What is a Plasma TV?

A plasma TV is a high definition (HDTV) alternative to the standard cathode ray televisions sold today. A plasma TV provides sharp images and vibrant colors, especially when used in conjunction with high definition broadcasts. Quite often a plasma TV is designed in a 16:9 ratio for wide screen movie formats, as opposed to the box-like 4:3 ratio of standard televisions. A quality plasma TV is not cheap, however. Units start at $2,000 USD and can be as high as $15,000 USD or more. One of the chief selling points of a plasma TV is a flat screen, which allows it to be mounted directly on a wall without a lot of clearance required. Investors in a plasma TV may also employ surround-sound theater speakers and high-end receivers to complete the feeling of luxury. Plasma televisions have become status symbols among technophiles and other wealthy consumers. The science behind a plasma TV is very complicated, so welcome to the wiseGEEK school of oversimplification. 'Plasma' is a scientific term ...  more

A Plasma TV is the newest innovation in display technology. Ranging anywhere from 32" to 65" diagonally and only 3" to 4" in depth, plasma TVs provide a superior viewing experience. Plasma screen TVs consist of almost 3,000,000 pixels that are illuminated in a specific order to create the on-screen image. Because there is no "beam", the on-screen image has perfect focus, uniform light output and the highest degree of picture clarity on a Plasma Screen TV. Each pixel on plasma TVs consist of 3 cells of red, blue, and green light which are combined to form the image. By combining these cells, plasma TVs are able to display more than 67 billion colors.  more

The lifetime of the latest generation of plasma displays is estimated at 60,000 hours of actual display time. More precisely, this is the estimated half life of the display, the point where the picture has degraded to half of its original brightness, which is considered the end of the functional life of the display. Competing displays include the CRT, OLED, AMLCD, DLP, SED-tv and field emission flat panel displays. The main advantage of plasma display technology is that a very wide screen can be produced using extremely thin materials. Since each pixel is lit individually, the image is very bright and has a wide viewing angle. Most cheaper consumer displays appear to have an insufficient color depth - a moving dithering pattern may be easily noticeable for a discerning viewer over flat areas or smooth gradients; expensive high-resolution panels are much better at managing the problem. The xenon and neon gas in a plasma television is contained in hundreds of thousands of tiny cells ...  more