Flat Panel TV: Plasma TV
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A plasma TV is one of the more popular types of flat panel televisions. Its main rival (in terms of popularity and usage) is the liquid crystal display (LCD), and comparisons between the two have often been made.
Basically, a plasma TV (also called plasma display panel) uses plasma composed of the noble gases neon and xenon, which is sandwiched between two glass panes coated with phosphor material. A computer within the plasma TV controls the plasma through electricity delivered with beams of electrons. Each pixel of a plasma display panel is red, green, or blue, and the computer combines them and varies their intensities to produce the entire color spectrum.
As with other flat panel TVs, a plasma screen boasts of good brightness. A plasma television is more often than not larger than an LCD. Similar to LCDs, plasma display panels can also be used as computer monitors, though many experts recommend sticking to a TV-only use; plasma screens used as monitors are susceptible to burn-in.
Plasma displays were first invented more than 40 years ago, in 1964 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Its inventors, Donald Bitzer, H. Gene Slottow, and their first graduate student, Robert Willson, were given a 2002 Emmy award for technical achievement, along with Fujitsu, the world’s leading manufacturer of plasma screens.
Plasma TVs can have a lifespan of about 7 years. However, this depends on proper use and maintenance. For example, setting the display to a high contrast setting tends to shorten its life.
Read more on plasma televisions, including accessories, maintenance advice, and proper usage tips.
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