Plasma TV Picture Contrast
The most striking advantage of plasma TVs over LCD TVs concerns
the darkness of the darkest pixels they are capable of producing. A
plasma television can display blacks and colours very similar to black
in a much more accurate tone than when displayed on an LCD.
This greater
contrast is due to the way LCD
televisions have a back light that can sometimes shine
through the screen, turning true black colour slightly greyish. Imagine
a dark scary movie scene being shown on your home cinema television -
anything but true black results in the picture being less immersive and
takes away from the picture quality.
Viewing Angle of Plasma Televisions
Not all home
cinemas are the same. The layout of your seating can vary significantly
or the television may not be used in a home cinema at all, and instead
in a public viewing place. In this case, the viewing angle of a plasma
TV is a major advantage when compared with a LCD equivalent.
A televisions
viewing angle is the difference in viewing position possible (when
looking from the left, right, above, or below) before the screen
picture starts to blend and distort. A good example of this effect were
the laptop computers with LCD
displays from the early to mid 1990s. Unless you were
directly in front of the laptop the picture colour could become
distorted or even unreadable. While the situation is much better now,
plasma televisions still have the advantage over LCD ones in this
aspect.
Picture Sharpness and Refresh Rate
The original LCD televisions did
have a tendency to blur during fast moving scenes. A slight shadow
could appear briefly after a white part of the screen turned black, and
similarly going from black to white. This resulted in a noticeable
difference in the appearance of the televisions sharpness. This shadow
effect does not effect plasma TVs.
The good news is
that this difference has been significantly reduced as new generations
of LCD televisions
have come onto the market, to the point that there isn't a major
problem anymore. Be aware though that this effect is due to increases
in LCD TVs refresh rates, and the refresh rate of an LCD purchase
should definitely be looked at and compared with similar models.
Plasma TV Price & Sizes
Price is where
plasma televisions have their biggest advantage over LCDs. Plasma TVs
tend to come at much bigger screen sizes, that LCDs simply cannot match
at the moment. While a 40 inch screen is still a very big screen,
that's where LCD TVs tend to max out. Plasma televisions on the other
hand can go as high as 60 inches or even higher.
Two similarly
sized plasma and LCD
televisions with similar features will almost always have the
price advantage with the Plasma. The price difference can sometimes be
in the vicinity of several thousand dollars, and this can obviously be
a significant amount in the budget saved by choosing a plasma.
In summary, the
advantages of plasma televisions include:
* Better picture
contrast
* Wide viewing angle for wide theatres or public display
* Superior picture sharpness without movement blur
* Larger screen sizes at reduced prices
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