January 17, 9:05 AM
One of the toughest shopping decisions in the apartment decoration and retail world today may be choosing between an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a Plasma flat-panel television. Lcd or Plasma...that is the question?
When choosing between these two you're actually selecting between two competing technologies that come in very similar packages and achieve very similar features with bright colors and clear, crisp pictures. Although they seem quite similar on these two fronts, the actual method the two technologies use to deliver the picture are very different. In LCD's, thin film transistors send an electrical charge to a series of many cells that are filled with liquid and pressed in between two sheets of glass to invoke a reaction that filters light through from a lamp behind the screen. Plasma technology has electric pulses that react with hundreds of thousands of natural gas filled pixels to create a glow and release light.
There was a time when the gap between the two was much wider as each had certain common problematic issues, but with the ever growing number of technological advances for both types of display, the problematic issues of the past are becoming less and less frequent. In the past and still somewhat evident with plasma televisions is the "Burn-In" effect when a certain image remains static for long periods of time, eventually burning into the screen itself and remaining there as a shadow even when the image is gone. LCD televisions do not have this effect.
While LCD doesn't have any burn-in issues, plasma has a slightly better contrast ratio between black and other colors, a better viewing angle, and at times more vibrant color. On the other hand, LCD's are a lot better on the electric bill consuming about 50% of the electricity that a plasma does. They also work much better in high altitude areas than plasmas.
If you are going to play a lot of video games or will be hooking your computer up to it, you definitely want to have an LCD television. If you watch more sports and movies, plasma has a slight edge.
Either way you decide, you are looking at an awesome purchase and a huge step in the direction of truly giving yourself a top-of-the-line lavish apartment. I highly advise you to pick-up the optional extended warranty or insurance coverages as they are offered by whatever retailer you get the TV from. These plans are well worth the cost and keep you protected from virtually anything that goes wrong...
Good luck!