Plasma Television Buying Guide

Plasma televisions are becoming more and more popular. So what makes a plasma screen television different than all the other television options out there?

What makes a Television Plasma?

Plasma televisions fundamentally work differently than other television do. A plasma television screen is divided up into cells; those cells are made up of two different glass panels that are separated by a very small space. That space is filled with a gas and then sealed. When you turn on your plasma television the gas is electrically charged and strikes green, red, and blue phosphors to form a pixel of your picture.

Why Buy a Plasma Television?

Plasma televisions, while expensive also have some of the brightest and most brilliant pictures of all televisions. A plasma television can be viewer from anywhere in a room without having the image compromised by outside light or glare from another light source. Plasma televisions are also less than four inches deep so they can easily be mounted on any wall without having to take up valuable space in your home.

Things To Think About Before Buying Plasma

If you like to play a lot of video games, plasma screens have traditionally been known to have a lot of problems with burn in. Recent plasma releases have made strides to decrease this problem, but you still run the risk of burning an image into your screen if you play video games with constant graphics often. If you are an avid video game player you may want to consider purchasing a LCD screen television instead of a plasma, or consider hooking your video game system up to another television in your home, so as not to run the risk of damaging your plasma screen.

Plasma also has a good deal of difficulty producing pure black, while recent releases have also started to correct that problem darker areas of the screen will often lack the minute detail that you will be able to see on other televisions.

How Long Will A Plasma Television Last?

A plasma television will last typically 30,000 hours, with some newer models claiming to last up to 600,000 hours. After that time your pictures will be considerably darker than it was originally. Assuming the smaller amount (30,000 hours) if you left your television on for four hours a day your television would last eighteen years before significantly dimming. Most plasma television testers have noted that a significant brightness loss at around 20,000 hours which would still be over a decade of television watching.