PLASMA VS. LCD TV:

Plasma TV

Plasma screen TV was invented in 1964 at the University of Illinois. In 1997 Pioneer was the first company to offer plasma TV to the general public. Plasma is generally know for their faster response time, superior color, high brightness level, excellent contrast ratio (difference between the blacks and the whites, the higher ratio numbers are the best) and wider viewing angle compared to LCD TV. This last feature is especially important if your TV viewing room requires some of the viewers to watch at a wide angle. Fast response time is important for viewing sports or anything with high speed movement on the screen. Older technology plasmas suffered “burn in” that could leave impressions on the screen if something such as a menu display was left on the screen for a long time, however; new technology has largely reduced this problem. It is estimated that the usable lifetime of current technology plasmas easily exceed the old technology CRT tube TV's.

LCD TV

The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV was created in 1972. While they have longer response times, potential blurring, and less color variation compared to Plasma TV, LCD TV’s are more energy efficient and light in weight with very high resolution, and blurring of the image has been reduced by higher refresh rates. These TV’s are therefore a better buy (lower prices) at the smaller screen sizes where these effects are less noticeable. Some companies are now making 7th generation LCD’s that are greatly improved, and have considerably reduced the quality gap between plasma and LCD TV. Expect a usable lifespan to exceed old CRT tube technology.