Fat Panel Plasma, Flat Panel LCD, and Projection DLP/LCD Televisions - Essay Example

A Flat Plasma TV is sometimes called an emissive display the panel is actually self-lighting. The display consists of two transparent glass panels with a thin layer of pixels sandwiched in between. Each pixel is composed of three gas-filled cells or sub-pixels. A grid of tiny electrodes applies an electric current to the individual cells, causing the gas in the cells to ionize. This ionized gas (plasma) emits high-frequency UV rays, which stimulate the cells' phosphors, causing them to glow the desired color.

Since a plasma panel is illuminated at the sub-pixel level, images are exceptionally accurate, and the panel's light output is both high and consistent across the entire screen area. Plasma TVs also provide very wide horizontal and vertical viewing angles. Picture quality looks sharp and bright from virtually anywhere in the room. Because plasma TV screens do use a phosphor coating, the potential for screen burn-in exists, so it's important to follow the manufacturer's recommendations on day-to-day use.

Most flat-panel TVs are progressive displays at any given moment all of the pixels are illuminated. An exception is plasma TVs that use "AliS" (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces) technology. Conventional plasma panels dedicate a strip of control electrodes to each horizontal row of plasma cells, while ALiS panels share an electrode strip between two rows of cells. At any given instant only half the panel's pixels are turned on. It's similar to interlaced-scanning on a CRT-based TV. ALiS was developed as a way to construct a simpler, lower-cost plasma panel optimized for displaying 1080i HDTV signals.

Because there is less screen real estate taken up by electrode strips, there's more illuminated area, and as a result, ALiS panels provide a seamlessly clear, bright image. Another ALiS benefit is high-efficiency it requires only half the voltage of conventional plasma drive systems. Plasma screens only use a pixel that is broken down into the three colors, red, blue, green. There is a small burst of energy that stimulates each one of these pixels. The energy excites the argon gases, neon and xenon which produce different color lights.

As electrons excite the phosphors, oxygen atoms dissipate and create plasma, emitting UV light. These rare gases actually have a life and fade over time. The remarkable aspect of plasma screens is that the pixels react at the same time, so the flicker is never shown to the viewer. Because there is no backlight, the colors are natural and super bright and they also provide a wide viewing angle. On the other hand, Plasma Technology will soon become extinct. Unless companies find a way to turn this type of technology into one that competes with life expectancy, brightness and is able to fix the burn in problem.

This type of technology will become extinct and LCD will become more dominant. Plasma TV Screen AdvantagesThe lifespan of the best plasma televisions have been expanded to as much as 60,000 hours. This equals almost 30 years of viewing your plasma television for up to 6 hours a day. Expect substantially less on a no name.Plasma television sets have a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the relationship between the screen's width and height. This is the proper aspect ratio for HDTV, and also allows