How to choose a plasma TV. Which TV to buy for your home: choosing the best option Plasma TV
Today you can still hear the question of which is better, plasma or LCD TV. Many users who do not understand electronics well enough apply the term "plasma" to all modern large-screen TVs and high cost. The roots of this attitude lie in the 2000s, when large-diagonal TV equipment was either projection (TVs were a huge three-dimensional device with a built-in projector) or plasmas with a marsh-colored screen. At that time, buying a plasma was a big deal, especially from the Pioneer brand, which was considered the best of the best in this field. However, today, in 2020, the situation is completely different.
The plasma matrix is a collection of miniature fluorescent lamps (gas cells) that glow when current passes through them. Each pixel of such a matrix is a capacitor with electrodes, consisting of three light bulbs with ionized gas. When a cell is activated electric charge, one of the lamps glows, emitting light in one of three primary colors (blue, green or red). The speed of changing the color and operating order of the lamps is at least 400 Hz, which is not noticeable to the human eye. As a result, the viewer sees a “picture” of high quality and brightness, without noticing flickering. This frequency exceeds the speed of LCD matrices, where black pixels are added to improve this parameter.
Plasma panel device
At visual inspection You can determine the type of TV (plasma or LCD) by the color of the screen when it is turned off. Plasma has a greenish (swamp) color. During operation, it can be recognized by temperature: such a TV is in operation gets very hot.
This type of equipment is purchased by “film gourmets”, for whom the frame rate, color rendering quality and depth of black color are important.
The problem with plasma TVs is a fixed picture for a long time. In the plasma matrix, such a place “burns out”, remaining forever a translucent shadow. Often this situation occurs when a DVD player freezes: when it is paused, or the user did not turn it off after watching a movie, and the abbreviation “DVD” glowed on the screen all night. This also happens when used carefully, for example, if there is a favorite television channel, its icon will also remain a shadow.
One of the problems with plasma is screen burnout under a static picture.
Such significant shortcomings, coupled with high energy consumption made plasmas unpopular, and subsequently completely unclaimed. Replaced LED and LED matrices turned out to be much better: with similar quality, the pictures themselves cost less and consume electricity more economically.
Important! Since 2014, plasmas have not been produced or supplied in Russia.
Types of LCD Panels
The modern market offers three leading technologies. Each differs in both operating principle and cost. The latest developments are the most “advanced”, budget models the simplest ones, they are obsolete, but to this day they are in great demand due to their affordability and practicality.
For a complete understanding, it should be clarified that only those models of LCD TVs that are currently sold will be analyzed. They are significantly superior to samples from earlier years of production.
Like any new product, an OLED panel is more expensive than previous types, and the difference can reach 10 times the size. This is compensated by an excellent image, as well as an impressive diagonal of more than 55 inches.
Advantages of LCD TVs
Liquid crystal display (LED) TVs have taken the world by storm. For 2020, this is the most popular television technology. This is understandable, with so many advantages.
High picture contrast
The technology used here provides a number of advantages. The image turns out to be contrasty, even in those areas where the “source” contains low-contrast images. Bright LED backlight makes the image as close to natural as possible, with a natural variety of colors. The second advantage of this solution is that the screen brightness during operation is independent of ambient lighting. 
Image clarity
LCD TVs show a picture that is as close as possible to the real one due to high detail. The viewing angle of such TVs is not fundamentally different from that of plasma TVs. It is enough even for almost side-to-side viewing from the screen.
Economical
Given the constant rise in energy prices, energy efficiency of equipment becomes one of the key issues when choosing. LED TV using LED backlight 40% more economical than the old version of LCD TVs. Edge-lit panels (EDGE) are even more energy efficient.
Environmental friendliness
LED TVs are made with care for nature: in crystals no mercury. This circumstance gives the right to certification according to all modern environmental safety standards.
Compact size
A modern TV is an elegant interior detail. Its thickness can be only 2.5 cm, and the screen takes up 100% of the area. Designers of manufacturing companies are working to ensure that the TV is not just a device, but becomes a real decoration of the interior.
Modern TVs perfectly complement the interior
Large selection of additional options
The latest generation LED TV is multifunction device, combining the capabilities of a TV, video player from different media, and a multiport communicator. The TV has a built-in board that helps you work with different data formats, go to the world wide web and work fully in it.
Summarizing
Thus, today it is already difficult to say which is better - a plasma or LCD TV, since the market simply did not leave us a choice. Plasma panels are a thing of the past. Modern LED TVs are superior to them in most respects. However, it is unknown how long their triumph will last. New technologies, for example, QLED screens, promise even greater advantages: unsurpassed brightness, saturation, color gamut. However, in 2020, the dominance of LED is an undeniable fact.
Super User Details About TVs
The technologies for producing plasma, LCD (CCFL LCD) and LED (LED LCD) TVs are well developed today, so they all produce a fairly high-quality picture. And yet, what plasma is better or LCD? Both plasma panels and LCD brothers have their pros and cons. LED TV ov.
Why brothers? Because they are produced using the same technology and differ only in the lighting method.
Plasma panelsThey give a fairly high-quality picture: true black color and generally realistic color rendition, high contrast, wide viewing angles and short response time.
Disadvantages: the brightness is not high enough and watching TV in a sunny room will not be so comfortable, high energy consumption, large dimensions.
"Screen burnout" is the process of phosphorus burning in the cell. As a result, a frequently displayed image, such as a logo, may be remembered on the screen. This problem exists with plasma, but even the first models had a service life of 30,000 hours (about 10 years). And today manufacturers claim the service life of panels is comparable to LCD TVs.
Another disadvantage is that it is impossible to create plasma with a diagonal size smaller than 32 inches. But the price of a large diagonal plasma is lower than that of the same diagonal LCD or LED.
U LCD (CCFL LCD) TVs Brightness is better than plasma, power consumption is lower. Response time and viewing angles are inferior to plasma, but they are sufficient for comfortable viewing. Color rendition and contrast are at the same level as different manufacturers is different. Although it should be noted that the black color is not truly black, but rather dark gray. This is due to the features of the technology.
LED (LED LCD) TVs, Also being LCD TVs, they are thinner than CCFL LCD due to the fact that LEDs are used instead of fluorescent lamps to backlight the liquid crystal panel. This improves color rendering. The downside is the price. According to this indicator, they are inferior to LCD (CCFL LCD) TVs and plasma. Besidesthese TVs have nSome illumination unevenness. These are the features of LCD technology. But today this is the most modern technology for mass production of televisions.
Knowing the pros and cons of all technologies, you can decide whether a plasma or LCD TV is better for you.
P.S. The first CCFL LCD TVs have already left the TV market. Plasma production ceased in 2014. LED LCD still occupies the main TV market. But it's already being replaced new technology - OLED. The stated prices for Oled TVs are still very high. But they are already on sale. About models that are entering the market
If you want to buy a modern TV model, then you need to choose the model especially carefully, since today there are many types. Mostly, buyers are interested in which TV is better: LCD or plasma? Before making a choice, you should not only compare all the advantages and disadvantages of these types of TV, but also find out how LCD differs from plasma. This is exactly what we will talk about today.
Once cathode ray tubes became a thing of the past, and TVs themselves became thinner and lighter, each manufacturing and display technology began to try to prove that it was the best. This competition, in turn, led to higher quality televisions and an attempt to lower prices. However, it is worth saying that the latter does not always work out, since what more modern device, the more different functions, interfaces, etc. it has, and this automatically increases its cost, whatever one may say.
Plasma TV
Today there are not many companies involved in the production of plasma TVs. Fujitsu from Japan was the first to use this technology. Modern models of monitors, panels and displays are produced based on their technology. Today, this technology is in great demand among buyers.
Before purchasing equipment, you should understand the difference between a plasma TV and a plasma panel. A plasma panel is a monitor to which you can connect a DVD player or flash drive to watch videos. At the same time, such equipment is not provided with a TV tuner, so if you want to buy a full-fledged TV, it is better to choose a model that does have it.
Buying plasma TV, choose models from well-known companies that provide a one-year warranty on their equipment. The greater the guarantee, the better device. It is also important to consider whether there is service center of this manufacturer in your city.
LCD TV
LCD displays appeared 20 years ago and quickly became popular among users. Today there are many models with a large diagonal, low weight and screen thickness. These parameters of the TV allow you, if desired, to install it using a bracket on the wall, on a special hanging shelf, or to build it into furniture and walls.
Such TVs are cheaper than plasma TVs with the same dimensions. In addition, such displays often have noticeably better color rendering and brightness than plasma models. This is due to the fact that such TVs have fairly good resolution.
Technological features of LCD TVs
Such a display consists of two plates and liquid crystals placed between them. Transparent polished plates have the same transparent electrodes through which voltage is transmitted to the matrix cells.
Liquid crystals between such plates are arranged in a special way. A beam of light passes through a polarizer installed near the plates, which turns at a right angle. This design is complemented by backlighting and a light filter with RGB colors.
To increase the speed of operation in these devices, special thin-film transistors, better known as TFT, are produced. Thanks to them, each cell is controlled separately. Because of this, the response speed can reach 8 milliseconds.
Technological features of plasma
Plasma also consists of the same plates with electrodes as LCD monitors. The difference is that instead of liquid crystals, the space between them is filled with inert gases such as argon, neon, xenon or their compounds. Each cell is colored with a specific phosphor, which determines the future color of the pixel. One cell is separated from another by a partition that does not allow ultraviolet radiation or light from the other cell to pass through. This ensures the maximum level of contrast is achieved, regardless of the intensity of external lighting.
When applying for specific cell voltage, it begins to glow with the color in which its phosphor is painted. The difference between such TVs and LCDs is that each of the cells itself emits light, so the backlight of such a display is not required.
Comparative characteristics of plasma and liquid crystal panels
|
Characteristic |
Winner |
Details |
| Screen size | Not so long ago, large-diagonal LCD TVs practically did not exist, and plasma TVs were the undisputed winner, so the question of choosing plasma or LCD did not arise. But time passes and today LCD models have almost caught up with plasma. Therefore, the difference according to this criterion has disappeared and it is very difficult to determine the winner. | |
| Contrast | This happens due to the fact that plasma TVs themselves emit light, which makes the image better and more saturated. | |
| Glare in bright light | The brightness of the lamp backlight allows you to see the image on the screen even in bright lighting or direct sunlight. Plasma panels will produce glare. | |
| Black depth | The reason for the loss of an LCD TV in this parameter is the same. Due to the additional illumination, the black is less deep than that of plasma, where its depth is achieved due to the fact that there is simply no electricity flowing to a given cell. | |
| Fast response | Electricity is transmitted almost instantly through inert gas, so there are no problems. But with older models of LCD displays, shadows could appear when the picture was moving quickly. But today, thanks to TFT technology, the response speed in such TVs has decreased to 8 milliseconds. Therefore, if you choose a new TV model, you will not notice any artifacts. | |
| Viewing angle | Plasma TVs started with a viewing angle of 160 degrees, but an older LCD TV model can have a viewing angle of only 45 degrees. But if you choose one of the modern models, then you don’t need to worry, since today the viewing angle on LCD and plasma TVs is the same. | |
| Illumination Uniformity | In plasma TVs, uniformity of illumination is ensured by the fact that each of the pixels is itself a light source and glows in the same way as the others. On LCD TVs, lighting uniformity depends on the lamp, but uniformity is still difficult to achieve. | |
| Screen burn-in | Screen burn-in mainly affects plasma displays when viewing a static image. Over time, all objects may develop non-existent shadows, which is actually fixable. This a common problem for devices containing phosphorus. LCD monitors do not have it, and, therefore, they do not face such a problem. | |
| Energy efficiency | LCD TVs consume almost 2 times less electricity than plasma TVs. This is due to the fact that the main amount of energy in plasma TVs is spent on cooling and powerful fans, but in LCD panels, practically nothing is used except the lighting lamp. | |
| Durability | For LCD TV, the service life can reach up to 100,000 hours, while plasma has no more than 60,000 hours. In addition, for LCD screens this figure means the resource of the backlight lamp, and for plasma it means the resource of the matrix. If you choose plasma, by the time those 60,000 hours have passed, the screen brightness will be half as bright. | |
| Compatibility | In principle, both plasma and liquid crystal modern TVs there is enough variety of functions and interfaces. This may also be the ability to connect various game consoles, audio systems, Smart TV and 3D functions. However, LCD displays win due to the fact that they are best suited for use with a computer. They make it easier to see various diagrams and graphics, since more pixels are used per inch than in plasma monitors. | |
| Price | Plasma TV on this moment cost significantly more than liquid crystal models with the same diagonal. |
As a result, we can say that plasma panels have better color reproduction and response speed, and liquid crystal models are more energy efficient, durable and not susceptible to screen burnout. Therefore, before choosing what you need: LCD or plasma, decide what is most important for you in such a device.
When choosing a TV, many of us have no idea what to look for. Some people are only interested in the display picture, so when visiting a store, they focus only on the visual impression. Others prefer to study the equipment specifications and user reviews before making a purchase. You can also get good advice from the seller. Let's try to understand the question of which TV is better: LCD or plasma? To do this, we need to compare their main indicators and characteristics.
Which TV is better: LCD or plasma?
The second has higher brightness and contrast. In addition, it produces very rich and rich colors and shades in a wide range. It should be noted that the viewing angle is much wider for plasma. This is because the pixels used in this TV are capable of emitting light themselves. And LCD panels use a special lamp for these purposes. The light from it, passing through the pixel crystal, produces an image.
When determining which TV is better: LCD or plasma, you should also point out some of their shortcomings. Before making a purchase, decide what size TV panel you need. The fact is that plasma TVs with a diagonal smaller than 32 inches are not produced. Their manufacturing technology involves the use of fairly large pixels. Therefore, to achieve good extension Manufacturers are forced to increase the display size. The second drawback is the ability to view high-quality images only from a long distance. IN otherwise The pupils can detect a subtle flicker, causing eye fatigue. The third drawback is phosphor burnout, which limits the service life of the display. Also noteworthy is the high energy consumption and high price.
Disadvantages of LCD TVs
Main flaws - low quality transmitted signals and poor broadcast of terrestrial television. These features should undoubtedly be taken into account when answering the question of which TV is better: LCD or plasma. However, when you connect a PC or other high-quality source, you can get a pretty good picture. In addition, manufacturers increasingly began to integrate card readers, tuners for cable networks, hard disks etc. This allows this TV receiver to remain in demand for a long time.
So, we choose TV. Which is better? Let's analyze another type of TV receiver, which has recently appeared on the market. household appliances. We are talking about an LED TV. We can say that this is a cross between LCD and plasma. It shows pretty well terrestrial television. Also, an LED TV has a better picture quality than an LCD and does not produce noise. Today there are a huge variety of TV panels of this type on the market.
Which LED TV is better?
Experts recommend purchasing a TV panel with a diagonal of 32-42 inches. In this case, the TV should be at least two meters away from the eyes. This position will allow you to achieve more comfortable and high-quality viewing. It is best to purchase an LED TV with a higher resolution. This indicator significantly affects the quality of the picture. High level Contrast and color quality are achieved through the presence of backlighting. However, the panel screen is noticeably thicker than when using side LEDs. Determine the important criteria for yourself and make the right choice.
