LCD TV

Plasma TV

Despite these similarities, both LCD TV and plasma TV have lot many differences that result in pros and cons of each TV so it rather demands a sensible approach from you while deciding on which of these two TVs is right for you.

LCD TV screens are made up thin, flat glass panels of liquid crystals and have a fluorescent bulb right behind these liquid crystal panels. When they are inactive, liquid crystals are in twisted pattern and allow the light to pass through. However, they get untwisted and block the light, when they get electrically charged. A network of TFT transistors (one transistor for one sub-pixel (green, blue or red)) controls hundreds and thousands of pixels on a LCD panel so these pixels allow light to pass through the panel in varied quantities and produce the picture on the screen.

Pros:

• Typically, LCD TVs are much thinner than Plasma TVs thanks to the advancements made in the LCD technology. LCD panel is getting thinner and thinner (less than 3″).
• LCD TVs do not cause picture flicker so it is easier to watch LCD TV for hours together without your eyes getting strained.

Cons:

• LCD TV is not as bright as plasma TV and you may not find such deep black levels like Plasma TV produces.
• LCD screen sometimes suffer from a manufacturing defect called ‘dead pixels’. This occurs when a few defective TFT transistors cause white spots on the screen indicating these pixels have become inactive.

Plasma TV screens use rare gases like xenon and neon, filled in tiny chambers that sit between two glass panels. When these chambers get electrically charged, the ionized gases emit ultra-violet radiation which reacts with the front panel, coated with colour phosphors (green, blue and red) and the result, these colour phosphors glow and produce the final image on the screen.

Pros:

• Plasma TVs produce brighter picture with deep black levels and excellent contrast.
• Plasma screen technology allows wider viewing angels so you can sit off on either side but still get uniform picture quality.

Cons:

• Plasma screens tend to reflect in bright room conditions due to their glassy surface.
• Plasma screens can be susceptible to screen burns when brighter image is left on the screen for much longer time.

When compared with CRT TV, both LCD TV and Plasma TV are capable of producing stunning picture quality with high resolutions, true-to-life colours and better contrast. Here are the factors that determine the picture quality of LCD TV and Plasma TV.

Native resolution

LCD TV has an edge over plasma TV when it comes to high resolutions. Most LCD TVs support 720p or 1080i resolutions so picture looks much sharper on LCD TV and this means LCD TV does not require so much viewing distance and it can be used even in a small room.

Panasonic TC-32LX85 32″ LCD TV (720p resolution)

Samsung 1080p LCD TV

Colour quality

Colours look more vivid, life-like on plasma TV screens. This is due to the ability of plasma TV to achieve deep black levels while LCD TVs slightly lag behind plasma TVs, when it comes to reproduction of colours.

However, plasma TV tends to produce picture flickers so it can be a bit straining to eyes when you watch plasma screen for long hours. LCD TV does not flicker so picture looks smooth but colours can be sometimes washed out when you watch at farther angles from central axis of the screen.

(Tip: Check the viewing angle specified by the LCD TV manufacturer. Watch the TV from wide angles and check the picture quality before you buy a LCD TV.)

Aspect ratio

LCD TV and Plasma TV are designed to feature high-definition picture so they have wide screens to support 16:9 wide aspect ratio of high definition images. Wide screen format is generally suited to watching movies, so, either with LCD TV or plasma TV, you can recreate the theatrical viewing experience. Most LCD TVs and plasma TVs can handle standard definition images of 4:3 aspect ratio.

Black levels (brightness and contrast)

Typically, Plasma produces better brightness levels (up to 1300 cd/m2) and also achieves high contrast ratios up to 10,000:1. Plasma TV also creates superior, deep black levels so it presents darker scenes in a more realistic way than a LCD TV.

Panasonic TH-46PZ85U 46″ Plasma TV
With contrast ratio: 30,000:1

In comparison, LCD TVs come with brightness levels ranging between 500 and 600 cd/m2 and have a maximum contrast ratio of 3000:1 and they do not show such good contrast and black levels like plasma TV.

LCD picture looks bright and clear in well-lit room

But it is surprising to see that LCD screen looks much brighter than a plasma screen in well-lit environment. The reason is, Plasma TVs glare off more in ambient conditions due to their glossy screens. LCD screens reflect much less light and look much better in bright rooms.

LCD TVs and Plasma TVs also differ in other aspects like viewing angles, response time, longevity and power consumption etc.

Viewing angles

Plasma TVs generally have wider viewing angles than LCD TVs. Most plasma TVs allow almost 180 viewing angle and this makes it possible to get uniform picture quality irrespective of the place they are viewed from.

Most LCD TVs come with decent viewing angles. With some LCD screens, especially the older models, the deterioration of picture quality can be quite noticeable, as you move away from the central axis of the screen.

The good news is the latest LCD TVs come with improved viewing angles of 160 or more so narrow angles is no longer an issue today.

LG’s LCD TVs use S-IPS technology to eliminate shifts in colour and contrast at wide angles

Response time

Response time or screen refresh rate is a measure of time that a pixel takes to change between active and inactive states. It is measured in milliseconds.

On a LCD screen, fast actions can cause blurring of images due to the higher response time of the pixels. However, newer LCD TVs come with a response time of 8ms so smearing is barely visible to anyone.

Plasma TVs generally have faster screen refresh rate and do not suffer from this drawback.

Longevity

Generally, a plasma TV has a half-life period of 40,000 hours and by which time, its screen sheds half its luminosity and can be disposed of scrap.

LCD screen has better longevity and is supposed to last over 60,000 hours or more.

Plasma TV screens can suffer from screen burns caused by brighter images when allowed to stay on the screen for longer time. The permanent shadow of the image left by screen burns affects over-all picture quality and the pleasure of viewing. LCD screen is not affected by screen burns.

Power consumption

Plasma TVs generally consume more power than LCD TVs. LCD TVs consume less than half the power that CRT television sets use so LCD TVs conserve energy and also economical.

LCD television is becoming a viable alternative to the standard CRT television set and also competes with plasma TV to find a niche in television market. As LCD technology is advancing on faster pace in recent years, LCD television sets continue to come with larger screen sizes while prices are dropping down to a level that many customers are tempted to replace their older sets with modern, sleek and stylish LCD TVs.

However, before you shop around for the best LCD flat panel television, bear in mind that there are lot many choices available in the market so it can be rather confusing when it comes to deciding on which LCD model can best suit your needs.

The rule of thumb is to look for the key features that you would like your LCD TV should have and see for yourself how it performs in these areas. Our LCD TV buying tips will provide all the facts that you need to make an informed decision

LCD television sets are so thin and much lighter, and also take much less space, so you can either install them using table or wall mounts. However, viewing distance should be considered first before you use any of these options. If you plan to buy LCD TV with 40” screen, make sure that the room provides at least a distance of 8 feet between the screen and the viewer. For larger LCD TV screens of 50” +, it requires a viewing distance between 12 and 16 feet.

If you want to use wall mount, make sure that it suits the dimensions of the wall and also there is enough ventilation and the connections are proper so it is not a bad idea if you do it with some professional help.

Native Resolution

Resolution refers to how many pixels are on the screen. Most LCD TVs come with screen/native resolution of at least 1280 x 720 pixels and some of them offer higher resolutions like 1280×768 pixels, or 1366×768 pixels. The highest possible resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels, which is ideal for larger screens and HDTV and available for much higher price tags.

Higher resolutions offer more picture details and picture looks smoother and crisp clear but a lot more depends on the video sources you are likely to use and they should match the capacities of such high end models.

Brightness levels

Although LCD Televisions look decently bright in most light conditions, make sure that your TV has a brightness level of 550 cd/m2 or more. As LCD screens do not glare off in ambient conditions, this brightness level should be sufficiently enough for most viewers to get better picture from any distance.

Contrast ratio

Contrast ratio indicates the capacity of your LCD to show variations in the white and black shades on the screen. High contrast ratios produce deep black levels and better colour reproduction so the images look much better.

There is a lot of confusion arising from the two types contrast ratios – standard and dynamic contrast ratios and you can find both when you inspect the technical details. Make sure that your LCD TV has a standard contrast ratio of 1500:1 or more.

Response Time

Also known as motion response time or screen refresh rate, this is an important feature you should consider. Some of the older LCD televisions did not have faster motion response time resulting in blurring of images while showing fast action sequence. However, the latest LCD TV sets come with better response time like 12ms (milliseconds) or 8 ms which have quite fixed up this problem.

For optimum performance, LCD TV with response time of 8 ms is the best option and it does not blur when showing sports or action movies.

Viewing Angle

LCD TV should have wider viewing angles and this helps you to watch it from the sides, but the picture quality should remain intact. In the past, LCD TV had a drawback of narrow viewing angles with colours and brightness getting faded when viewed from the wide angles. However, newer LCD screens come with improved viewing angles of 1600 +, so you can sit as far as 800 from the central axis of the screen.

Video processing

More depends on how your LCD TV processes the signal input that it receives from video sources. So, it is an important feature to consider, as its way it digitizes the video information will affect the picture quality and the performance. Good video processing unit in a LCD TV does upscaling and downscaling of video signals to fit them to the native resolution of the LCD screen much more efficiently and enhances over-all picture quality.

Sony uses its Bravia Engine Ex and Live Colour Creation Technologies to reproduce life-like picture.

(Tip: Just verify the picture quality on the screen using various input devices like DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray.)

Other features and Connections

Picture-in-Picture (PIP)

Most LCD TVs come with NTSC tuners to connect to get standard video signals while some models feature additional features like picture-in-picture (PIP). PIP feature enable the LCD screen to show more than a channel with the second image displayed in the corner of the screen.

A good home theater system requires LCD TV to provide optimum theatrical experience

High-end LCD TVs provide 3 HDMI inputs – 2 on rear and 1 on side

If you want to watch high-definition videos or HDTV broadcast, make sure that your LCD TV has HDMI socket or at least a component input. As newer LCD models should have these HDTV tuners, it is important to check out for this feature in your LCD TV

Standard TV that transmits audio & video information on cables in wavy pattern. Typically, CRT type TVs display analog signals using NTSC tuners.

Aspect ratio

Aspect ratio refers to the shape of image or TV screen in terms of width and height. Standard aspect ratio is 4:3 while widescreen has an aspect ratio of 16:9. Put simply, the width and height of standard TV screen has 4 units and 3 units respectively.

4:3 Aspect ratio

The standard aspect ratio of old TV sets like CRT.

16:9 wide aspect ratio

Typically, modern television sets like LCD TV and Plasma TV are designed to provide greater picture size to resemble movie screen. So, these flat panel TVs and DVDs come with wide screen format of 16:9 aspect ratio.

Auto power off

This feature enables the TV to power off and go to stand by mode, depending on the settings.

AV input/socket

Connection option available in LCD TV so that you can connect it to various input/output devices like DVD, camcorder, game consoles etc.

Burn-in

Also known as screen burns, a common defect found in CRT type displays and plasma TV sets. When brighter image is left on the screen for a prolonged time, the phosphors on the pixels get worn out and leave a permanent image known as burn-in. Burn-in does not affect LCD TV screens.

Component video input

RGB quality connection option available on larger TVs like LCD and Plasma TVs and other devices like DVD players. Component video connection offers better colour quality and brightness & contrast levels.

Composite input

Input used to connect to standard video sources like VCR, analog TV etc.

CRT

CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube. CRT type television set has a CRT picture tube made up of phosphors and an electronic gun to illuminate the phosphors.

Dolby digital sound

Digital sound surround system. Dolby sound systems use multiple sound tracks and a set of speakers positioned all around the viewers to produced theatrical sound effects.

DTS

Digital Theatre System. Just like Dolby sound system, DTS is used to encode sound information in digital sound surround in DVDs and movies.

DVD

Digital Versatile Disc. Optical disc with high storage capacities and used for encoding a full length of movie in 480p resolution. DVD movies offer much better video and audio quality.

DVI

Digital Video Interface. DVI connection enables to transmit digital video information between the devices

EDTV

Enhanced Digital Television.

HDMI

High-Definition Multi-media Interface. HDMI allows your LCD TV to connect to high-definition sources like HDTV broadcasting, HD DVD, Blu-ray or DVD.

HDTV

High Definition Television uses higher resolutions and offers superior picture quality and greater sound clarity. Typically, HDTV uses a set of high definition resolutions like 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

Half-life period

Half-life period refers to the duration at the end of which phosphor based displays like CRT televisions and plasma TVs become dimmer by half to the original brightness. Plasma TVs have a half life period of about 40,000 hours.

Interlaced scan

A scanning system used by video processor to produce the image. Interlaced scanning produces inferior picture quality, especially, on larger TV sets as the scanning lines are more visible.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

LCDs include lot many devices such as digital clocks, cell phones, GPS that use the properties of liquid crystals. Typically, liquid crystals allow the light either in varied amounts or block it off depending on the electric power.

NTSC

Standard of video signals used in VCR tapes and DVDs. NTSC standard is followed in TV broadcast in countries like the USA and Japan.

Picture in Picture (PIP)

A feature that allows TV sets to watch more than a channel on the screen. While the main image is on the screen, you will be able the second image in the corner of the screen.

Pixels

Small dots that collectively make an image or the screen. High definition TVs like LCD TVs have more pixels than standard TV sets and have a resolution up to 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Plasma TV

A flat panel TV that is rival to LCD TV. Plasma TVs use gases like neon and argon to produce the image and come with as much resolution as LCD TVs. Plasma screens produce deep black levels but can be susceptible to screen burns.

Progressive scan

Progressive scanning of pixels produces better picture and reduces scan lines and flicker.

1080p

The highest possible high definition resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. LCD TVs with this resolution produces stunning picture quality but are quite expensive.

Resolution

Measure of picture details or pixels in square inch. LCD TVs come with a minimum 720p resolution.

Screen burn

A common defect that affects phosphorous based displays like CRT and plasma TVs. This occurs when bright image is left on the screen for a prolonged time. The affected phosphors become sluggish and produce a permanent image on the screen.

Standard definition

Resolution less than 480p.

S-Video output

Connection available in LCD TV that allows you to connect it to devices like VHS and DVD players. S-video connection provides high quality video input/output.

SCART

A type of connection that allows audio/video transfer between LCD TVs and devices like VCR, games consoles etc.

SVGA

Video resolution of 800 x 600 pixels.

SXGA

Video resolution of 1028 x 1024 pixels.

TFT

Thin Film Transistor. TFT technology helped LCD screen to accommodate more pixels on the screen, resulting in higher resolution. In a LCD TV, TFT transistors control the electric flow to the each sub-pixel of the screen.

Viewing angle

Viewing angle refers to the ultimate side-to-side angles between which the picture can be viewed.

Widescreen

See 16:9 aspect ratio.

One of the most common electronic entertainment home appliances today is the television.  The use of the old cathode ray tube (CRT) television is slowly being taken over by the newer technology that uses liquid crystal display (LCD).  The CRT television is very bulky and takes up too much space in the house and the quality is inferior compared to LCD.

Aside from the fact that LCD televisions look sleek and stylish because they come in flat screens, they also greatly complement with digital technology that moves computers and the internet.  In fact, LCD television is actually the same screen used in laptops and LCD monitors in computers.

Before buying your LCD television, which costs significantly higher than CRT sets, you must consider the following:

Size
The screen size ranges from 15 to 40 inches measured diagonally. The bigger screen size you want, of course, the more you will have to pay.  Because LCD televisions are flat, many people prefer to hang them on walls like paintings so you might also consider the size of your wall if you want the TV to hang on there.

Angle viewing
This is the indicator where picture can be watched from certain angles without getting much distortion.  Manufacturers label angle viewing in terms of degrees wherein zero degrees refers to the position where the watcher is directly in the middle of the screen.  When it says 160 degrees viewing angle, it means that the television can be watched at that degree without any picture degradation.  Viewing angle is commonly quoted as horizontal but some manufacturers also specify vertical viewing angles.  Knowing about viewing angle is extremely helpful in deciding which part of the house you want to television to be placed.

Contrast Ratio
This refers to the difference between the darkest black and the brightest white of the picture on TV.  The average ratio is 500:1 but subtle gradations can be hard to get noticed by the human eye.

Aspect Ratio
This refers to the height and width of the viewing field.  There are many shows on film that are not tailored for regular TV but LCD TV sets can be set to the appropriate aspect ratio for better picture viewing.

Frequency Rate
Have you noticed that if you take a picture of a computer screen or television, you see scan lines in print?  This is because the screen or monitor is continually updating the display.  This number of updates per second is called “refresh rate”.  Older TVs having refresh rates of 50 Hz can give viewers flickering pictures.  Try to opt for LCD TVs with refresh rates above 100 Hz so you can get clearer and steadier pictures.

High Definition TV
Still related picture clarity, High Definition TV (HDTV) refers to more vertical lines, about 1080 lines compared to regular digital picture made of 576 vertical lines.  Try looking for an LCD TV that is HDTV-ready or HDTV-compatible especially if you are thinking of buying larger screens.

Sound Quality
Sound is as important as the picture in your TV viewing experience.  High end home cinema is system of usually five speakers that gives your house the sound quality as that of a real movie house.  Purchasing home cinema is usually a separate expense from the LCD TV but will definitely complement in the enjoyment of TV viewing.  Another option is the Dolby Surround Sound which is used in most TV programming broadcast.  Look for LCD TV that has Dolby Pro Logic to decode the Dolby signal from DVD of any digital TV broadcast.

Connections
Make sure that you get the right connections as many digital accessories like DVD players play stations and other VCR games need to be connected to be played.  There are also LCD TVs that provide high quality connections for better performance.

Warranty
Since LCD TVs don’t come cheap and can be complicated to tinker with by a non-technical person, it is extremely important to know the warranty terms.  Make sure that there is a service center you so that when you have a problem with your TV, you can easily get a quick fix.