Technology

• Plasma TVs are made up of many cells of gases such as neon or xenon. Electrical impulses excite the red, blue, or green gases in each cell to light the cell a particular color. LCD TVs are called liquid crystal displays because of the technology used to create them. Liquid crystal is sandwiched between two sheets of glass and electrical charges twist to filter white light that is projected from behind. This produces the picture on the screen.
  
  

Picture Quality

• Plasma TVs are known for achieving higher qualities of the color black when compared to LCD TVs. This is because LCD TVs function by subtracting color from white light so the levels of black achieved are not as intense as with plasma TVs. Color accuracy is higher in plasma TVs due to the technology allowing each pixel to be individually adjusted. LCD TVs manage very well but usually are not as impressive as plasma TVs with similar pixel counts.
  
  

Advantages of Plasma TVs

• The viewing angles are higher with plasma TVs. Viewing angles refer to the angle a person can sit on the side of a TV without the image being negatively affected. Plasma TVs have nearly 180-degree viewing angles. LCD TVs have improved their viewing angles but the best TVs on the market offer up to 120 degree viewing angles. Plasma TVs have less of an issue with fast-moving scenes in shows. LCD TVs exhibit a slight lag with fast moving scenes. There have been improvements with LCD TVs but some still exhibit this problem.
  
  

Advantages of LCD TVs

• LCD TVs do better in a room with ambient light than plasma TVs due to their inherent brightness. LCD TVs do not suffer from burn-in. Burn-in refers to when an image is left too long on a screen and a ghost image is viewable afterward. Newer plasma TVs now have screen savers and other measures to reduce burn-in. LCD TVs consume less power than plasma TVs and are also lighter and easier to mount. Older LCD TVs had a longer lifespan than plasma TVs but this is no longer an issue as of 2010.
  
  

Price Comparisons

• In the larger sizes, such as 50 inch or above, plasma TVs offer better quality in terms of cost. LCD TVs are catching up in the smaller sizes but have yet to produce cheaper TVs in the larger size ranges. In the 17-inch to 42-inch categories LCD TVs are the better choice. They are slimmer and easier to handle.