Plasma Television Secrets

If you are like millions consumers considering a big screen TV purchase, you’ll likely be looking at the new flat screen TV’s. While there are many choices and technologies available, the dominant two in most consumer electronic stores are plasma and LCD.

Should you get a plasma TV or an LCD?

When discussing whether to get a plasma tv or an LCD, the salesperson will likely go over certain common factors with you: which formats do well in which lighting situations, for instance, and the lack of ‘burn-in- in the newer plasma models. Burn-in is a phenomenon that leaves a ‘burnt-in- image on your plasma screen permanently, caused by leaving an image up on the screen for too long.

A similar but reversible issue called image retention still exists in plasma tv’s, and should be discussed with your salesperson. Image retention can happen fairly easily and is not as easy to get rid of (it takes a lot of work and electricity to remove the charge build-up which caused it). This is a consideration to keep in mind when deciding between a plasma and LCD, especially since most salespeople will tend to minimize the potential for plasmas to show the ghost images indicative of image retention.

Of course, once a plasma TV is broken in (another consideration), it can be kept clean and new for a very long time as long as you take care of it properly, not leaving movies on pause or pictures or icons on the screen for extended periods, and being sure to keep it maintained. Ensure you also understand the subject of aspect ratios, as having this wrong on a plasma TV can cause problems as well.

LCD televisions do not have quite the image clarity that plasma TV’s do, and for this reason many people go for the plasma. The crystal clear images of fish floating across the screen in the electronics store are often enough to woo potential customers into deciding in favor of the plasma. Little is said in-store about the maintenance and caution necessary with a plasma TV vs. an LCD, and it is possible that if people were more aware of these issues they would sacrifice a little image quality for ease of use and dependability.

The choice is always yours, of course - we just advise reading up on the issue and being informed before you go to the store, as salespeople are taught certain ‘industry’ lines and may not advise you thoroughly.