difference between a plasma TV and an LCD, it’s worth a little delving into the history of the creation of these technologies.
LCD technology has been known for over a hundred years, since 1904. Initially, liquid crystals were developed in order to transmit a “dead” image. These are clock displays and calculators. This went on for many years until this technology was first used for computer monitors, and then for conventional TVs.
Well, the “plasma” technology was discovered in 1964. But for the first time it was used for a television screen in 1998, during the winter Olympics in Nagano. This technology made it possible to broadcast the image on a large screen, the dimensions of which were not available for traditional TVs.
And now it’s worth going over the main parameters of TVs, which are interesting for consumers. And one of them is the screen size. In this confrontation - plasma or LCD - plasma leads. First, the minimum plasma screen size is 32 inches. Secondly, plasma TVs with a diagonal of 42 inches or more are still cheaper than LCD TVs with the same dimensions. But the first point does not always work on plasma. After all, not everyone needs big TVs, and not everyone can afford them. Therefore, in the market segment of TVs with small screens, only the good old picture tubes can make unequal competition to liquid crystals.
Plasma or LCD - these two technologies are measured not only in size. Energy consumption is also not the last factor. And if more recently plasma panels twisted counters faster than LCD TVs, now they are almost equal in electricity consumption. Also controversial is the setting of televisions such as viewing angle. With plasmas, everything is clear - on them the image remains clear within 160 degrees. And some manufacturers of LCD-screens say that they have achieved a viewing angle of 178 degrees. But these figures are somewhat in doubt. After all, the picture on such screens fades and loses contrast at much smaller angles.
Many people who caught black and white televisions remember how much the then Records and Birches served. Their service life was estimated for decades. Also now, the one who is faced with the choice - plasma or LCD - is interested in how long his new acquisition will last. Manufacturers of LCD displays claim that their "brainchildren" can work for up to 40 years, if they are turned on for an average of 4 hours every day. At the same time, the lifetime of plasma panels is considered to be half as much. But it will be possible to prove this statement only in 10-20 years, when the first “centenarians” from each of the “warring parties” appear. And now we can confidently say only one thing - LCDs really have a longer life.
Another important aspect of the dilemma - plasma or LCD is color reproduction. By this parameter, plasma definitely wins. This is achieved thanks to the light blocking method in such panels. In plasma, inactive pixels are turned off, and therefore no extraneous illumination is observed on the screen. And in LCD technology, light constantly penetrates the slots of the pixel array. This gives the colors gray and distorts the natural shades.
And at the same time, plasma screens can suffer from burnout. Such an effect can occur if a static picture "hangs" on it for a long time. And the phosphor "wears out" from such an intense "work." This will lead to the fact that after a while the silhouette of the afterimage becomes visible on the screen. And LCD-TVs do not suffer from this “disease”. Also, many parameters of televisions depend on the manufacturer itself, its integrity. And this applies to both technologies. And everyone has the right to decide which one to choose.