5 Myths vs. Reality in the LCD and Plasma HDTV Debate
You've heard the hype. You've heard the sale pitches. Now learn what is myth and what is reality when it comes to the plasma vs LCD HDTV debate.
Reality: Plasma will lose it's brightness over time. Because of the phosphor in the plasma over time the screen brightness will diminish; LCD technology does not have this problem.
Myth: However, the time in which this happens is often over-stated. You will most likely be long gone before you notice it. Refer to the graph below from Fujitsu:
Reality: Plasma shows better contrast ratios/darker black levels than LCD. This is due to the LCD technology and how it displays pixels.
Myth: While Plasma may boast much higher contrast ratios than LCD, these tests are typically done in pitch-black rooms and when their is outside light pollution this high contrast ratio is much lower. Also, it is believed that most human eyes can only discern a much smaller contrast ratio than either Plasma or LCD manufacturers state.
Reality:Plasma, because of the phosphor, will display burn-in. You can see this often at airports that leave up flight times for hours at a time. This is not an issue for LCD technology.
Myth: Although Plasma does show burn-in, most new Plasma sets have built-in software to counteract the burn-in and manufactuers recommend not to display 4:3 images on a 16:9 display to further reduce the problem.
Reality: Plasma can show better color range than LCD. This is due to the way that Plasma emits pixels versus LCD use of sub-pixels.
Myth: LCD technology has better color accuracy in gray scaling and some color accuracy is actually better than Plasma because of this.
Reality: LCD image response times are more than Plasma which can cause a picture lag. This is due to the LCD pixels needing time to brighten and darken again.
Myth: Now that LCD displays have sub 8ms response times they are comparable to Plasma displays.
Plasma's claim of higher contrast ratios and darker black levels are lost to real world use. While Plasma does have better color accuracy and faster response time, LCD has now caught up if not passed Plasma in these categories. Plasma does still suffer from burn-in but with newer displays it is easily avoided. Not taking into price and screen size, Plasma still has a slight advantage over LCD.
Winner: Plasma
Take the poll below - what HDTV display do you think is better?
Reality: Plasma will lose it's brightness over time. Because of the phosphor in the plasma over time the screen brightness will diminish; LCD technology does not have this problem.
Myth: However, the time in which this happens is often over-stated. You will most likely be long gone before you notice it. Refer to the graph below from Fujitsu:
Reality: Plasma shows better contrast ratios/darker black levels than LCD. This is due to the LCD technology and how it displays pixels.
Myth: While Plasma may boast much higher contrast ratios than LCD, these tests are typically done in pitch-black rooms and when their is outside light pollution this high contrast ratio is much lower. Also, it is believed that most human eyes can only discern a much smaller contrast ratio than either Plasma or LCD manufacturers state.
Reality:Plasma, because of the phosphor, will display burn-in. You can see this often at airports that leave up flight times for hours at a time. This is not an issue for LCD technology.
Myth: Although Plasma does show burn-in, most new Plasma sets have built-in software to counteract the burn-in and manufactuers recommend not to display 4:3 images on a 16:9 display to further reduce the problem.
Reality: Plasma can show better color range than LCD. This is due to the way that Plasma emits pixels versus LCD use of sub-pixels.
Myth: LCD technology has better color accuracy in gray scaling and some color accuracy is actually better than Plasma because of this.
Reality: LCD image response times are more than Plasma which can cause a picture lag. This is due to the LCD pixels needing time to brighten and darken again.
Myth: Now that LCD displays have sub 8ms response times they are comparable to Plasma displays.
Plasma's claim of higher contrast ratios and darker black levels are lost to real world use. While Plasma does have better color accuracy and faster response time, LCD has now caught up if not passed Plasma in these categories. Plasma does still suffer from burn-in but with newer displays it is easily avoided. Not taking into price and screen size, Plasma still has a slight advantage over LCD.
Winner: Plasma
Take the poll below - what HDTV display do you think is better?
Labels: high definition video, home theater pc
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3 Comments:
I found this hard to follow and I don't understand why you reached the conclusion that you did.
The paragraph appearing before you declare Plasma the winner seems at odds with the conclusion.
By
mattbg, at
10:17 PM
Is it just me or should the Myth and Reality headers be reversed for each item?
By
Anonymous, at
5:48 PM
Bizzare how you show that LCDs are as good as if not better than Plasmas in every category but Plasmas still win.
Also regardless of the new technology, plamas still suffer quite a bit from Burn-ins
By
Latchman, at
8:52 AM
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