Plasma TV: What about it?

Plasma display is becoming more and more popular now a days, as the prices are coming down and with some advancement in new technology. They are in use widely as both computer monitors and TV monitors.

A plasma display also called "gas discharge display," is an emissive flat panel display where light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass. An inert mixture of noble gases is used for discharge.

Plasma displays are bright , have a wide color gamut, and can be produced in fairly large sizes, up to 260 cm diagonally. They have a very high "dark-room" contrast, creating the "perfect black" desirable for watching movies. The display panel is only 6 cm thick, while the total thickness, including electronics, is less than 10 cm .

The lifetime of the latest generation of plasma displays is estimated at 60,000 hours of actual display time. So if a plasma display is viewed an average of 2-1/2 hours a day, it will last approximately 65 years. With prices starting around US$2,000 and going all the way up past US$20,000 ,  these sets did not sell as quickly as older technologies like CRT. But as prices fall and technology advances, they have started to seriously compete against the CRT sets.

Comparison with LCD:

Pros:
    Larger than LCD screens
    Slim design

Cons:
    It sometimes subject to screen burn-in
    A bit expensive.

With the rise in technology and with the decline in prices plasma TVs are becoming the hottest selling items. As of early 2006, sales of plasma TVs and LCD TVs combined exceeded sales of CRT TVs for the first time.