Video:Difference Between Plasma and LCD TVs

Transcript:Difference Between Plasma and LCD TVs

Hi, I'm Bob Murphy, Branch Manager at Listen Up in Boulder, Colorado.  I am here today for About.com and I am going to be talking about the difference between plasma and LCD TVs.

Advantages of Plasma vs LCD and LED TVs

Plasma is two glass panels with a gas in between. It is a phosphor based system, so it does a picture a lot like the old CRT TVs, and it gives you very rich and warm colors, it gives you very good black, it does have some advantages. LCD and LED TVs have taken over in the last few years, based on the versatility of the different screen sizes and especially that the LED TVs can be a lot brighter than plasma or the early LCD  TVs.

So plasma can give you a really good picture. We typically recommend it in a room where there is not a lot of ambient light. Especially for people that like to watch a lot of movies, you get a real good movie theater experience with the plasma TV. Plasma has it's advantages in turns of picture quality, naturalness, broad range of color, and it can be an excellent TV, if you are using it in a room that has some control over lighting.

How Lighting Control Affects Plasma and LCD TVs

If you have a lot of light coming in from the side, if you have a lot of light in the room, plasma is not as good as LCD, or LED, because it doesn't put out quite as bright a picture, and it is going to tend to wash out sooner. Because plasma has a flat glass panel, it tends to be just like a mirror in some rooms. LED and LCD TVs on the other hand, tend to have an acrylic front panel, which is more diffused.

The general rule of thumb is if you have very good lighting control, which is shades on your windows, or a dedicated room for watching TV, with not a lot of ambient light, plasma can be a more pleasing picture. Plasma manufacturers have come up with front panel materials that absorb some of that ambient light, so it is less of a problem than in early plasma TVs, so you are not as likely to get the glare, but there is still a certain amount of that.

Additionally, plasma is a better TV off to the side. So if you have a sectional couch, for instance, and you have people sitting on the outside edges, you want them to be able to see just as well as the person in the middle, plasma can be a better choice. Conventional LCD, not so much.

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