Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Plasma Display (PDP) technology is still superior to LCD when it comes to displaying video, especially HD video. While LCDs are brighter, they crush the low level black images and do not have as high a contrast ratio (differnce between viewable white and black images)as PDPs. LCDs also have a slower refresh rate than PDPs. This means that with some fast moving scenes, you will see smearing or pixelization because the LCDs themselves can not keep up with the changing images. This LCD annomoly is more evident in HD video where there is more up to 4 to 6 times more information changing on the display than with a standard definition video image. And although LCDs might look like they are more colorful, they do not produce as many colors as PDP technolog does. If you need evidence, look at peoples faces on both an LCD screen and a PDP screen. Hopefully you will notice the more color variation with peoples faces on the PDP display. Lastly, to clear the PDP "Burn-in" issue for once and all, yes PDP's (like conventional CRT TV's)use phosphors to produce their image. Because of this, PDPs will burn-in an image if the image remains static on the display and doesn't change. This can be a problem if you are using your PDP as a computer display, showing static images (like a Excel Spreadsheet) and do not have your screen saver turned on. But if you are using a PDP display for viewing TV shows, you will never have a problem with burn-in with a PDP becasue the video images are always changing. And remember that with the new phosphor technology, PDP screens will last up to 60,000 hours (that's 8 hours a day for 20 years when displaying moving images) before the PDP display reaches half brightness. LCD backlights are also good for 50,000 to 60,000 hours of life, but will start to show signs of being less bright after 30,000 to 40,000 hours of use. So unless you plan on viewing static (non-changing) images or are placing your large screen display in area of high ambient light, I suggest you really consider purchasing a PDP over an LCD display. And yes I do work in the display industry and I'm asked this same question everyday.