plasma and lcd displays

[doanster]

what's the difference, in terms of technology behind it and picture quality?

 

[Matthias99]

This is a VERY broad and vague question, and would be better answered by doing some research. I'm sure that googling "LCD versus plasma" would turn up many, many articles covering this topic to death and then some. AVSForum is another good site for home theater questions.

Relatively short answer (without getting into how the technogies differ; suffice it to say they are VERY different technologically):

Plasma displays have better contrast ratio and color saturation, and are easier/cheaper to make in extremely large sizes (50-60" and up). As downsides, plasma screens can suffer burn-in and can fade significantly over time (requiring expensive repairs). They can also be *hot*, and use a lot of power (neither is normally a huge issue for a home theater, though).

LCD displays tend to have slightly worse contrast ratio and color saturation, and sometimes (especially in cheaper models) have a 'screen door' effect from the inter-pixel spaces. LCD displays tend to be easier/cheaper to make in smaller sizes. They would, as a whole, tend to hold up better over time, and replacing a fading LCD backlight is far cheaper than recharging a plasma display. They also should not suffer from burn-in (at least not nearly as badly as plasma).

In practice, both are pretty damn good these days, and both are still very expensive when you start talking about big displays.

 

[kylebisme]

You can't "recharge" a plasma, I'm not sure where that idea came from but it is nothing more than a very widespread myth. They just loose fade over time until they become useless. Granted most newer ones have a half-life of 60,000 hours, which is over six and a half years constantly on, so they last nearly as long as a CRT.

Also, burn in was a big issue with earlier plasmas but it has been greatly reduced on newer models. I left mine on desktop overnight once and didn't even get the slightest after image, let alone any burn in. I'm sure you could burn one in if you made an effort to, but you'd have to be pretty negligent to do it on accedent.