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plasma TVs

plasma TVs

 

plasma TVs
Plasma-TVs

 

Plasma for your own home cinema

 

The idea behind plasma technology is that people wanted to bring the cinema experience into their own four walls. The first plasma screen was used in 1964 to power a mainframe computer.

 

The image is created by noble gases

 

Plasma technology is based on a fluorescent mixture of the gases helium, xenon and neon. This mixture is enclosed in chambers sandwiched between two panes of glass. Three chambers form one pixel on the screen.
The glass panes contain transparent electrodes, thin pixel ribs and Phosphorus-
layers. The electrodes will subpixels electronically charged and, depending on the control voltage, generate tiny explosions of the gas, releasing invisible, ultraviolet light. Depending on the chamber, this UV radiation hits the red, blue or green phosphor layer in the rear glass pane and stimulates it to emit light.

 

How plasma works

 

Pros and Cons

 

What speaks in favor of plasma technology is that it clearly has better contrast ratios (approx. 10.000 : 1), more natural colors and richer black tones than LCD-TVs supplies. The reason is that plasma displays only light up the sub-pixels that are necessary for the image to be displayed, while LCD displays automatically cover all pixels with the backlight.
In contrast to old tube screens, plasma screens are insensitive to magnetic fields and have a life expectancy that is four times as high (plasma: 60.000 hours, tube: 15.000 hours) - which corresponds to a life expectancy of 41 years with daily use of four hours.
Even when viewed from the side, the contrast of plasma screens is unrestricted.

 

compare plasma and lcd

Furthermore, the so-called trailing effect is less, ie there are no slightly blurred images, since the gas mixture reacts more quickly to the electrical impulse than the liquid crystals of the LCDs.

trailing effect

Finally, plasma screens can be made in almost any size, which is not possible with LCDs and CRTs.

But plasma technology also has some disadvantages. Probably the most important and most discussed reason today is that plasmas have a higher power requirement than LCDs because, as described above, each individual pixel has to be illuminated. It also follows from this that the power consumption is crucially dependent on the brightness of the film, because the brighter the pixels have to be illuminated, the more power the whole thing draws. Some manufacturers refute this "rumor" by saying that an LCD screen uses more power because the backlight needs to be on at all times, whereas a plasma screen uses less power when the pixels are black.
Another drawback is that still images can burn in. Burn marks or screen burn-in can occur if a particularly bright picture element, such as a program logo, remains in the picture for too long. Where the logo is located, the phosphors could "tire out" and leave a permanent shadow of that bright image. However, this phenomenon has largely been remedied by improved luminescent materials and a system for protecting the screen.

 

Pre-purchase advice

 

Ask the seller to adjust the brightness of the room to match that of your living room in the evening.

 

Also, watch your own TV habits:
See e.g. For example, if you have a lot of football, let yourself be shown football scenes in order to recognize smear effects and contrast differences.
Check whether at the demonstration of the device HDTV- Or PAL-Signal will be shown.
Since you receive more PAL pictures at home, let them show you.
Also note the connectors: Two HDMI-Inputs should definitely be available, if you want to continue using old equipment, check whether the device also has one SCART-Connection provides. Pay attention to the occupancy here:
For a VCR one will do CVBS-signal (see home cinema dictionary), the SATReceiver needs RGB.

 

Plasma and LCD in comparison

 

Plasma
LCD
Contrast
Better than LCD, especially black
Light shades of white, but pale blacks
Shades
Extensive color gamut
Vivid Colors
screen size
Best suited for large screens
Best suited for small screens
reaction time
Sharpest, detailed movements
Not ideal for fast movements
Suitable for HDTV
Suitable for HDTV
sharpness
Very natural
Exaggerated and one-dimensional
Image Processing
Focus on image enhancement
Emphasis on compensating for the LCD weaknesses
screen
With screensaver, hard surface
touch sensitive
Far without loss of quality
Vulnerable to trailing effects

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