With LCD screens getting better and cheaper, plasmas could be in big trouble. In fact, it could well become a ‘forgotten’ technology.
This month, consumer electronic companies Samsung and BenQ announced that the price of LCD TVs was set to fall by up to 15 per cent, with more price drops by Christmas. These same companies are also set to launch a new generation of LCD TVs that include a built in hard drive, wireless and DVD recording capability, and a new generation of media management software that will allows users to manage downloads of digital files including MP3 and MP4 files.
So where does this leave plasma? I hate to say this, as I love the quality of a plasma screen, but plasma could well become a forgotten technology. A bit like tape versus CD. This will be painful for companies like Fujitsu General, who solely sell plasma technology.
The picture quality of a plasma screen is so good today you can often see the intricate detail in an image. This is not achievable on an LCD screen yet. Right now we are seeing a new generation of LCD hitting shop floors. These models are coming from brand new multi billion dollar LCD manufacturing plants in Asia. As these plants crank up production along with product quality the price of a system will drop and the quality improve.
Here’s the irony. If you compare the two technologies today, LCD will come out the loser. Today’s plasmas have a better picture and come in screen sizes that LCD can’t match. Making an LCD with a screen size much bigger than 30″ has been too expensive — even in this high-priced market where folks don’t blink an eye at 46″ plasma sets selling for $6000 or so.
But things are changing fast. That’s why you need to be careful in making a purchase decision.
Let me explain why LCDs are the future and plasma is transitional. Plasma is the product that made the flat-screen era real, that created one of the most exciting consumer products since the DVD. Who wouldn’t want a big-screen TV that combines high resolution suitable for HDTV with a screen so thin you can hang it on the wall?
Hey, me too. And when I first reviewed plasma, I said a lot of nice things about it. All of them were true. I mentioned some negatives, too — such as the fact that plasma screens tend to run hot and that the long-term reliability of the set was in question. But I didn’t spend enough time talking about competing LCD screens and what they have to offer. That was because truly big-screen LCDs weren’t readily available.
They still aren’t, but they’re getting close. I saw a 46″ model at a trade show in
That’s good news. The easiest way to show you is to compare LCD and plasma on a few key areas:
Weight: The 46″ plasma that I reviewed recently weighed in at 38kg. If you plan to hang one on the wall — and that’s the logical place — you need to make sure the mounting installation is sturdy. An LCD screen of the same size will be about 5kg lighter.
One other factor to keep in mind is that a slight bend of the plasma screen will wreck it. That’s sure a possibility if you can picture two people trying to manipulate a set weighing 38 kilo or more onto a wall mount.
Life span: Experts are consistent when they say that an LCD screen should last for about 50,000 hours of viewing. A plasma set should last for about 30,000 hours. I trust those figures because one resource for them is Sony, a company that makes both plasma and LCD screens. That extra 20,000 hours of life amounts to nine more years of service for people who watch television six hours each day of the year.
Burn-in: Plasma sets are susceptible to burn-in. If you have a static picture on the screen, burn-in means the static picture will eventually permanently etch itself into the phosphorus coating of the screen. LCDs don’t use phosphorus. Depending on who is talking, they are either immune to burn-in, or at least unlikely to suffer from it.
Picture quality: Plasmas do a better job of displaying pure black, but LCD is catching up. Plasmas also furnish a brighter, more vivid picture in a darkened room. However, LCD is better in daylight. That’s my case for an LCD screen.
