Plasma Televisions
Plasmas are the kind of television most associated with high end home electronics. All plasma televisions come in a flat panel variety. Most are sized in the 40-49″ range. They are competitively priced against LCD flat panel televisions, and feature a stunning picture that puts you in the middle of the action. Plasmas weigh more than LCD’s, but nothing additional supports couldn’t handle. They are susceptible to burn-in, but despite rumors to the contrary, the gases that power the picture can not be refilled. While they are too young to accurately measure, plasma televisions should last anywhere from 10-20 years.
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 an EDTV plasma. However, new blue ray DVD’s are made for 1080 resolution.
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.
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.
No, you don’t need to recharge the gas in the panel – it can’t leak out
Best TV Review gives Plasma screen TVs (HD) a rating of 9.5.
The Good: The best picture quality you can get (in normal to low lit settings), long lifespan, modern/sleek design, very slim chance of ‘burn-in,’ cheaper than LCD in the bigger sizes, perfect for movies/gaming/sports, cheaper EDTV’s can offer the same picture quality when viewing DVD’s (480p), the gas does NOT need to be recharged
The Bad: Not much here. Expensive (but worth the money), smaller sizes aren’t in true HD, weigh a little more than LCD’s