Plasma Screen Vs LCD TVs

Price-to-area ratio
While neither LCD nor plasma TVs are a bargain, on a price-per-square-inch basis, plasmas currently have the edge: A 42-inch plasma gives you almost twice as much screen real estate as a 30-inch LCD panel, but they both go for about the same price. 32 Inches is about the smallest possible size for a plasma screen TV.

A rule of thumb is that plasma screens deliver better home-theater performance than LCDs. The difference is due mostly to the fact that LCD TVs typically can’t display black as well as plasmas; it ends up closer to dark gray. This decreases the amount of detail you can see in the shadows and ultimately leaves the picture looking “less three-dimensional”.

The picture quality of both LCD and plasma panels is improving each year, but it can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. But if you’re buying a smaller LCD (26 inches or less) for the kitchen or the bedroom, don’t worry too much over performance.

Life span
Life span, the number of viewing hours a television provides before dimming to half brightness, is one of the biggest advantages LCD has over plasma. Though the numbers vary among the different brands, plasma displays generally offer around 20,000 hours, while LCD sets last for up to 50,000 hours.

Burning issues
One of plasma technology’s known issues is something called burn-in. It happens when your television shows a still image or an icon for so long that its “ghost” remains on the screen. For example, if a stock ticker or a news crawl continuously runs along the bottom of your display, that strip may be burned into your set. The same applies to watching an excessive amount of standard TV (4:3) on a wide-screen (16:9) model; the vertical bars to either side of the picture could become permanent. Manufacturers have taken steps to prevent burn-in, building in screensavers and other technologies. And you can virtually eliminate the danger by not leaving still images on the screen and reducing your contrast setting to 50 percent or less.
LCDs don’t suffer from burn-in, nor do they have troubles at high altitudes, where the air-pressure differential causes plasmas to emit an irritating buzzing sound. So, if you live at the top of a mountain, we don’t recommend that you get a plasma, though some manufacturers are selling special sets that they claim are immune to the problem.

Viewing HDTV
Most plasmas and LCDs can display a high-def signal. However, you’ll need a model with a resolution of at least 1,280 x 720 to enjoy full HDTV once it becomes available in the UK market. Most 50-inch plasmas and nearly all 26-inch and larger LCDs offer this resolution. Very few 42-inch plasmas do, but when you’re watching HD feeds on a lower-resolution television of that size or smaller, you’ll have to sit very close to notice much of a difference between true HD and what you’re seeing. Take, for example, Panasonic’s TH-42PA20U, which is arguably the best 42-inch plasma we’ve seen to date in its price range. Even though the set provides only EDTV resolution (852 x 480), HDTV looks really good on it.

Computers and video games
Most plasma and LCD TVs can double as computer monitors; many even offer a DVI port for optimal video quality. They’ll also hook up to a game console without any problems. So which technology is better for these purposes? From a performance standpoint, it’s hard to pick a winner, but because of plasma’s burn-in risk, LCD is the safer choice for computer work and gaming.

Current Plasma screens available in UK

Size Make Model RRP