A Plasma HDTV or an LCD TV Set - Which is Better?

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Though both LCD and plasma displays come in the form of slim flat panel displays, yet from a technology perspective, these two flat panel displays process the image in a totally different manner.

Plasma uses a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells that are charged by precise electrical voltages to emit light and hence to create the picture image. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) panels - work by trapping a liquid crystal solution between two sheets of polarized glass. When an electric current is passed through the liquid crystals, they change the polarization of the light passing through them in response to the electric voltage - as a result of which, more or less light is able to pass through the polarized glass on the face of the display.

It is not the scope of this article to go into the actual details of how these different display technologies process the image - after all, what really matters is not what is going behind the screen but rather how these different display technologies perform as a television screen. At the same time, it is worth taking note that it is these same differences that give each of these display technologies, its strengths and weaknesses, and that therefore render one more suitable than the other in certain circumstances.

The list below highlights the most important differences between these two flat panel display technologies:

Size: For the time being, collision between plasma television and LCD TV occur in the 40 to 50 inch screen range. In reality, most LCD TVs top out at around 50 inch; larger screen sizes are also available though choice is still very much limited. This means that for anything larger than 50-inch, a plasma display is your only real option if what you are after is a direct-view TV system. On the other hand, at the smaller end of spectrum, namely 15" to 36" TVs, LCD is the way to go if what you want is something stylish and slim (at under 4-inches in depth).

Price: Here, the playing field is leveling at a fast rate. Up to very recent, plasma was the obvious choice for all screen sizes where collision between these two technologies occurs; this is no longer the case. In general, plasma still leads by a good margin only at the bigger screen sizes - 50-inch and upwards. At the smaller end (up to 44-inch), the price advantage when it comes to plasma vs LCD TV sets, starts to shift more towards LCD TVs.

Overall Picture Performance: Both plasma and the latest TFT-LCD flat panel displays are capable of producing excellent picture quality - with bright, crisp clear images. However, plasma flat panel displays are more suitable for basic home theater usage than LCD. The gas cell structure within a plasma display is such that there is no light leaking between adjacent cells (or pixels). This renders plasma displays capable of displaying deeper blacks - hence more suited to television and movie scenes where lots of dark and light content is shown simultaneously.

In comparison, the nature of LCD technology - where a backlight shines through the LCD layer - means that it is hard for it to achieve true blacks (i.e. true absence of light) as there is always some light leakage from adjacent pixels.

This does not mean that LCD panel s are not suitable as TV screens; today's LCD TV sets make use of extreme high contrast panels that are capable of displaying very deep blacks, yet the latest plasma TV sets still have a slight edge.

Viewing-angle: What used to be a clear advantage for plasma displays is becoming more and more a non-issue especially with the latest generation of LCD televisions, however...

Do not always assume that viewing angle is no longer an issue when comparing plasma vs lcd TVs. The tendency - in particular with the cheaper LCD TV sets - is that the deterioration in picture quality with off-axis viewing is more accentuated with LCD than with plasma displays.

Image Retention and Burn-in: LCD TVs enjoys a technological advantage; they are not prone to burn-in, and image retention in LCD TVs - referred to as 'image sticking', is often completely reversible.

It is important to realize here that while burn-in in plasma displays and image sticking in LCD panels both lead to image retention, yet these are two completely different phenomena.

Burn-in is no longer much of a concern as it used to be with plasma televisions up to the recent past, especially for people with normal TV viewing requirements. Similarly, image sticking with LCD TVs is unlikely to take place under normal home entertainment use.

Viewing Distance: It seems that the pixel size and shape of an LCD panel renders a smoother picture than an equivalently sized plasma panel for the same pixel count.

This means that even if your viewing distance falls within the recommended distance of approximately twice the screen width for an HDTV, if this is less than at least nine feet, most probably you will be better off with an LCD TV.

Life-time: This is a non-issue with either technology. In fact, both plasma and LCD TV sets come with a quoted half-lifetime of around 60,000hrs. Even if this were just 30,000hrs, it would imply more than 14 years of use at 6 hours a day. And this when the average household in the US replaces the TV set every 7 years!

In other words, both plasma and LCD TV sets make use of extremely stable and reliable display technologies. As such, lifetime is more dependent upon manufacturer quality rather than upon display technology.

Response: Plasma TV sets carry an advantage here because even though LCD technology has improved to the extent that this is becoming less of an issue, yet LCD has still some way to go to achieve the same level of pixel response times as phosphor based displays.

Power Requirements: The advantage here goes to LCD panels as these consume less electricity. Estimates show that the use of LCD panels can result in some 30% power savings for the same screen size than plasma display.

Making the Choice

There is a market for both plasma and LCD displays - Plasma gives you a bigger screen for your dollar, deeper blacks, but then LCD do not suffer from burn-in and at the smaller end of the market (less than 40-inch screen size), LCD is your only way forward if you want something slim and stylish.

It is all a question of knowing what are the advantages and limitations of each with respect to your specific needs.

This article is an excerpt from a series of informative guides appearing on Practical-Home-Theater-Guide.COM under the Plasma and LCD TV sections of the site.

It covers only the very basics when it comes to compare plasma vs LCD TVs. There are a lot more considerations one has to take into account when selecting the display technology for a flat screen TV.

To find out more, please refer to the detailed guides appearing on the same site at http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/plasma-vs-lcd-TV.html.

Last updated on 10th May 2007. Copyright (c) 2004/2007 http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com. All rights reserved.

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A plasma or LCD HDTV TV - Which is better?

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Though both LCD and plasma are available in the form of thin flat panel displays, but from a technological point of view, these two flat panel displays process the image differently.

Plasma uses a matrix of small gas plasma cells charged by precise electrical voltages to emit light and create the image by image. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) - work by trapping a liquid crystal solution between two sheets of polarized glass. When an electricalCurrent is passed through the liquid crystal changes the polarization of light through them in response to voltage - as a result, more or less light can pass through the polarized glass on the face of the display.

It is not the scope of this article for details about the issue in terms of how these different display technologies vision - after all, what really counts is not what happens behind the screen, but Rather how thesedifferent display technologies work as a TV screen. At the same time, it is worth noting that it is these differences that each technology will give this, their strengths and weaknesses, and therefore makes a better choice than others under certain circumstances.

The following list shows the main differences between these two flat-screen technologies:

Format: For the momentConflict between plasma and LCD-TV area occur in 40-50 inches. In fact, most LCD TVs up to 50 inches, larger screen sizes are also available, although the selection is still very limited. This means that anything larger than 50 inches, a plasma display is your only real option if what you are after is a system-view satellite television. On the other hand, the smaller end of the spectrum, namely 15 "to 36" TV, LCD is the way to go if what you wantis something elegant and thin (less than 4 cm deep).

Value: This field is leveling at a fast rate. Until very recently, plasma is the obvious choice for all screen sizes where collision between these two technologies occurs, that is no longer the case. In general, plasma still leads by a good margin only in larger screen sizes - 50 inches and up. To small (up to 44-inches), the price advantage when it comes to plasma vsLCD TV, LCD TV shift begins more.

Total Video Performance: Both the latest plasma and LCD flat panel TFT display capable of excellent image quality - with bright and crisp. However, plasma flat panel monitors are more suitable to use basic home theater screen. The cell structure of gas inside a plasma display is such that the light is not lost between adjacent cells (or pixels). This plasma display makes it suitableDisplay deeper blacks - and therefore more suitable for television and film scenes in which dark and light content is shown more than once.

In comparison, the nature of LCD technology - where a backlight passes through the layer of liquid crystal - which is hard for him to reach the "real" blacks (ie true absence of light), because more light loss adjacent pixels.

This does not mean that LCD panel s are not suitable for use as TV screens, LCD TV todayextremely high contrast panels able to display very deep blacks, but the latest plasma TV still have a slight advantage.

Viewing angle: what was a clear advantage for plasma displays is more and more of a non-issue especially with the latest generation of LCD televisions, but ...

Do not always assume that viewing angle is no longer an issue when comparing plasma vs. LCD TV. The tendency - especially with the cheaper LCD TVs - isthat the deterioration of image quality with off-axis viewing more than with LCD plasma, with emphasis.

persistence and burn-in LCD TVs has a technological advantage, they are not susceptible to burn-in and image in the LCD - retention named as "stick image" is often completely reversible.

It 'important to recognize here that during the burn-in stick in plasma displays and LCD panels is in bringing an image to burn, but thesetwo completely different phenomena.

Burn-in is not so important, as it uses a plasma TV in the recent past, particularly for people with normal television standards. Similarly, attack with LCD TV image can not intervene in the normal home entertainment experience.

Viewing distance: It seems that the pixel size and shape of an LCD panel enables a softer image quality as equivalent to a large plasma panel for the same pixelcount.

This means that even if your viewing distance falls within the recommended distance of about twice the width of the screen of an HDTV, if lower than at least nine feet, you'll probably be better with an LCD TV.

Lifespan: this is not a problem with both technologies. In fact requires both plasma and LCD TVs have a cited half-life of 60,000 hours. Although only 30,000 hours, which would mean that more than 14 years when used6 hours per day. So, if the average size of households in the U.S. TV replaced every seven years!

In other words, use both plasma and LCD extremely stable and reliable display technologies. As such, duration more dependent on quality rather than the manufacturer's display technology.

Answer: Plasma TVs take an advantage here, because even though LCD technology has improved in some extent this is becoming less and less, yet LCDstill a long way to go to reach the same level of pixel response time, such as listings of phosphorous.

Power: The advantage here goes to power as LCD panels consume them less. Estimates indicate that the use of LCD panels can result in% energy savings, around 30 for the same screen size plasma.

For Decision

Is there a market for plasma and LCD - Plasma provides a larger screen for yourDollar, deeper blacks, but the LCD does not suffer burn-in and the bottom end of the market (less than 40 inches diagonal), LCD is your only way forward if you want something slim and elegant.

It's all a matter of knowing what are the advantages and disadvantages of each in relation to your specific needs.

This Article is a Extract from a series of informative guides toPractical-Home-Theater-Guide.COM in plasma and LCD TV sections of the site.

It covers only the basics when it comes to comparing plasma vs. LCD TV. There are many more considerations to consider TV to choose the right technology to show a flat screen.

For more information, see the detailed http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com/plasma-vs-lcd-TV.html the site.

Last updateOn May 10, 2007. Copyright (c) 2004/2007 http://www.practical-home-theater-guide.com. All rights reserved.

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Professional Tips for shooting better home videos

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Ensure adequate light. Shooting indoors, turn all the lights in the room, if possible. This will avoid graininess when the camera tries to lighten the image. As a last resort, use a light on the camera, though it gives you a "deer in the headlights" look natural compared to more lamps. When shooting outdoors, keep the sun on or sideways. This will prevent the person fromSquinting in the sun, or too light in the background.
Turn off the auto-iris (exposure), if possible. The iris is what controls the amount of light into the camera. Usually this is set to be automatic, so not having to think. But the result is the video image is lit continuously as pan and between subjects, or darken your subject, if you do not see why you're a bright window were obscuredbehind them. If you have the option of manual exposure camera, be sure to do the manual will be.
Avoid zooming. Walk around (up to 5 feet) on the subject, as far as possible and avoid zooming, which makes the image shaky and obscured the view to your topic. The more you lose the light, as a. If you shoot people or children, a close up of them as we continue at full zoom zoom seems as ifOn the right beside them, not a stranger far PEEK try a. Also, your sound much stronger, cleaner and closer, if you shoot close to the subject.
Frame the subject properly. Now that you have the camera close to the child in a walker, has now turned the frame where the head is not in the center of the viewfinder all the time. Try to always put on the back of his head near the edge of the viewfinder. This is anotherThe image most pleasant to see, instead faces pressed against the edge of the screen.
Exceeded, then change it later. You get much more memorable moments with the camera when the camera is actually recording is compared to when it is turned off. Sun consistently exceeded, even when nothing happens, it seems, because after all! Go back and edit later from the slow stuff. If it seems too slow or too expensive to invest so that allVolume is considered an upgrade to-tape camera not as a DVD recorder, hard disk recorder or even a good digital camera capable of decent full-screen video shoot and record on a memory card. You can record non-stop and can delete the boring scenes immediately. The result is very beautiful together, enlightened and entertaining movies that your family will love forever.

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A 1080p Flat Screen TV Guide - Why Are Some 1080p Flat Screen TVs Better Than Others?

For many TV viewers, their dream is for a new 1080p flat screen TV. They'd like nothing better than to buy one, find one, or get one as a gift. It doesn't matter, as long as they get to watch one of these TVs instead of the big clunker they're watching now.

The fact is that TV technology has cone a very long way in the last 10 years, with a huge improvement in flat screen picture quality being the most noticeable benefit. In the early years of flat panel TVs, weather they were LCD or plasma, picture quality was noticeably lacking. Sure, they were thin, you could hang them on your wall, and your neighbors would be jealous, but really, their pictures looked pretty bad.

Times have changed. For all but the most jaded videophiles, almost any new flat panel TV ranks just under a gift from God, especially those of the 1080p variety. Even the bottom feeders look ok, and the best are nothing short of spectacular. What separates the best flat screen TV from the also rans?

As you might have guessed, a great flat screen TV, as in the days of TV gone by, will have a better picture than its lesser endowed brethren. One of the first performance statistics to be thrown around in ads, reviews and by your local TV salesperson is the resolution. All flat panel TV pictures are made up of tiny, colored dots called pixels. The set's resolution is simply the number of pixels it uses to make the picture. Flat panel TVs come in two basic resolutions; 1080p and 720p (which can actually be 768p, depending on the TVs manufacturer). All else being equal, more pixels is better.

Ah, but seldom is all else equal. In fact, many other things besides resolution are important when you start looking at picture quality. Some of the more important things to look at are the set's contrast ratio, black level, gray scale reproduction, color rendition, and lack of video artifacts.

The contrast ratio is simply the difference between the lightest and darkest black and brightest white the TV can produce. There are two basic ways this is measured; using a checkerboard pattern, or full on / full off. A larger number is better, but manufacturers seem to come up with endless ways to fudge this number to benefit their own TVs. Suffice it to say that if you're looking at two different TVs side by side the one with a better contrast ratio will look better.

Black level is a measure of how little light the set lets through when areas of the screen are supposed to be completely dark. In the old days of tube televisions that was no problem. The way that technology worked, if a part of the screen was supposed to be completely dark, the beam inside the TV tube just didn't scan it, so no light was produced.

With flat panel TVs, no area of the screen can be completely turned off, the black level is a measure of how well the TV can contain (LCD) or reduce (plasma) the screens luminance. Lower is better for a better picture. There aren't too many TV manufacturers that publish minimum luminance (that's what tells how little light the TV produces) specifications for their TVs, so you just have to play it by eye.

Gray scale is extremely important. Proper gray scale reproduction is the ability of the TV to reproduce truly neutral shades of gray at all levels of brightness. Many sets tend to trend toward blue, green or red instead of being a truly balanced gray. To make matters worse, they will sometimes favor one shade in the lighter areas of the picture, and another in the lighter areas.

You may think "That's okay, I never watch black and white TV shows anyway." Well, in addition to making sure black and white programming looks correct, all the colors on your TV screen, weather it's LCD or plasma, 1080p or 720p, rely on a properly rendered gray scale to be accurate. That's why good gray scale is one of the most important aspects of an accurate picture.

While only some TVs are really good in this regard as they're delivered, the good news is that many TVs can be calibrated to be very accurate, by a service technician or an ISF certified custom installer with the proper equipment.

Color rendition is exactly what it sounds like. It's a measure of how well the TV renders color. A set with good color rendition will produce rich accurate colors. A TV with poor color rendition will display weak (or in some cases, oversaturated), inaccurate ones. Which would you prefer? As noted above, good gray scale reproduction is one of the foundations of color rendition, but far from the only component. The TV's color decoder, panel construction and quality of it's power supply all come into play when it reproduces color.

One of the first places flat panel TV manufacturers skimp when they're building a TV is the video processing circuitry. There are many reasons for this. The main one is cost. Good video processing circuitry, such as the Silicon Optix HQV solution, are relatively expensive, while there are many other less expensive, albeit not as capable solutions on the market. In a market relentlessly driven to lower retail prices, every dollar counts. TV manufacturers feel they can make a tradeoff in the video processing capabilities of their sets and few consumers will notice.

The upshot for the consumer is that sets with poor video processing will exhibit video artifacts. Some of the more troubling video problems are moiré patterns, mosquito noise and "jaggies".

Moire' patterns are a fluctuating rainbow appearance in alternating black and white areas of the picture, such as referee's shirts. This effect can also be seen in other alternating line patterns, such as moving bleachers in NASCAR events. Thankfully for NASCAR, their seats are seldom empty, as the effect is more pronounced when the seats are empty.

Mosquito noise is seen in the transitions between dark and light areas of the picture and looks like mosquitoes flying around the transitions' edge. Jaggies are seen in moving, diagonal lines. Instead of being smooth, they will be jagged, or stair-stepped in appearance.

Another area to examine before making a 1080p flat screen TV purchase is weather or not the set has the inputs you'll need to connect all your components. For example, you may want to plug in a laptop computer. Some TVs have an HD-15 computer input, as is found on a laptop, while many do not.

Does the set have a sufficient number of HDMI inputs for connecting digital video devices, such as BluRay players, DVRs, online movie terminals, or cable boxes? Which version of HDMI are the inputs? HDMI 1.3 is required to accept the latest high bit rate color formats (of which there is little or no need for yet, but it is coming).

Many flat panel TVs now have network connection, USB ports or card slots to facilitate displaying digital video. Consumers are plugging in thumb drives, USB hard drives, and memory cards to show slideshows of family photos, for example. The proliferation of movie download services and terminals will make Ethernet ports and USB connectivity more important going forward.

One secret of the 1080p flat panel TV world is that there are really only a few companies that actually build the flat panel portion of the TV itself. For example, as of this writing, only 3 companies, Panasonic, LG and Samsung, produce plasma panels. In the LCD arena Sony, LG-Phillips, S-LCD (a Samsung/Sony joint venture), Hitachi Displays (a Panasonic, Hitachi, and Canon joint venture), and Sharp own large flat panel display manufacturing facilities. All the other companies buy their panels from one of these companies.

There is much to think about when evaluating a new 1080p flat screen TV. No matter which set you choose, it will probably be a huge step up from what you were watching before. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't put some thought into making what is, for most people, a major purchase.

A little bit of time spent finding the right flat screen now will ensure years of enjoyment from your new TV. After all, the difference between a good flat screen TV and a great one may only be a few hundred dollars, but the set will be with you for many years to come.

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