LCD vs. Plasma

LCD vs. plasma, which television technology is the better of the two? Well, if there was a clear answer to this question, the inferior technology would quickly disappear from the television display market, but instead both are going strong. A better question to ask is which is better for you. Each technology offers some advantages over the other, and is better for some uses but not others.

On the surface, plasma and LCD television display technologies seem very much alike, and many people think they are the same. Both enable televisions to be made, flat, thin, and have big screens, but this is where the similarities end. If you are unfamiliar with what the LCD and plasma TV technologies are, you may want to visit the LCD and plasma TV pages.

Both technologies achieve great results, but there are some occasions when you may want to prefer one over the other. The factors listed below will help you decide.

Heavy Duty Use - A television will most likely experience heavy duty use outside the home, perhaps in conferences, schools, or as a part of a commercial display. Heavy duty use may entail long hours or constant operation, or being subjected to physical blows due to frequent transportation or otherwise. LCD televisions are the better choice for heavy use because their operational lifetime is longer, and they are less physically fragile than plasma sets. Additionally, plasma televisions are susceptible to screen burn-in if they show the same static picture for some time, and LCDs don't have this problem.

Use in a Bright Room or Outdoors - Plasma televisions rely on phosphorous material on their screen to generate color light pixels, whereas LCD televisions generate an image by shinning a light through a liquid crystal panel. Therefore, the brightness of a plasma TV is limited by the ability of phosphor to emit light, and an LCD's brightness is limited by the strength of its back light bulb, which can be made very strong. LCD televisions do better when faced with interfering ambiant light than plasma television.

Movie Watching - Overall, plasma televisions offer better color and picture response than LCD. Picture response is a measure of how fast the picture can adopt to rapid changes in color. If the response is slow, a rapid change looks like a fade-in. Therefore, plasma screens are more suitable for fast action movies.

Computer Use - LCD televisions are more suitable to double up as computer screens because they are not susceptible to screen burn-in caused by static pictures as plasma televisions are. LCDs are also lighter and thinner than plasma displays, and therefore fit on a desk.

Video Games - Video games tend to have plenty of static imagery as well, and therefore screen burn-in is a concern for plasma televisions. But, plasma TV's superior color and response might make it worth getting for great video game play, especially for fast action 3D games.

Operation in High Altitudes - Plasma televisions may have problems operating in high altitudes above about 6000 feet. Therefore, if you live high up, you might want to get an LCD TV instead.

Energy Consumption - LCD televisions consume much less power than plasma.

Price - Plasma televisions are generally cheaper than LCD televisions of comparable screen size.

Screen Size - Plasma televisions are available in larger screen sizes than LCD TVs, but LCDs still come at respectable 40+ inches of screen size.

Weight and Size - LCD televisions are thinner, and much lighter than plasma televisions, and therefore easier to ship and mount on a wall.