Led Lcd Tv Lcd Tv Plasma Tv
LED TVs are slimmer and more easily available, but also more expensive. Plasma screen TVs, on the other hand, are believed to have better picture quality (mostly due to deeper blacks), but are less energy-efficient and usually available in larger sizes. While an LED screen uses light-emitting diodes as backlights for the screen, plasma screens light themselves using gas cells that emit ultraviolet light. LED-blacklit screens are an improvement over regular LCD screens.
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Plasma HDTVs create images using phosphors, tiny plasma containers placed between two sheets of glass. These emit ultraviolet light at colored spots of phosphor on the screen, which then glow to create the picture.
TVs have evolved over the years, and different technologies have come and gone. The TV market in the 21st century has been defined by large technological advancements. While Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) and rear-projection TVs were popular in 2000, they were soon overtaken by plasma as the most popular TV technology. However, not long after, plasma suffered the same fate as its long-forgotten counterparts. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs have held the market share of sales since 2007, and companies stopped manufacturing plasmas altogether by 2014.
However, you're probably wondering what the differences between LCD and plasma TVs are and why LCDs have taken over the TV market. This article explains the difference between plasma, LCD, and LED TVs. You can also learn about how plasma and LED TVs work here.
Plasma TVs contain tiny pockets of gas, and when a voltage is applied to them, they turn into a plasma state. The voltage then strikes the mercury within the plasma to emit ultraviolet (UV) rays, which pass through phosphor cells to produce an image. Each pixel in the TV contains three phosphor cells: red, green, and blue, and these three colors combine to produce a color. Essentially, plasma TVs don't require a backlight, and each pixel is self-emissive as it produces its own light.
Unlike plasma TVs, LCD TVs use a backlight. Initially, LCD TVs used Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) as their backlight. These are long tubes that are placed horizontally across the screen behind the LCD panel. When the light is turned on, it applies a voltage to the pixels, which makes them rotate a certain way to allow light through and produce an image. When it wants to display black, the pixels are rotated to create an opaque screen so that light doesn't get through. This is what makes them different from plasma TVs because each pixel isn't self-emitting.
Plasma and LED TVs each present their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of picture quality, price, build, and availability. It's generally thought that plasma produces a better picture quality due to their superior contrast ratio, but LED TVs became more popular because of other factors, like a lower cost and greater availability.
Below you can see the differences in picture quality between two older TVs from 2013. It's clear the plasma was better at the time, but LED TVs have also gotten better since then, so picture quality has greatly improved.
Contrast ratio was one of the main advantages and selling points of plasma TVs. Since each pixel emitted its own light, it simply turned itself off when it wanted to display a black image. This allowed the TV to display very deep blacks, but because there was always a bit of charge left in the plasma, it still wasn't a perfect black level.
On the other hand, LED TVs can't achieve a perfect black level because the backlight is always on. However, technology has evolved to greatly improved the contrast of LED TVs, even to the point where it's also as good as what plasma once was. There are two main types of LCD panels in TVs: Vertical Alignment (VA) and In-Plane Switching (IPS). VA panels produce a better contrast than IPS, and high-end TVs also have local dimming features that turn off certain zones of the LED backlights. Still, you won't get a perfect black level, but most modern LED TVs produce such deep blacks that even in a dark environment it looks like perfect black levels. For reference, plasma TVs had a max contrast of about 4,000:1, according to DisplayMate.com, but some recent LED TVs can reach a contrast of over 20,000:1 with local dimming enabled, like the Samsung QN90A QLED.
LED TVs are a clear winner here, and it's one of the reasons why they surpassed plasmas in terms of popularity. LED TVs get significantly brighter, so they can fight glare from light sources easier. Additionally, plasma TVs had to use glass on their front panel, which caused intense glare if you had any lamps or windows around the TV. LED TVs can use a coating on their glass panel to help reflect and diffuse light, making it a better choice for well-lit rooms.
Plasmas were designed for dark-room viewing, but since most people don't have dedicated home theater setups and often watch with a few light sources around, they weren't that useful. As you can see below, the plasma TV had pronounced reflections, to the point where it's even hard to see the image, and instead you're watching yourself watch TV. Reflections are still noticeable on an LED TV, but at least you can see the image.
Pixels on plasma TVs emitted light in all directions, creating extremely wide viewing angles, much better than most LED TVs. This means that the image remained accurate when viewing from the side, which was great for watching sports or a show with a few people. Out of the two main panel types for LED TVs, IPS has wider viewing angles than VA panels, but it's still not as good as plasma.
TV manufacturers have tried different technologies to improve viewing angles on VA panels. Samsung has an 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer, and Sony uses their 'X-Wide Angle' technology to increase the viewing angles, both at the cost of a lower contrast ratio. It's still not as good as plasma, but they're wide enough for watching TV in a fairly large seating area.
Below you can see the differences in viewing angles between a plasma and a VA panel. These TVs were tested on different test benches, so you shouldn't directly compare the videos, but we included them to give you an idea of how each technology affects the viewing angle.
In terms of refresh rate, plasma TVs had a higher internal refresh rate, up to 600Hz, while LED TVs tend to be 60 or 120Hz. However, the refresh rate depends on the content, and since most content doesn't go past 120 frames per second, having a higher refresh rate TV isn't very useful.
Screen uniformity is another area where plasma TVs win. Since they didn't have a backlight, they could evenly control each pixel. LED TVs can suffer from uniformity issues, like darker edges or Dirty Screen Effect in the center, because the backlight output may not be even across the panel. However, this is only really noticeable when watching content with large areas of uniform color, like a hockey or basketball broadcast, or if you're going to use the TV as a PC monitor. It shouldn't be noticeable with other types of content, and since uniformity can vary between units, you shouldn't worry about it too much.
One of the reasons plasma TVs didn't last too long at the top of the TV world is because of their risk of temporary image retention and permanent burn-in. Plasmas lose their brightness over the years, and in the worst case, would have permanent burn-in with certain colors staying on the screen, as you can see here. Even after watching content with static elements, like the news, for an extended period, the outline of the static elements would stay on the screen for a few minutes after changing the channel.
These problems are particularly annoying, especially if you watch a lot of TV. There was no way to help reduce this issue, and after a few years, depending on how much you used the TV, your plasma would need replacing. LEDs don't suffer from this same permanent burn-in, so you won't have to worry about replacing your LED TV down the line because of burn-in.
Due to their different technologies, LED and plasma TVs are built differently. Plasma TVs tended to be heavier and thicker because the panel itself was larger. Although plasmas were the first flat-screen TVs available at a consumer level at the end of the 20th century, LCD TVs quickly became even thinner, easier to package, and lighter to carry from the store to your house. These days, LED TVs are as thin as 1", like the Samsung QN85A QLED.
Both plasma and LED TVs were made with larger sizes, but LED had a slight advantage because they were also made in displays smaller than 32 inches, like with monitors. Although small TVs are rare now, you can still find a basic 28 or 32 inch TV for a kitchen or bedroom with an LED panel. Plasma TVs weren't made that small. LED TVs also cost less to produce and are cheaper on the market, so at the end of the day, the lower cost drove LED sales.
When 4k TVs started to become the norm over 1080p and 720p TVs in the mid-2010s, manufacturers started to produce 4k LED TVs, while plasma TVs were stuck at 1080p. This presented a major advantage for LED TVs, as a higher resolution helps create a crisper image, and this essentially was the nail in the coffin for plasma TVs. Since manufacturers were focused on making 4k LED TVs, plasma TVs became less available, and by 2014, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung all stopped their plasma production. LED TVs surpassed plasma sales in 2007, and they haven't looked back since.
There were a few other problems that contributed to the decline of plasma TVs. First of all, plasma TVs didn't work at high altitudes because of the change in air pressure with the gasses inside. They would create a buzzing noise, and the image wouldn't look the same, so this could have been problematic if you lived at a high altitude. LED TVs can be used at any altitude; you shouldn't use them in extreme cold or extreme heat, but this is standard practice for any electronic, and temperature is easier to control than your altitude. Also, plasma TVs emitted a radio frequency that could have interfered with other devices around, like if you had a radio in the same room. Each of these issues are simply inconvenient for most people. 041b061a72