Plasma Television Online Auction

Picture a better way to watch TV or your favorite movies. Lifelike images. Crisp, full sound. A cinematic, widescreen display that draws you into the drama and blends stylishly into your home's decor at once. Flat-panel plasma and LCD technology introduces an exciting new era in home entertainment. Use this simple guide to help decide which display will be best for you and your family.

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Plasma and LCD advantages over tube tvs

How Plasma and LCD panels work

Which one to buy?

A peek at the future

Plasma and LCD advantages over tube tvs

Before going into the specific differences between Plasma and LCD displays, here's a quick glimpse at some advantages both technologies have over traditional, or CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TV sets.

Widescreen Aspect Ratio

One of the most exciting, cutting-edge features of this new generation of TVs is their widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio. Compared to the boxy (4:3) look of traditional TV sets, this horizontal design is more "cinematic" in nature, perfect for watching DVDs, sporting events and all the latest HDTV (high-definition television) programming.

Slim, Space-Saving Design

The other most exciting feature: they're flat! At only a few inches deep, flat-panel displays can be hung on a wall or from a ceiling and easily blend with any design scheme. A revolutionary improvement upon the "big-belly" space-eating design of CRTs.

No Scan Lines

Conventional TVs use an electron beam to scan the picture tube from top to bottom. If you look closely, you can see these lines on the screen. Since flat-panel screens use pixels to generate color, they don't have these scan lines and deliver a smooth evenly-lit image across the entire display.

Uniform Screen Brightness

Unlike some rear and front projection TVs that suffer from uneven screen brightness (commonly known as "hot spots") in the middle of the screen, flat panels offer a smooth, even picture across the entire screen.

Perfectly Flat Screen

Flat panels have screens that are perfectly flat, with no curvature whatsoever. This eliminates the edge distortion that can occur in standard TVs and also lets you view it from practically anywhere in the room.

How Plasma and LCD panels work

Now that you have an understanding of why a flat-panel set is a great way to go, let's summarize the specific differences between plasma and LCD displays. First, a brief explanation on how the two different technologies work.

How Plasma Panels Work

A plasma display is designed with two parallel sheets of glass, between which a mixture of neon and xenon gas, called plasma, fills thousands of grid-like chambers.

When electricity hits the gas in the chambers, a tiny discharge of ultraviolet light is released and strikes a phosphor coating, creating a "pixel" which produces red blue, or green light (RGB). Hundreds of thousands of pixels across the screen combine to create the images that you see on your TV.

How LCD Panels Work

LCD panels contain a layer of hundreds of thousands of liquid crystal cells placed between two layers of polarized glass. Light from powerful bulbs in the back of the panel moves first through a "diffuser plate" which distributes the light evenly across the screen.

The light then passes through a layer of Thin Film Transistors (TFT) plus color filters which control the amount of electricity passed into each liquid crystal cell. The result is hundreds of thousands of LCD "pixels", each generating red, blue or green color to give you the final image.

Which one to buy?

Now it's time to get into the different benefits each type of flat-panel display offers so that you can make a smart purchase. Truth is, you can't go wrong either way. But there may be one or two factors listed below, based on your specific viewing habits, that will tip the scale towards one or the other.

Start with Size

Presently, plasma displays tend to run a bit larger than LCDs, with the largest ones being around 63 diagonal inches. You'll find more value-oriented models in the 32-to-40 inch range. LCD panels currently top-out at just above 40 inches. But that's almost sure to change in the coming months as LCD makers scramble to close the size gap with plasmas. Expect LCDs to be comparable in size to plasmas over the next year or so.

Picture Quality

If you placed an LCD and a plasma display right next to each other, it would be hard to tell the difference in picture quality. Getting picky, you could say that LCD TVs have a slight resolution advantage over plasmas, particularly when viewed in a bright room (see below), but it is slight. Simply put, both look great.

Brightness & Contrast

Sitting in a completely darkened room, plasma TVs have a brightness and contrast advantage over LCD monitors. That's because LCD panels use a backlight which passes through multiple layers and some of that light gets blocked from reaching your eyes.

But in the real world where ambient light and other factors can affect the TV image, LCDs fare better. That's because plasmas tend to absorb more outside light, brightening blacks and dark colors to reduce total contrast.
So just ask yourself whether you'll usually be watching TV or movies in the daytime or in the evenings, and you'll know which type wins this round. Still, both produce very high-quality images.
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Burn-In

Burn-in occurs when a pixel, each of which contains a red, green and blue light source, ages prematurely and becomes permanently etched into the display panel, resulting in a yellowish tinge. This inevitably happens with all plasmas and all phosphors over time.

LCDs on the other hand, do not suffer from burn-in. Although they do show a similar type of image retention or "ghosting", where there appears to be a slight trail left behind moving images, the effect is not permanent.
Lifespan

The life span of a TV is measured as a "half-life," or, the amount of time it takes for it to lose half its original brightness. Every TV set, even standard CRT sets, lose brightness over time.

Plasma TVs generally have a lifespan of about 20,000 to 30,000 hours, which equates to at least two years, three months of 24/7 usage before the TV fades to half the original brightness. Few people, if anyone, actually watch TV 24 hours a day, so realistically, if you were to watch 6 hours of television per day, the "half-life" of your plasma TV would be about 14 years.
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LCDs have a life-span of around 50,000 to 60,000 hours, which equates to at least five years of 24/7 use. So if you're watching six hours per day, it'll be 28 years before its brightness begins to fade to half its original level.
Viewing Angle

Both plasma and LCD technology deliver a 160- to 170-degree viewing angle. The quality of a plasma TV is about the same when viewed from the side. However, the image of an LCD loses a bit of contrast and brightness if you move away from its center. So this could be an important factor to keep in mind if you have a lot of furniture arranged around the sides of your entertainment center.

Panel Thickness

Plasma panels (screen and frame) are as thin as three inches deep, and even the largest ones don't project more than five inches from the wall. LCDs can be as thin as two inches deep, with the larger ones increasing to no more than three inches. Both types are dramatically slimmer than standard CRT sets (which can be as much as 22 inches deep or more) and can even be wall-mounted as an additional space-saving option.

Weight

Plasma displays are fairly heavy (an average 40-inch weighing about 70 pounds). LCD panels generally weigh about 10 to 15 percent less than plasmas, with a comparable 40-inch size weighing in at around 55 pounds.

Durability & Installation

Because plasmas tend to be heavier, and a bit more fragile than LCD TVs, they require more planning when mounting them or placing them on a stand or in a cabinet. Heavier plasma panels are generally best installed by professionals.

LCDs, on the other hand, are far less fragile than plasmas and lighter as well. You can easily install one yourself and have it up and running on the same day it's delivered.
Power Consumption

Plasma monitors use roughly 50 percent more power than similarly-sized LCD panels under the same conditions. Comparing 40-inch panels, the plasma will add $100 more per year to your electric bill than an LCD TV.

A peek at the future

Though LCD and Plasma displays are the wave to ride right now, DLP technology will soon be just as hot. Developed by Texas Instruments, Digital Light Processing uses light to produce an all-digital image that's bright in any light and sharp at any resolution, time and time again.