Cleaning the Plasma Screen
July 15, 2007
Plasma screens are so glossy, so shiny that they tend to get some dust or finger prints quite often. Cleaning a plasma TV screen should be done carefully considering its high price.
When you try to clean its screen, you need to be careful over two things: first, the product you use should not scratch screen. Using even paper towels or gentle toilet paper may scratch the screen.
Secondly, your plasma TV might have anti-reflective coating on the glass. If you use certain cleaners which contain ammonia, they can damage this protective coating of the screen.
If at all you decide to clean your Plasma TV screen, the first thing you can do is to consult the manual given by the manufacturer. It often gives you instructions about how your plasma screen should be cleaned.
Always use pure cotton or some fibre of finest quality. Avoid using anything made of paper to wipe the screen.
Anti-reflective layer on your plasma screen prevents glare in bright rooms. So, care should be taken when you clean the screen so that this layer is not damaged. Cleaners containing ammonia react with this protective layer and damage it. Never use ammonia-based cleaners. When you buy cleaners, see whether they have ammonia in them.
Most of the dirt can be removed just by rubbing over the area with a dry cotton cloth or wiper made of microfiber. If the dirt is not removed then, use wet cloth to clean the area. You may also use some mild detergent when you clean the screen with a wet cloth. However, the manual book should be consulted before doing so.
AV Inputs and Outputs - Plasma TV buying tips
July 14, 2007
There is a misconception that both Plasma TV and LCD TV lack superior audio quality when compared with traditional TV sets. It is also suggested that when you buy a flat panel like plasma TV, you should also buy some home theatre system or an audio system to enhance the quality of sound. This makes your choice of plasma TV more selective as you need to check whether the unit provides options for connecting it with an external audio system.
When you go for a plasma TV, first you need to check the number of connectivity options available in the unit. You can find audio/video inputs both on front and side panels. There are a wide range of inputs that include S-video, composite and component video inputs.
Check, whether the TV has at least one audio input and output. The audio output helps you to connect it with some external audio system to get enhanced sound quality. If you want your TV to show HDTV materials received from HDTV broadcast or DVDs, your Plasma TV should have high definition component video input, HDMI interface or DVI-HDCP. These inputs enable you to enjoy HDTV channels, HD-DVDs like blu-ray discs.
If you want to use a camcorder, PC or video game with your TV set, check you have got additional inputs on the side panel of your TV. This will often help you to connect these devices with your TV without additional hardware.
Even if you don’t plan to use all these devices with your TV presently, buying a TV with many inputs/outputs will nevertheless make your TV future-proof. As the flat panel technology is making tremendous advancements, this has become inevitable.
How altitude affects the performance of a Plasma TV?
July 13, 2007
How altitude affects the performance of a Plasma TV?
Plasma TV uses rare gases like xenon, neon and argon which are enclosed between two glass sheets. For the optimum performance of the plasma TV, there must be a balance between the pressure of these gases inside the plasma display panel and the atmospheric pressure. In other words, both the pressures should be more or less equal for optimum performance. However, when the altitude increases, say above, 2500 ft above sea level, the atmosphere becomes thinner, resulting in low atmospheric pressure. In such conditions, the gases inside a plasma TV tend to work hard to produce the display. During this process, a plasma TV usually produces more heat and a sort of buzzing noise when it is working.
Most of the plasma TVs are designed to work at sea levels or within 3000 ft ASL. However, if you happen to live in higher altitudes, say in a place over 5000 ft ASL, you should go for a plasma TV which is especially designed for such conditions.
It is fairly easy to find out whether your plasma TV struggles to cope up with low atmosphere outside. One way is to feel the heat emitted by your TV. Another way is much easier the buzzing noise can be heard when your TV works much harder. Nowadays, this problem is being eliminated as newer plasma TVs come with design and calibration suitable for higher altitudes
Samsung PS-42P4 Plasma TV
July 10, 2007
In today’s highly competitive electronic world, Samsung has made a mark for
itself with the wide range of electronic products they have introduced. From
mobile phones to home appliances, the company has a range of products to its
credit. They have also excelled in the field of visual media. As television
sets are a part of every home nowadays, Samsung have done it’s very best to
give its customers only the best. Among the latest display technology used,
plasma televisions have become very popular in the recent years. To make a place
for itself, once again Samsung made history by developing the best plasma vision
televisions. On of their latest models of plasma TV is the new and improved
Samsung PS-42P4 plasma TV. With a screen size of 42 inches, this new plasma
TV offers the best possible display for you. The flat panel display screen supports
a screen resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels. The higher the pixel resolution results
in high quality of the images that will be displayed on the screen. The viewing
angle supported by this TV is 160 degrees that offers perfect viewing. The brightness
is another factor that plays a vital role in displaying high quality images
and the TV supports a brightness of 1100 candela/m2. With integrated loudspeakers,
you can hear realistic sound effects. The device also supports 3 scart interfaces
and a DVI interface. Simple and sleek in its looks, this new Samsung PS-42P4
plasma TV can be a compliment for your home.
Is your Plasma TV HDTV-enabled?
July 10, 2007
When you go for a Plasma TV, you should know how native resolution of a Plasma TV counts most in displaying the resolution of the original input signal that it receives.
Based on the native pixels that a Plasma TV has, it can be classified into a HDTV or HDTV Ready which actually refer to the capabilities of a Plasma TV to display HDTV resolutions. Any resolution that ranges between 720p and 1080p is called HDTV resolution. A TV that comes with a native resolution of 480p or below can not display the HDTV resolutions with a desirable picture quality
Generally most high end plasma TVs come with native resolution of 1024×768 pixels which means the screen will have 768 lines vertically from top to bottom. There is another higher resolution 1080i or 1920×1080 pixels which can show images of the same resolution without any scaling of the pictures to fit them on their screen. While Plasma TVs of native resolution 1080i are not so many in the market and they are generally much more expensive presently, the Plasma TV makers come with plasma TVs with lesser resolution and even some of the cheaper Plasma TV are incapable of showing pictures of resolution above 480p.
When you buy a Plasma TV with 720p resolution or higher, and you want it to display input signals of 1080i, the original pixels of the input have to be scaled down so that the image can be accommodated on the screen. For example, your plasma TV has a native resolution of 1024×768 pixels but needs to show images of 1080i resolution, the original pixels of the input have to be scaled down to match the native resolution of your plasma TV. This will prevent you from viewing the resolution of the original input signal.
It is highly recommended that you choose your Plasma TV after studying its native resolution, especially when you receive HDTV broadcast via your cable television network. Plasma TVs with lesser resolution of 480p are incapable of showing HDTV pictures and they are suitable for viewing EDTV signals.
