Choose the size of your plasma screen and search the plasma TV that gives the best picture:

Making a choice between plasma TV and LCD TV always put many customers in a dilemma as these different technologies offer a wide range of features which are unique to them. Once you decide over the size of your TV you like to buy, you need to make a complete research into the TVs available in the market with an aim to find out the TV that can give best image quality.

Facts about HDTV resolutions available with your Plasma screens

Another major consideration should be whether you like your TV should support HDTV resolution or you will be content with EDTV resolution of the plasma TV.
Usually, some of the high end models of the larger Plasma TVs (50“or above) come with any of the two standard HDTV resolution – 720p and 1080i and you may not find smaller Plasma TVs with High Definition resolution.

Most of the Plasma TVs available in the Plasma TV market boast of HDTV features but you need to watch out for the difference between truly HDTV plasma TV and HDTV Ready. A true HDTV feature enables your TV to display 1080i resolution without any scaling of pixels. On the other hand, HDTV Ready, although it is capable of displaying all HDTV resolutions – 720p or 1080i, its native pixel resolution is just 720p and it usually converts other resolutions to fit into its native resolution.

To find out which Plasma TV maker offers the best Plasma TV

Today’s Plasma TV market is flooded with the broadest line of TV models from the major Plasma TV makers like Panasonic, Pioneer, Hitachi and Samsung. The latest advancements in Plasma technology combined with fast dropping of the prices attract many consumers as the market for standard television sets is slowly falling by this impact.

These major Plasma makers usually specialize in certain sizes of plasma TV. So, you will find Hitachi has some unique models in 55” plasma TVs while Samsung produces some of the best 63” Plasma TVs in the market. Pioneer Plasma TVs are quite popular in 42” section and they are quite unique for true black levels and enhanced brightness. All these makers offer numerous models with the same screen size but each one constantly updating its feature with every new model. Some of the high end Plasma TVs from these companies come with enhanced video processing and scaling features. They usually come with high price tags, but their superior picture quality and superb performance add value to your money.

Todays's Plasma TVs come with better longevity and innovative technologies

Many consumers tend to have misconception that Plasma TVs do not long last and that they suffer from screen-related problems like screen burns. This view does not hold any truth as far as today’s Plasma TVs are concerned. Latest plasma TVs come with anti-burn protective layer on their plasma screens and rarely susceptible to burn ins.

Similarly, the half-life time of plasma TV varies between 30000 hours and 60000 hours. In other words, you can watch your TV eight hours a day for ten years. This is relatively better longevity when compared with standard CRT television. If you have any fears over leaking of gas in a plasma TV, it hardly happens or becomes a serious issue. It is true that Plasma TV develops some annoying problems related to high altitudes such as buzzing or over-heating. The happy news is you can go for Plasma TVs that come with in-built features that can handle this problem efficiently.   

High Definition Television is the new buzzword in the world of television. More often, the word HDTV is in a sense analogous to higher resolution. As a result, we indulge in a simple calculation: the greater the resolution, the better the picture quality will be. As a result, we go for flat panels which have high native resolution like 720p or 1080p. But, is the resolution only one criteria for judging the picture quality of a display? It is true that the higher resolution ensures sharper pictures. However, there are also other features like colour reproduction, brightness and contrast which are equally, may be, more important than resolution as the over-all picture quality is the hybrid of all these features.

While you go through plasma reviews, the specification of the TV often provides you with essential information like resolution, contrast ratio, response time etc. If you are already familiar with these terms, you may often find yourself in a better position to choose the best Plasma TV to suit your taste. It is also a good idea to navigate through the features listed in the review. Double check, whether the plasma TV which lures your attention with its stylish design and excellent specs, has been provided with anti-glare technology as the plasma screens have a natural tendency to reflect light in ambient conditions. Especially, when you plan to install your plasma tv in a bright room, this feature is often useful.

Well, how to evaluate the performance of a plasma TV? As a thumb of rule, branded Plasma TVs often render great pictures. However there is a maze of specification which may often bewilder you if you are not so familiar with. Fortunately, it is not be- all and end-all.
You may still become a better judge of plasma TV than a reviewer using these simple techniques:

• Check how the colours look on the screen. Do they look natural and accurate? How is the colour saturation? How do the nearest hues appear distinct?

• Next important consideration is the black levels achieved by the TV. Play a DVD and watch dark scenes on the screen. You should be able to see the darkest objects without graying. It is a good idea to test this feature in a little dark room instead of bright room.

• Test the sharpness the pictures by reducing the brightness settings as the maximum brightness may often hide the flaws. Reducing the brightness and contrast to 50 % of their original settings often help you to judge the picture quality.

• Most Plasma TVs boast of their HDTV capabilities. It is wise to put them under a test before you invest money. If the retailers cannot provide HDTV broadcast, a Blue ray disc or a DVD often makes best video material to test the performance of the TV.

• Be familiarized with the remote and meddle with all the pre-sets which modify how the images look on the screen. Some of the Plasma TVs have come up with a myriad of useful presets which may add greater value to your money

The advent of digital broadcasting and other technological advances has pushed TV entertainment to higher levels of viewing pleasure for consumers. Initiatives to turn to digital broadcasting have become increasingly popular, even institutionalized by government authorities in some countries. Thus emerged digital television (DTV), high definition television (HDTV), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD-Video), computer video, and digital satellite broadcasts.

What is a Plasma TV?

Plasma TV is usually associated with those ultra-thin, space-saving TV displays that can be hung on walls. But there is more to Plasma TV than their ultra-thin figures. Wikipedia defines plasma display as “ an emissive flat panel display where light is created by phosphors excited by a plasma discharge between two flat panels of glass.� Simply put, the plasma display is composed of separate glass compartments or cells that infused with neon-xenon gas suspended in plasma. Once electrically charged, the gases emit green, red and blue phosphors, forming what is called as pixels. This element basically gives Plasma TV brighter display and wide color range.

Plasma TV Buying Tips

There is a plethora of choices available when shops around for plasma television that is just right for your home. But it would be a good idea if one knows the right specifications and features to look for in a Plasma TV. Here are some basic tips on buying plasma television.

1. First of all, survey the room where the Plasma TV is to be placed in. Consider the size of the room before you choose your Plasma TV. Remember that plasma displays are usually larger than your usual LCDs, with largest sizes up to 71 inches diagonally. New models may churn out larger sizes, but generally plasma TV offers the largest option in terms of size. Considering the size, it necessarily follows that the plasma TV you’ve been eyeing must fit in your room. Color and graphical flaws are more obvious up front; so observe the right viewing space away from the TV screen. The basic rule is to sit at a distance 1.5 to three times the screen width away.
2. A Plasma TV can be mounted on a wall and you can have the best video art there is. But before you do, make sure that the wall can absorb the TV’s weight. While they are relatively lighter than other types, Plasma TVs can weigh up to 30 kgs.
3. Check out the brightness feature. Remember that brightness or luminance refers to the brightness of a screen, and is expressed in cd/m2, 2000cd/m2 for example. The higher the number, the more luminous the wide TV screen. So take note and consider the brightness feature, especially if you intend to place it in a dimly lighted or brightly lighted space.
4. Usually expressed in ratio, the Contrast feature of a TV screen refers to its capability to display the colors black and white. The contrast ratio refers to the graduation of shades of color gray that the TV is capable of displaying. It determines the quality of detail that can be seen when dark scenes are displayed.

There are many other features that one must consider before buying a plasma television. But to get the right one for you, stick to the basic rule of thumb – know what you are buying.

Plasma TV Specifications

So you have decided to buy a Plasma TV.  Well, it is easy enough to just flip over pages of catalogs, surf the Internet, or go to your nearest appliance showroom to check out the latest models.  But with the market practically flooded with the latest brand, model, and features pretty soon one will be overwhelmed with the options available.  This can be avoided if at the onset, one knows what to look out for in buying a Plasma TV.  And the best way to start is by knowing the basic specifications of a Plasma TV.

The Basic Specs

Plasma TVs are different from our old TVs in the sense that they work more like monitors: it requires a TV tuner to show broadcasting signals.  Unlike CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs, a Plasma TV has a higher resolution.  Those with at least 852 x 480 resolution are called EDTV’s (enhanced definition TVs), while those with an impressive 1365 x 768 resolution are classified as HDTVs (high definition TVs). 

Flat Screen Advantage

The beauty of flat screen TVs is that it allows one to view what is being displayed practically from any point in the room. This is due largely to the fact that large screens have 160° angle, the absence of curved surface prevents image distortion and glare that are typical of standard or traditional TVs. 

Uniform Brightness

From whatever direction you view, a Plasma TV exudes nothing but smooth and uniform brightness.  Since it is composed of cells that light up individually, the image displayed is very bright and is visually good from any angle.  This is in contrast to “hot spots� or irregular screen brightness that are common in some rear and front project TVs.

Absence of Scan Lines

Another positive result of those individually lit cells is that it evenly lights up image being projected because flat TVs have pixels as color-generators.  This feature is absent in traditional TVs that make use of an electronic beam to hit the picture tube from top to bottom, thereby causing scan lines.

Vulnerability To Magnetic Material

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) TVs have electron beams that cannot withstand close proximity to magnetic materials.  For example, displayed images are distorted when placed beside stereo loudspeakers.  In contrast, Plasma displays do not suffer image deformation in such cases because they have not electron beams.  This adds to our viewing pleasure because if one wants to set-up a home theatre system, loudspeakers can be placed just about anywhere near a Plasma TV.

Multi-media Compatibility

A Plasma TV’s capability to receive videos of any format makes it one of the most versatile monitors around.  Primarily, it is a TV monitor capable of taking in regular TV, videos, as well as High Definition TV (HDTV) signals.  It can also be utilized for commercial or business purposes, as it can serve as a computer monitor owing to its capability to accept VGA and SVGA signals from computers.  Hence, it is not surprising to know that a typical Plasma TV has inputs for composite video, S-Video and component video, and more than one RGB inputs for computer connectivity.

Looking after Your Plasma TV

While latest developments in digital TVs have resulted in lower prices, Plasma TVs have remained to be generally pricier than other TV sets.  But the price is definitely worth your money because given its longwearing and low-maintenance quality, Plasma TVs might just turn out to be the sturdiest piece of electronic equipment you have right in your living room. In fact, the latest species of plasma displays are estimated to have an actual display life of 60,000 hours, which is equivalent to 65 years viewing at 2 and half hours per day.  Older models had to contend with is susceptibility to burn-in, or damage to the display wherein an image or text is lightly but permanently etched into the display panel, as a result of the long display of a static image. 

Taking care of your Plasma TV does not take much of your time, effort, and money.  But such small amount of care or maintenance is enough to give you a good number of years to high quality viewing pleasure.  Here are some tips on how to maintain your Plasma TV for optimum performance. 

Preventing Burn-in

While the latest generation of TV Plasmas are said to have eliminated burn-in problems, a buyer would have no way of knowing unless the problem occurs.  So the best way to protect your investment is to prevent the problem at the earliest opportunity.  Burn-in or shadowing occurs when phosphors in the pixels age prematurely and glow caused by static images.

To avoid burn-in, the basic rule is not to leave any stagnant images such as websites, video games, station logos, program menus or computer graphics on the plasma screen for more than a few minutes.  Some would say that 20 minutes of static image is long enough, but it would be better to be on the safe side and avoid keeping an unmoving image for more than a few minutes.  If you need to view a static image, switch from that to a moving image.  This should be observed especially during your first few hours of using the Plasma TV when it is highly vulnerable to burn-in. 

Calibrating Brightness and Contrast

Another cause for a shorter life span of Plasma TVs is the increased ageing rate of phosphors due to high brightness and contrast features.  To prevent this, calibrate the contrast and brightness, turn it down enough to complement with the lighting ambiance of the room where the Plasma TV is placed.  Read the manuals and look for preset features that allow you to choose varying levels of brightness and contrast for both daytime and nighttime screening.

Using the Aspect Ratio

To prevent sidebar image retention, make sure to use the Aspect button on the remote control if you want to switch from wide screen 16:9 to 4:3 screen size.  Avoid showing gray or black bars to do this.  Or you can use your Plasma TVs image stretching or pan-and-scan elements if such is supported.

Cleaning The Plasma Screen

Simply use a clean, damp cloth in wiping the Plasma display.  Do not use any other hard materials such as paper, or solvents such as alcohol as this may damage the anti glare coating on the screen.  Lastly, your TV must not come in contact with rubber or vinyl surfaces for a long time, otherwise it may cause damage to the coating.