Which is Better - Plasma or LCD TV

The high power consumption and large space occupied by a CRT TV created a need for flat screen TV. The first ones to replace the CRT, were the plasma screen and the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. But, which is better plasma or LCD TV? Let us briefly discuss plasma and LCD TVs.

Plasma TVs and LCDs are similar to each other in appearance, but they have an absolutely different working mechanism. In case of plasma TVs, there are two glass panels containing micro cells filled with some noble gases. When electricity is passed through these noble gases, they turn into plasma which then causes a layer of phosphors to emit light.

LCD is the abbreviation of Liquid Crystal Display, but, how does an LCD screen work? Behind the display screen, liquid crystal material sandwiched between the two glass plates. When electricity is passed through these liquid crystals, images are displayed. The LCD TVs are light in weight, portable and slim.

Now, as we know in brief about plasma and LCD TVs, it's time we get rid of our dilemma. So, let us try to know which is better; plasma or LCD TV?

Feature	Plasma TV	LCD TV
Color Contrast - The ability to show true colors distinctly.	Plasma TVs have an edge over LCDs as they can display deeper blacks more accurately than LCDs can. This gives better contrast and detailing capability in dark scenes.	LCD TVs manage to surpass plasma TVs when the scene is in bright surroundings, but it lags behind when it comes to a dark scene. But, when it comes to dark scenes or dark rooms, they have a very slight disadvantage.
Viewing Angle - Maximum angle the viewer can maintain to the screen's normal.	Plasma TVs hold an edge here as well, as even when there's an increase in the viewing angle, plasma's picture remains fairly solid.	There's a tendency to exhibit brightness and shift in color when a viewer makes a larger angle with LCD.
Response time and Screen refresh rates	The screen refresh rate in plasma TVs is slightly better than LCDs, although newer LCDs are almost equal to plasma TVs in this regard.	Some LCD screens, mostly the old ones, have a trend of blurring images, especially during high speed moving scenes, in movies or sports.
Screen Burn-in - freezing of an image for a small time.	This is where plasmas lose out. Burn-in is a usual problem in plasma TVs.	LCDs don't have this problem of burn-in.
Power Consumption	Another area where Plasma TV loses out is its high power consumption.	LCD TVs pip the plasma TVs in this factor as LCDs consume 50% less power than their opponents.
Screen Resolution	Here the plasma loses its lead to LCD, as for same size, plasma lacks resolution.	The equalizer! LCD makes it 3-3 as it has a higher resolution than plasma for a given size.
Cost	Here's where plasma scores the winner! Particularly in the large size high resolution segment, plasma is cheaper than the LCD.	As the size and resolution go up, cost incurred on LCD is more.
High Altitude Functionality	The plasma cannot function normally at an altitude greater than 6000 m above sea level because the gases in a plasma TV need normal atmospheric pressure to act.	That's a consolation for LCD. As it has liquid crystal and no gas, there's no effect of altitude on the LCD.

After going through the table, what do you feel? Which is better; plasma or LCD TV? You may say, it's the plasma TV; but, even though plasma seems to have an upper hand by a very slight margin, LCD is definitely not the loser. Lot of research on the LCD has resulted in newer and better screens which have done away with most of its drawbacks. Moreover, the introduction of LCD screens with LED back lights have helped it do away with the color contrast, screen refresh and viewing angle demerits. Television industry freaks have slated the LED laden LCDs as the future of the flat screen TVs.

Now, if you find yourself in a dilemma, you can easily do a one on one comparison based on the above factors to decide which is better, plasma or LCD TV.