This old one! If, right now, you're anything like a lot of the buying population, looking for a 'trendy' new flat screen, you have done as many have. Seen the ads (or your mates), walked into your nearest electronics store, and seen literally three or four rows of different screens, all showing the same thing, like a large mosaic picture. All different sizes and all certainly different prices, all of them with a label underneath telling you how fantastic it is at such a great price, and some of that might actually be true.
Then you look a bit harder, some are LCD and some are Plasma. Now, your average buyer won't look at this, they'll go in, see what looks 'trendy', is happy with the fact it even has a picture on it, so buys it. But, if you're here, you want to know a bit more; you want to know what the difference is. So, let's see if we can distinguish the two from one another without using all the technical guff.
Anyone who knows a thing or two about these is not going to tell you which one is better, certainly not me; it's literally up to you, the buyer, to make the choice of what type of screen you want. However after you have made your choice, that's where we can help.
If I was being honest, we have to nit pick between the two types of screen, with so many companies releasing screens, it's actually hard to find a screen that is so poor (for what you pay) that it would make you think you have really wasted your money. That's doesn't mean however there aren't some better than others at a certain price level.
Plasma and LCD, what's the difference?
Plasma and LCD screens from the front look very similar, but apart from how they look, that's where the two being the same end. As its name suggests, plasma uses a matrix of tiny gas plasma cells charged by electrical charges to create a picture. LCD panels (liquid crystal display) are in normal terms layers made up of liquid crystal pushed in between two glass plates. Images are created in a similar way when an electrical charge is applied to the crystals. Each technology has its strengths and its negatives.
Contrast and Black Levels
I was thinking of doing a nice little table, telling you straight upfront how much better plasmas are at displaying black tones and contrast over LCD (which it is), but it's not as clear cut as the numbers would have you believe. Plus, not everyone knows what the numbers mean to the real world. Yes, for contrast and how 'deep' the blacks are, plasma will do a better job but you would have to be really testing the same size of screen coming from the same source to see the obvious difference. Now we have a newer generation of LCD screens out, that are starting to offer the kind of contrast that plasma has been capable of for many years. And when I say near too, it can depend a lot on what you are using the screen for.
Although people still don't seem to take contrast and black tones seriously, imagine if you got a brand new screen with a DVD player ready to watch Miami Vice, where about 80% of the film is set at night, then, trust me, you're going to notice it. So in this case, I would recommend the plasma.
Viewing Angles
A big deal is made out of viewing angles, which is fair, because you don't want to have to sit straight to the screen, and you don't want to make your guests do the same. This was never an issue for plasma screens and for years was always better than your average LCD. Now that's all changed, its pretty much old hat now, with the average viewing angle required being 170°. Newer top of the line LCDs can achieve this just fine, with 170° being the angle 90% of people will need for their front living room.
Weight
I'll keep it simple, plasmas are slightly deeper in size, and do weigh more, compared to the same size of screen in an LCD, which is important to consider should you decide to mount the screen onto your vacant wall!
What you watch on it?
Seriously, ask yourself what are you going to use the screen most for ...films? TV? A screen to connect to your HD Console? ...or to the PC? ... You need to know this, or at the very least know which you are likely to use most.
In general, most will say that LCD can create sharper images (due to their HD resolution being slightly higher at certain sizes of screen), with better colours, and can actually produce a brighter image, so this would tick all the boxes for the consoles and PCs. But, on the other side of this is the negative parts, LCD has always been struggling with fast motion stuff, either resulting in 'ghosting' motion like trails being dragged behind the image. Again with the market growing a lot in 2007, this is likely to become less so, this improves as your wallet allows, and each new generation that's released.
Plasma, however doesn't have this problem, but doesn't have the colour sharpness that LCDs have, but, if you are getting a screen for just films and or TV, again money permitting, it might suit you more.
In this case the eyes have it, I'm merely pointing out what you should look out for when deciding to part with your hard earned cash, each to his own and all that. My advice for any screen is to go and see them for yourself.
What you get for your money?
Currently it's all about the size of the screen. And right now (at least for the moment) plasma is offering you more screen for what you would otherwise spend on an LCD.
But, there's an interesting twist in this. Plasmas don't hold the best track record for last-ability, between how long the brightness levels hold out to how long before any permanent burn-in images (burn-in happens if a still image is displayed too long on a plasma screen) could happen. However, new ways have been made to reduce this happening, which have brought the last ability of plasmas up to anything between 30,000 hours to 60,000 hours, while LCDs offer what's usually a guaranteed 60,000 hours and are, in general more reliable. Worth bearing in mind as to just how much life you will get out of your purchase. Not all may be perfect, as plasma screens can have their problems, so can LCDs with all those pixels there is a chance that not all of them will work better, known as dead pixels, or could even get stuck on one colour.
Some of these points might be worth considering when looking through the shops, but I would like to stress that as I have listed each of their faults, on whole, these are very rare, and overall with reliable well known brands you shouldn't have any real problems.
Decided...?
All in all getting a new screen can be a pretty daunting experience these days, and hopefully we have managed to clear a few things up. As I said earlier you can go into the numbers and details as much as possible, but I would always recommend where possible to get yourself to see the screen and to get a demo of it. Everyone will see things in a slightly different light to the next person, and or course we would be happy to help you in the forums, so why not post a question about whatever screen or model you are thinking about. Whatever your budget, we're happy to help!