Plasma Television ...delivering more for less

Way back in early 2009, Pioneer and Vizio moved out of the plasma TV market. With just three major plasma display players left - LG, Panasonic, and Samsung - many soon started proclaiming that plasma is dead.

Yet this is totally incorrect. Plasma is still alive and going strong thanks to the millions being invested in this display technology by the remaining players in the field. It is sufficient to look at premium HDTVs such as the Samsung 58-inch PN58C8000, Panasonic 54-inch TC-P54G25, or LG 60-inch 50PK950, all from this year plasma lineups, to realize the advancements this display technology has been through in its decade of existence.

It is true that with the advent of more affordable LCDs and the competition from the latest LED TVs, the plasma television market has shrunk - mostly as a result of sales reps that continue to favor LCD and now the latest LED TVs over plasma with their hype regarding burn-in and excessive power consumption. Yet these issues are no longer worth worrying about.

The real reason behind this sales hype is that LCDs and in particular LED TVs carry a higher price mainly due to higher markups.

Nonetheless, for informed buyers looking for an HDTV - videophiles, home theater enthusiasts, sports fans and consumers desiring a larger screen size - plasma has always remained the TV technology of choice.

What's more, with the bad economy, even uninformed HDTV buyers in the market for a large screen HDTV, are once again choosing plasma over LCD as a more viable big screen HDTV option that can deliver more screen for their hard earned cash.

Plasma delivers much more for less!

Yes, plasma HDTVs still continue to deliver more screen estate for your dollar. Besides, discerning consumers continue to appreciate the strengths of plasma over LCD such as the deeper black levels and its ability to display subtle shadow detail in predominantly dark content. In addition, plasma's superior smooth motion, excellent screen uniformity, and an off-angle viewing performance that does not exhibit deterioration in the perceived image contrast as one moves off axis, are aspects of picture performance that no LCD or LED TV has ever attained.

In particular, plasma's deep shade of black and its capability to render subtle shadow detail make plasma televisions the best choice for use in the home theater. Despite the much touting by LCD TV makers about their latest and greatest LED TVs, the best plasma televisions continue to have the upper hand when it comes to a stable deep shade of black. This is a most important picture quality parameter as it helps render better those difficult-to-define quality attributes like picture depth, scene detail - especially in television and movie scenes where lots of dark and light content is shown simultaneously, and color richness - more specifically the perceived color saturation. Indirectly, a better black level also leads to better rendering of picture contrast. Plasma TV reviews published on various sites continue to show that even the latest LED TVs find it hard to beat the significantly less expensive plasma televisions in this respect.

A case in point is the 50-inch TC-P50G25; but even sets such as the Samsung 58-inch PN58C7000 3D plasma TV and the LG 60PK950  60-inch HDTV are regarded by plasma TV reviews as solid performers. Equally important, plasma televisions are capable of smooth motion when handling fast action content thanks to a pixel response that is some thousand times faster than that of LCDs. This also makes plasma TVs the primary choice for sports fans looking for the best blur-free motion.

LG 60-inch 60PK950  Infinia line of flagship plasma TVs More information on the PK950 is available in our detailed LG TV review article here

However, plasma's superior picture performance is not just a matter of 2D. The advent of 3D TV has once again confirmed plasma's picture quality dominance over LCD, and in that case LED TVs. Both Panasonic and Samsung 3D plasma TVs offer solid 3D image performance with hardly any 3D image crosstalk in contrast to 3D LED TVs. This superiority is not a merit of some brand but arise out of plasma's superfast pixel response time - one that is much faster than that of the fastest LED and LCDs!

What's more, the latest innovations in plasma display technology have done a great job in narrowing the gap between plasmas and LCDs in the areas of image brightness and power consumption. Up to very recently, these were areas that rendered LCDs the exclusive choice if you wanted a TV for use under bright lighting, or one with a low power consumption. The latest plasma display panels are capable of a much brighter image while consuming some 40% less power consumption than previous generation 1080p plasma TVs. This means that the latest plasma HDTVs are both significantly more energy efficient and equally capable of delivering a bright enough image for viewing in bright room conditions.

Mind you, LCD TVs are still more energy efficient; in particular nothing beats an LED LCD TV for its low power consumption. The latest energy efficient plasmas still consume more than twice the power of the latest 2010 LED TVs. At the same time, we cannot but remark that with these developments, power consumption in plasma displays has become a non-issue. This power issue has long been a seller for LCDs over plasma in as much as plasma's reputation for burn-in.

Mentioning burin-in, despite being a number one favorite with those arguing against plasma, burn-in is surely something not worth worrying about anymore. We still say that you have to manage your content but on our part, we have never experienced burn-in issues with any of the latest plasma televisions.

The truth is that plasma delivers more for less! It is the best all-rounder display technology and the primary choice among those looking for the best picture, irrespective of whether it is for use in the home theater, sports and gaming, or just about anyone who wants a big screen TV for general viewing.

And contrary to what some sales rep may tell you, the continued developments in plasma technology and the present pricing strategy still make plasma a most viable HDTV display technology for the years to come - at least till a suitable alternative display technology is available that can deliver improved picture performance at an equally affordable price. Till then, for the informed buyer, plasma television sets will continue to represent the big screen TV technology of choice.

The reality is that a lot has changed since plasma televisions first found their place on stores shelves over a decade ago. Today, plasma's excellent picture performance surpasses that of the latest LED LCD TVs; and, it has become more possible than ever to find a big screen plasma television for every budget.

However, no matter how affordable a plasma television is, it still represents a big portion of any home entertainment budget. Opting for the wrong choice can still turn out to be expensive. The problems many face here arise out of the large selection of plasma television models available and the numerous new features found on today's plasma TVs. These often make the whole process of selecting a plasma HDTV rather frustrating.

We therefore hope that this series of plasma television guides and featured plasma TV reviews appearing under this section will provide you with the necessary information to help you make the right choice.