If you are like many consumers who are in the market for a new television, you’ve probably dreamed about making it a plasma or LCD flat screen HDTV.

May be you spent some time looking over the Sunday circulars from Best Buy, Circuit City, and other major retailers. Perhaps you spent some time on the internet, shopping around for the bets price. You may even have read a few product reviews here and there.

It’s also probable that, like your fellow shoppers, you aren’t quite sure exactly what the difference is between LCD and plasma. Sure, they’re both flat. One seems to be brighter than the other, but a little washed out at times. Some are marked HDTV, you might know what that means, but what does “EDTV” mean?

Is your new flat-screen TV going to “burn-in”, “burn-out”, or “burn-up”? Just how long will it last before you have to replace it? Does the gas leak out of a plasma TV? Will sunlight hurt your LCD TV?

And just who are all of these companies selling LCD and plasma TVs? Sure, you’re heard of Sony and Samsung, Panasonic and Philips, Polaroid and Toshiba. But who the heck is Maxent? Funai? Ovideon? Syntax? Vizio?

For us journalists, covering the fast-growing market for plasma and LCD TVs can be a real challenge at times. For consumers, it can be frustrating, confusing, intimidating, and expensive. There are an awful lot of products to choose from, but they’re not all “created equally”. Nor do they offer the same resolution and connector options.

In the interest of clearing up some of this confusion, I’ve prepared a list of things you should know about plasma and LCD TV technology, and some shopping tops to take along when you are searching for the ‘perfect’ flat screen TV. You know the old saying – ‘forewarned is forearmed!’

The Facts on Plasma

Both plasma and LCD technology are ‘mainstream’. Numerous companies sell these TVs in a variety of sizes, and prices are dropping faster than an elevator with a broken lift cable. Because of increasing consumer demand (and the fact that the United States is the #2 market worldwide for TVs), plenty of companies have gotten into the game.

Here’s something you should know. In the plasma market, there are only a handful of companies that actually manufacture plasma TVs. Not surprisingly, these companies typically have the best image quality and the broadest line of products available.

In Japan, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Hitachi are the ‘Big Three’ in the plasma manufacturing. Panasonic is rolling out about 100,000 panels a month in 37-inch EDTV, 42-inch EDTV, 42-inch HDTV, and 50-inch HDTV sizes. They also have a new 65-inch model coming to market. Pioneer manufactures 43-inch HDTV and 50-inch HDTV plasma TVs using their original assembly line, and 42-inch, 50-inch, and 61-inch products on the ex-NEC line they purchased in January of 2004.

Hitachi also cranks out various sizes of plasma in the FHP factory that was originally a joint venture with Fujitsu. (Fujitsu recently announced they were withdrawing from the plasma manufacturing business). Hitachi panels sold in the United States include 37-inch and 42-inch HD ALiS (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces) designs, and a unique 55-inch HD plasma TV.

In Korea, Samsung SDI is the clear leader with about 250,000 panels a month flying off their assembly line. Samsung manufactures 42-inch EDTV, 42-inch HDTV, 50-inch HDTV, and 63-inch HDTV plasma TVs for the mainstream market. (An 80-inch model is also set to debut recently). Neighbor LG Electronics is active with 42-inch, 50-inch, 60-inch, and even 71-inch products.

In China (Taiwan), Chunghwa Picture Tube (CPT) is rolling out 46-inch EDTV and HDTV plasmas, based on older Mitsubishi designs. Aside from the odd startup here and there, your plasma TV will use ‘glass’ from one of these six manufacturers, even if it has a different name on the front plate.

Certain sizes of plasma TV screens are as unique to a company as a fingerprint, such as 43-inch (Pioneer only), 55 inches (Hitachi only), 61 inches (Pioneer only) and 63 inches (Samsung only). If you see one of these with another brand name on it and a higher price, you may simply be paying a premium for that brand, or there may actually be some added value, such as improved video processing and sealing.

Keep in mind that true HDTV resolution can’t be found in plasma TVs smaller than 50 inches. There are two HDTV broadcast standards – 1920×1080 interlaced (1080i), and 1280×720 progressive (720p). So, in order for a plasma TV to be considered truly ‘HD’, it should have at least the same amount of pixels as a 720p signal, or more.

‘HD’ in smaller sizes of plasma means that there are more pixels than ‘ED’ plasma, but generally not as many as there are in a true HD display. So, you’ll find that it’s difficult to see any substantial difference in picture quality between these two types of plasma TVs, particularly when viewing an HDTV program.

When viewing a widescreen DVD, you may often be surprised to see that the less expensive EDTV plasma TV actually looks sharper than the more expensive HDTV plasma TV! That’s because the image resolution of a widescreen DVD (nominally 704×480) is very close to the actual pixel count (852×480) in EDTV plasma.

I would venture to say that if you watched both of these plasma TVs with the same content on them from a reasonable viewing distance – say, eight feet to ten feet – you might think the extra money for the same-size HDTV version isn’t really worth it. And you’d be in good company, as 42-inch EDTV plasma TVs were big sellers during the 2004 holiday season, while 42-inch HDTV plasmas were not.

The bottom line? Think about where you’ll put your plasma TV, how far you’ll be sitting from it, and what you’ll be watching on it most of the time. If you’ll be sitting eight feet or more from a 37-inch or 42-inch plasma TV, you’ll probably be quite happy with an EDTV version.

Even though the picture is not HDTV, you’ll find that HDTV programs still look spectacular and noticeably more detailed than standard programming. Of course, if you plan on sitting real close to the TV or are buying a larger screen size, then HDTV is the way to go.

Now to address a few concerns about plasma: First of all, today’s plasma TVs don’t have the same problems with premature image aging (burn-in, burn-out) that plagued older plasma monitors and TVs. That’s because the mix of gases used in the panels have been changed to improve longevity. You’ll hear the figure “60,000 hours” thrown around; be conservative and figure half that, which is 30,000 hours.

30,000 hours is the equivalent of watching eight hours a day of television, seven days a week for 10 years. I don’t watch that much television, but perhaps you do. Assuming you operate your plasma TV in the ‘Normal’ or ‘Cinema’ picture modes and don’t play video games on it too often, you should be in fine shape for quite some time.

No, you don’t need to recharge the gas in the panel – it can’t leak out, and besides, you’d need a laboratory-grade facility to reseal it if it did develop a leak. Yes, you can hang plasma on the wall, but don’t put it upside down on the ceiling! Most people prefer to simple place it on a stand, and for the smaller sizes, you don’t really need to pay anyone to install it for you – a screwdriver and a couple of strong bodies will do the trick.

Yes, some plasma TVs make a lot of noise at high altitudes. That noise is the mechanical ‘buzz’ created during the plasma’s on-off imaging cycles. At low altitudes, the air pressure is sufficient to keep the glass from vibrating very much. But at high altitudes, air pressure is lower, so the glass vibrates more – and you hear it.

The Facts – LCD Television

There are a number of companies manufacturing both the LCD panels used in these TVs and the finished TVs themselves. In Japan, the clear market leader is Sharp Electronics, who offers a wide range of sizes from under 20 inches to 26-inch, 32-inch, 37-inch, and even 45-inch LCD TVs. In Korea, Samsung SDI and LG Philips produce large quantities of LCD panels in sizes as large as 55 inches, and Samsung, LG, and Philips all retail them as finished TVs.

In Japan, Hitachi, NEC, Kyocera, Sanyo, and Panasonic have all manufactured smaller LCD TV screens at one time or another. In China, a host of companies are cranking out LCD TV products including Chi Mei Optoelectronics, AUO, and Chunghwa Picture Tube in sizes to 46 inches.

Your TV is going to come from one of these companies, but it’s a little harder to tell exactly which one than it is with plasma. The LCD market goes through cycles of panel oversupply and undersupply quite frequently, and trading companies who wholesale to US retailers constantly shop around to get the best price for their latest models.

As with plasma, the companies who make the largest quantities of LCD TVs (Sharp, Samsung, and LG with partner Philips) typically have the best picture quality. You’ll also see higher prices for these brands than you will with the dozens of “who’s that?” brands out there.

That doesn’t mean the “who’s that” brands are to be avoided. A new player in the market, Kreisen, recently announced 37-inch and 40-inch LCD TVs with analog tuners that use LG and Samsung LCD panels, but at greatly discounted prices from those brands. (Kinda like buying a generic version of a drug at Walgreens).

Unlike plasma TVs, all widescreen LCD TVs over 15 inches in size have true HD resolution (usually 1280×768 pixels, sometimes more). Bigger models starting at 46 inches and up actually have 1920×1080 pixel resolution, but they command quite a price premium at the moment.

LCD TVs don’t suffer from ‘burn-in’ or ‘burn-out’ like plasma panels do. They can, however, have ‘stuck’ or dead pixels. The leading manufacturers have higher standards for defective pixels, so you can usually purchase from those companies with confidence that you won’t see white, black, red, green, or blue dots on your TV programs that won’t go away (and if you do, your warranty offers some protection).

Although plasma TVs can generate extremely bright images, they have an automatic brightness governing system to keep them from doing so with high luminance program material so as to avoid burn-in and premature phosphor aging. LCD TVs have no such braking system and will usually make a much brighter image on the showroom floor and in your home.

Because plasma TVs employ phosphors for imaging, they are susceptible to glare from indoor and outdoor light. LCD TVs don’t have this problem; they create images by shuttering light through tiny color filters and generally handle annoying reflections from open windows or nearby lights with no difficulty.

What LCD TVs don’t have is deep, rich black levels. On average, the level of ‘black’ measured on the best LCD TVs is about 10 times as high as that measured on the best plasma TVs. Also, colors on LCD TVs don’t appear to be as rich (or even accurate) as a plasma TV. As a result, you will probably find that LCD TVs seem to look better under normal room lighting, but plasma TVs excel when the lights are turned down.

LCD TVs are expected to last between 50,000 to 60,000 hours, and that’s usually the time it takes for the backlight to burn out. However, you should read the fine print in your owner’s manual. Those life expectancy numbers are not for full brightness, but only 50% or even 25% of full panel brightness (tests have been done to confirm this).

The upside is that LCD TVs are available in so many sizes that you can put them just about anywhere you’d wish in your house. I’ve used 15-inch and 17-inch sizes as HDTV displays in my downstairs bathroom each year during the Super Bowl!

LCD TVs, as a general rule, use less power than plasma (25% on average) and also weight less in equivalent screen sizes (about 20% on average). And they are slightly thinner too, although when you are talking about TVs that measure only 3” to 5” in thickness, who really wants to split hairs?

Conclusion

Both plasma and LCD TVs can be a welcome addition to your home. It’s up to you to read the myriad of reviews available in print and on the web so that you can make the right choice. And don’t obsess over rapidly falling prices. If you are ready to buy and have picked out the right type and size of TV for you, enjoy it with the knowledge that you did your homework and made an informed buying decision!

Related post: Comparison of LCD TV and Plasma TV

Article by: Peter Putman