The Plasma vs. LCD TV Debate
Plasma vs. LCD TV History
In 1964, University of Illinois professors Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, along with then-graduate student Gene Slottow, invented the very first plasma television. The plasma vs.LCD TV race had just begun. These gentlemen used regular televisions as computer monitors for their in-house computer network. They knew that a cathode-ray display has to constantly refresh, which is not optimal for displaying computer graphics. After countless hours of research, they built the first plasma display panel with one cell. Today's plasmas use millions of cells.
A few years ago tests showed that plasma was far superior to LCD in virtually every key area, including contrast, color accuracy, picture uniformity, and picture detail. Because of the results of these tests, LCD manufacturers have worked very hard to address the shortcomings of LCD.
The most serious problem with LCD was motion lag - obvious trails on moving objects created by the panel's relatively slow response time to the video signal. Another problem was LCD's inability to reproduce deep blacks, a critical element for delivering natural, saturated colors, and striking, lifelike contrast that adds depth and dimension to the image.
Recently the plasma vs. LCD TV quality race has been very, very close. Now we see LCDs with faster response times and improved contrast, coupled in some cases with 120-Hz screen-refresh circuitry, twice the conventional 60-Hz rate, and virtually no motion lag.
Plasma vs. LCD TV Comparison
Looking at a Plasma TV and an LCD TV sitting next to each other, you would not have even a hint that they were different, because they look identical. In addition to looking alike, they both have around 2 million pixels that constitute a "full HD" 1080p image. This is about the only thing that is similar between the two
Plasma vs. LCD TV - How Plasmas Operate
Plasmas break pixels into sealed red, green, and blue subpixels, or cells that contain an inert gas. The video signal generates an electrical current that excites the gas, causing colored phosphors in each sub-pixel to glow. By exciting each subpixel until it reaches a desired level, the signal determines the pixel's exact color and brightness. By putting enough of these pixels close enough together, an image is created
Plasma vs. LCD TV - How LCDs Operate
With a liquid-crystal display, a backlight that is typically a fluorescent lamp sits behind the pixel grid and shines through to the viewer. Just like plasma, each pixel is broken into red, green, and blue sub-pixels, but the phosphors are replaced with colored filters. The video signal is processed to address each sub-pixel, causing its liquid-crystal structure to open and close like a shutter. This allows light to pass at the appropriate brightness and with the correct color to create the image.
