The Better Television Type - Is a Plasma Better Than LCD Or the Other Way Around?
In television technology trifecta of LED LCD, plasma, and LCD, which comes out on top? The subject of countless debates and diatribes, the better question is: which works best? Or more precisely, which works best for you?
When you cut through the hype and the fanboys, each tech has different benefits and costs. So to help you figure out which TV is right for your house, let's take a look at each one.
First, a BIG disclaimer: any article of this type is, by necessity, going to contain a lot of generalizations. In most of the categories below, there are likely one or two exceptions to each rule. It's great to find an outlier, but that's just what it is, an outlier. The "average" product featuring these technologies is going to perform as listed.
Second, some terminology.
Plasma TVs, made by Panasonic, Samsung, and LG, range in size from 42 inches to roughly 65 inches. There are some larger models (notably Panasonic's 150-inch), but for most people, they max out at 65 inches. Most are "600 Hz" which isn't quite the same as 120 Hz or 240 Hz LCDs (more on them in a moment). You can read more about it in What is 600 Hz?
LCD TVs range in size from a couple of inches, to 90 inches, and everywhere in-between. They're made by everybody. All "LED TVs" are actually LCD TVs, they just use LEDs as their light source, instead of the traditional CCFLs. There are very few CCFL (non-LED) LCDs on the market anymore. Since you might find a few off-brands that still use CCFLs (or you own a CCFL LCD and want to compare), we'll include them here separately. One of the most common features of higher-end LCDs is 120 and 240 Hz refresh rates which helps reduce the blurring of motion common with LCDs. You can read more about that problem and the solution in What is Refresh Rate?
You might ask yourself, at this point, why only three companies for plasma? When electronics companies started building their manufacturing plants for TVs, they faced a choice: make big "cheap" flat panels that can't go much below 42-inches (plasma), or build a more expensive factory that can make a wide variety of sizes, even though the bigger sizes will be more expensive (LCD). As production has increased, the larger LCD sizes have become more price competitive, so that distinction has disappeared. As such, you don't see a lot of companies investing in new plasma TV manufacturing. Not when an LCD factory can make everything from cell phone screens to 90-inch HDTVs (an over simplification, but you get the point).
If you're not sure what size TV you should be getting, check out How big a TV should I buy?
If you're interested in how LCD and plasma match up against OLED, check out LED LCD vs. OLED vs. plasma.
When you cut through the hype and the fanboys, each tech has different benefits and costs. So to help you figure out which TV is right for your house, let's take a look at each one.
First, a BIG disclaimer: any article of this type is, by necessity, going to contain a lot of generalizations. In most of the categories below, there are likely one or two exceptions to each rule. It's great to find an outlier, but that's just what it is, an outlier. The "average" product featuring these technologies is going to perform as listed.
Second, some terminology.
Plasma TVs, made by Panasonic, Samsung, and LG, range in size from 42 inches to roughly 65 inches. There are some larger models (notably Panasonic's 150-inch), but for most people, they max out at 65 inches. Most are "600 Hz" which isn't quite the same as 120 Hz or 240 Hz LCDs (more on them in a moment). You can read more about it in What is 600 Hz?
LCD TVs range in size from a couple of inches, to 90 inches, and everywhere in-between. They're made by everybody. All "LED TVs" are actually LCD TVs, they just use LEDs as their light source, instead of the traditional CCFLs. There are very few CCFL (non-LED) LCDs on the market anymore. Since you might find a few off-brands that still use CCFLs (or you own a CCFL LCD and want to compare), we'll include them here separately. One of the most common features of higher-end LCDs is 120 and 240 Hz refresh rates which helps reduce the blurring of motion common with LCDs. You can read more about that problem and the solution in What is Refresh Rate?
You might ask yourself, at this point, why only three companies for plasma? When electronics companies started building their manufacturing plants for TVs, they faced a choice: make big "cheap" flat panels that can't go much below 42-inches (plasma), or build a more expensive factory that can make a wide variety of sizes, even though the bigger sizes will be more expensive (LCD). As production has increased, the larger LCD sizes have become more price competitive, so that distinction has disappeared. As such, you don't see a lot of companies investing in new plasma TV manufacturing. Not when an LCD factory can make everything from cell phone screens to 90-inch HDTVs (an over simplification, but you get the point).
If you're not sure what size TV you should be getting, check out How big a TV should I buy?
If you're interested in how LCD and plasma match up against OLED, check out LED LCD vs. OLED vs. plasma.
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